Live blog: More than 37,000 missing in Ukraine amid war with Russia

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

1448 GMT — Ukraine has identified almost 37,000 people, including military personnel, who are unaccounted for since Russia began its war in February 2022, warning the actual figure may be "much higher".

Calculating the exact number of missing is difficult, as Russian forces still occupy around a fifth of the country and neither side regularly releases data on military casualties.

"Almost 37,000 people are considered missing — children, civilians and military. These figures may be much higher," Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said.

He said Ukraine and the Red Cross had identified about 1,700 people "illegally detained" by Russia, which he accused of "abducting civilians" since 2014, when war with Moscow-backed separatists in the country's east first broke out.

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1715 GMT — Yellen says it's important to unlock value of Russian assets to aid Ukraine

US and its Group of Seven (G7) allies continue to explore a range of possibilities to unlock the value of nearly $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said.

Yellen said the United States and the G7 were absolutely committed to Ukraine's support, and she urged Congress to approve urgently needed military and budgetary support.

"This is a humanitarian and moral imperative, and also an economic war, given the war's significant negative impact on economies around the world," Yellen said in a news conference on the sidelines of meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington.

1407 GMT — Ukraine's Zelenskyy signs new army draft law to reinforce exhausted troops

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed into law a bill overhauling army mobilisation rules, according to the parliamentary website, as Ukraine seeks to address acute troop shortages in its fight against Russia.

The law will come into force a month after it is officially published.

It obliges men to update their draft data with the authorities, boosts payments to those who volunteer, and adds new punishment for draft dodging.

1019 GMT — Ukraine 'ran out' of missiles to defend key plant: Zelenskyy

Russia was able to destroy a key power plant serving Kiev because Ukraine ran out of defensive missiles, Zelenskyy has said.

For three-and-a-half weeks, Russia has launched near-continuous strikes on Ukraine's power grid, leaving over a million people without electricity.

The Trypilska thermal power station, one of the biggest electricity suppliers to the Kiev region, was destroyed by Russian missiles on April 11.

"There were 11 missiles flying. We destroyed the first seven. Four destroyed Trypilska. Why? Because there were zero missiles," Zelenskyy said in an interview with US channel PBS.

"We ran out of missiles to defend Trypilska," he said.

0931 GMT — Germany's Scholz seeks Chinese role in 'just peace' for Ukraine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he hoped Berlin and Beijing could help achieve a "just peace" in Ukraine as he met President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital.

Meeting with Xi at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Tuesday, Scholz told the Chinese leader he hoped to discuss "how we can contribute more to a just peace in Ukraine".

Scholz told Xi that "the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and Russia's armament have a very significant negative impact on security in Europe", according to a recording provided by the chancellor's office.

"They directly affect our core interests," he told Xi, adding they "damage the entire international order because they violate a principle of the United Nations Charter".

0840 GMT — Russia detains man over attack on Ukraine defector

Moscow authorities have detained a Russian man for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a former Ukrainian security officer who defected shortly before Russia's Ukraine offensive, the security service said.

Vasily Prozorov, the latest ex-Ukrainian official to be apparently targeted in Russia, was wounded last week in a car bomb near Moscow, where he relocated in 2019, citing "ideological" reasons.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said they had detained a man born in 1983 who was working for Ukraine's security services and planted an explosive device under Prozorov's car.

0051 GMT — US House to vote on long-delayed Ukraine aid package

US House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that his Republican-controlled chamber would vote this week on separate aid bills for Ukraine and Israel after stalling for months over pressure from his party's right wing.

Johnson, leading a razor-thin Republican majority in the House, has refused to allow a vote in his chamber on the so-called security supplemental, despite urgent pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other American allies.

"We won't be voting on the Senate supplemental in its current form," Johnson told reporters Monday evening, "but we will vote on each of these measures separately in four different pieces."

2200 GMT — Ukraine nuclear plant 'dangerously close' to accident

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is dangerously close to suffering an accident because of recent attacks on it, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency has warned.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the attacks over the last week, but it is "impossible" at the moment to prove who is behind them, said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi.

"These reckless attacks must cease immediately," Grossi told a meeting of the UN Security Council.

"Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where nuclear safety is already compromised," said Grossi, whose agency has staff deployed at the facility.

2150 GMT — Biden renews Ukraine aid plea during Czech PM visit

US President Joe Biden has made a fresh plea to Congress to pass aid for Ukraine during a visit by the Czech prime minister as a fight brews about whether it should be linked to funds for Israel.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he aims to advance wartime aid to Israel this week following Iran's weekend retaliation, but the White House says it will block any bill that contains nothing for Kiev.

"Congress has to pass continued funding" for Ukraine ", and they have to do it now," Democrat Biden said as he hosted Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the White House.

Biden hailed the Czech leader as a "great ally" for his strong support for Ukraine since Russia's 2022 offensive, including securing nearly one million rounds of ammunition for Kiev as US funding dries up.

For our live updates from Monday, April 15, click here.