Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

The EU is calling on people to switch up their habits in order to use less energy, which it says will help to reduce reliance on Russian gas. The EU imports roughly 40% of its natural gas from Russia.

The European Commission and the International Energy Agency has compiled put together a list of energy-saving measures and say they could save households an average of up to 500 euros ($540) annually.

“People across Europe have helped Ukraine by making donations or aiding refugees directly, and many would like to do more. Most households are also experiencing higher energy bills because of the energy crisis exacerbated by the war,” the Commission and IEA said in a joint statement.

“Using less energy is not only an immediate way for Europeans to reduce their bills, it also supports Ukraine by reducing the need for Russian oil and gas, thereby helping to reduce the revenue streams funding the invasion,” the organizations added.

“If all EU citizens were to follow the recommendations below at home and in their workplace, it would save 220 million barrels of oil a year, which is enough to fill 120 supertankers, and around 17 billion cubic metres of gas, which is enough to heat almost 20 million homes,” the IAE said on its website.

The list of measures encourages people to:

• Turn down heating and use less air conditioning
• Adjust the boiler’s settings
• Work from home
• Use the car more economically
• Reduce speed on highways, with the car air conditioning turned down
• Leave the car at home on Sundays in large cities
• Walk or bike for short journeys instead of driving
• Use public transport
• Skip the plane, take the train

— Natasha Turak

The mayor of Mariupol has called for a full evacuation of the besieged southern port city, which Russia says it has captured, except for the Azovstal steel plant complex, where a few thousand Ukrainian troops and civilians are holding out. It has been the site of the heaviest shelling since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, cut off from electricity, water and food for nearly two months.

The city has lost roughly 80% of its pre-war population of around half a million people. Ukraine’s government now says that satellite imagery shows mass graves in the area.

“We need only one thing – the full evacuation of the population. About 100,000 people remain in Mariupol,” Mayor Vadym Boichenko said on national television, according to Reuters.

— Natasha Turak

Intense fighting continues in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, with Putin’s decision to blockade the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol likely aimed at freeing up his forces for fighting elsewhere, the U.K.’s Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Twitter.

A few thousand Ukrainian troops and civilians are still holed up inside the plant, and several attempts to create humanitarian evacuation corridors have failed.

“Despite Russia’s renewed focus they are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict,” the U.K.’s ministry wrote. “In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, they have resorted to transiting inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair.”

— Natasha Turak

As many as 9,000 people may be buried in a mass grave in a village outside the city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said in a statement on Telegram.

Satellite images captured by the U.S. defense contractor Maxar show mass graves 20 times bigger than a cemetery discovered this month in the city of Bucha, the Mariupol City Council said, according to NBC translation. The site in the village of Mangush could hold 3,000 to 9,000 — and 70 bodies have been found so far, the city council.

Maxar said the graves appeared toward the end of March and expanded in April.

CNBC and NBC were not able to independently confirm the report.

“The biggest war crime of the 21st century was committed in Mariupol. This is the new Babyn Yar,” said Mariupol’s Mayor Vadym Boychenko, referring to the Kyiv ravine where Nazi forces killed an estimated 33,000 Jews in 1941.

“And now Putin is destroying Ukrainians. He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol. And this requires a strong reaction from the entire civilized world. Anything needs to stop the genocide,” said the mayor.

The embattled city of Mariupol has been hit especially hard as victory there will be a prized target for Russia. The capture of the southern port city will give Moscow control over much of Ukraine’s southern coast and provide a land corridor to Crimea, which the Kremlin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

— Chelsea Ong

Russia rejected an Easter truce proposal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

“This shows very well how the leaders of this state actually treat the Christian faith, one of the most joyful and important holidays,” he added, though he said he still hopes for peace.

Earlier, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a four-day pause to the fighting in Ukraine during the Orthodox Christian Easter to evacuate civilians and allow humanitarian aid to be sent into needy areas.

Zelenskyy also said Mariupol continues to resist Russia, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim of victory in the city.

— Chelsea Ong