The United Nations says it’s mobilising an expert team to coordinate the evacuation of a besieged steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to the evacuation of civilians from the plant at a face-to-face meeting with UN secretary general António Guterres yesterday.

The Azovstal steel works is the last pocket of organised Ukrainian resistance in the port city, with an estimated 2,000 troops and 1,000 civilians said to be holed up in bunkers there.

UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters that staff now need to work with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to plan out how the evacuation will work on the ground.

Source: AP

European leaders have denounced Russia’s decision to cut off gas supplies to Poland as “blackmail”.

Yesterday morning Russian gas firm Gazprom stopped supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, citing the countries’ failure to pay for their supplies in roubles.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said “it comes as no surprise that the Kremlin uses fossil fuels to try to blackmail us”.

She said that the Commission has been preparing for this eventuality with its members states and international partners.

Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Republika Television that the country will not suffer from a shortage of gas, and that Poland was implementing the “most radical” plan to abandon Russian fossil fuels.

Source: Reuters, polskieradio24.pl

Poland’s air traffic control authority has said that today it will strive to present a joint position with the controllers’ union, as serious disruption to flights looms.

Yesterday the two parties reached agreement over the controllers’ demands on flight safety issues.

Work continued late last night on a proposal around pay, with the union looking for an increase in average salary from 33,000 zlotys a month to 80,000 zlotys, according to government spokesperson Piotr Müller.

If an agreement isn’t reached, the numbers of flights over Poland will be drastically reduced from this Sunday (1 May).

Source: polskieradio24.pl

The British Council is offering free scholarships to those who want help to pass the international English language exam.

1,000 places are available on the Santander Language Scholarship programme, which will give students free use of the British Council’s e-learning tools in the first stage.

For the second stage, 250 students will receive online lessons from British Council teachers.

All adults living in Poland are eligible, and applications must be made by 19 June.

Source: British Council

Siamese twins were born in Gdańsk yesterday.

The two brothers, Mieszko and Leszek, are joined at the belly and share one heart.

They were born at the St. Wojciech hospital in the Zaspa district, and are under specialist medical care.

The Pomeranian Children’s Hospice, which announced the births on social media, called the event “a great miracle”.

Siamese twins occur in around one in 100,000 births in Europe.

Source: trojmiasto.pl, dziennikbaltycki.pl

Weather

This afternoon will see the sun coming out from behind the clouds in Gdańsk, with the weather staying dry, and a high of 11°C / 51°F. It’ll be chilly overnight with a low of 3°C / 37°F, before another day of sun and scattered clouds tomorrow. Saturday looks like it should be clearer, with a sunny afternoon in store.

Andrew Carter