Ukrainian city Sumy has been rid of Russian forces, confirmed oblast governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky on Facebook.

The governor said that the region is clear of Russia’s forces, but that explosions may still be heard as rescue service workers dispose of ammunition left by the Russian military, reported The Kyiv Independent.

Mr Zhyvytsky added that the area is still unsafe and drivers should not drive on the sides of roads or back roads through forests.

A Fox News correspondent severely injured in Ukraine during an attack said that he felt “pretty damn lucky” to have survived the assault.

“To sum it up, I’ve lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other. One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown… but all in all I feel pretty damn lucky to be here – and it is the people who got me here who are amazing!” the state department correspondent Benjamin Hall said.

Mr Hall was in a vehicle with Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova last month when it came under heavy fire near Kyiv.

In the attack, Zakrzewski, 55, and Kuvshynova, 24, were killed.

Mr Hall shared a photo of himself in a Twitter post where he is seen on a stretcher, wearing an eye patch.

Raking Bucha and Borodyanka on Thursday, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia’s poor record in human rights is a threat to security and freedom on the planet.

“Russia has had nothing to do with the concept of human rights for a long time already. Maybe someday that will change. But so far, the Russian state and the Russian military are the greatest threat on the planet to freedom, to human security, to the concept of human rights as such,” Mr Zelensky said.

I added: “After Bucha, this is already obvious. And the work on dismantling the debris in Borodyanka has begun. It’s much worse there.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has once again pushed for bolder sanctions against Russia stating that the current economic restrictions are not enought to stop the war.

“There are certain results already. First of all they are manifested in the current against the Russian federation. But that’s the thing – the results are still “certain”. Not yet the ones needed to stop Russia. To stop the war,” the Ukrainian president said.

Referring to discussions in media around why sanctions are important, Mr Zelensky said, “…as if they are convincing themselves that they have introduced the right things, that there are enough restrictions.”

“But if the sanctions really worked one hundred percent, they would not have to explain in such detail why they are important. Therefore, I emphasize once again: more sanctions are needed. Even bolder sanctions are needed,” Mr Zelensky said.

Boris Johnson is set to meet the German Chancellor and discuss how to help European countries wean themselves off Russian gas following the attack on Ukraine.

The Prime Minister will host Olaf Scholz at Downing Street on Friday, with a press conference planned for the afternoon.

Mr Johnson is expected to offer assistance to Berlin, which is still heavily reliant on Russian gas, to reduce its dependence on Moscow’s energy exports in a bid to starve Vladimir Putin’s war machine of funds.

The Biden administration has levied sanctions against Russia’s military shipbuilding and diamond mining companies in a fresh round of restrictions, officials said on Thursday.

This includes United Shipbuilding Corporation, which along with its subsidiaries and board members, has been blacklisted and Alrosa — the world’s largest diamond mining company, the US treasury department said.

Alrosa accounts for nearly 90 per cent of Russia’s diamond mining capacity and diamonds account for Russia’s top 10 non-energy exports by value.

With the fresh sanctions, both the companies will now not be able to access the US financial system as a punitive measure from Washington against Moscow for invading Ukraine.

Radio messages between Russian military personnel discussing the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha have reportedly been intercepted by a German intelligence agency.

The BND agency presented its findings to the German parliament on Wednesday, according to the news magazine Der Spiegelwhich it claims include communications corresponding to known deaths.

Read the full story here by Emily Atkinson

Boris Johnson is set to meet the German chancellor later today as they look to discuss how to help European countries wean themselves off Russian gas following the attack on Ukraine.

The prime minister will host Olaf Scholz at Downing Street on Friday, with a press conference planned for the afternoon.

Mr Johnson is expected to offer assistance to Berlin, which is still heavily reliant on Russian gas, to reduce its dependence on Moscow’s energy exports in a bid to starve Vladimir Putin’s war machine of funds.

It comes after foreign secretary Liz Truss, following a meeting of Nato counterparts in Brussels on Thursday, said she hoped to see “more countries” commit to banning Russian energy imports.

Independent: ‘City that paid grim price for resistance’

Subway: ‘Human rights pariah: UN finally acts against Russia’

Financial Times: ‘Rusal becomes first Russian group to call for Bucha war crime inquiry’

The Telegraph: ‘Russians discuss killing Ukrainian civilians in intercepted radio messages’

More than 100 attacks on healthcare services have been recorded in Ukraine since the Russian invasion, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The 103 attacks – on 89 health facilities and 13 vehicles including ambulances – so far have claimed 73 lives and injured 51 people, it said.

“We are outraged that attacks on health care are continuing. Attacks on health care are a violation of international humanitarian law,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, at a press conference.

“Peace is the only way forward. I again call on the Russian Federation to stop the war.”