Russia-Ukraine war live updates: War to slash economy by nearly half as rockets destroy Dnipro airport

The Independent: Murder, mass graves, and torture: the devastating story of Russia’s retreat

i: Landmines at Chernobyl

The Telegraph: Russia calls up retired soldiers after ‘mounting losses’

Financial Times (International edition): Kyiv urges energy traders to stem ‘blood money’ feeding Putin’s war

The Metro: How Boris took train to Ukraine

The Scotsman: Ukrainians dig in ahead of expected Russian offensive on eastern front

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US will “not hesitate” to expel additional Russian diplomats from the country for suspected espionage activity after the administration removed 12 Russian officials in February.

Read the full story here by Alex Woodward:

A series of powerful explosions were reportedly heard in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv.

Similar blasts were also heard in Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea in the southern part of the country, Ukrainian media reported.

Reuters was not able to immediately verify the reports.

A total of 2,824 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors today.

The number includes 213 residents of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.

The numbers were announced by Ukraine’s deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post.

Russia’s GDP is forecast by the World Bank to contract 11.2 per cent this year.

It comes as Russia is on the brink of defaulting on its foreign debt repayments for the first time in 100 years.

Last year, Russia’s economy grew by 4.7 per cent.

Ukraine’s GDP is expected to contract by 45.1 per cent this year as a result of the ongoing Russian invasion, the World Bank said.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he would meet with Putin on Monday in Moscow for the Russian leader’s first face-to-face meeting with a European Union counterpart since Russia’s invasion began on 24 February.

In a tweet, Mr Nehammer said: “I will meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow tomorrow. We are militarily neutral, but has a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against the Ukraine . He has to stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, a ceasefire & full investigation of war crimes.”

Wladimir Klitschko warned that the whole world is at risk of danger if Russia succeeds in its invasion of Ukraine.

He told ABC News: “Ukraine is just the beginning. They will roll further, and if we’re not going to stop them in Ukraine, they will go further.

“If we fail, the rest of the world, the free world will fail.”

The former boxer made the comments in the presence of his brother, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Wladimir called for more military aid for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

He also warned that Russian troops could return to Kyiv to attempt to capture it, after it had failed over the course of six weeks to do so.

His brother Vitali said: “That’s why we appreciate for humanitarian support, for political support and weapon support. It’s very, very important for us in this critical time and we see who [are] real friends of Ukraine.”

The death toll from a missile strike on the train station in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, has risen to 57 people.

This was announced by Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Mr Kyrylenko said 109 people were wounded in the attack on the railway station while people were being evacuated from the city.

Earlier, the death toll stood at 52 – including five children.

Ukraine said Russia was responsible for the attack.Moscow has denied responsibility, saying the missile was Ukrainian.

Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that it had carried out the first staff rotation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in three weeks.

This is according to IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi, who also said the agency would send a mission to the plant “soon” to assist in returning in to normality.

Russian forces occupied the defunct power station north of Kyiv soon after invading Ukraine on 24 February.

But earlier this month, Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, said the troops had left the plant and were heading towards the border with Belarus.

Ukraine told IAEA that the premises were “destroyed and the analytical instruments stolen, broken or otherwise disabled”.

An information and communication centre was also damaged and the automated transmission of radiation monitoring data disabled, Ukraine also reported.

“While it is very positive that Ukrainian authorities are gradually restoring regulatory control of the Chornobyl site, it is clear that a lot of work remains to return the site to normality,” Mr Gossi said in the statement.

“As soon as it is possible, I will head an IAEA mission to Chornobyl to conduct a radiological assessment there, resume remote safeguards monitoring of the facility and its nuclear material and deliver equipment.”

Finland is ready to tighten sanctions against its neighbour Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

This is according to PM Sanna Marin in an interview with Finnish media channel Yle Ykkösaamu.

She said: “Every day people die in Ukraine. We have to make the war stop. We have to be prepared to be flexible in our own daily lives.

“Finland supports tougher sanctions, including those covering energy policy. Forty-five days of war is 45 days more than necessary. Russia is waging a dishonorable war, cruel and inhumane, and it must stop.”