Azov Battalion

Day 541 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Alamy Photo

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has held a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, discussing Türkiye's relations with Ukraine and the grain deal.

The 43-year-old Ukrainian woman served in the Azov battalion – Dugina’s murder was a “sinister crime”, Putin said

Ukraine's last soldiers in the port city of Mariupol face a brutal final showdown Sunday with besieging Russian forces, who are hoping to deliver a critical win ahead of the country's victory day.

Ukraine said on May 5 Russia was "trying to destroy" its remaining soldiers holed up in Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant, with Kiev's last defenders in the battered city saying Moscow forces have broken into the giant factory.

"Russian occupiers are focusing on blocking and trying to destroy Ukrainian units in the Azovstal area," Kiev's army said in a statement.

Ukrainian guards on an artillery patrol boat in Mariupol in January 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY VAGANOV

Fourteen Bulgarian seamen and one Ukrainian who have been evacuated from a ship that was stranded in embattled Mariupol, arrived on Monday in the Bulgarian city of Varna, the authorities said.

Great Britain is trying to verify information on whether Russian forces used chemical weapons in Mariupol, a city under siege for more than a month, British Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced last night.

It was the second foul by the Ukrainian President in the same day after Azov Battalion member addressed Greek parliament during Zelensky’s speech

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told a press conference on Ukraine on Sunday, that he had no information about volunteer fighters heading for the country and was just getting his information from the media. "Every departure to Ukraine is a personal act and a personal responsibility," the PM. 

The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Thursday told volunteers to come back home and stop fighting for the Ukrainian army and special police units in Ukraine.

The ministry's message comes after the Russian foreign ministry on the same day issued a complaint that Croats were violating a peace deal.