April 18, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russian forces have been bombarding the Azovstal steel plant, a bastion of the Ukrainian defense, in the southeastern port city of Mariupol, said Petro Andriushchenko, a mayoral adviser, who accused Russia of trying to trap those defending the city.

Ukrainian forces are continuing to resist Russian attacks in the city after rejecting a deadline to surrender.

"The fighting in the Left Bank (Livoberezhnyi) district has been ongoing all day long," Andriushchenko said in a statement on Telegram. "The occupiers continue to fire on and bomb Azovstal with all weapons."

"Realizing that the defenders are not going to give up, the occupiers' plans are clear," Andriushchenko said.

CNN cannot independently verify those claims.

Andriushchenko previously said that Mariupol would be closed for entry and exit starting on Monday, with Russian forces issuing passes for movement.

Andriushchenko also said Ukrainian men would be subject to "filtration" — relocated for screening by Russian forces. CNN cannot independently verify the claims.

Andriushchenko is not in Mariupol but works to gather information collected from people in the city, which has been under a weekslong siege. 

Ukraine's military took a defiant stand this weekend -- refusing to give in to Russia's demand for Kyiv's troops in the port city of Mariupol to surrender -- at the same time that US President Joe Biden and his allies face a new precipice in deciding how far the US can go in arming the embattled country.

This comes as Russia signals that it may take more aggressive action to stop the flow of weapons from the US and NATO.

There are new worries about how quickly Ukraine could run out of ammunition as heavier fighting intensifies in Donbas, where Russia is trying to encircle and cut off Ukrainian forces in their quest to control that region.

As he tries to keep the pressure on allies to lend greater support in this next phase, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is arguing that the West must view that fight as a critical pivot point in curbing the unbridled ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and demonstrating the West's commitment to defending democracy against a voracious autocratic power.

Zelensky warned that the battle ahead in Donbas "can influence the course of the whole war" and said his country has no intention of giving up territory in the eastern part of Ukraine to end the war during an exclusive interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that aired Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

If Russia is able to capture the Donbas region, Zelensky warned, it is entirely possible that Putin could renew his attempt to take control of Kyiv. When pressed by Tapper on whether he was satisfied with the US announcement last week of another $800 million in military aid to bolster Ukraine's forces in the Donbas, Zelensky replied, "of course we need more."

"There is a full-scale war ongoing today, so we still need a lot more than what we have today ... We do not have technical advantages over our enemy. We're just not on the same level there."

But even as that latest aid has begun arriving in the region, CNN's Barbara Starr reported this weekend that there is rising concern about how quickly Ukraine could deplete its stores of ammunition in this next battle.

Though the US announced that it was sending 18 155mm Howitzer cannons and 40,000 artillery rounds as part of its latest package, Starr reported that a US official warned that the aid could be used up within a matter of days as heavy fighting intensifies in Donbas.

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Control over the city of Kreminna has been "lost," according to Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, as Russian forces try to break Ukrainian resistance in the country's east.

"At the moment, control over the city of Kreminna is lost" and heavy fighting continues, Haidai said on Telegram.

As residents tried to flee in their own vehicles, Russian forces opened fire on a car carrying civilians, said Haidai.

"Four people died. One seriously injured person is still at the scene," he said.

Russian forces have been trying to advance toward the borders of both Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbas region. Russia's focus has shifted to the east since its failure to gain territory around the capital Kyiv, and other parts of the center and north of the country.

Earlier Monday, Russian forces entered the town with "a huge amount of equipment," said Haidai, claiming that "the offensive has begun."

More people entered Ukraine from Poland on Friday and Saturday than the number of people who crossed the border the other way, according to the Polish Border Guard, in a first since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.

The Polish border agency recorded 22,000 people crossing into Ukraine from Poland on Saturday, with 19,200 people traveling the other way. 

On Friday the agency recorded 25,100 people entering Ukraine, and 24,400 people traveling into Poland. 

Some of those entering and exiting Ukraine are aid workers who cross the border frequently.

Some context: Over 2.7 million refugees have fled to Poland from Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the most of any country. 

As the focus of Russia’s war has shifted to eastern Ukraine, some of those who fled to Poland and other neighboring countries have returned to areas regained by Ukrainian forces.

Russian forces have entered Kreminna, a town in the eastern Luhansk region that has been bombarded for weeks as Russian forces push westwards in Donbas, a senior Ukrainian official said.

The Russians had entered the town with "a huge amount of equipment," he said.

The Russians have been trying to break Ukrainian resistance in Kreminna and a string of towns and cities in Luhansk as they try to advance towards the borders of both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions — the declared goal of President Vladimir Putin's "special military mission."

Evacuation was now impossible, Haidai said.

Haidai said the Olympus sports facility in Kreminna was "burning down" and that fire was now covering an area of 2,400 square meters.

Haidai said that elsewhere in the region two people had been killed and four injured in Zolote, while seven people had been recovered from the rubble of a building destroyed in Rubizhne. 

On Sunday evening, Russian forces fired at a police building in Lysychansk, Haidai said, injuring six policemen.

The shelling continues, he said.

Russian missile strikes on the city of Lviv hit a tire repair facility, destroying or damaging 40 cars, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said Monday on Telegram.

Citing preliminary information, Sadovyi said six people were dead and 11 injured, including one child, in a number of strikes on the city.

The blast wave shattered windows in a nearby hotel where internally displaced Ukrainians who evacuated from fighting were housed, Sadovyi said.

Six people were killed and eight injured, including one child, in Russian missile strikes on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Monday, according to Maksym Kozytskyy, the head of the Lviv regional military administration.

Fires have broken out and firefighting efforts were underway, Kozytskyy said, adding that details were still being gathered.

Some context: The city's Mayor Andrii Sadovyi had previously said there were five missile strikes on the city and a CNN team heard five explosions.

A member of Ukraine's parliament who met Pope Francis this weekend said the pontiff was overcome with emotion when told about the children who had died during Russia's invasion.

Maria Mezentseva, who is in Rome as part of a Ukrainian delegation, told CNN she personally informed the Pope "about the number of casualties among children."

Mezentseva also said the delegation received a "positive signal" about the possibility of Pope Francis visiting Ukraine.

Some context: At least 191 children have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian prosecutors said last week, and nearly 350 children have been injured.

Calls for peace: Pope Francis on Sunday said the world was marking an “Easter of war,” and called for peace in Ukraine, which he said has been dragged into a “cruel and senseless war.” 

Among the 100,000 people attending the Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square were several Ukrainian politicians, including Ivan Fedorov, the elected mayor of the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol who was detained by Russian forces last month and accused of terrorism offenses.

Two missiles hit the city of Dnipro in east-central Ukraine on Monday, the region's military governor said.

Valentyn Reznichenko, head of Dnipro's regional military administration, said on Telegram that the districts of Synelnykiv and Pavlograd had both been hit by what he termed "morning arrivals."

No casualties were reported in Pavlograd, Reznichenko said, but railway infrastructure had been destroyed.

Some context: Dnipro was hit by Russian missile strikes earlier in the war, when its airport was damaged. A missile strike in March put the runway out of use and damaged a terminal building, according to Reznichenko, and another strike on April 10 wiped out more of the airport.

Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP, said the April 10 strike had destroyed "everything around the airport."