Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 55 | Russia-Ukraine war News

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 55th day, we take a look at the main developments.

Here are the key events so far on Tuesday, April 19.

Get the latest updates here.

Fighting

• Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has begun the “Battle of Donbas” in the east and a “very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive”.
• Ukrainian media reported explosions along the front line with shelling in Marinka, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Air-raid sirens were also going off in main centres near the front.
• The United States military expects to start training Ukrainians on using howitzer artillery in the coming days, a senior US defence official said. The first shipments of a new US military aid package have also arrived at Ukraine’s borders.
• At least 1,000 civilians are hiding in shelters beneath the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, the city council said, adding that Russia was dropping heavy bombs on the Ukrainian-held factory.
• Continued Russian shelling means agreed humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens out of Mariupol will not open, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.
• Russia’s army says it has destroyed a large depot of foreign weapons recently delivered to Ukraine near the western city of Lviv – one of 16 Ukrainian military sites it claims to have hit on Monday.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has handed an honourary title to a brigade accused by Ukraine of “war crimes” and mass killings in the town of Bucha.

Refugees

• More than 4.9 million Ukrainians have fled their country following the Russian invasion, says the United Nations’ refugee agency.
• It says 4,934,415 Ukrainians have now left the country, up more than 65,000 on the previous day.

Diplomacy

• US President Joe Biden will hold a call with allies to discuss the crisis, including on how to coordinate on holding Russia accountable, the White House said.
• French President Emmanuel Macron says that his dialogue with Putin stalled after mass killings were discovered in Ukraine.
• Humanitarian ceasefires between Ukrainian and Russian forces are not on the horizon but may be possible in a couple of weeks, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said.
• The United Kingdom will not be looking at how to help Russia, a senior minister said, when asked about the prospect of swapping pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk held by Kyiv for two British fighters captured in Ukraine by Russian forces.

Economy

• Russia’s invasion has damaged or destroyed up to 30 percent of Ukraine’s infrastructure at a cost of $100bn, a Ukrainian minister said, adding reconstruction could be achieved in two years using frozen Russian assets to help finance it.
• Russia flagged a likely further cut in interest rates and more budget spending to help the economy adapt to biting Western sanctions as it heads for its deepest contraction since 1994.