Russian President Vladimir Putin had banked on NATO being split when he launched an invasion of Ukraine last month, but Putin actually sparked the exact opposite, with the alliance now being “more united than ever”, US President Joe Biden said at a NATO-G7 summit in Brussels on Thursday. Read FRANCE 24’s live blog for all the updates on Ukraine as they happened. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
5:17 am: Zelensky reassures Ukraine in nightly address
With the war headed into its second month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of hope and determination in his nighttime video address to the nation late Thursday.
“It is already night. But we are working,” he said in a quiet voice. “The country must move toward peace, move forward. With every day of our defence, we are getting closer to the peace that we need so much. We are getting closer to victory. … We can’t stop even for a minute. For every minute determines our fate, our future, whether we will live.”
He reported on his conversations Thursday with leaders of NATO and EU countries gathered in Brussels, and their promises of even more sanctions on Russia.
“We need to look for peace,” he said. “Russia also needs to look for peace.”
2:22 am: Biden to visit Polish town near Ukraine border, White House says
US President Joe Biden on Friday will visit a town in Poland that is near the border with Ukraine, the White House said, as he seeks to show Western resolve against Russia's invasion.
Biden will be greeted by Polish President Andrzej Duda in Rzeszow, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Ukrainian border, the White House said Thursday in a statement on the president's travel plans for Friday during an emergency visit to Europe prompted by the war in Ukraine.
Until now the White House had not disclosed specifics of the president's planned stay in Poland, the second stage of his tour after NATO and other summit meetings in Brussels.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also stopped in Rzeszow on March 5 as he visited Poland to show US support for NATO's eastern flank countries – formerly part of the Soviet sphere of influence and now concerned about what Moscow's next move might be after attacking pro-Western Ukraine.
2:18 am: Russia more of a burden to China after Ukraine invasion, says Pentagon official
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made it more of a strategic burden on China, a senior Pentagon official said on Thursday.
"I do think that there's a degree to which what Putin has done in Ukraine makes Russia much more of a strategic burden for Beijing than it was six weeks ago or six months ago," Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Colin Kahl said.
In February, China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership, backing each other over standoffs on Ukraine and Taiwan with a promise to collaborate more against the West.
1:28 am: Japan to freeze assets of additional 25 Russian individuals, says foreign ministry
Japan will freeze the assets of an additional 25 Russian individuals and prohibit exports to 81 Russian organisations, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan will proceed with steps to strip Russia of most favoured nation trade status and to prevent it from evading financial sanctions using digital assets.
12.50 am: Mexican finance minister says Ukraine crisis will impact value chains, inflation
Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O said the crisis in Ukraine sparked by the Russian invasion will impact value chains and affect inflation.
"We are at the beginning of a new monetary cycle and the end of low interest rates. The tension in Europe will prolong the disruption of some global value chains and will have effects on prices," he said during a press conference on Thursday.
23:21 pm: Chechen leader says his forces 'liberated' Mariupol city hall
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Thursday that forces from his Russian region had taken control of the city hall in Ukraine's besieged southeastern port of Mariupol and hoisted the Russian flag.
Kadyrov posted on Telegram a video of a phone recording in Chechen, which he said was Russian parliamentary lawmaker Adam Delimkhanov speaking to "our valiant men".
"The guys are radioing to say that they liberated the building of the Mariupol authorities and put up our flag over it," the Chechen leader said on his Telegram, which has more than 1.4 million subscribers.
The former rebel-turned-Kremlin-ally wrote that Ukrainian "bandits who remained alive did not risk it and abandoned their positions... and fled".
"Other units are moving in parallel through the city and clearing it of Azov filth," he added, referring to Ukraine's far-right Azov Battalion.
"God willing, soon Mariupol will be completely cleansed," he wrote.
22:20 pm: Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners, Kyiv and Moscow confirmed Thursday, in what Ukraine said was the first swap of soldiers since Moscow ordered troops into Ukraine one month ago.
"Following an order from President Volodymyr Zelensky, the first fully-fledged exchange of prisoners of war has taken place," Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on Facebook.
"In exchange for 10 captured occupiers we rescued 10 of our servicemen," she said, referring to Russian and Ukrainian troops.
Vereshchuk also said that 11 Russian civilian seamen rescued near the Black Sea port city of Odessa were exchanged for 19 Ukrainian civilian ship crew members held by Moscow.
22:13 pm: Ukraine says 3,343 people were evacuated from cities on Thursday
A total of 3,343 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Thursday, a senior official said, fewer than the 4,554 who managed to escape the previous day.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post that 2,717 people had left the besieged city of Mariupol.
She accused the Russians of blocking humanitarian aid convoys into the city for the last three day.
21:33 pm: Pro-Russian separatist leader arrives in Mariupol
The leader of one of the pro-Russian separatist "republics" in eastern Ukraine announced on Thursday he had arrived in the besieged city of Mariupol to check the distribution of humanitarian aid to civilians.
Ukraine says nearly 100,000 people are trapped without food, water or power in the southeastern city and enduring fierce shelling by Russian forces.
A video shared by the "information ministry" of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk showed Denis Pushilin visiting a humanitarian aid centre managed by the Russian army with dozens of civilians receiving food.
6:58 pm: Biden calls on G20 to exclude Russia
US President Joe Biden said he thinks Russia should be removed from the Group of Twenty (G20) major economies and that the topic has been raised during his meetings with world leaders in Brussels earlier on Thursday.
“My answer is yes, depends on the G20,” Biden said, when asked if Russia should be removed from the group. Biden also said if countries such as Indonesia and others do not agree with removing Russia, then in his view, Ukraine should be allowed to attend the meetings.
6.51 pm: NATO will respond if Russia uses chemical weapons, Biden warns
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that if Russia were to use chemical weapons in its invasion of Ukraine, NATO would respond.
“We would respond, we would respond if he uses it. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use,” Biden said at a news conference in Brussels.
6:41 pm : ‘Putin is getting the opposite of what he intended,’ Biden says
Vladimir Putin “was banking on NATO being split,” when he launched his invasion of Ukraine a month ago, US President Joe Biden said at a G7-NATO summit in Brussels Thursday. “But he is getting exactly the opposite of what he intended, NATO is more united than ever”.
“Putin didn't think we could sustain this cohesion among allies.”
6:24 pm: France calls for urgent food security plan
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for an urgent international food security plan to avert “famine” in vulnerable countries caused by the Russian war in Ukraine.
Macron is urging Russia to show responsibility by allowing farm production in Ukraine, which is a major cereal grain exporter. Without that, he said, an “inevitable famine” would ensue within 12 to 18 months in some countries, with Egypt and North Africa facing severe grain shortfalls.
5:19 pm: West ready to increase sanctions on Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said that Russia is finding itself ‘increasingly” isolated over its war in Ukraine and that the West is ready to impose even more.
“These sanctions have an impact and are tangible and we must continue them for their dissuasive effect,” he told a news conference after a NATO and G7 leaders summit.
4:32 pm: UN calls for 'immediate' end to war in Ukraine
The UN General Assembly has adopted a new non-binding resolution that demanded an “immediate” stop to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In a vote at UN headquarters in New York, 140 countries voted in favor, 38 abstained and five voted against the measure, which follows on the heels of a March 2 resolution that similarly demanded Russia immediately cease its use of force.
2:54 pm: Russia may be seeking pretext for chemical attack
Russia may be trying to create a pretext for the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine by accusing the United States and its allies of preparing such an attack, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.
“We are concerned partly because we see the rhetoric and we see that Russia is trying to create some kind of pretext accusing Ukraine, the United States and NATO allies of preparing to use chemical and biological weapons,” he told reporters after a NATO summit in Brussels, adding any use of chemical weapons would have widespread consequences.
2:40 pm: Washington sanctions Russia's Duma
The United States has announced a fresh round of sanctions targeting the 328 members of the Russian Duma, dozens of Russian defence companies as well as the chief executive of Sberbank.
Treasury Department said US authorities may also sanction gold-related transactions involving Russia.
2:25 pm: NATO to beef up eastern flank
NATO leaders meeting in Brussels have agreed to beef up their eastern flank and warned Moscow against the use of chemical arms in Ukraine.
"We remain united and resolute in our determination to oppose Russia's aggression, aid the government and the people of Ukraine, and defend the security of all allies," a joint statement said after th talks attended by NATO's 30 member countries.
Alliance members agreed to set up four more battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, as well as warning China not to support Russia's war.
2:16 pm: Ukrainians 'very motivated' to fight for their land
A month since Russia invaded Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged NATO to provide Lyiv with "unrestricted" military aid. The appeal came as Ukraine claimed battlefield gains against the Russians.
Speaking to FRANCE 24, Markiyan Lubkivsky, adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, said that Ukrainians are "very motivated to fight for every square metre of their territory".
12:14 pm: Zelensky calls for 'unrestricted military assistance' from NATO
Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky has urged NATO to provide Kyiv with unrestricted military aid in a message via video link.
"To save people and our cities, Ukraine needs military assistance without restrictions. In the same way that Russia is using its full arsenal without restrictions against us," the Ukrainian leader told NATO representatives gathered in Brussels.
Earlier, Zelensky appealed for EU membership in a video address to the Swedish parliament, adding that Ukrainians were fighting for the security of the whole of Europe.
"We are not fighting just for the people of Ukraine, but for Europe's security and we have shown that we deserve to be a fully fledged member of the EU," he said.
11:46 am: UN says over half of Ukrainian children displaced by war
More than half of all children in Ukraine have been displaced from their homes since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, the United Nations said Thursday.
"One month of war in Ukraine has led to the displacement of 4.3 million children -- more than half of the country's estimated 7.5 million child population," the UN children's agency Unicef said.
Displaced children make up nearly half of the over 10 million people who have been forced to flee their homes since the invasion began. More than 1.8 million children have fled Ukraine as refugees, while another 2.5 million are now displaced inside their war-ravaged country, the UN said.
"The war has caused one of the fastest large-scale displacements of children since World War II," Unicef chief Catherine Russell said. "This is a grim milestone that could have lasting consequences for generations to come," she warned.
11:27 am: Unprecedented trio of NATO, G7 and EU summits in one day
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Western nations gathering in Brussels on Thursday to take "serious steps" to help Kyiv fight Russia's invasion, as an unprecedented one-day trio of NATO, G7 and EU summits got underway.
11:14 am: Abramovich played early role in Ukraine peace talks, says Kremlin
The Kremlin on Thursday said sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich played an early role in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, but the process was now in the hands of the two sides' negotiating teams.
"He did take part at the initial stage," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Now the negotiations are between the two teams, the Russians and Ukrainians."
11:03 am: Stoltenberg set to get extension as NATO chief, say reports
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is set to extend his term as head of the alliance by another year due to the war in Ukraine, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 and daily Dagens Naeringsliv reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
Stoltenberg's term expires on Oct. 1 and he had been due to take up a post as central bank governor of his native Norway by the end of 2022.
09:15 am: Putin made 'big mistake' invading Ukraine, says NATO chief
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making a "big mistake" by invading Ukraine, as leaders gathered to discuss overhauling the alliance's eastern defences.
"President Putin has made a big mistake and that is to launch a war against an independent sovereign nation. He has underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian people, the bravery of the Ukrainian people and their armed forces," Stoltenberg said ahead of a NATO summit in Brussels.
08:38 am: Turkey calls for increased ceasefire efforts
Turkey called for ramped up efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine and vowed to continue its "mediation and facilitation" work between Moscow and Kyiv, ahead of a NATO summit where leaders will discuss Russia's invasion.
NATO member Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia and has good ties with both. While supporting Ukraine and criticising Russia, Ankara has also opposed sanctions on Moscow and launched mediation efforts.
07:12 am: Putin attending G20 summit 'a step too far', says Australian PM
Allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit with other world leaders at this year's G20 summit would be "a step too far", Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.
Putin has already been invited to the G20 heads of state summit in November by this year's host Jakarta, and he intends to be there, Russia's ambassador to Indonesia said this week. But Morrison objected, citing Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine.
06:45 am: Zelensky urges global protests against Russia's war
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged citizens around the world to take to the streets to protest Russia's invasion of his country.
"Come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support life," Zelensky said in a video address in English. "Come to your squares, to your streets, make yourselves visible and heard."
