Here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:
– Russia encircling Kyiv –
The capital Kyiv risks being surrounded, with Russian forces moving in on areas north and west of the capital, the Ukrainian military says, with some of its suburbs heavily bombarded. Three other major cities are effectively besieged.
– Kremlin ok’s fighters from Syria –
The Kremlin says Syrians can volunteer to fight for Russia in Ukraine after President Vladimir backed plans to allow volunteer fighters to participate in the war.
His defence minister said some 16,000 volunteers, mostly from the Middle East, were ready to join Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
– Care home, kindergarten hit –
A kindergarten and an apartment block are hit in the first air strikes on the central city of Dnipro, with at least one person dead.
A care home for disabled people near Kharkiv in the east is also hit, with 330 people in the building at the time, officials say.
– Aid convoy attacked –
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says trucks carrying food and medicine to the besieged port of Mariupol in the south — without water and power for 11 days — were attacked by Russia tanks.
The city’s mayor says it is being shelled “every 30 minutes”, with 1,200 civilians already dead.
– Hospital bombing ‘staged’: Moscow
The Russian army claims the deadly bomb attack on Mariupol’s children hospital was “staged” by Ukraine.
– 71 children killed –
Ukraine says at least 71 children have been killed and more than 100 wounded since the Russian invasion began.
– 100,000 evacuated in two days –
Zelensky says about 100,000 people have evacuated from areas surrounding Kyiv, Sumy and Izyum in two days.
– Fighting rages for other cities –
The Ukrainian military says fighting is raging for control of the northern city of Chernihiv and Kharkiv and Severodonetsk in the east. It says two of its soldiers are killed in strikes on Lutsk military air base in the northwest.
– Moscow pledges daily corridors –
Moscow promises to open humanitarian corridors every day to allow Ukrainians to flee, but Kyiv has rejected routes leading into Russia or its ally Belarus.
– UN meets on Russia bio-weapon claim –
The UN Security Council will meet Friday after Russia says biological weapons are being developed in Ukraine, claims both Washington and Kyiv deny.
The US says the allegations are a sign Moscow could soon use the weapons itself.
– US warns more sanctions possible –
The US and its European allies could impose more penalties on Moscow because “atrocities against civilians seem to be intensifying”, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says.
– Seizing US assets will backfire: White House –
White House press secretary Jen Psaki warns Moscow to seizing assets of US or international companies will “result in more economic pain for Moscow”.
– Oligarch attacks plan –
Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia’s richest oligarchs and a Kremlin confidant, criticises plans to confiscate assets of foreign firms exiting the country, likening it to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
– EU’s extra half billion in army aid –
The EU would like to send an extra 500 million euros in military aid to Ukraine, bringing its total to a billion, its foreign policy chief says.
– EU douses Ukraine’s hopes –
European Union leaders tell Ukraine there is no fast way to join the bloc, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying membership is “for the long term, if at all.”
– 2.5 million flee –
More than two and a half million people have fled the “senseless war” in Ukraine, the UN says — more than half to Poland.
– UK eyes Lavrov ‘lover’ London flat –
Britain’s says it could seize an exclusive flat bought for cash by a woman it hints is the daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s mistress.
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