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11 mins ago
Seven evacuation corridors are expected to open in Ukraine this Saturday
By Niamh Kennedy
Passengers are seen through a bus window as a convoy of 30 buses carrying evacuees from Mariupol and Melitopol arrive at the registration center in Zaporizhia on April 1, 2022. - (Photo by EMRE CAYLAK/AFP via GettyImages)
Seven evacuation corridors along key routes in Ukraine are expected to open this Saturday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Announcing the corridors in a Facebook post on Saturday, Vereshchuk said the list includes the route from the besieged southern city of Mariupol to the government-controlled city of Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine.
The private transport will travel along the evacuation route, stopping at Mangush, Berdyansk, Tokmak, Vasylivka and Kamyanske, before reaching the final destination of Zaporizhia.
Vereshchuk announced in a video message Friday night that a convoy of 42 buses traveling from the southern city of Berdyansk, carrying residents of the besieged city of Mariupol, made it past a key Russian checkpoint and was headed to Zaporizhia.
That convoy arrived in Zaporizhia later that night.
Vereshchuk hailed the arrival as a success, following efforts by the Ukrainian government to try to "open the corridors from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia" since March 5.
A total of 6,266 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities on Friday, including 1,431 people who moved from the southern cities of Berdiansk and Melitopol in their own vehicles to Zaporizhia through evacuation corridors, according to Vereshcuk.
He added that of that number, 771 people originally arrived in Mariupol.
A route for buses and private vehicles from Berdyansk to Zaporizhia is also expected to operate on Saturday, with stops planned in Tokmak, Vasylivka and Kamyanske.
Evacuation routes will also be opened from the town of Rubizhne in the separatist-controlled Lugansk region to Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, also controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
The remaining routes will operate from Nizhny to Bakhmut, Severodonetsk to Bakhmut, Popasna to Bakhmut, and Lysychansk to Bakhmut.
CNN's Nathan Hodge and Julia Presniakova contributed to this article.
14 mins ago
Russia attacked major oil refinery in Ukraine, says its military
By Radina Gigova, Nathan Hodge, Jake Kwon
Russian forces attacked a major Ukrainian oil refinery in a series of attacks on Saturday morning, according to a spokesman for the country's military.
The refinery, in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, was attacked by "high-precision, long-range air and sea weapons," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
Konashenkov said the Russian military had destroyed gasoline and diesel storage facilities supplying Ukrainian troops in the country's central and eastern regions.
Russia also attacked military airfields in Poltava and Dnipro, cities east of Kremenchuk, using high-precision aerial missiles, Konashenkov said.
What Ukraine says: Dmytro Lunin, the governor of the Ukrainian region of Poltava, where the refinery is located, said three Russian planes carried out the attack around 6 am local time.
Lunin said it was unknown if anyone was injured in the attack, but emergency services were putting out a fire on Saturday morning.
Lunin also said that four Russian missiles hit other targets in Poltava around 2 a.m.
Ukraine's largest oil company, Ukrnafta, operates an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, according to the company.
A little background: The attack on the oil refinery comes a day after the Kremlin accused Kyiv of mounting a helicopter attack on a civilian fuel depot inside Russian territory.
Images of the facility engulfed in flames have appeared on social media.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry has neither confirmed nor denied the attack, and President Volodymyr Zelensky declined to comment on the attack when asked about it during an interview with Fox News.
So far, CNN is unable to verify this claim and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told CNN that it has no information about the incident.
Russia has targeted fuel storage facilities around Ukraine in recent days.
20 mins ago
Russian forces have withdrawn from Antonov airport on the outskirts of Kyiv, satellite images confirm.
By Paul S. Murphy
A satellite overview shows the abandoned Antonov airfield.
(Maxar Technologies)
New satellite images show that Russian forces have withdrawn from Antonov Airport in Hostomel, about 29 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The images, taken Thursday by Maxar Technologies, confirm earlier information from a US Department of Defense official, who told CNN they believed the Russian military had likely left the airport.
Earlier satellite images showed the Russians had built protective earthen berms around military vehicles and artillery positions after weeks of digging at the airport.
Now only the berms remain.
First Russian Victory:
The capture of Antonov Airfield was the first major victory achieved by the Russians on the first day of the war, February 24.
Several transport and attack helicopters ambushed the base, and the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there;
CNN witnessed some of the intense shooting at the base.
Since then, the Ukrainian forces stood strong against the Russian advance;
they never got closer to the west of Kyiv.
Heavy firefights broke out along the Irpin River and the towns of Irpin and Bucha, just south of the airbase and Hostomel.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a series of videos praising the ease with which they claimed to have taken the air base.
Russian state media echoed those claims, even traveling with troops around the airport as proof of how safe the area was.
Now the abandonment is yet another example of Russia's declining military success around the Ukrainian capital.
war in ukraine