April 25, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Aditi Sangal, Maureen Chowdhury, Rhea Mogul, Andrew Raine, Jack Guy, Ben Morse and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

Updated 12:11 a.m. ET, April 26, 2022

What we're covering

Russian forces struck five railway stations in central and western Ukraine Monday morning, the state railway company said, leading to casualties.
Russia was "continuously attacking" the encircled Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol Sunday, a Ukrainian official said. The site has become one of the last significant holdouts of Ukrainian forces in the besieged city. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said no evacuation corridor was agreed upon for the plant Monday as hundreds of soldiers and civilians continue to shelter there.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that US diplomats would return to Ukraine this week when the two met in Kyiv Sunday. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin became the highest-level US officials to visit Ukraine since the invasion began.
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8:24 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

US secretary of state: Ukraine will be "around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin"

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with reporters on April 25, in Poland, after returning from a weekend trip to Kyiv, Ukraine. (Alex Brandon/AFP/Getty Images)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that a "sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene".

"The bottom line is this. We don't know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene," Blinken said. "And our support for Ukraine going forward will continue. It will continue until we see final success.

Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for three hours on Sunday.

Speaking at a news conference at an undisclosed location near the Polish-Ukrainian border, Austin said it was "a very productive meeting" and an "engaging session."

"We were very happy to have that opportunity," he said. "During the meeting, we expressed our deepest condolences to the president for the loss of so many civilians, and of course, the loss of those courageous troops that have done a magnificent job of pushing back Russian forces.
"We also expressed our admiration for their professionalism and for their commitment to defend their democracy."

8:33 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

US "doing everything we can" to get Ukraine what it needs as fight evolves: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attend a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukraine's needs are changing as the nature of the fight evolves, in part because the focus has shifted to the east of the country.

"So (the Ukrainians) need long-range fires. You've heard them express a need for tanks. And we're doing everything that we can to get them the types of support, the types of artillery and munitions that will be effective in this stage of the fight," Austin told reporters during a news conference at an undisclosed location near the Polish-Ukrainian border following high level talks on Monday.
"You've seen what we've done here in the recent past with a recent $800 million authorization provided by the President that allows us to provide five battalions of 155 howitzers, hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery, and so we're also engaging our colleagues in other countries for the same type of capability."

Austin said he has seen "indications" that "many countries are going to come forward and provide additional munitions and howitzers."

So we're going to push as hard as we can, as quickly as we can to get them what they need," he said.

Some context: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Austin traveled to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday, where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began in late February.

9:11 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

US Secretary of State Blinken: Russia failing and Ukraine succeeding

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speak with reporters on April 25, in Poland, near the Ukraine border. (Alex Brandon/AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Monday that Russia was "failing in Ukraine" and that "Ukraine is succeeding."

"Russia has sought as its aim to take away (Ukraine's) sovereignty, to take away its independence. That has failed," Blinken said during a news conference at an undisclosed location near the Polish-Ukrainian border.
"It sought to assert the power of its military, its economy. We of course are seeing just the opposite.
“We don’t know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene.”

Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Sunday, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began.

2:53 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

"Russia has made minor advances": UK Ministry of Defence

Russia has made "minor advances" since shifting its focus to taking control over the eastern Donbas region, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Monday.

"Without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough. Ukraine’s defence of Mariupol has also exhausted many Russian units and reduced their combat effectiveness," the MoD said on Twitter in an intelligence update.
"Russia’s Ministry of Defence has proposed compensation payments for the families of deceased service personnel be overseen by military rather than civilian officials. This likely reflects a desire to hide the true scale of Russia’s losses from the domestic population."

8:44 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

US diplomats to return to Ukraine, Blinken tells Zelensky: senior State Department official

From CNN's Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler

In this file photo from April 22, Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during his meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington, DC. (Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

US diplomats will return to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their meeting in Kyiv Sunday, a senior State Department official said.

The diplomats will “start with day trips into Lviv" and "graduate to potentially other parts of the country and ultimately, resume (their) presence in Kyiv,” the State Department official said.

Blinken, who traveled to Kyiv alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, also said US President Joe Biden will nominate Bridget Brink as the US Ambassador to Ukraine, according to the State Department official.

The post has been without a confirmed ambassador since Marie Yovanovitch was recalled in May 2019. Brink is the current US ambassador to Slovakia.

12:55 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

Russia says a fire has broken out at an oil depot in its Bryansk region

From CNN’s Hannah Ritchie and Isa Soares

A fire has broken out at an oil depot in the Bryansk region of Russia, state news agency TASS reported Monday citing government sources.

“The Emergency Situations Ministry has confirmed there’s a fire. There’s also a confirmation that it’s the fuel tanks," TASS reported, citing the government’s press office, which also said first responders were on their way to the scene.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry in Bryansk received reports of the fire at 2am Moscow time, according to TASS. The ministry sent rescue teams to the scene and these confirmed the fire was at an oil depot, it said.

The cause of the fire remains unclear.

Some context: On April 14, Russia’s top law enforcement body said it was investigating an alleged Ukrainian helicopter strike in the Bryansk region, just days after the Kremlin accused Ukraine of mounting a helicopter attack on a fuel depot in the neighboring Belgorod region.

12:16 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

It's 7 a.m in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know

A view of the destruction in Mariupol, including the Azovstal steel plant, on April 22. (Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

This weekend, in the shadows of a devastating war, Ukrainians attempted to celebrate one of their most important holidays of the year, Orthodox Easter.

Here's the latest on Russia's invasion into Ukraine if you're just joining us:

US visit: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began. Blinken said during the meeting that US diplomats would return to Ukraine this week.
Mariupol under attack: Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Russian forces were "continuously attacking" the encircled Azovstal steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol on Orthodox Easter Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed earlier this week that Russia forces had achieved the "liberation" of Mariupol, but ordered his forces to stop short of taking the Azovstal plant, the last major bastion of Ukrainian defense in the city.
Kherson: The military head of the south-central city of Kryvyi Rih said Sunday that Ukraine had observed preparations for a possible offensive by Russian forces from the Kherson region, adding defenses were being bolstered in the area. In televised remarks, Oleksandr Vilkul said Russian forces were "forming an offensive strike formation in our direction in the Kherson region." Vilkul said the Kryvyi Rih garrison was in a state of readiness and had defenses prepared.
UN visit: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “will be received by President Vladimir Putin” on Tuesday in Moscow, after having a working meeting and lunch with the foreign minister of Russia, the UN said. He is also expected to meet President Zelensky on Thursday in Ukraine, according to a UN spokesperson.
Forcible deportation: Russia has forcibly deported Mariupol citizens to Primorsky Krai in Russia's Far East region, according to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Lyudmyla Denisova said volunteers told her a train arrived in the city of Nakhodka on April 21 with 308 Ukrainians from Mariupol, including mothers with young children, people with disabilities and students.
Russia's onslaught: An adviser to President Zelensky's administration said Sunday that Russia was "trying to depopulate the east of Ukraine," amid heavy fighting there. Earlier this week, Russia revealed that the goal of its invasion of Ukraine is to take "full control" over southern Ukraine as well as the eastern Donbas region, which has been the front line of the country's conflict with Russia since 2014.

12:28 a.m. ET, April 25, 2022

US Secretaries Blinken and Austin make unannounced trip to Ukraine to meet Zelensky

From CNN's Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler

Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards a plane for departure, Saturday, April 23, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (Alex Brandon/Pool/AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced trip to Kyiv on Sunday where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began.

Though Zelensky announced the visit in a press conference Saturday, US officials had declined to comment.

While in Kyiv, Blinken and Austin met Zelensky, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, and Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky for an extended, roughly 90-minute bilateral meeting, a senior State Department official said.

Blinken said US diplomats would return to Ukraine this week, the senior State Department official said, in a strong message of solidarity from the United States.

Blinken also relayed that US President Joe Biden would nominate Bridget Brink as US Ambassador to Ukraine, according to the senior State Department official. The post that has been without a confirmed ambassador since Marie Yovanovitch was recalled in May 2019. Brink is the current US ambassador to Slovakia.

In addition, Blinken and Austin discussed the deliveries of recent US military assistance to Ukraine, the ongoing training for Ukrainian soldiers, and the Biden administration’s intention to provide $713 million in additional foreign military financing to help Ukraine transition to NATO-capable systems, according to the senior State Department official and a senior Defense Department official.

Both officials briefed press who traveled to the region shortly before Blinken and Austin were due to arrive in Kyiv; the traveling US press corps did not travel with the secretaries to the Ukrainian capital.

In the background briefing, the officials made clear that the US military would still not be involved directly in the war. “The President has been very clear there will be no US troops fighting in Ukraine and that includes the skies over Ukraine,” the defense official said.

“This visit does not portend actual involvement by US forces,” they added.

11:23 p.m. ET, April 24, 2022

What we know about the situation in Mariupol

A woman walks out of the Svyato-Troitsky church during the Orthodox Easter service, amid Ukraine-Russia conflict, in Mariupol, on April 24. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Russian forces were "continuously attacking" the encircled Azovstal steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol on Orthodox Easter Sunday. The site has become one of the last significant holdouts of Ukrainian forces in the city, and is sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians.

Here's what we know about the situation:

Sunday bombardment: Russian forces continued to attack the city on Sunday, Ukrainian Capt. Svyatoslav Palamar said in an Easter message. "The enemy continues to drop aerial bombs, ships fire artillery, cannons fire, enemy tanks continue to hit, infantry tries to assault," he said.
Who is still fighting there: Troops of Azov — originally formed as a nationalist volunteer battalion but subsequently folded into the Ukrainian military — continue to hold out in the besieged Azovstal plant, along with other Ukrainian forces. The situation at the plant is “close to a catastrophe," Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the CEO of the company that owns the plant, told CNN on Thursday
What about civilians: Ukrainian officials estimate that 100,000 civilians require evacuation from the devastated city. In the plant civilians have sheltered for weeks and supplies are running low. On Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said there were "about 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded servicemen there."
"I want to see the sun": For women and children stuck in the bunker of the Azovstal steelworks, daylight is a rarity. "I want to get out of here and see the sun. We’ve been here for two months now and I want to see the sun," said one boy.
Red Cross: The International Committee of the Red Cross said that "immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access" to Mariupol is "urgently needed." The ICRC said on Sunday it is “deeply alarmed by the situation in Mariupol, where the population is in dire need of assistance.” The ICRC has made several attempts to evacuate civilians from the city, saying "each hour that passes has a terrible human cost."
Forcible deportation: Russia has forcibly deported Mariupol citizens to Primorsky Krai in Russia's Far East region, according to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Lyudmyla Denisova said volunteers told her a train arrived in the city of Nakhodka on April 21 with 308 Ukrainians from Mariupol, including mothers with young children, people with disabilities and students.
Who controls Mariupol? Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed earlier this week that Russian forces had achieved the "liberation" of Mariupol, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied that the city is in Russian control, saying Ukrainian defenders continue to resist there.
Zelensky warns Putin: Zelensky said Saturday that if Ukrainians in the besieged city of Mariupol are killed by Russian forces, and if Russia organizes "pseudo" referendums in occupied territories, Ukraine will stop negotiations with the Russian side.