Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is ‘just the start’ and that Moscow intends to capture other countries after a Russian general said he wanted full control over southern Ukraine. “All nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first. And who will come next? Zelenskiy said in a video address Friday evening.

Rustam Minnekayev, Deputy Commander of the Central Military District of Russia, was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying that full control over southern Ukraine give it access to Transnistria, a breakaway part of Russian-occupied Moldova to the west.

Moldova’s foreign ministry said it summoned the Moscow ambassador on Friday to express “deep concern” over the general’s remarks. Moldova was neutral, he said. Last month, Moldova formally applied for membership of the European Union, charting a pro-Western course accelerated by the Russian invasion.

Fears continue to grow for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steelworks in the beleaguered port city of Mariupol, with the last contingent of Ukrainian fighters still in arms. The Russian Defense Ministry has said it is ready to allow civilians to leave the steel mills if Ukrainian forces surrender. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Russian forces continue to drop bombs on the plant.

Another mass grave was discovered outside Mariupol, reported the Associated Press, citing the city council and an adviser to the mayor. The city council released a satellite photo provided by Planet Labs showing what it said was a 45m by 25m mass grave that could hold the bodies of at least 1,000 Mariupol residents outside the village of Vynohradne .

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said “there is a possibility” that a humanitarian corridor will be opened from Mariupol on Saturday. She was speaking in an online address to people waiting to be evacuated.

The stated intention of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to “introduce ‘new methods of warfare’ is a tacit admission that Russian progress is not going as planned”, the UK Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update. The Ministry of Defense said that it would take some time for Russia to change tactics and improve operations and therefore in the meantime it is “likely that the bombing will continue to be a means of ‘trying to suppress the Ukrainian opposition’.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for the release of prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murzawho was arrested outside his Moscow home on April 11, hours after CNN aired an interview in which he criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

UN chief António Guterres will meet Putin in Moscow next week, seeking to end the bloodshed. Guterres could also visit Zelenskiy in Kyiv, the UN said. Talks between Russia and Ukraine have again stalled, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

US military expects more than 20 countries to participate in Ukraine-focused defense talks it will host next week in Germany and will focus in part on kyiv’s long-term defense needs, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Western allies prepare to offer Ukraine a series of ‘security guarantees’ this should make the country “impregnable” to a future Russian invasion, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said, according to the Press Association.

Zelenskiy said he was “grateful” to Britain after Johnson announced the reopening of the UK embassy in Kyiv.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that one sailor died and 27 others are still missing after one of its main warships, the guided-missile cruiser Moskva.sank last week in the Black Sea south of the threatened Ukrainian port of Odessa.

Russia hides evidence of ‘barbaric’ war crimes in Mariupol by burying civilian bodies killed by bombardment in a new mass grave that could hold up to 9,000 dead, local officials said. It comes after a US satellite imaging company released photos that appeared to match the site.

The UN human rights office said it had seen growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “horror story of violations against civilians”. UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet said “almost everyone” in the town of Bucha had a story about the death of a relative, neighbor or even a friend. foreign.