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Ukraine: Evacuation of civilians from Mariupol will continue — live updates
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced that the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol is planned for Friday. Follow DW for the latest.
Germany and the Czech Republic are planning an arms swap for Ukraine
Zelenskyy says that Russian forces are storming Azovstal
Ukrainian official says an evacuation is planned in Mariupol at noon
Guterres says the third evacuation operation from Azovstal was underway.
Scholz, Biden discuss action over Ukraine
This article was last updated at 23:03 UTC/GMT
Germany and the Czech Republic are planning an arms swap for Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala confirmed plans for an arms swap in order to supply Ukraine with weapons.
The Czech Republic is supposed to deliver Russian-made weapons to Ukraine, while Germany will help it to replace them with modern Western weapons, Scholz said on Thursday at a joint press conference with Fiala in Berlin.
Fiala said the planned cooperation is about "heavy equipment," but gave no further details.
According to the media reports, Germany has already agreed such an exchange with Slovenia. This country would send a large number of its T-72 Soviet-era battle tanks to Ukraine. Germany would then send Slovenia a number of Marder tanks and Fox wheeled tanks as replacements.
Donors pledged $6.5 billion in aid for Ukraine
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, participants at the high-level donor conference in Warsaw on Thursday pledged $6.5 billion (€6.2 billion) in aid to Ukraine.
"And this is good. But this is only part of what is really needed to restore normal life throughout the territory where Russia has brought the war," Zelenskyy said.
He said Ukraine needs up to $7 billion (€6.6 billion) a month to cover the state budget deficit.
"In total, it has been calculated that already more than $600 billion (€570 billion) is needed to rebuild what the Russian army destroyed. Just imagine this scale," the Ukrainian president said in a video address.
Zelenskyy says that Russian forces are storming Azovstal
In a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the evacuation of civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol continued on Thursday.
"More than 150 people from Azovstal and more than 300 people from Mariupol and its suburbs who were evacuated by the humanitarian corridor this week are already receiving all the help they need," Zelenskyy said.
He also said Russian forces were still storming and shelling the Azovstal plant, where civilians and military forces are sheltering. "We are doing everything to find a solution to save our military," the Ukrainian president said.
Azovstal is the last remaining pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the southern Ukrainian city of
Mariupol, which is largely occupied by Russian forces.
Evacuation from Mariupol is planned on Friday at noon
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that people would be evacuated from the besieged port city of Mariupol on Friday at 1200 local time (0900 GMT).
Ve re s h c h u k m a d e the announcement in a social media post. She said people would gather at the "Port City" shopping center but gave no further details.
Guterres says a third evacuation operation is underway in Mariupol
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the United Nations Security Council that a third operation is underway to evacuate civilians from Mariupol's besieged steel plant Azovstal and the city, which is surrounded by Russian forces.
According to Guterres, 101 civilians were evacuated from the Azovstal plant along with 59 more from a neighboring area in the first operation that ended Tuesday. He also said that in the second operation, which was completed Wednesday night, more than 320 civilians were evacuated from the city of Mariupol and surrounding areas.
Scholz, Biden discuss action over Ukraine
US President Joe Biden discussed with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz further action on the war in Ukraine, according to Berlin and Washington.
German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Scholz and Biden spoke about the military situation and further support for Ukraine.
According to the White House, the leaders underscored their commitment to continue holding Russia accountable for its brutal actions in Ukraine.
Biden and Scholz also reviewed the ongoing efforts to provide security assistance to Ukrainian government and humanitarian aid to the millions of Ukrainians affected by the violence.
On Wednesday, Biden had announced that he would discuss further sanctions against
Moscow with the G7 partners.
Summary of Thursday's events in Russia's war on Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is due to travel to Kyiv "soon."
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed the war in Ukraine in a phone call, according to the Kremlin and Bennett's office. The call came after a diplomatic row sparked by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's comments on the Holocaust. Lavrov had claimed Adolf
Hitler may have had "Jewish blood" while speaking about Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has widened sanctions on Russia and said Moscow poses a threat not only in Europe but also in eastern Asia. Kishida said 140 individuals are to be added to a Russian asset freeze list, while Tokyo will also expand an export ban to Russian military firms.
German President FrankWalter Steinmeier has spoken by phone with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a spokesperson for the German presidency said. In their discussion, the pair were said to have resolved a recent diplomatic spat that led Chancellor Olaf Scholz to say he was not planning to visit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the near future.
Poland and Sweden have been co-hosting a donors' conference in Warsaw to raise funds for humanitarian efforts to help war-torn Ukraine. The High-Level International Donors' Conference for Ukraine is jointly organized by prime ministers Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland and Magdalena Andersson of Sweden.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has launched a global crowdfunding platform to help Kyiv win its war with Russia. The fund would also be used to help Ukraine rebuild infrastructure, he said.
The president of Germany's lower house of parliament is set to visit Kyiv to jointly commemorate the victims of World War II. Bundestag President Bärbel Bas is the latest in a string of German politicians to announce a visit to Kyiv in a show of solidarity.
French Energy Minister Barbara Pompili has said she thinks European Union member states will be able to reach a consensus by the end of the week on how to end Russian oil imports. The ban, if introduced, would only take effect in six months for crude oil, and in eight months for diesel and other oil products.
Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said more than 600,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war in their country have arrived in Germany since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Of the total number, roughly 40% of those Ukrainian refugees are minors.
Sergey Kiriyenko, the deputy chief of staff in Russian President Vladimir Putin's office, visited the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is nearly entirely occupied by Russian forces.