As it happened: Scott Morrison set to call 2022 election as soon as Friday; floods in Sydney spark evacuation orders; Western allies announce new Russian sanctions

That’s where we’ll leave today’s national live blog coverage.

If you’re just catching up on the news of the day, here’s a summary of the main stories.

• The UN General Assembly will vote this evening on whether to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council.
  • The United States announced new measures against Russia, including sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and Russia’s Sberbank, and a ban on Americans investing in Russia.
  • Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called on Nato allies to supply more weapons to bolster Ukraine’s war effort, saying there are three items on his agenda for the NATO meeting , “weapons, weapons and weapons”. Mr Kuleba did not specify whether Ukraine needed offensive or defensive weapons, saying any, including tanks, missiles or armoured vehicles, would be welcome in the fight against Russia.
  • Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday that Australia was imposing sanctions on 67 Russians over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
  • The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday its missiles had destroyed four fuel storage facilities in the Ukrainian cities of Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Chuhuiv overnight (but the claim has not yet been independently verified).

• The country recorded 33 deaths and 63,584 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, with Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria all reporting more than 10,000 new cases.

• United Australia Party’s Clive Palmer addressed the National Press Club today, saying he did not consider the 2019 election a failure despite spending $89 million and not winning a single seat. He said he expected to spend $70 million this election and outlined a couple of policies the party is proposing to pay down the debt and increase the country’s economic growth.

• All refugees were freed from Melbourne’s Park Hotel today, some of whom had been detained for up to nine years. The Park Hotel was catapulted onto the international stage earlier this year when Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic was detained there and deported.

• Thousands of New South Wales residents were asked to evacuate, as the Bureau of Meteorology issued flash flood warnings.

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not yet called the federal election. It’s looking increasingly likely Mr Morrison will make the call for a May 14 or May 21 election on either Friday or Sunday, but no one knows for sure.

Thank you for joining us today. We’ll be back tomorrow morning.

Good night.

The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday its missiles had destroyed four fuel storage facilities in the Ukrainian cities of Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Chuhuiv overnight.

The ministry said the facilities were used by Ukraine to supply its troops near the cities of Mykolaiv and Kharkiv and in the Donbas region in the far southeast.

This claim has not been able to be independently verified.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions in an effort to force Russia to withdraw its forces.

Reuters

National MP George Christensen has resigned from the Liberal National Party, saying the Coalition is “anything but conservative”, and failed to take adequate action on preventing COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Mr Christensen is the member for Dawson, Queensland and announced he would not recontest his seat at the imminent federal election yesterday.

“The party needs to undertake some serious soul-searching about what and who it stands for,” Mr Christensen said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday that Australia was imposing sanctions on 67 Russians over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Today, I’m announcing 67 further sanctions of Russian elites and oligarchs, those close to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin who facilitate and support his outrageous actions,” she told reporters as she arrived at NATO.

Reuters

The United Nations General Assembly is set to vote today on whether to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, as US President Joe Biden accused the Kremlin’s forces of committing “major war crimes” in Ukraine.

The US announced new sanctions that target two of Russia’s biggest banks and President Vladimir Putin’s adult daughters after saying Moscow’s forces carried out atrocities in towns near Kyiv that included the murder of civilians. Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Italy said it would support a European Union ban on Russian gas if the bloc was united behind the idea - which it currently isn’t. Russia’s rouble has recovered to its pre-invasion level.

Bloomberg