(Reuters) – As Russian troops appeared to stall in their advance on Ukrainian cities, the United States voiced concern that China might assist Moscow with military equipment as the war entered its fourth week.
CIVILIAN TOLL
* Over 350,000 people are sheltering in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, officials said.
* Rescuers are combing the rubble of a theatre in Mariupol bombed on Wednesday for survivors. Russia denies striking it. Italy said it will rebuild it.
* The governor of the northern Chernihiv region said 53 civilians had been in killed in the past 24 hours. The dead included a U.S. citizen as he waited in a bread line, his family said. Russia denies targeting civilians.
* The U.N. said it had recorded 780 confirmed civilian deaths since the invasion began, and 3.2 million have fled.
STALLED INVASION
* Russia’s invasion has largely stalled on all fronts in recent days amid heavy losses, British military intelligence and the Ukrainian armed forces said.
DIPLOMACY
* A “very, very big gap” remains between Ukraine and Russia, Western officials said after another day of peace talks.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin shows little desire to compromise, they said, while Ukraine wants to retain sovereignty over areas occupied since 2014 by Russia and pro-Russian forces.
* U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a call on Friday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Washington said it was concerned China was considering military support for Russia.
* Russia accused the United States of stoking “Russophobia” and said it had the power to put its “brash enemies into place”.
* The U.N. Security Council pulled a vote on Friday on a Russian-drafted call for aid access and civilian protection in Ukraine. Diplomats said the measure was set to fail because it does not push for an end to the fighting or withdrawal of Russian troops.
ECONOMY AND MARKETS
* The OECD estimates the war could knock more than 1 percentage point off global growth this year.
* Some creditors have received payment of Russian bond coupons which fell due this week, market sources said, meaning Russia may for now have averted a debt default.
* Germany-based Scope Ratings has become the first EU rating agency to withdraw its Russian sovereign credit score after a move by the bloc to ban their provision. S&P, meanwhile, lowered Russia’s rating.
SHOPPING IN WASHINGTON
* European governments have approached the U.S. government and defence contractors with a shopping list of arms including drones and missiles, sources told Reuters.
QUOTES
“Every year politicians repeat ‘never again’,” Zelenskiy told German lawmakers, invoking a slogan used to mark the Holocaust. “And now we see that these words are simply worthless. In Europe a people is being destroyed, they are trying to destroy everything that is dear to us, what we live for.”
(Compiled by Gareth Jones, Rosalba O’Brien and Richard Pullin)
