This article was last updated at 22:30 PM IST

The International Committee of the Red Cross has contradicted reports that around 2,000 civilians had left the besieged city. The aid agency said its evacuation buses and aid trucks had to turn back. DW has the latest.

• Moscow says a Ukrainian strike on its territory may harm peace talks
• US official says Russian focus on Donbas could prolong the war
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls situation in east and south extremely difficult

Kyiv denies strike on Russian fuel depot

Kyiv has denied responsibility for a blaze at a fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod, which Moscow said was caused by a Ukrainian air strike.

Russia's Defence Ministry said that two Ukrainian helicopters struck the facility, which lies some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the joint border, and is one of Russia's main logistics hubs for the war.

Moscow said the choppers entered Russian territory at an extremely low altitude at around 5 a.m. Moscow time (0200 UTC) on Friday, but Ukraine's top security official rebuffed the accusation.

"For some reason, they say that we did it, but according to our information, this does not correspond to reality," Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Ukrainian national television.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been briefed about the incident and that the strike could harm peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Red Cross: Evacuation team could not reach Mariupol

The Red Cross says its convoy of buses and aid has not yet made it to Mariupol to help evacuate civilians from the city that's been besieged by Russian forces for weeks.

Earlier, the city council suggested that the first evacuations had taken place in buses belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Reporting from Ukraine, DW's Correspondent Rebecca Ritters explained: "The ICRC team said they were on their way to facilitate the safe passage of civilians to Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian-held town just north of Mariupol. But they had to turn around because arrangements and conditions made it impossible to proceed."

"We had heard that 2,000 people were going to be evacuated today. Unfortunately, that's not true," Ritters added. But she said that more than 1,400 people had left the city by private vehicle on Thursday.

The Red Cross convoy also includes desperately-needed humanitarian supplies, which have still not made it the city.

Mariupol residents have been without power and communications for several weeks and food supplies have run low.

Vladimir Klitschko meets Chancellor Scholz in Berlin

The brother of Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

The former heavweight boxing champion Vladimir Klitschko also held talks with Finance Minister Christian Lindner.

Klitschko told Welt-TV after the talks that the conversation with Scholz had been friendly.

He arrived in Berlin a day earlier to seek support for Ukraine's fightback against Russia's invasion.

In an earlier interview with Bild TV, Klitschko called for financial aid and: "We need weapons."

"If you are a passive observer, you also have the blood on your own hands," he said.

"People of Europe stand with Ukraine" — European Parliament president

President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola has pledged European support for Ukraine while on a visit to Kyiv.

"Please believe me when I say that the European Parliament, the European Union and the people of Europe stand with Ukraine," Metsola said in a joint briefing with Ruslan Stefanchuk, chair of Ukraine's parliament.

Metsola said that "Putin's criminal invasion of Ukraine puts Russia in direct confrontation with Europe" and that it would not go unchallenged.

Ukraine's ambition to join the EU was also recognized with Metsola saying that Ukraine could "count on the European Parliament's full support in achieving this goal."

Metsola also said that Europe would be ready to rebuild Ukraine's cities and towns once the "illegal, unprovoked and unnecessary war is over."

Macron says helping Mariupol remains a priority

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to continue working towards creating a humanitarian corridor to and from the besieged city of Mariupol.

Macron's office said that France is trying to ensure that people fleeing Mariupol are able to go "in the direction of their choosing" and added that France was willing to assist resettlement elsewhere in Ukraine.

The comments came during talks between Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.

"The initiative of France on humanitarian corridors from Mariupol must be implemented!" Zelensky said on Twitter following the call.

Ukraine won't give up on Donbas, says presidential adviser

Ukraine doesn't want to "give up on Donbas and Crimea," during peace talks with Russia, Liubov Tsybulska, an expert in hybrid warfare and an adviser to the Ukrainian government told DW.

Tsybulska said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's position was to "talk about this in a few years and solve it in a diplomatic way."

She rejected the idea that taking control of the Donbas region has been the goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin all along.

"They [the Russians] don't need Donbas at all," she said. "They were controlling Donbas — Donetsk and Luhansk — for eight years. It's not their intention to get these territories."

Russia says Kyiv has agreed to cede sovereignty of Donbas and Crimea as well as not seek NATO membership, but Ukraine's government has denied those claims.

Tsybulska said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's real strategy is "about controlling Ukrainians."

She said Russia's claim that it was easing military activity around Kyiv was a ploy so they can regroup their forces, especially considering that "Russia is suffering very heavy losses, human losses, equipment and so on."

Barcelona, PSG to play fund-raising friendlies against Dynamo Kyiv

Ukrainian soccer giants Dynamo Kyiv will play a series of friendlies with top-flight clubs to raise money for their war-scarred nation.

The club said that during April-June they were "planning to play friendly matches" with Borussia Dortmund, Paris St Germain, Steaua Bucharest, Legia Warsaw and Barcelona.

Dynamo added that Milan, Benfica, Ajax, Sporting Lisbon and Basel were also on the list.

"All these matches with the participation of the Ukrainian champions will be held under the slogan "Match for Peace! Stop the War!", the club said in its statement.

Ukraine's Premier League has not resumed matches after the winter break due to Russia's invasion.

The season's future is in question as the clubs' stadia have been damaged or threatened by Russian bombing and foreign players are leaving Ukrainian teams.

Amnesty: Russia used cluster bombs in civilian areas of Ukraine

Russian forces are using outlawed cluster munitions on densely populated civilian areas in Ukraine, Amnesty International said.

In an investigation published Friday, the human rights group revealed how the Russian army deployed cluster munitions in the city of Kharkiv, having examined fragments of a weapon that injured a local resident.

"We were standing in front of the grocery shop when I heard a loud noise. I turned around and saw a lot of small fires 50 meters away from me," the wounded man, Olesky Stovba, told Amnesty. "And I felt something hit my right leg. I pulled down my pants and saw a lot of blood."

Cluster bombs release hundreds of smaller explosive devices, many of which do not detonate immediately. So they can kill or injure people long after they are dropped.

The bombs have been internationally outlawed since 2010. About a hundred countries joined the convention, but neither Russia nor Ukraine.

Red Cross buses help evacuate residents from Mariupol — DW correspondent

Nearly 3,500 people have been evacuated from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol over the past two days, DW Correspondent Rebecca Ritters has said.

Reporting from Ukraine, Ritters said a limited cease-fire "is holding," according to reports from the southern port city.

"We are getting reports that buses have been allowed in and some 2,000 people are currently are being evacuated out of the city through Red Cross buses and a series of private vehicles," she said.

"Yesterday those buses weren't able to get in, nor was a massive humanitarian convoy that was trying to get supplies into the besieged city to help those still trapped inside,” Ritters said, adding that 1,400 people were helped to evacuate on Thursday.

“There are an estimated 100,000-150,000 people still trapped in Mariupol, that's more than a quarter of the city's population. So while 3,500 people is a step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go.”

EU president: China should not interfere with sanctions on Russia

The head of the European Union's executive arm urged China not to help Moscow circumvent Western sanctions in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We made very clear China should not interfere with our sanctions," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference after a virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Her comments were backed up by the head of the European Council Charles Michel who said: "Any attempts to circumvent sanctions or provide aid to Russia would prolong the war. This would lead to more loss of life and greater economic impact."

Michel said the two sides had agreed that the conflict was threatening global security, adding that "positive steps by China to help end the war would be welcomed by all Europeans and by the global community."

Beijing, however, renewed its criticism of Western sanctions against Russia.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a daily briefing that China was even more opposed to unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law.''

The ministry also laid the blame for the war in Ukraine at least partially on the United States for pushing to expand the NATO military alliance closer to Russia's borders.

Gazprom to pull its operations in Germany

Russian energy giant Gazprom is to pull out of its operations in Germany, the company has said.

The decision means a withdrawal from Gazprom Germania GmbH and its subsidiaries.

The withdrawal comes amid a deepening row between Moscow and Berlin over payments for Russian natural gas.

The Kremlin has ordered all payments to be made in rubles from Friday, rather than euros or dollars as stipulated in contracts.

It's unclear whether the decision will have consequences for natural gas deliveries to Germany.

Gazprom Germania's business areas are trading, transport and storage of natural gas.

On Thursday, German business daily Handelsblatt reported that Berlin was considering expropriating local units of Gazprom and fellow Russian energy giant Rosneft, amid concerns about energy security.

The Kremlin said any such move would be a violation of international law.

Klitschko tells Kyiv residents not to return

"Huge" battles are being fought to the north and east of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said Friday.

Klitschko warned residents who have fled the capital not to return at present, as it isn't safe.

"The risk of dying [in Kyiv] is pretty high, and that's why my advice to anyone who wants to come back is: Please, take a little bit more time," he said.

Kyiv's regional governor said earlier that Russian forces were strengthening its positions in some areas and pulling back in others.

Meanwhile, Reuters news agency cited a senior US administration official as saying that Russian forces are using a church site northwest of the capital as a staging ground for their assault on Kyiv.

"Military personnel are situated both on the grounds of the church and the surrounding residential area," the official said, without giving evidence.

Ukraine to inspect Chernobyl site after Russian pullout

Ukraine says it will carry out checks at the Chernobyl nuclear site to determine what the occupying Russians did there

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the government would work with the UN atomic agency to mitigate any danger.

He said the Russians, who controlled the site for more than four weeks, had behaved irresponsibly.

Staff at the plant were stopped from carrying out important tasks, Kuleba added.

Russian troops withdrew from the heavily contaminated facility early Friday.

In April 1986, Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, which claimed more than 100 lives.

Ukrainian refugee tally surpasses 4 million

Four-point-one million Ukrainian refugees have now fled the conflict, the United Nations said Friday.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said in the past week around 40,000 people per day have escaped across the country's western borders.

Women and children account for 90% of those who have fled, as men under 60 are eligible for military call-up and cannot leave.

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said more than 204,000 non-Ukrainians living, studying or working in the country have also left.

"Forced to flee extraordinary levels of violence, they have left behind their homes and often their families, leaving them shocked and traumatized," said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.

Grandi, who was wrapping up a visit to Ukraine, added: "The support and solidarity shown so far by donors, neighboring countries, and private individuals from around the world has been remarkable."

He later traveled for talks on the refugee situation with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

China declines to take sides, rejects sanctions

China won't take sides in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told EU leaders on Friday.

Li told European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen via video link that China "opposes division of blocs and taking sides," a Chinese diplomat said.

Saying that China is pushing for peace talks between the two sides in "its own way," Li reiterated that Beijing advocates for the safeguard of international law and international norms, including the territorial integrity of all countries, CCTV reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing that Beijing "disapproves of solving problems through sanctions, and we are even more opposed to unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law."

During a break in the talks, EU Council President Charles Michel tweeted: "China and the EU have a mutual responsibility to use their joint influence and diplomacy to bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine."

Mariupol remains 'closed' and 'very dangerous,' says mayor aide

Russian forces have been hindering evacuation efforts and preventing humanitarian supplies from reaching the besieged city, Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the mayor of Mariupol, said on Friday.

The statement came despite an assurance from Russian Major General Mikhail Mizintsev that people would be able to leave.

"The city remains closed to entry and very dangerous to exit with personal transport," Andryushchenko said in a Telegram post. "In addition, since yesterday the occupiers have categorically not allowed any humanitarian aid — even in small quantities — into the city."

About 5,000 civilians have been killed in the city since the Russian invasion began, according to Ukrainian authorities. It's estimated that tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the city.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations said that they will make a renewed attempt on Friday to help the city's residents flee.

Fighting for Mariupol 'can go on for a long time'

Tens of thousands of people remain trapped in Mariupol with scant food, water and other supplies.

"Russia gave an ultimatum a while ago saying that the Ukrainian soldiers either had to give up or they would continue to pound the city," said DW correspondent Amien Essif, who is currently in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

"Russia has said very clearly that they will not continue to exacerbate this humanitarian crisis until Ukraine surrenders, perhaps hoping that the international community will see what's happening there and encourage Ukraine to surrender that city," he added.

Essif noted the strategic importance of the city for both sides as holding the city will allow them to control the Sea of Azov.

Stressing that it's very hard to know what's happening in that city, he underlined that the fighting "can go on for a long time."

"Either Russia wins a complete and total victory with the total destruction of the city and most of the civilian lives there or Ukrainians will pull off an unlikely victory and maintain control of that city, hopefully avoiding the worst."

UK says Ukraine has retaken two villages between Chernihiv and Kyiv

Ukrainian troops have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka to the south of Chernihiv and located along main supply routes between the city and Kyiv, British military intelligence said on Friday.

"Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counter attacks to the east and north east of Kyiv," the UK Defense Ministry said.

"Both Chernihiv and Kyiv have been subjected to continued air and missile strikes despite Russian claims of reducing activity in these areas," the ministry added.

Ukraine helicopters struck a fuel storage unit in Belgorod, Russian official claims

Two Ukrainian military helicopters struck a fuel storage facility in the Russian city of Belgorod on Friday, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

Belgorod is located close to the Ukrainian border. The helicopters crossed the border at low altitude, Gladkov said, adding that the strike caused a blaze at the site injuring two workers and forcing authorities to evacuate some areas in the city.

There have been no deaths resulting from the incident, the governor said. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

The alleged strike comes just two days after the province was rocked by blasts at an arms depot.

Gladkov said this week that the arms depot explosions were believed to be a result of another fire, although he said the regional authorities were awaiting confirmation from the Russian Defence Ministry.

Russia pulls out of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear site

Russian troops left the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear siteon Friday after returning control to Ukraine.

Energoatom, Ukraine's state power company, said the pullout came after Russian soldiers suffered from "significant doses" of radiation after digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. The information, however, wasn't independently verified.

Officials in Kyiv also claimed that the Russians took an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen with them.

Russian troops had seized control of the Chernobyl site on February 24, the day when Moscow's invasion of Ukraine began.

Ukraine to receive 'super modern' equipment to protect skies — envoy to Japan

Ukraine's ambassador to Japan, Sergiy Korsunsky, said that Ukraine expects to receive enhanced military equipment from the United States and Britain that will give the country the ability to better protect its skies.

"They still have superiority in air force, in airplanes and missiles, and we expect to begin to receive super-modern equipment from the United States and Britain to protect our skies and our cities," Korsunsky said.

"When they fire cruise missiles from long distance, we cannot get to the launch place. We have to intercept them. That's why we need this modern equipment."

Australia to send more equipment to Ukraine

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that Australia will send armored Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically asked for them.

Zelenskyy addressed the Australian Parliament on Thursday and requested the Australian-made, four-wheel-drive vehicles.

"We're not just sending our prayers, we are sending our guns, we're sending our munitions, we're sending our humanitarian aid, we're sending all of this, our body armor, all of these things and we're going to be sending our armored vehicles, our Bushmasters, as well," Morrison said.

Moscow threatens to cut off European gas supply

Countries could have their gas supply turned off after Moscow set a deadline for payments to be made in Russian currency.

"If such payments are not made, we will consider this a breach of obligations on the part of our buyers," Putin said. Russia would then halt existing contracts.

"The actions of the EU will not remain unanswered ... the irresponsible sanctions by Brussels are already negatively affecting the daily lives of ordinary Europeans," senior Russian foreign ministry official Nikolai Kobrinets told the state RIA news agency.

Germany has insisted that it will pay in euros or dollars as stipulated in the contracts, and called Moscow's demand to pay in rubles "blackmail." Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany imported 55% of its gas supplies from Russia.

France's economy minister said that Berlin and Paris were preparing for a scenario where Russia turns off gas taps.

Canada's Trudeau against Russian attendance of G20

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he opposes Russian Vladimir Putin's attendance of this year's G20 meeting.

The G20 is an international forum that consists of most of the world's largest economies.

Trudeau said he shared his view with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. The G20 summit is scheduled be held in November on the Indonesian island of Bali.

"Russia has with its illegal invasion of Ukraine upended economic growth for everyone around the world and can't possibly be a constructive partner in how we manage the crisis created by Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine," Trudeau said.

The US and Australia have also voiced support for kicking Russia out of the summit, whereas Brazil and China have said they oppose barring Putin from attending.

US official: Russian refocusing on Donbas could prolong war

Russia's refocusing of its efforts on Ukraine's eastern Donbas region could lead to a "longer, more prolonged conflict" in the country, a senior US defense official was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"Just because [the Russians] are going to prioritize it and put more forces there or more energy there doesn't mean it's going to be easy for them," the official said. "It could be a harbinger of a longer, more prolonged conflict here as the Russians try to gain some leverage, gain some progress, and perhaps gain some chips at the bargaining table."

Fighting in the Donbas region started in 2014 as pro-Russian protests morphed into a separatist insurgency that established breakaway "people's republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia had previously denied public support for the insurgency for years, but it recognized the two self-proclaimed "people's republics" shortly before launching its full-scale invasion of the country a little over a month ago.

Ukrainian negotiators have said that they are willing to discuss the country's "neutrality" as part of a future peace deal with Moscow but that there would be no compromise on the country's "territorial integrity."

Last week, senior Russian military leader Sergey Rudskoy announced that the war was entering a new phase and that Russian troops would concentrate on taking Donbas. US intelligence said that some Russian troops were being repositioned away from Kyiv, although shelling of the area continued.

Ukraine's Zelensky: Situation in Donbas and southern Ukraine extremely difficult

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address that the situation in the south of the country and the Donbas region in the east remained extremely difficult.

Zelensky said that Russia was building up forces around the besieged city of Mariupol. Mariupol has been a major focus of fighting for weeks as Russian forces attempt to take the Azov coast.

"There will be battles ahead. We still need to go down a very difficult path to get everything we want," Zelenskyy said.

Zelensky also said that he had fired two top officials at the national security service and accused them of betraying their oath to defend Ukraine.

"I do not have time to deal with all the traitors, but they will gradually all be punished," Zelensky said.

Summary of events in Russia's war in Ukraine on Thursday

See all the developments from Thursday's live updates by clicking here.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear if Russia's convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv "even exists" anymore after failing to accomplish its mission.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was informed by Ukraine that Russian forces have "in writing, transferred control" of the Chernobyl nuclear plant to Ukrainian authorities.

US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be self-isolating and may have sacked some of his advisers.

Biden also announced the largest-ever release of US emergency oil reserve in a bid to bring down gasoline prices.

The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against a series of Russian tech firms, including Russia's largest chip maker.

Moscow imposed entry bans on representatives of the European Union in response to Western sanctions.