• More than five million people have now fled Ukraine, the United Nations refugee agency says.
• Ukraine calls on the Red Cross to establish contact with 500,000 people it says have been deported to Russia.
• Russia announces it test-launched its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile.
• US confirms it has begun training Ukrainian forces on howitzer artillery systems, part of an $800m weapons package to help Kyiv defend against Moscow’s eastern offensive.
• Luhansk governor says Russia now controls 80% of the region.
• New Russian missile will make enemies ‘think twice’, says Putin
• ‘Our last days’: Ukraine commander in Mariupol appeals for help
• Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 56

Finance ministers promise Ukraine more than $24 billion

G7 finance ministers have said they have provided and pledged together with international community additional support to Ukraine exceeding $24 billion for 2022 and beyond, adding that they were prepared to do more as needed.

In a statement, the ministers said they regretted Russia’s participation in international forums, including G20, International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this week.“International organisations and multilateral fora should no longer conduct their activities with Russia in a business-as-usual manner,” the ministers said.

Xi repeats China’s opposition to ‘unilateral sanctions’

Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated China’s opposition to unilateral sanctions and “long-arm jurisdiction.

China has repeatedly criticised western sanctions, including those against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, but has been careful not to provide assistance to Moscow that could lead to sanctions being imposed on Beijing.During made his comments in a video speech to the annual Boao Forum for Asia gathering on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

Russia will stop the war when NATO stops ‘capturing’ Ukraine: diplomat

A senior Moscow diplomat has said the war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a “special military operation”, will end when NATO countries stop threatening Russia by using Ukraine for their own purposes.“The special military operation will end when its tasks are completed. These include the protection of the civilian population of Donbas, the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine, as well as the elimination of threats to Russia emanating from Ukrainian territory due to its being captured by NATO countries,” Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Second Department for CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] Affairs of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told state news agency TASS.

Russia says Ukraine ‘cynically disrupted’ Azovstal evacuation

Russia has blamed Ukraine for disrupting the evacuation of civilians trapped in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, state newspaper Izvestia has reported.

Ukraine said the evacuation did not go ahead due to Russian forces not observing the ceasefire. About 1,000 civilians are trapped in the steel plant with Ukrainian fighters who have not met several of Russia’s deadlines for them to surrender.

The head of the National Defence Control Centre, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, told Izvestia the Russian military had opened a humanitarian corridor for civilians to exit the plant on April 20 at 2pm local time (11:00 GMT). “In addition, the Ukrainian military and foreign mercenaries were asked to lay down their arms and voluntarily surrender to the Russian side,” he said.“We are forced to state that the declared humanitarian operation by the Kyiv authorities was cynically disrupted, no one used the indicated corridor,” Mizintsev told the paper.

‘Liberated’ cities returning to life, Zelenskyy says

While the war in eastern Ukraine escalates, Zelenskyy has said 934 Ukrainian settlements had been liberated and were returning to normal life.He said police had resumed work in 435 settlements, local government started working in 431 communities, and humanitarian headquarters were launched in 361 localities.“We are gradually restoring people’s access to medical and educational services, to social protection bodies. We are restoring road infrastructure, electricity, gas and water supply,” he said.But he added mines and shells that hadn’t exploded were still a threat and urged citizens to be careful and not enter territory that had not yet been inspected.

‘Extraordinary situation’ as G20 members walk out on Russia

Top officials from the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada walked out on Russia’s representatives at a Group of 20 meeting on Wednesday, and many members spoke to condemn Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the Reuters news agency has reported.Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who chaired the daylong meeting of G20 finance officials in Washington, DC, said this was an “extraordinary situation” adding it had not been “business as usual”.US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told attendees she strongly disapproved of a senior Russian official’s presence at the meeting before she walked out, two sources told Reuters. She was joined by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde.

Russia now controls 80% of Luhansk: governor

The Luhansk governor has said Russian forces now control 80% of the region – one of the two regions that make up the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.One of Russia’s stated goals is to expand the territory in the Donbas under the control of Moscow-backed separatists. Before Russia invaded on  February 24, Kyiv controlled 60% of the Luhansk region.Governor Serhiy Haidai said the Russians, who renewed their offensive this week in eastern and southern Ukraine, have strengthened their attacks in the Luhansk region.After seizing the town of Kreminna, Haidai said Russians now are threatening the cities of Rubizhne and Popasna, and he has urged all residents to evacuate immediately.

International experts release white paper on further sanctions against Russia

A group of international experts, in collaboration with Ukraine, have today released a white paper outlining advice on how governments and companies can strengthen sanctions against Russia.A statement from the group – led by Ukraine’s Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Yermak and former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul – says it is “united in believing that sanctions … should be expanded as quickly as possible until Putin withdraws Russian armed forces from Ukraine”.The plan advises Russia and Belarus to be recognised as state sponsors of terrorism and Russia’s armed forces as a terrorist organisation.Other recommendations include banning import and export flows of Russian crude oil, oil products, gas, and coal “to and from the democratic world, while minimising the leakage through secondary sanctions”. The group also suggests that the European Union immediately commit to ending all trade with Russia and Belarus in petroleum products.