April 7, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ten evacuation corridors have been agreed for Thursday, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced in a Facebook post.

In the Donetsk region, she said there would be one corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia for private vehicles.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, Vereshchuk said four corridors would open:

In the Luhansk region, five corridors were listed by Vereshchuk:

This comes after Vereshchuk said that 4,892 people were evacuated through evacuation corridors on Wednesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told CNN on Wednesday that a Red Cross convoy of buses and private cars carrying more than 500 civilians fleeing Mariupol had arrived in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Some background: While some evacuation attempts across Ukraine have been successful, others have been disrupted. Earlier this week, the ICRC said its aid workers were detained in Russian-held territory while attempting to evacuate desperate residents of Mariupol. They were later released.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, according to the State Department public schedule.

The two most recently met in person along with their defense department colleagues in Warsaw, Poland.

Kuleba met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday morning at NATO headquarters.

The meeting with Blinken is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. ET.

More than 2.5 million refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine have crossed the border into Poland, the Polish Border Guard said on Thursday.

While it is unclear how many of the 2.5 million refugees are still in Poland, an interior ministry spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that 700,000 Ukrainians had registered in a Polish database allowing refugees to take up employment or continue their education.

Those registering for the database "are mainly people who wish to stay in Poland," the spokesperson added.

More than 4.3 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion started on February 24, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In addition, more than 7.1 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine having been forced to flee their homes, according to the latest International Organization for Migration report.

Ukraine's anti-air defense shot down three cruise missiles Wednesday night, Secretary of Zaporizhzhia City Council Anatoly Kurtev announced on Telegram.

A CNN team in Zaporizhzhia heard what sounded like an aircraft and one loud explosion around 11 p.m. local time Wednesday.

Some context: The pace of civilian evacuations from the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia has escalated in the past week, after the nearby nuclear power station in Enerhodar was captured by Russian soldiers.

In a Facebook post last week, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian troops of committing a "terror attack" by intentionally firing at the power plant -- potentially risking the lives of millions.

Curfews have been announced in the vicinity of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, due to looting, a senior Ukrainian official said Thursday, adding that the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance remained a problem in areas recently wrested from Russian control.

An official statement from the Kyiv region's military governor announced a stricter curfew in Hostomel, near Bucha, ending at 6 a.m. local time on April 14.

Denysenko suggested that the Ukrainian government faces a staggering task to collect and dispose of mines and unexploded ordnance.

Australia is preparing to deliver more lethal aid to Ukraine following President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the nation’s parliament last week, its foreign ministry announced Thursday. 

"Australia has delivered five C-17 loads of military support -- lethal and non-lethal -- to Ukraine. We're in the process of preparing the Bushmasters that President Zelensky requested in his address to our parliament -- his momentous address -- last week. They will be transported as soon as possible," Foreign Minister Marise Payne said. 

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that additional military assistance would be sent to Ukraine following Zelensky's impassioned speech to the nation’s parliament last Thursday. 

The new package includes, "tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies," according to a statement from Morrison's office.  

In February, the Australian government committed to providing lethal and non-lethal military equipment, medical supplies, and financial assistance to support Ukraine, as well as contributing $3 million in US dollars to NATO’s Trust Fund. Since then, shipments of lethal aid -- including missiles, ammunition, and armored vehicles -- have made their way into the country. 

Australia has provided close to $70 million in US dollars in lethal aid to Ukraine since the war began.

Australia unveiled new sanctions on 67 Russian officials on Thursday, bringing the total number of sanctioned "individuals and entities" since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine "close to 600," according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The latest sanctions target prominent Russian businessmen, as well as senior military and government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, and senior Russian politician Alexander Babakov.

Among those in the latest listings is Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, named responsible for attacks on "innocent civilians," including the "bombing of the theater" in Mariupol.

"This latest round of sanctions follows the emergence of evidence of war crimes committed by Russia in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv," the statement said. "Australia condemns these atrocities in the strongest possible terms."

"The horror is almost unspeakable, and we see it every day. But I do think Australians can be proud of the effort that our country is making to support Ukraine," Foreign Minister Marise Payne told local radio station 2GB.

Some background: A chorus of world leaders have called for increased sanctions and war crimes investigations on Russia, following the alleged atrocities in the town of Bucha, northwest of the capital Kyiv.

Shortly after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Bucha, civilian bodies were found strewn across a street and a mass grave was discovered, with the mayor of the town saying that there could be up to 300 victims buried on site.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden declared "major war crimes" were being discovered in Ukraine as the White House announced new sanctions on Russia's largest financial institutions and a number of individuals tied to the Kremlin -- including Russian President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters.

The European Union’s top diplomat has expressed his hope that the bloc’s fifth round of sanctions against Russia will be agreed by Thursday or Friday.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the bloc is still looking at “the list of people and the sectors affected” but will hopefully agree on the final measures by “this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest,” he told reporters on his way into a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the bloc announced proposed plans for a five-pillar package of sanctions, including a ban on Russian coal imports and a full transaction ban on four key Russian banks.

A potential embargo on Russian oil “will be discussed on Monday” at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Borrell said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday the fifth package “will not be our last sanctions.”

Read more about the proposed EU sanctions:

RELATED

Europe is finally coming after Russia's energy

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, where NATO and G7 foreign ministers are meeting this week to discuss sanctions against Russia and ways to support Ukraine.

Providing Ukraine with weapons was the best way to “contain Putin and to defeat Russian army in Ukraine, in the territory of Ukraine so that the war does not spill over further,” Kuleba said.

He called on NATO and G7 Foreign Ministers to “put aside their hesitations, their reluctance to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” concluding that “as weird as it may sound, today weapons serve the purpose of peace.”

Speaking beside Kuleba, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO countries “are providing equipment support to you to uphold your right for self defense, which is enshrined in the UN Charter and it is an urgent need to further support Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg said he was certain that NATO will “address the need for more air defense systems, anti-tank weapons, lighter but also heavier weapons, and many different types of support to Ukraine.”

Ukraine-US meeting: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Kuleba on Thursday, according to the US State Department's public schedule.

The two last met in Warsaw in late March.

Blinken on Wednesday met with his NATO counterparts, plus foreign ministers from countries including Australia and Japan.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this post.