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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Rebecca Ratcliffe (now); Abené Clayton, Adam Gabbatt, Léonie Chao-Fong, Samantha Lock and Tom Ambrose (earlier)

Biden outlines ‘consequences’ if China aids Russia – as it happened

Russia United States Ukraine United Kingdom China Joe Biden Xi Jinping Moscow Beijing United Nations

Thank you for following our Ukraine liveblog. We have launched a new blog here where you can stay abreast of all the latest developments.

Years of tension between Moscow and US-based Facebook and Twitter erupted into confrontation after the invasion of Ukraine, with the platforms targeting state-tied media and then finding themselves restricted in Russia, reports Associated Press.

How likely is Russia to block chat platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram?

Here’s some analysis from AP.

Messaging apps have gotten a pass so far in part because Meta-owned WhatsApp is less suited for mass communication, while Telegram’s ability to blast information to large groups has made it useful both for independent media and the Kremlin.

“I think it’s unlikely Russia will ban Telegram because they are so short on platforms where they can operate,” said Sergey Sanovich, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University, who noted that authorities in 2020 aborted efforts to block the service.

Telegram, criticized as having a lax content policing policy, offers a forum for Russian authorities to promote narratives friendly to their internationally condemned war.

Russia still operates accounts on platforms like Facebook, despite blocking the service at home, but this week the Silicon Valley giant took down posts from Moscow’s pages that contained misinformation about its deadly offensive.

Telegram has become an essential exchange for news on the war, with its growth accelerating after the Kremlin’s latest crackdown on independent media and the lock-out of apps like Facebook and Instagram.

An average of 2.5 million new users joined Telegram daily in the last three weeks, the firm said, about a 25 percent jump from the weeks prior.

But experts highlighted a risk to Telegram and its users due to a lack of default, end-to-end encryption that potentially leaves the company susceptible to government pressure to turn over information.

Alp Toker, director of web monitoring group NetBlocks, noted WhatsApp has put in place firestops that offer insulation against that sort of pressure.

“By improving their security and adopting end-to-end encryption technology, they have essentially protected their own platform from legal risk and potential demands for content access requests,” Toker added.

WhatsApp’s use for one-on-one or group chats make it less of a target for Russian authorities for now, but that could change if it became known as a key platform for protests against the war.

Zelenskiy video address - key points

In the early hours of Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy released a video address in which he told Moscow that now was the time for urgent peace talks, warning that Russian losses will otherwise be so huge it will take generations to recover.

Here are some of the key points from his speech:

Russia has continued to block the supply of aid to besieged cities “in most areas”
Zelenskiy said that on Friday there were seven humanitarian corridors in Ukraine. Six in the Sumy region, one in the Donetsk region.
More than 9,000 people were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol, he said, and hundreds of tons of essential products were delivered. But he added: “The occupiers continue to block the supply of humanitarian aid to the besieged cities in most areas. This is a totally deliberate tactic. They have a clear order to do absolutely everything to make the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian cities an ‘argument’ for Ukrainians to cooperate with the occupiers. This is a war crime.”

No new information on fatalities following a Russian airstrike on a theatre in Mariupol
Zelenskiy said people were being rescued from the rubble, and that more than 130 people had been rescued so far. “Some of them are seriously wounded. But at the moment there is no information about the dead,” he said. Hundreds of civilians were sheltering in the theatre.

He thanked those defending Mariupol, saying the city was experiencing “the greatest ordeal in its history, in the history of Ukraine.”

Russian forces had been stopped “in almost all directions”
Zelenskiy said Russian forces were halted across many areas of the country. He said there was heavy fighting in the Kharkiv region, especially near Izyum, but that Russian troops were unprepared.
(There is more analysis on the state of the conflict, from Institute of the Study of War, in an earlier post)

“Meaningful, fair” negotiations were urgently needed.
Zelenskiy told Moscow: “It’s time to meet. Time to talk. It is time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise Russia’s losses will be so huge that several generations will not be enough to rebound.”

He said: “Negotiations on peace, on security for us, for Ukraine - meaningful, fair and without delay - are the only chance for Russia to reduce the damage from its own mistakes.”

On the international response:
Zelenskiy said he would continue to appeal to world leaders to call for peace in Ukraine, with plans to address Switzerland, Italy, Israel and Japan. He has spoken with Ukrainian ambassadors around the world “to intensify the supply of humanitarian goods” for displaced people in Ukraine. A coordination headquarters has also been set up to oversee the delivery of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, he said.

Updated

Ukraine’s defence ministry said late on Friday it lost access to the Sea of Azov “temporarily” as invading Russian forces were tightening their grip around the Sea’s major port of Mariupol, Reuters reports.

More from Reuters:

“The occupiers have partially succeeded in the Donetsk operational district, temporarily depriving Ukraine of access to the Sea of Azov,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said in a statement.

The ministry did not specify in its statement whether Ukraine’s forces have regained access to the Sea.

Russia said on Friday its forces were “tightening the noose” around Mariupol, where an estimated 80% of the city’s homes had been damaged more some 1,000 people may still be trapped in makeshift bomb shelters beneath a destroyed theatre.

Mariupol, with its strategic location on the coast of the Sea of Azov, has been a target since the start of the war on Feb. 24 when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a “special military operation”.

The city lies on the route between the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea to the west, and the Donetsk region to the east, which is partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Russia claimed as early as March 1 that its forces had cut off the Ukrainian military from the Sea of Azov.

Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station on Friday wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, colours that appeared to match the Ukrainian flag, Associated Press reports.

Here is some further detail from AP:

The men were the first new arrivals on the space station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.

Russian space corporation Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov blasted off successfully from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft at 8:55 p.m. Friday (11:55 a.m. EDT). They smoothly docked at the station just over three hours later, joining two Russians, four Americans and a German on the orbiting outpost.

Video of Artemyev taken as the spacecraft prepared to dock with the space station showed him wearing a blue flight suit. It was unclear what, if any, message the yellow uniforms they changed into were intended to send.

When the cosmonauts were able to talk to family back on Earth, Artemyev was asked about the suits. He said every crew chooses their own.
“It became our turn to pick a colour. But in fact, we had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it. So that’s why we had to wear yellow,” he said.

Since the war started, many people have used the Ukrainian flag and its colours to show solidarity with the country.

The war has resulted in canceled spacecraft launches and broken contracts.

Samantha Power, who leads the US Agency for International Development (USAid), has said Ukraine and Moldova have successfully synchronised with the European electric grid, stabilising power supplies.

The development was announced by the European Commission earlier this week, which said the work would keep “homes warm and lights on during these dark times.”

Ukrainian forces conducted a major successful counterattack around Mykolayiv, in southern Ukraine, over the past several days, according to the Institute of the Study of War, a US thinktank tracking the fighting.

In a recent update, ISW said that Russian forces continued to secure territorial gains only around Mariupol on Friday and that Russian forces face growing morale and supply problems. This includes growing reports of self-mutilation among Russian troops to avoid deployment to Ukraine and shortages of key guided munitions.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces “continue step by step to liberate the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in all directions” on Friday, the first Ukrainian mention of conducting counterattacks “in all directions”, according to ISW.

Belgium on Friday delayed by a decade a plan to scrap nuclear energy in 2025, spooked by the huge rise in energy prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports AFP.

Here is some more detail from AFP’s report:

The push to 2035 comes as calls are rising that neighbouring Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, should also rethink its nuclear energy exit, but ministers in Berlin last week doubled down on their country’s no atom pledge despite the price shock.

Europe is scrambling to find ways to wean itself off its energy dependency on Russia, which provides 40% of Europe’s gas needs, mainly to Germany, Italy and several central European countries.

Prices have skyrocketed for Europeans since the invasion by Russia of Ukraine and EU leaders will meet next week to agree on fresh emergency measures to soften the blow for consumers and businesses.

A US military aircraft with four people on board has crashed in northern Norway, reports Reuters.

The MV-22B Osprey aircraft belonging to the US Marine Corps was taking part in a NATO military exercise called Cold Response when it was reported missing at 1826 CET (1726 GMT), according to Norway’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centres (JRCC).

Here is some more detail from Reuters:

A rescue helicopter and a Norwegian military Orion plane searching the area spotted the wreckage from the air at 2017 GMT after receiving an emergency signal.
“We’ve discovered an aircraft that has crashed. We’ve seen no sign of life,” Nordland police chief of staff Bent Eilertsen told Reuters.
“We’ve been told it’s an American aircraft with four Americans on board,” he said.
Because of the bad weather, the rescue aircraft could not land. Instead, police and rescue services were trying to reach the site by land, but it was unclear how long this could take.
“It’s dark, the weather conditions are bad and there is a risk of avalanches,” Eilertsen said.
The plane was on a training exercise and had been due to land at around 1800 CET (1700 GMT). Weather was bad in the area, with conditions worsening.

Two former US presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, showed their support for Ukraine on Friday, by placing bouquets of sunflowers, the country’s national emblem, outside a church in Chicago.

They wore blue and yellow ribbons in the colours of Ukraine’s flag, and placed the flowers in front of the Catholic Church of Saints Volodymyr and Olha.

A video of the gesture was shared on Clinton’s Twitter account, alongside a post that said: “America stands united with the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom and against oppression.”

It sets the former presidents apart from Donald Trump, writes AFP. It reports: “[Trump] just before the invasion described Vladimir Putin’s strategy of amassing troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine and then recognizing the independence of two pro-Russian separatist territories as a stroke of ‘genius.’”

As Russia’s devastating war on Ukraine drags on, the question of whether to keep buying and selling Russian diamonds is a quandary for jewellers, diamond companies and the industry bodies set up to regulate them – many of which depend on the country’s state-controlled diamond sector for supply.

Industry insiders say US sanctions will do little or nothing to stop the flow of diamonds from Alrosa, Russia’s enormous state-backed mining monopoly, to the west.

It is time for meaningful talks with Moscow, says Zelenskiy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has released a video address saying the time has come for peace talks, warning it will otherwise take generations for Russia to recover from losses suffered during the war.

Reuters has released the following summary of his speech:

Zelenskiy said Ukraine had always offered solutions for peace and wanted meaningful and honest negotiations on peace and security, without delay.
“I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk,” he said in a video address released in the early hours of Saturday.
“The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia’s losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover.”
The two sides have been involved in talks for weeks with no sign of a breakthrough.
Zelenskiy said Russian forces were deliberately blocking the supply of humanitarian supplies to cities under attack.
“This is a deliberate tactic ... This is a war crime and they will answer for it, 100%,” he said.
Zelenskiy said there was no information about how many people had died after a theatre in the city of Mariupol, where hundreds of people had been sheltering, was struck on Wednesday. More than 130 people had been rescued so far, he said.

A teenager was overwhelmed when Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy shook her hand and gave her flowers during a visit to people wounded by Russian attacks at a Kyiv hospital on Thursday.

Sixteen-year-old Katya Vlasenko, who was wounded when the car her family was travelling in came under fire, told the president he was a hero on social media platform TikTok, to which Zelenskiy responded: “Oh yes? So we have occupied TikTok?”

Katya’s family was trying to escape fighting in the area north-west of the capital Kyiv when their car came under fire near Hostomel.

It’s Rebecca Ratcliffe here in Bangkok, I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine today.

Updated

Summary

It’s nearly 2am in Ukraine; here’s where things stand:

  • Ukraine’s interior minster told Associated Press that it will take years to find and defuse all of the unexploded ordnances from the country. Denys Monastyrsky said: “A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraine and a large part haven’t exploded, they remain under the rubble and pose a real threat. It will take years, not months, to defuse them.”
  • Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, praised Fox News for its coverage of the war in Ukraine during an in-studio interview with the Russian state-controlled RT network. “We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the western countries to manipulate media ... If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view,” Lavrov said.
  • The European Union is considering creating a solidarity fund for Ukraine. The plan was announced on Friday and is meant to be used for people’s basic necessities. An EU official told Reuters the creation of the fund would be discussed at a summit of EU leaders next week.
  • Fighting has reached the centre of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water. The Russian defence ministry said its forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, and that “fighting against nationalists” was taking place in the city centre. Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, appeared to confirm the claim.
  • Russian missiles struck an aircraft repair plant in the western city of Lviv, 50 miles from Ukraine’s border with Poland and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians. Blasts were heard at about 6am on Friday, preceded by the sound of air raid sirens, as a mushroom-shaped plume of smoke could be seen rising in the sky.
  • Russia’s bombardment in the east of Ukraine continued on Friday. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s state emergency service said a multi-storey teaching building had been shelled on Friday morning, killing one person, wounding 11 and trapping one other in the rubble.
  • Hundreds of people remain buried under the rubble of a theatre in the devastated city of Mariupol that was hit by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said. In a video address, Zelenskiy said that more than 130 people have been rescued so far but officials have said rescue efforts had been hindered by the complete breakdown of social services in the city and fears of future Russian attacks.
  • Kyiv city administration said today that 222 people have been killed in the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children. In a statement, it said a further 889 people have been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital. The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures.
  • Russian forces are “holding captive” a Ukrainian journalist, Victoria Roshchyna, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske. In a statement, Hromadske said they believe Roshchyna was detained by the Russian FSB around 15 March.
  • Six and a half million people are currently displaced within Ukraine, the UN has said today, nearly twice as many as have managed to flee the country. The new figure, which dwarfs the 3.3 million refugees who have entered mainly EU territory, is a big jump on the UN’s last estimate of 1.85 million.
  • Refugees now fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are “more traumatised” than those who escaped in the first phase of the war, the UN said. Daily border crossings from Ukraine into Poland, the country that has received the most arrivals, have fallen by around half from a peak of about 100,000 daily, Reuters quoted UN refugee agency official, Matthew Saltmarsh, as saying.
  • The US president, Joe Biden, described to China’s president, Xi Jinping, in a phone call today “implications and consequences” if Beijing provides material support to Russia as it attacks Ukrainian cities and civilians, the White House said. “The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see,” Xi was quoted by Chinese media as saying to the US president.
  • Vladimir Putin praised Russian “unity” over what the Kremlin is calling its special operation in Ukraine during a rare public speech at the national stadium in Moscow. As Putin was finishing his speech, the broadcast was suddenly cut off and state television showed patriotic songs. The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed a “technical failure” for the cutoff.
  • A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty. Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, also expressed concern about the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol, saying supplies were running out and its convoys had not yet been able to enter the city.
  • Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”. Francis’ comments were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

Updated

Celebrities including Billy Porter, Audra McDonald and Steve Martin are going to appear on a 10-hour telethon to raise money for Ukrainian victims of war. The “Stars in the House” program is set to air Saturday 26 March from 12pm Eastern time on YouTube, SiriusXM and the program’s website.

Money raised during the telethon will go toward humanitarian efforts and the International Rescue Committee.

Updated

On Friday, Halliburton, an oilfield services provider, said it has paused its future business in Russia. Reuters has more on what this suspension may look like.

Oilfield services company Halliburton Co said on Friday it has suspended future business in Russia, including for certain state-owned Russian customers, in compliance with US sanctions after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The company said it has no active joint ventures in the country and had weeks ago halted all shipments of specific sanctioned parts and products to Russia.

Other Western energy companies such as BP PLC, Shell and Norway’s Equinor ASA have either suspended business or announced plans to abandon their Russia operations, leaving behind their investments.

Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation”, is among the world’s largest oil and gas producers that mainly relies on homegrown service providers.

Earlier this month, oil major Exxon Mobil said it would exit Russia oil and gas operations valued at more than $4 billion and halt new investment.”

Updated

It will likely take years to defuse all of the unexploded Russian ordnances, the Associated Press reports. Denys Monastyrsky, Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Friday that the nation will need US help to unearth and defuse Russian mines which are hidden under rubble and to remove explosives placed at bridges and airports by Ukrainian forces.

The AP further reports:

“A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraine and a large part haven’t exploded, they remain under the rubble and pose a real threat,” Monastyrsky said. “It will take years, not months, to defuse them.”

In addition to the unexploded Russian ordnances, the Ukrainian troops also have planted land mines at bridges, airports and other key infrastructure to prevent Russians from using them.

“We won’t be able to remove the mines from all that territory, so I asked our international partners and colleagues from the European Union and the United States to prepare groups of experts to demine the areas of combat and facilities that came under shelling,” Monastyrsky told the AP.

He noted that another top challenge is dealing with fires caused by the relentless Russian barrages. He said there’s a desperate shortage of personnel and equipment to deal with the fires amid the constant shelling.

Updated

A Washington Post report is giving readers a glimpse into the efforts under way to get much-needed military equipment to Ukrainian soldiers. The article was set at a military base where Ukrainian forces received convoys with everything from dozens of vehicles to night-vision gear and surveillance drones.

Ukrainian factories have been impacted by shelling, which has led the country’s forces to rely on “pop-up supply chains like for vital gear, including body armor, medical supplies and the pickup trucks and SUVs they covet as fighting vehicles”, the article states.

The Washington Post further reports:

Receiving much of the donated money and supplies is Blue and Yellow, a nonprofit founded in 2014 to supply Ukrainians fighting the takeover of eastern parts of their country by Russian-backed separatists. Now the group is the focal point of Lithuania’s yearning to help.

Read the rest of the article here.

Updated

Russia’s foreign minister praised Fox News for its coverage of the war in Ukraine. During an in-studio appearance on the Russian state-controlled RT network, Sergei Lavrov, said: “We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the western countries to manipulate media... If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view.”

The Guardian’s Joanna Walters reports that Lavrov’s comments came as six western nations accused Moscow of using the UN security council to launder disinformation and spread propaganda, after Russian diplomats again raised allegations that the US was involved in biological weapons, which have been repeatedly denied by both Washington and Ukraine.

Read the rest of her coverage here.

Updated

Summary

It is just after 11pm in Ukraine. Here is where things stand:

  • The European Union is considering creating a solidarity fund for Ukraine. The plan was announced on Friday and is meant to be used for people’s basic necessities. An EU official told Reuters the creation of the fund would be discussed at a summit of EU leaders next week.
  • Fighting has reached the centre of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water. The Russian defence ministry said its forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, and that “fighting against nationalists” was taking place in the city centre. Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, appeared to confirm the claim.
  • Russian missiles struck an aircraft repair plant in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, 50 miles from the border with Poland and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians. Blasts were heard at about 6am on Friday, preceded by the sound of air raid sirens, as a mushroom-shaped plume of smoke could be seen rising in the sky.
  • Russia’s bombardment in the east of Ukraine continued on Friday. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s state emergency service said a multi-storey teaching building had been shelled on Friday morning, killing one person, wounding 11 and trapping one other in the rubble.
  • Hundreds of people remain buried under the rubble of a theatre in the devastated city of Mariupol that was hit by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. In a video address, Zelenskiy said that more than 130 people have been rescued so far but officials have said rescue efforts had been hindered by the complete breakdown of social services in the city and fears of future Russian attacks.
  • Kyiv city administration said today that 222 people have been killed in the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children. In a statement, it said a further 889 people have been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital. The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures.
  • Russian forces are “holding captive” a Ukrainian journalist, Victoria Roshchyna, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske. In a statement, Hromadske said they believe Roshchyna was detained by the Russian FSB around 15 March.
  • Six and a half million people are currently displaced within Ukraine, the UN has said today, nearly twice as many as have managed to flee the country. The new figure, which dwarfs the 3.3 million refugees who have entered mainly EU territory, is a big jump on the UN’s last estimate of 1.85 million.
  • Refugees now fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are “more traumatised” than those who escaped in the first phase of the war, the UN said. Daily border crossings from Ukraine into Poland, the country that has received the most arrivals, have fallen by around half from a peak of about 100,000 daily, Reuters quoted UN refugee agency official, Matthew Saltmarsh, as saying.
  • The US president, Joe Biden, described to China’s president, Xi Jinping, in a phone call today “implications and consequences” if Beijing provides material support to Russia as it attacks Ukrainian cities and civilians, the White House said. “The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see,” Xi was quoted by Chinese media as saying to the US president.
  • Vladimir Putin praised Russian “unity” over what the Kremlin is calling its special operation in Ukraine during a rare public speech at the national stadium in Moscow. As Putin was finishing his speech, the broadcast was suddenly cut off and state television showed patriotic songs. The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed a “technical failure” for the cutoff.
  • A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty. Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, also expressed concern about the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol, saying supplies were running out and its convoys had not yet been able to enter the city.
  • Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”. Francis’s comments were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

Hello, I am Abené Clayton, a California-based Guardian reporter. I’ll be bringing our blog readers the latest news out of Ukraine for the next couple of hours.

Updated

The European Union is considering creating a solidarity fund for Ukraine, to help provide basic services in the country and meet citizens’ immediate needs, European Council president Charles Michel said on Friday.

“The fund would give liquidity for continued support to authorities and in the longer term serve as backbone for reconstruction of a free and democratic Ukraine once hostilities stop,” Michel said in a tweet.

“The bravery and resilience Ukrainians are showing is humbling,” Michel said. “The #EU will continue to stand by you in the face of the Kremlin’s aggression.”

An EU official told Reuters the creation of the fund would be discussed at a summit of EU leaders next week. The Russian invasion has cut Ukraine off from international financial markets, and the fund could provide the liquidity needed to keep government services running, to continue defence efforts and to provide basic services, Reuters reported.

Updated

The Biden administration is still concerned that China is considering answering Russia’s request for military equipment, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a briefing.

“We have that concern. The president detailed what the implications and consequences would be if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians. And that is something we’ll be watching and the world will be watching,” Psaki said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will push over 40 million people into extreme poverty through price spikes for food and energy, according to the Center for Global Development.

In an analysis blog, the Washington-based thinktank said food commodity prices since the start of the conflict have risen above levels experienced in price spikes in 2007 and 2010.

It cited World Bank Research showing that the 2007 spike may have pushed as many as 155 million people into extreme poverty, and separate research showing the 2010 episode pushed 44 million into extreme poverty.

The researchers said the most immediate concern was for direct wheat customers of Ukraine and Russia, which together account for more than a quarter of world wheat exports. These include Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey, but prices will rise worldwide as importers compete for alternative supplies.

Updated

The Biden administration has given a briefing on the Biden-Xi call, not adding too much detail, but stressing the price China would pay for arming Russia.

A senior administration official said there would be consequences “not just for China’s relationship with the United States, but for the wider world”, but would not give more details on whether Biden had gone into specifics on possible sanctions, other than to point out what had happened to Russia as an example.

“The president really laid out in a lot of detail the unified response from not only governments around the world, but also the private sector, to Russia’s brutal aggression in Ukraine,” the official said.

“The president made clear that there would likely be consequences for those who would step in to support Russia at this time.”

“This was really about President Biden being able to lay out very clearly in substantial detail, with a lot of facts, really walking President Xi through the situation, making very, very clear our views,” the official added, but said Biden did not make any direct requests to Xi to persuade Putin to end the onslaught.

“The president really wasn’t making specific requests of China. He was laying out his assessment of the situation and the implications of certain actions. Our view is that China will make its own decisions.”

Reports are emerging that the crowd which witnessed Vladimir Putin’s speech in Moscow earlier today may not have been there entirely voluntarily.

Russian TV footage showed a boisterous crowd at the Luzhniki stadium, attendees waving flags and cheering ahead of a speech where Putin hailed Russian “unity”.

But BBC journalist Will Vernon reported that at least some of the crowd had been “forced” to attend.

During the speech – which Russian state TV cut off in an apparent glitch – Putin repeated his unfounded claims that Ukraine was committing genocide in the Donbas region.

Updated

The US has “seen a number of missteps” by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, the US defense secretary said on Friday.

In an interview with CNN Lloyd Austin said Russian troops “have not progressed as far as quickly as they would have liked”, adding that Russian forces have “struggled with logistics”.

Austin told CNN he has not seen evidence of “good employment of tactical intelligence” or “integration of air capability with a ground maneuver.”

“There are a number of things that we would expect to have seen that we just haven’t seen,” Austin said.

“Many of their assumptions have not proven to be true as they entered this fight.”

“I think [Russia] envisioned that they would move rapidly and very quickly seize the capital city, they’ve not been able to do that,” the Pentagon chief added.

This is Adam Gabbatt taking over from Léonie Chao-Fong.

Updated

Summary

It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand now:

  • Fighting has reached the centre of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water. The Russian defence ministry said its forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, and that “fighting against nationalists” was taking place in the city centre. Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, appeared to confirm the claim.
  • Russian missiles struck an aircraft repair plant in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, 50 miles from the border with Poland and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians. Blasts were heard at about 6am on Friday, preceded by the sound of air raid sirens, as a mushroom-shaped plume of smoke could be seen rising in the sky.
  • Russia’s bombardment in the east of Ukraine continued on Friday. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s state emergency service said a multi-storey teaching building had been shelled on Friday morning, killing one person, wounding 11 and trapping one other in the rubble.
  • Hundreds of people remain buried under the rubble of a theatre in the devastated city of Mariupol that was hit by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. In a video address, Zelenskiy said that more than 130 people have been rescued so far but officials have said rescue efforts had been hindered by the complete breakdown of social services in the city and fears of future Russian attacks.
  • Kyiv city administration said today that 222 people have been killed in the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children. In a statement, it said a further 889 people have been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital. The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures.
  • Russian forces are “holding captive” a Ukrainian journalist, Victoria Roshchyna, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske. In a statement, Hromadske said they believe Roshchyna was detained by the Russian FSB around 15 March.
  • Six and a half million people are currently displaced within Ukraine, the UN has said today, nearly twice as many as have managed to flee the country. The new figure, which dwarfs the 3.3 million refugees who have entered mainly EU territory, is a big jump on the UN’s last estimate of 1.85 million.
  • Refugees now fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are “more traumatised” than those who escaped in the first phase of the war, the UN said. Daily border crossings from Ukraine into Poland, the country that has received the most arrivals, have fallen by around half from a peak of about 100,000 daily, Reuters quoted UN refugee agency official, Matthew Saltmarsh, as saying.
  • The US president, Joe Biden, described to China’s president, Xi Jinping, in a phone call today “implications and consequences” if Beijing provides material support to Russia as it attacks Ukrainian cities and civilians, the White House said. “The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see,” Xi was quoted by Chinese media as saying to the US president.
  • Vladimir Putin praised Russian “unity” over what the Kremlin is calling its special operation in Ukraine during a rare public speech at the national stadium in Moscow. As Putin was finishing his speech, the broadcast was suddenly cut off and state television showed patriotic songs. The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed a “technical failure” for the cutoff.
  • A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty. Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, also expressed concern about the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol, saying supplies were running out and its convoys had not yet been able to enter the city.
  • Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”. Francis’s comments were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

Updated

Biden outlined 'consequences' to Xi if China aids Russia, White House says

The US president, Joe Biden, described to China’s president, Xi Jinping, in a phone call today “implications and consequences” if Beijing provides material support to Russia as it attacks Ukrainian cities and civilians, the White House said.

In a statement, the White House said the phone call between the Chinese and American leaders, which lasted nearly two hours, focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Biden outlined the views of the United States and our Allies and partners on this crisis. President Biden detailed our efforts to prevent and then respond to the invasion, including by imposing costs on Russia.

He described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians.

The President underscored his support for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

An earlier statement from the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Xi as telling Biden that conflicts and confrontations were in no-one’s interests.

According to the ministry, Xi said:

The top priorities now are to continue dialogue and negotiations, avoid civilian casualties, prevent a humanitarian crisis, cease fighting and end the war as soon as possible.

Chinese state media quoted Xi saying in the call:

The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see.

Updated

The former UK prime minister, David Cameron, is driving a small lorry full of supplies for Ukrainian refugees to the country’s border with Poland.

Cameron announced the trip on Twitter, where he said he had been volunteering for two years at a food project in west Oxfordshire called the Chippy Larder.

Updated

The Greek government has announced it is “ready to rebuild” the maternity hospital bombed in Mariupol on March 9th, Helena Smith reports.

Announcing the plan, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, referred to the besieged city’s connection with expatriate Greeks, a 120,000-strong community who have lived and worked there for centuries.

The centre-right leader tweeted:

Greece is ready to rebuild the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the centre of the Greek minority in Ukraine, a city dear to our hearts and symbol of the barbarity of the war.

Russia’s shelling of the hospital shocked the world as images of a heavily pregnant woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher from the bombed building emerged. Russian officials claimed the maternity hospital had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists using it as a base and that at the time of the attack neither patients nor medics were inside.

A view onto the yard of a maternity hospital damaged in a shelling attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022.
A view onto the yard of a maternity hospital damaged in a shelling attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Mariana Vishegirskaya walks down stairs in a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022.
Mariana Vishegirskaya walks down stairs in a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Moscow’s ambassador to the UN and the Russian embassy in London described the images as “fake news”. Both the woman and her baby died less than a week later, according to the Associated Press.

Russian forces first encircled the strategic port city on March 2nd, subjecting it to constant bombardment ever since with an estimated 400,000 people who have remained in Mariupol having no access to water, food or medicines. Heat and phone services have also been cut.

Updated

Ukraine's position unchanged despite Russian statements, Ukrainian negotiator says

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president and a member of the negotiating team, has accused Russian statements on peace talks of attempting “to provoke tension in the media”.

“Our positions are unchanged,” he tweeted today. “Ceasefire, withdrawal of troops & strong security guarantees with concrete formulas.”

Podolyak’s comments come after a member of Russia’s negotiating team, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow and Kyiv are most aligned on Ukraine’s neutrality and giving up on joining Nato.

Medinsky said Moscow and Kyiv are “halfway there” in agreeing on the issue of Ukraine’s demilitarisation, adding that both sides were discussing nuances of security guarantees should Ukraine no longer attempt to join the Nato alliance, the Interfax news agency reported.

Residents of Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol have resorted to escaping on foot as official evacuation efforts have mostly failed due to ongoing shelling by Russian forces, the region’s governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Speaking on national television, Kyrylenko said around 35,000 had managed to leave the city in recent days, many leaving on foot or in convoys of private cars, Reuters reports.

The way out of blockaded Mariupol begins with residents getting out either on foot or in their own transport.

Some cars that were leaving Mariupol did not have enough fuel to reach the nearest villages or towns, he said.

Near-constant shelling by Russian forces was preventing authorities from opening humanitarian corridors to supply aid and food to the city and to evacuate women, children and those most in need, Kyrylenko said.

Read our latest report on the situation in Mariupol:

6.5m people currently displaced within Ukraine, UN says

Six and a half million people are currently displaced within Ukraine, the UN has said today, nearly twice as many as have managed to flee the country, Lizzy Davies reports.

The new figure, which dwarfs the 3.3 million refugees who have entered mainly EU territory, is a big jump on the UN’s last estimate of 1.85 million. The International Organisation for Migration, which conducted a survey between 9 and 16 March to get a better idea of the scale of the problem, calculated the number of IDPs at 6.48 million.

Aid workers told the Guardian at the weekend they were only able to get a fraction of what was needed to vulnerable people on the move. On Friday the International Displacement Monitoring Centre at the Norwegian Refugee Council said:

Most IDPs are sheltering with family or in private accommodation in basements or underground car garages. Air raid shelters and metro stations are also a place of refuge.

A growing number are moving to collective shelters - public buildings such as schools, churches, gyms and concert halls - where, in addition to overcrowded conditions, they face limited water and electricity and a lack of gender separation, greatly increasing the risk of gender-based violence, Covid-19 transmission and other infectious disease outbreaks.

Ukrainian displaced civilians wait in the train station as they flee from the war in Lviv, Ukraine on March 15, 2022.
Ukrainian displaced civilians wait in the train station as they flee from the war in Lviv, Ukraine on March 15, 2022. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The UN protection cluster said a major reason for the enormous spike in estimates was that IOM’s survey had access to people from eastern and northern regions “close to areas under active hostilities” which turned out to host large numbers of IDPs displaced within cities or the same oblasts.

In the previous week, few reliable data sources from the latter regions were available... so the previous methodology considered mostly data sources reported in the Western and Central areas of the country. IOM’s assessment therefore provides a more comprehensive overview of the displacement situation.

Updated

Reports of fighting in Mariupol city centre

Fighting has reached the centre of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to reports.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko told the BBC:

Yes, they were really active today. Tanks and machine gun battles continue. Everybody is hiding in bunkers.

More than 80% of residential buildings in Mariupol are either damaged or destroyed, he added, and 30% of them cannot be restored.

There’s no city centre left. There isn’t a small piece of land in the city that doesn’t have signs of war.

A view shows a line of cars near blocks of flats destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict, as evacuees leave the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 17, 2022.
A view shows a line of cars near blocks of flats destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict, as evacuees leave the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 17, 2022. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

Earlier today, the Russian defence ministry said Russian forces were “tightening the noose” around the city of Mariupol, adding that fighting was ongoing in the city centre.

In a one-hour call between the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, today, Macron said he was “extremely concerned” about the situation in Mariupol, the French presidential office said.

Premature babies who were left behind by their parents lay in a bed in hospital number 3 in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 15, 2022.
Premature babies who were left behind by their parents lay in a bed in hospital number 3 in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Updated

Summary

It is almost 7.30pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand now:

  • Russian missiles struck an aircraft repair plant in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, 50 miles from the border with Poland and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians. Blasts were heard at about 6am on Friday, preceded by the sound of air raid sirens, as a mushroom-shaped plume of smoke could be seen rising in the sky.
  • Russia’s bombardment in the east of Ukraine continued on Friday. In the streets of Mariupol, where 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water, Russia’s armed forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, a spokesperson for the Russian defence ministry said. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s state emergency service said a multi-storey teaching building had been shelled on Friday morning, killing one person, wounding 11 and trapping one other in the rubble.
  • Hundreds of people remain buried under the rubble of a theatre in the devastated city of Mariupol that was hit by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. In his latest video address, Zelenskiy said that more than 130 people have been rescued so far but officials have said rescue efforts had been hindered by the complete breakdown of social services in the city and fears of future Russian attacks.
  • Kyiv city administration said today that 222 people have been killed in the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children. In a statement, it said a further 889 people have been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital. The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures.
  • Russian forces are “holding captive” a Ukrainian journalist, Victoria Roshchyna, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske. In a statement, Hromadske said they believe Roshchyna was detained by the Russian FSB around 15 March.
  • Chinese president Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Joe Biden on Friday that conflicts and confrontations such as the events unfolding in Ukraine are in no one’s interests, according to Chinese state media. “The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see,” Xi was quoted by Chinese media as saying to the US president.
  • Vladimir Putin praised Russian “unity” over what the Kremlin is calling its special operation in Ukraine during a rare public speech at the national stadium in Moscow. As Putin was finishing his speech, the broadcast was suddenly cut off and state television showed patriotic songs. The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed a “technical failure” for the cutoff.
  • A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty. Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, also expressed concern about the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol, saying supplies were running out and its convoys had not yet been able to enter the city.
  • Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”. Francis’s comments were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

Hello everyone. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll continue to bring you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine today. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.

A resident outside a severely damaged 5-storey residence in Vynohradar, Kyiv, as missile strikes on the area at about 8 AM local time have been reported by local residents and media. 18 Mar 2022
A resident outside a severely damaged 5-storey residence in Vynohradar, Kyiv, as missile strikes on the area at about 8 AM local time have been reported by local residents and media. 18 Mar 2022 Photograph: Daniel Ceng Shou-Yi/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
Wreckage and broken windows outside a damaged kindergarten in Vynohradar, Kyiv.
Wreckage and broken windows outside a damaged kindergarten in Vynohradar, Kyiv. Photograph: Daniel Ceng Shou-Yi/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Russian forces are “holding captive” a Ukrainian journalist, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske.

In a statement, Hromadske said they believe their journalist, Victoria Roshchyna, was detained by the Russian FSB around 15 March.

Our journalist Victoria Roshchyna is held captive by the Russian occupiers. She was reporting from hotspots in Eastern and Southern Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. On March 12, we couldn’t contact Victoria

As we learned from witnesses, at that time the journalist was in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk. On March 16, we learned that the day before (probably March 15), Victoria Roshchyna was detained by the Russian FSB. Currently, we do not know where she is

We call on the Ukrainian and international community to help us to find and release Victoria Roshchyna, Hromadske journalist

A member of Russia’s negotiating team in talks with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow and Kyiv are most aligned on Ukraine’s neutrality and giving up on joining Nato, the Interfax news agency reports.

Medinsky said Moscow and Kyiv are “halfway there” in agreeing on the issue of Ukraine’s demilitarisation, adding that both sides were discussing nuances of security guarantees should Ukraine no longer attempt to join the Nato alliance.

He declined to reveal any other details of the talks.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser and negotiator in the talks, told so-called “experts” to “take a break” from commenting on how to wage war against and negotiate with Russia.

Footage has emerged from the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol showing a shopping centre in the south-eastern port in ruins as residents continue to be bombarded by Russian airstrikes.

There is no evidence to suggest that Vladimir Putin’s overall intent in Ukraine has changed despite the invasion failing to reach its original objectives, a Western official said.

Reuters cites the official speaking on condition of anonymity:

I’ve seen nothing which suggests that the original intent of Putin has significantly altered.

Therefore ... the difference between what was planned, what is being executed is at the moment one of timing, and they have failed to achieve their objectives in the time that they set out in their original objectives and their original plan.

The official said Russian forces could sustain bombardments on Ukrainian cities by increasingly using unguided missiles.

Their ability to use that sort of scale of artillery, whilst not infinite, is really, really significant.

There is an enormous amount of artillery ammunition which the Russian forces hold, and it may be a logistical challenge for them to get all of it in place.

But if they’re able to bring those supplies forward, then they could mount that sort of artillery bombardment for a very, very considerable period of time.

Many of the attendees at today’s packed pro-war rally at Moscow’s national stadium say they worked in the public sector and had been pressured into going by their employers, the BBC reports.

From BBC News’ Will Vernon:

'Hundreds of people are still under the debris' of Mariupol theatre, Zelenskiy says

In his latest video address, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, vowed that the Russians will pay for the “thousands of hearts stopped by this war” in Ukraine.

Zelenskiy accused Russian forces of “doing everything to prevent” Ukrainian humanitarian cargo from entering the besieged city of Mariupol.

More than 35,000 people have been rescued from Mariupol, he said. Meanwhile, more than 130 people have been rescued at the site of the bombing of a theatre where Mariupol residents hid from shelling, he said.

Hundreds of people are still under the debris. Despite the shelling, despite all the difficulties, we will continue rescue work.

Zelenskiy also vowed that Ukraine “will become a full member of the EU”, adding that he had spoken with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who had “promised to do everything to speed up Ukraine’s accession to the EU”.

I am confident that by attacking us, they will destroy everything that Russian society has achieved over the past 25 years.

And they will return to where they once began to rise from, as they say, to the “the wicked 90’s”. But without freedom.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the nation in Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the nation in Kyiv. Photograph: UKRAINE PRESIDENCY/AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis denounces ‘abuse of power’ in Russia-Ukraine war

Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”.

Francis’s comments, in a message to a gathering of European Catholic representatives on Friday, were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

They came only days after he told the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, that the concept of a “just war” was obsolete since wars are never justifiable and that pastors must preach peace, not politics.

Those comments, during a video call with Kirill on Wednesday, were an indirect criticism of the patriarch’s apparent defence of the war. Kirill, who is close to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has seemingly justified the invasion by describing it as part of a struggle against sin and pressure from liberal foreigners to hold “gay parades”.

He has blamed the west and a fellow Orthodox patriarch for fomenting enmity between Ukraine and Russia and echoed Putin in insisting they are “one people”.

In his comments on Friday, Francis did not mention Russia by name – the Vatican traditionally does not identify aggressors and has attempted to maintain a dialogue with Kirill’s church – but Francis strongly backed Ukraine.

Francis told the meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia:

The heartbreaking scream for help from our Ukrainian brothers pushes us as a community of believers not just to serious reflection, but to cry with them and work for them; to share the anguish of a people wounded in its identity, history and tradition.

Pope Francis arriving for his audience with the participants of the initiative promoted by the “Gravissimum Educationis” Foundation, Vatican City, 18 March 2022.
Pope Francis arriving for his audience with the participants of the initiative promoted by the “Gravissimum Educationis” Foundation, Vatican City, 18 March 2022. Photograph: Vatican Media Handout/EPA

Russian state television suddenly cut away from Vladimir Putin speaking at an event marking the eighth anniversary of Crimea’s annexation on Friday.

The president was making a speech with his government in the packed Luzhniki stadium in Moscow when the TV started showing patriotic songs being played at the event instead.

Russian president Vladimir Putin praised the country’s “unity” during what Russia calls its “special operation” in Ukraine as he was giving a rare public speech at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Friday, Pjotr Sauer reports.

“The country hasn’t seen unity like this in a long time,” Putin said, addressing a massive flag-waving crowd.

As Putin was finishing his speech, he was suddenly cut off and state television showed patriotic songs performed earlier in the day by popular Russian musician Oleg Gazmanov. Soon afterwards, Putin’s speech, which took around 5 minutes, was rebroadcast from the start with the Russian leader ending his speech and walking off stage.

The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists shortly after the event that the cut off occurred due to a “technical failure”. One concertgoer told Reuters that Putin left the stage after his speech, with no interruptions taking place.

The event officially marked the 8th anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but many of the speeches were aimed at rallying the country behind the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki Stadium, which hosted the 2018 Fifa World Cup final, and many were seen waving flags emblazoned with the symbol “Z”.

The “Z” symbol has gone from a military marking to the main symbol of public support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

During his speech, Putin sought to justify his country’s actions by repeating his unfounded claims that Ukraine was committing “genocide” in the Donbas region,

“This really was genocide. Stopping that was the goal of the special operation,” Putin said, adding that Ukranian civilians have welcomed Moscow’s invading troops.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on March 18, 2022
Vladimir Putin attends a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on Friday. Photograph: Ramil Sitdikov/AFP/Getty Images

The Russian leader also hailed the actions of the country’s military fighting in Ukraine, by paraphrasing a Bible saying.

There is no greater love than giving up one’s soul for one’s friends.

On the run-up to the rally, Reuters and a number of other Russian outlets reported that state employees were ordered to attend the event. Russia has a long history of state employees being coerced to attend pro-government rallies.

Putin’s speech came as Russian troops continued to shell the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and also launched missiles on the outskirts of the western city of Lviv.

Updated

Ukrainians fleeing the war can now stay in Canada for as long as three years on a special visa program, the government said this week, Leyland Cecco reports.

Previously, Ukrainian nationals were told they could spend two years in Canada. The increase, announced this week, was meant to give Ukrainians the “flexibility” to stay longer if needed, a spokesperson for the immigration ministry said in a statement.

Under the program, Ukrainians can leave and return to Canada any time while their visa is valid. To apply from overseas, they must provide biometric data and a photograph. Any Ukrainians already in Canada can apply to increase their stay to three years. All application fees have been waived by the government.

While more than three million people have fled the Ukraine since the invasion by Russian troops, only 3,368 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada as of this week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky listens to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (C) deliver opening remarks before virtually addressing the Canadian Parliament, on March 15, 2022 in Ottawa.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (C) deliver opening remarks before virtually addressing the Canadian Parliament, on March 15, 2022 in Ottawa. Photograph: Adrian Wyld/AFP/Getty Images

Community groups in Canada have called for more support, including dropping all visa requirements for Ukrainian nationals, a move Canada’s immigration minister said would take too long to be helpful. There are growing calls for the Canadian government to airlift Ukrainians, a move prime minister Justin Trudeau said could be possible.

“If there is sufficient demand that requires us to do more like sending airlifts, we will look at that,” he said this week.

After 11 years of war, the destruction of towns, cities and much of the Syrian military, Bashar al-Assad’s army has launched a recruitment drive. But the recruits are not fresh from bootcamps and will not fight on the home front.

They are the vanguard of what could be the biggest state-backed mercenary force in the world. Within days, Syrian troops could be deployed to the stalled Russian frontlines in Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin is about to extract a lethal price for Moscow’s rescue of the Syrian leader.

The first Syrian troops to join Putin’s ranks – an advance force of 150 – arrived in Russia on Thursday, European intelligence officials claim. Ukrainian military intelligence, echoing a claim by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, believes 40,000 Syrians have signed up to fight – a figure that would represent a sizeable chunk of the battle-ready capacity of the country’s entire military.

In the economic wasteland of post-war Syria, the best – and maybe only – state-backed job on offer is one that those who sign on for might not come home from.

The vast majority of newly enlisted Syrian mercenaries are trading in salaries of $15 a month for monthly deals worth between $600 and $3,000. Rank and experience in the gruelling decade of insurrection attracts the higher dollars, but even the basic salary is luring recruits who have little way out of overwhelming poverty.

Syrians have shown a readiness to sign up at least 14 recruitment centres across the country, in Aleppo, Damascus, Deir Azzour, Homs and Hama, as well as Raqqa, which less than five years ago was at the centre of the war against Islamic State.

The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said his country stands ready to rebuild the bombed maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

He tweeted: “Greece is ready to rebuild the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the center of the Greek minority in Ukraine, a city dear to our hearts and symbol of the barbarity of the war.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned a Russian attack on the children’s hospital as evidence of “genocide”.

“A children’s hospital, a maternity ward. How did they threaten the Russian Federation? What is this country, the Russian Federation, that is afraid of hospitals, maternity wards and is destroying them?” said Zelenskiy on Telegram.

Chinese president Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Joe Biden on Friday that conflicts and confrontations such as the events unfolding in Ukraine are in no one’s interests, according to Chinese state media.

State-to-state relations cannot advance to the stage of confrontation, and conflicts and confrontations are not in the interests of anyone, Xi told Biden on a video call.

“The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see,” said Xi.

Xi said China and the US must guide bilateral relations along the right track, and both sides should also shoulder due international responsibilities and make efforts for world peace, Reuters reported.

President Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, on Nov. 15, 2021.
President Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on 15 November 2021. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

Updated

Amateur hackers are being warned off joining Ukraine’s “IT army” by western officials, amid fears that activists could be breaking the law or launch attacks that spiral out control.

Ukraine’s cyber-response to the Russian invasion has been bolstered by hackers organising on the Telegram messaging app under the IT Army of Ukraine banner. More than 300,000 people have signed up to the group, including members from outside Ukraine.

Western officials said they would “strongly discourage” joining the group and taking part in hacking activity against Russia.”

“We wouldn’t encourage criminality in any way, shape or form,” said one official on Thursday. “We would strongly discourage people from looking to get involved in those kinds of activities.”

Zelenskiy: Rescue work still ongoing at bombed Mariupol theatre

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday said rescue work was ongoing at the site of a bombed theatre in Mariupol from where 130 people have so far been recovered alive.

In an online address, Zelenskiy also said shelling by Russian forces continued to prevent the authorities from establishing effective humanitarian corridors to the encircled port city in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman, Lyudmyla Denisova, said earlier that 1,300 people are still in the basement of the Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol.

So far 130 people have been rescued from the rubble after the building was hit by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday.

Authorities have not been able to provide a further update on figures released yesterday about how many people survived the attack on the theatre, where hundreds of civilians including children and older people were believed to have been sheltering.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during his daily video statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during his daily video statement. Photograph: Telegram | Zelenskiy Offical

Differing accounts have emerged of the one hour telephone conversation held between Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin on Friday morning.

According to Scholz’s office the German leader used the meeting to “put pressure” on the Russian president to enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine, according to a spokesperson in Berlin.

Scholz had “put pressure on [Putin] to introduce a ceasefire as soon as possible, to improve the humanitarian situation and to make progress in the search for a diplomatic solution for the conflict,” the spokesman said.

Giving no further details as to whether progress had been made, he added that the conversation had been focused on the war and attempts to stop it.

In the Kremlin’s version of the conversation, put out ahead of the statement from Berlin, it was described as “harsh but businesslike”, with Putin complaining about war crimes he said had been committed by the Ukrainian Army, referring to attacks he said had taken place in the eastern cities of Donetsk and Makiivka which had led to “numerous deaths”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a session of the German lower House of Parliament Bundestag in Berlin on March 18, 2022.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a session of the German lower House of Parliament Bundestag in Berlin on March 18, 2022. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images

“These war crimes are being ignored by the west,” Putin said according to Russian news agency reports referring to the Kremlin. Putin reportedly told Scholz the Russian Army “is doing everything to avoid civilian victims”.

According to the Kremlin’s account, Putin accused Ukraine of trying to “slow down” the discussions with Russia, and said that the government in Kiev was making “unrealistic suggestions”. It added that the Russian leadership was “ready to seek solutions appropriate to its basic views”.

Scholz came in for stiff criticism on Thursday after his government rejected requests from opposition figures to discuss the situation in Ukraine, following an emotional speech given to the Bundestag by Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets the audience as he attends a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on March 18, 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets the audience as he attends a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on March 18, 2022. Photograph: Ramil Sitdikov/AFP/Getty Images

In his 11 minute address via video link, the Ukrainian president accused Germany of having paved the way for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, through its strict adherence over years to its business dealings with Russia, especially related to the Baltic Sea gas pipelines. He appealed to Germans’ sense of historical responsibility as he urged the government to do all it could to stop the war.

On Friday Zelenskiy’s foreign policy adviser, Mychailo Podoliak accused Scholz of “playing down” the war by repeatedly insisting the conflict was best described as “Putin’s War”, not “Russia’s War”, as it was Putin who had wanted it, not the Russian people.

Podliak said that the distinction was wrong, with opinion polls showing that a majority of the Russian populace was in favour of the war and by extension, of the killing of Ukrainians, he said.

Russian state TV suddenly cuts away from Putin during speech

A live broadcast of President Vladimir Putin speaking at a packed stadium in Moscow suddenly cut to images of patriotic songs being played at the event.

Russian state television cut away from Putin as he was speaking at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium to mark the eighth anniversary of Crimea’s annexation.

Addressing thousands of people waving Russian flags, Putin hailed what Russia calls its special operation in Ukraine.

One concert-goer said that Putin had finished his speech and left the stage, Reuters reports.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the sudden interruption to the feed was due to a “technical failure on the server”, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

Updated

A call between the US president, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, began at 9.03am Eastern Time (1.03pm GMT), the White House said.

The two leaders’ first phone call since a video summit in November will be a chance to air differences as the US spearheads an unprecedented pressure campaign on Russia, placing China in a geopolitical bind.

Biden is expected to warn Xi that he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues fellow authoritarian ally Russia from intense western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, on Nov. 15, 2021.
President Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, on Nov. 15, 2021. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers were killed when a Russian missile strike targeted a military base in Mykolaiv this morning, according to reports.

At least 816 civilians killed in Ukraine so far, UN says

The UN rights office (OHCHR) said at least 816 civilians had been killed and 1,333 wounded in Ukraine since the conflict began on 24 February, Reuters reports.

The real death toll is likely to be considerable higher. The OHCHR, which has a large monitoring team in the country, has not yet been able to verify casualty reports from badly hit cities such as Mariupol.

Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes, it said.

109 strollers have been arranged in several rows in Rynok Square in memory and honour of the 109 children killed by the war in Ukraine up to date. 18 Mar 2022
One hundred and nine strollers arranged in rows in Rynok Square in memory of the 109 children killed by the war in Ukraine so far. Photograph: Vincenzo Circosta/SOPA Images/Rex/Shutterstock
A woman looks at residential buildings damaged by a bomb in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 18, 2022.
A woman looks at residential buildings damaged by a bomb in Kyiv on Friday. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP

Updated

Video shows damaged buildings – including a kindergarten – and infrastructure in the small city in the Sumy region after it was bombarded by Russia.

As war continues in Ukraine, so too does the battle over information. In Bangkok on Friday, Ukraine’s embassy chargé d’affaires Oleksandr Lysak described comments made to the media by the Russian ambassador as “absolute nonsense”, Rebecca Ratcliffe reports.

Lysak addressed journalists just days after the Russian embassy in Bangkok held an event for Thai media, where the war was described as a “special military operation”. The Russian ambassador to Thailand, Evgeny Tomikhin, reportedly claimed that Russia did not shell civilian buildings, and that its objective was the “denazification” of Ukraine, according to a report by Khaosod English. Foreign media were not permitted to attend the event.

Lysak said on Friday:

We try to actually explain to people that this is Russian propaganda. These statements are fake.

They destroy our schools, our hospitals and our facilities.”

The response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been muted across much of south-east Asia. Thailand voted in favour of a UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but has otherwise maintained a neutral stance.

The war has provoked a mixed reaction within Thailand. While some conservatives have expressed support for Russia, other, often younger, Thais have said they are prepared to fight alongside Ukrainians. None have yet travelled to the country, according to Lysak.

He added that he longed to see his own family, who remain in Kyiv.

“I’m feeling pain, I’m feeling very anxious,” he said.

Actually I just pray to God to stop this war as soon as possible.”

Updated

One hundred and nine empty strollers were placed in the main square in Lviv in memory of the 109 Ukrainian children killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said:

We call on all adults around the world to stand as one shield to protect Ukrainian children and give them future.

Urge the governments of other countries to close the sky over Ukraine.

Ukraine will not abandon its bid to join the EU to reach a compromise with Russia as part of an agreement to end the war, President Zelenskiy’s deputy chief of staff, Andrii Sybiha, said today.

Speaking on national television, Sybiha said:

I will be categorical, this is absolutely unacceptable.

It is our choice, the application for EU membership has been submitted and now it is being put into practice.

Negotiations with Russia were ongoing but difficult, he added.

Updated

People wave Russian flags as they gather for a concert marking the eight anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on March 18, 2022.
People wave Russian flags as they gather for a concert marking the eight anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on Friday. Photograph: Ramil Sitdikov/AFP/Getty Images
People with Russian national flags and banners reading “For President! Russia, Donbass, Crimea” gather to attend the concert marking the eighth anniversary of the referendum on the state status of Crimea and Sevastopol and its reunification with Russia, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 18, 2022.
People with Russian flags and banners reading ‘For President! Russia, Donbass, Crimea’ gather t in Moscow on Friday at a concert to mark the eighth anniversary of the referendum for the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol. Photograph: Ilya Pitalev/AP

Updated

222 people killed in Kyiv since Russian invasion, city officials say

Two hundred and 22 people have been killed in the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children, according to local officials.

In a statement, the Kyiv city administration said a further 889 people have been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital, Reuters reports.

In addition, 757 children have been born in Kyiv since the start of the war, it said.

A woman prays after the funeral services for Ukrainian soldier Ivan Skrypnyk at the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Lviv Thursday.
A woman prays after the funeral services for Ukrainian soldier Ivan Skrypnyk at the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Lviv on Thursday. Photograph: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/REX/Shutterstock
A father in a protective coat holds his newborn child in the corridor of a maternity hospital, Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. on March 8, 2022.
A father in a protective coat holds his newborn child in the corridor of a maternity hospital in Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, earlier this month. Photograph: Evgen Kotenko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures.

Updated

A pro-Kremlin rally to mark the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea is taking place today at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says he has spoken with the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, as part of regular talks, adding that he was grateful for Britain’s “strong support”.

The number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine has slowed in recent days, according to a UN refugee agency official.

Daily border crossings from Ukraine into Poland, the country that has received the most arrivals, have fallen by around half from a peak of about 100,000 daily, Reuters quoted Matthew Saltmarsh as saying.

However, more of the refugees crossing into Poland in recent days have been showing signs of having suffered trauma than those who fled earlier in the crisis.

Speaking from Poland, Saltmarsh said:

Many of them don’t have a plan. Those who arrive are not clear where they can go.

Refugees are seen as they wait for further transportation on raiway station in Przemysl, Poland on March 17, 2022. -
Refugees wait for further transportation at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, on Thursday. Photograph: Wojtek Radwański/AFP/Getty Images

Figures could rise again if the fighting spreads further west, he added, as many people fled besieged cities in the country’s east to the western city of Lviv.

If indeed there is an escalation in Lviv, there is a danger there will be renewed movements towards the border.

Overall, UN agencies say 3.27 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February and an additional 2 million people have been displaced internally.

Updated

More than 1,000 people remain in Mariupol theatre, says official

Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman, Lyudmyla Denisova, said 130 people had been rescued so far from the rubble of a theatre in the devastated city of Mariupol that was hit by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday.

Authorities have not been able to provide a further update on figures released yesterday about how many people survived the attack on the theatre, where hundreds of civilians including children and older people were believed to have been sheltering.

In a televised address, Denisova said rescue work was ongoing at the site.

We are praying for them to be alive, but as of now we don’t have any information.

According to a translation by NBC News, Denisova said 1,300 people are still in the basement of the Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol.

I emphasised that 130 people have already been evacuated from the drama theater in Mariupol destroyed by the occupiers, but 1,300 people are still in the basements.

Donetsk regional head Pavlo Kyrylenko said he would not be commenting until he had received official reports.

Yesterday, the former Donetsk region head, Serhiy Taruta, said he believed 1,300 people were in the building when it was bombed and 130 had been rescued so far.

Speaking in an interview on Ukrainian television Thursday afternoon, Taruta said rescue efforts had been hindered by the complete breakdown of social services in the city and fears of future Russian attacks.

Taruta said:

People are doing everything themselves. My friends went to help, but due to constant shelling it was not safe. People are clearing away the rubble themselves.

There is no rescue operation, because all the services that are supposed to rescue people, to treat them, to bury them, these services no longer exist.

At least as recently as Monday, large white letters on the ground in front of and behind the theatre spelled out “deti” – “children” in Russian – to alert warplanes of those inside, according to images from the Maxar space technology company.

Russia has denied bombing the theatre.

A view of destroyed theatre hall, which was used as a shelter by civilians, after Russian bombardment in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 18, 2022.
The destroyed theatre in Mariupol that was being used as a shelter by civilians. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A view of destroyed theatre hall, which was used as a shelter by civilians, after Russian bombardment in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 18, 2022.
Another view of the ruined theatre in Mariupol. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A view of destroyed theatre hall, which was used as a shelter by civilians, after Russian bombardment in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 18, 2022.
The destroyed theatre hall in Mariupol. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A view of destroyed theatre hall, which was used as a shelter by civilians, after Russian bombardment in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 18, 2022.
The destroyed theatre hall in Mariupol. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, says he has spoken with the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, about a further package of EU sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

The European bloc approved a fourth round of sanctions earlier this week, which included bans on Russian energy sector investments, luxury goods exports to Moscow and imports of steel products from Russia.

The sanctions, launched on Tuesday, also froze the assets of more business leaders who support the Russian state, including the Chelsea football club owner, Roman Abramovich, and the head of Russian state TV Channel One, Konstantin Ernst, who were added to a blacklist that already includes dozens of wealthy Russians.

The latest barrage of sanctions followed three rounds of measures that included freezing the assets of the Russian central bank, the exclusion from the Swift banking system of some Russian and Belarusian banks, and the freezing of assets of oligarchs and politicians including Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

Hello, I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. Don’t hesitate to get in touch on Twitter or via email if you have anything to flag you think we should be covering.

Updated

A man removes a destroyed curtain inside a school damaged among other residential buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 18, 2022.
A man removes a curtain inside a school damaged among other residential buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP
A man stands inside a damaged kindergarten facility in the aftermath of a shelling at a residnetial area in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv, Ukraine, 18 March 2022.
A man stands inside a bombed out kindergarten in the aftermath of a shelling in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv on Friday. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/EPA
A placard reading ‘Welcome to Germany’ is pictured as refugee children who fled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, attend a school preparation course offered by the elementary school ‘Sonnenstrasse’, in Dusseldorf, Germany March 18, 2022.
A placard reading ‘Welcome to Germany’ is pictured as refugee children who fled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine attend a school preparation course in Dusseldorf on Friday. Photograph: Thilo Schmülgen/Reuters

Updated

Summary

The time in Kyiv is 1pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s main headlines so far:

  • A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty.
  • US president Joe Biden is set to speak with his Chinese counterpart at 1pm GMT today, where he is expected to warn Xi Jinping he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues fellow authoritarian ally Russia from intense western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
  • A Russian missile attack near Lviv airport has raised fears of Vladimir Putin’s war spreading to western Ukraine, as Russia claimed to be “tightening the noose” around the south-eastern port city of Mariupol.
  • The Ukrainian air force says the aircraft repair plant in Lviv was struck by cruise missiles fired from the direction of the Black Sea. It also confirmed that two other Russian missiles were reportedly shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defences before reaching their target.
  • One person was killed and four others wounded after parts of a Russian missile fell on a residential building in the northern part of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Friday morning, emergencies services said.
  • Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, has revoked Russian-backed television channel RT’s licence to broadcast in the UK with immediate effect.
  • The UK Ministry of Defence has just released its latest intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine, saying Russian forces have made “minimal progress” this week.
  • Russia has established a no-fly zone over Ukraine’s Donbas region, according to a separatist official from the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, the Interfax news agency is reporting.
  • The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region said frequent and widespread shelling by Russian forces was preventing the safe evacuation of civilians from towns and villages on the front line.
  • The Ukrainian military has released its daily operational report as of 6am local time, claiming its forces destroyed 14 Russian air targets on Thursday.
  • Emergency services are continuing to work to contain a blaze in one of the largest shopping centres in Kharkiv, according to officials. Ukraine’s state emergency services said two rescuers suffered explosives injuries and were receiving medical treatment. However, one of the rescuers was reportedly unable to be saved and died from their injuries.
  • French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Friday sanctions imposed by western countries on Russia in reaction to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine were starting to have a “real impact”.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for now. My colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the breaking news from Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Updated

A Russian missile attack near Lviv airport has raised fears of Vladimir Putin’s war spreading to western Ukraine, as Russia claimed to be “tightening the noose” around the south-eastern port city of Mariupol.

A facility for repairing military aircraft by Lviv’s international airport – only 43 miles from Poland’s border – was hit by two cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea on Friday morning.

Ukrainian officials said they had shot down a further four missiles launched in the attack, the second on facilities near the historic city in recent days.

The strikes raise the spectre of Ukraine losing what has so far been a relative safe haven and hub for refugees and humanitarian aid.

At least 35 people were killed and 134 wounded on Sunday after more than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted a military facility outside Lviv and only 15 miles from Poland’s border.

A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty.

Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, also expressed concern about the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol, saying supplies were running out and its convoys had not yet been able to enter the city.

Pope Francis on Friday called the war a “perverse abuse of power” waged for partisan interests that has condemned defenceless people to brutal violence.

Since the war began, the pope has not used the word “Russia” in his condemnations but has used phrases such as “unacceptable armed aggression” to get his point across.

His latest condemnation came in a message to a Catholic church conference in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

Updated

Ukraine says aircraft repair plant struck by cruise missiles

The Ukrainian air force says the aircraft repair plant in Lviv was struck by cruise missiles fired from the direction of the Black Sea.

It also confirmed that two other Russian missiles were reportedly shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defences before reaching their target.

The plant was not in operation at the time of the strike and so far casualties have been reported, Lviv city mayor Andriy Sadovy said.

According to officials, the missiles – probably Kh-555 weapons launched from heavy strategic bombers – had not directly hit Danylo Halytskyi international airport of Lviv, where, before being closed after the invasion, passengers could fly to more than 50 international destinations, including Madrid, London, Paris, Milan, Venice, Catania and Barcelona.

People walk as a cloud of smoke raises after an explosion near the airport, in Lviv, western Ukraine, Friday, March 18, 2022.
People walk as a cloud of smoke raises after an explosion near the airport, in Lviv, western Ukraine on Friday. Photograph: Ismail Coskun/AP

Updated

Russian president Vladimir Putin told German chancellor Olaf Scholz during a phone call on Friday that Kyiv was “attempting to stall peace talks” with Russia but that Moscow was still keen to continue negotiations.

“It was noted that the Kyiv regime is attempting in every possible way to delay the negotiation process, putting forward more and more unrealistic proposals,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.

“Nonetheless the Russian side is ready to continue searching for a solution in line with its well-known principled approaches.”

Updated

Clouds of black smoke were seen rising on the horizon of Lviv on Friday morning.

According to the city’s mayor, Andriy Sadovy, several missiles hit an aircraft repair plant at the airport complex in the western Ukrainian city, destroying a building.

He added that the plant had been stopped and there were no casualties from the strike.

Even before Vladimir Putin declared a hunt for “national traitors” and a “fifth column” over his invasion of Ukraine this week, anti-war activists had faced increasing pressure, including police torture, intimidation tactics, work dismissals and other threats.

In a police station in Moscow earlier this month, an anti-war protester managed to record her own beating as officers threatened her for taking part in peaceful demonstrations in which nearly 15,000 people have been detained.

“Place of study?” a policeman asks the student in the recording, which she published online.

When she didn’t answer, they hit her.

“You’ll have a bit of a bruise. Get up, try to remember.”

Then they hit her again.

In an interview with the Guardian, another student, Anastasia, 18, described being threatened for hours after being arrested for taking to the streets and chanting “No to war.”

“They told me they would beat me and that they were going to throw us to the homeless, rape us,” she said. She added she had not been beaten but that officers grew violent with other activists as they refused to cooperate. “I think they would have said anything to get me to sign [the court order] … just not to have to deal with us.”

Russia’s war has above all affected the lives of millions of Ukrainians, turning busy cities such as Mariupol and Kharkiv into war-scarred battlegrounds and leaving thousands dead.

But Russians have also woken up in a different country, one seeking internal enemies to blame for the country’s descent into economic isolation and hardship.

Updated

The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region said frequent and widespread shelling by Russian forces was preventing the safe evacuation of civilians from towns and villages on the front line.

Russia has denied targeting civilians since the start of its invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” its southern neighbour, a democratic country of 44 million people, Reuters reported.

Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said 59 civilians had been killed in the region since the start of the war, which he said had entirely destroyed some residential areas.

“There is not one community that hasn’t been under fire,” he said on national television, naming the towns of Severodonetsk, Rubizhne and Popasna as particular hotspots.

Efforts to evacuate civilians have been hampered by the fighting, but the local authorities hope a temporary ceasefire can be agreed for Saturday to allow trucks to distribute food, medicine and other aid to people most in need.

Updated

Here is some more from the Press Association on RT having its broadcasting licence revoked in the UK.

The news agency reports:

Ofcom has revoked Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT’s UK licence with immediate effect.

The TV watchdog said RT’s licensee, ANO TV Novosti, is “not fit and proper” to hold a licence amid 29 ongoing investigations into the “due impartiality” of its programmes.

A statement released by the regulator on Friday said: “We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern – especially given RT’s compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches.

“In this context, we launched a separate investigation to determine whether ANO TV Novosti is fit and proper to retain its licence to broadcast.”

Ofcom said the decision to suspend the licence came amid ongoing investigations into RT’s news and current affairs coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with prime minister Boris Johnson also having previously called for an Ofcom review.

RT is currently off air in the UK due to sanctions imposed.

Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said:

Freedom of expression is something we guard fiercely in this country, and the bar for action on broadcasters is rightly set very high. Following an independent regulatory process, we have today found that RT is not fit and proper to hold a licence in the UK.

As a result we have revoked RT’s UK broadcasting licence.

The RT news website is currently still up and running.

Updated

The former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has told the Russian people they were being fed misinformation about their country’s invasion of Ukraine and appealed to Vladimir Putin to end the war.

In a video posted on Twitter, the Hollywood star said the Kremlin was intentionally lying to Russians by saying the invasion was intended to “denazify” Ukraine.

“Ukraine did not start this war, neither did nationalists or Nazis,” he said, noting that the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is Jewish.

Updated

Ofcom revokes UK broadcasting licence of RT TV channel

Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, has revoked Russian-backed television channel RT’s licence to broadcast in the UK with immediate effect.

“We do not consider RT to be fit and proper to hold a UK licence and cannot be satisfied that it can be a responsible broadcaster,” Ofcom said on Friday on Twitter.

The logo of RT (Russia Today) TV channel displayed on a tablet.
The logo of RT (Russia Today) TV channel displayed on a tablet. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

More to follow on this shortly.

French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Friday sanctions imposed by western countries on Russia in reaction to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine were starting to have a “real impact”.

“We hope these sanctions will force [Russian president] Vladimir Putin to change his plans,” Attal told BFM TV.

Earlier this week, European Union member states agreed on a fourth package of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.

France’s Secretary of State and Government’s spokesperson Gabriel Attal.
France’s secretary of state and government spokesperson Gabriel Attal. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

One person was killed and four others wounded after parts of a Russian missile fell on a residential building in the northern part of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Friday morning, emergencies services said.

The services said in a statement that 12 people were rescued and 98 were evacuated from the five-storey building, Reuters reported.

I’m Tom Ambrose and will be bringing you the latest news as it happens over the next three hours.

Locals stand next to a residential building in Kyiv damaged by a shelling, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues.
Locals stand next to a residential building in Kyiv damaged by a shelling, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues. Photograph: State Emergency Service/Reuters

Updated

Summary

Before I hand over to my colleague Tom Ambrose, here is a quick recap of where things stand:

For a more detailed summary, please see our earlier update here.

  • The UK Ministry of Defence has just released its latest intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine, saying Russian forces have made “minimal progress” this week.
  • According to Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovy, several missiles hit an aircraft repair plant earlier this morning, destroying a building. The plant had been stopped and there were no casualties from the strike, he said in an update posted to his Telegram account this morning. At least three blasts were heard shortly after 6am with air raid sirens sounding across the city.
  • Russia has established a no-fly zone over Ukraine’s Donbas region, according to a separatist official from the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, the Interfax news agency is reporting.
  • The Ukrainian military has released its daily operational report as of 6am local time, claiming its forces destroyed 14 Russian air targets on Thursday.
  • Emergency services are continuing to work to contain a blaze in one of the largest shopping centres in Kharkiv, according to officials. Ukraine’s state emergency services said two rescuers suffered explosive injuries and were receiving medical treatment. However, one of the rescuers was reportedly unable to be saved and died from their injuries.
  • US president Joe Biden is set to speak with his Chinese counterpart at 1pm GMT today, where he is expected to warn Xi Jinping he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues fellow authoritarian ally Russia from intense western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Updated

Russian forces have made 'minimal progress' this week, UK defence says

The UK Ministry of Defence has just released its latest intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine, saying Russian forces have made “minimal progress” this week.

The report reads:

Russian forces have made minimal progress this week. Ukrainian forces around Kyiv and Mykolaiv continue to frustrate Russian attempts to encircle the cities. The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain encircled and subject to heavy Russian shelling.

The UN now states that the number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine has already surpassed 3.2 million. This number will continue to rise as a result of ongoing Russian aggression.”

Updated

Missiles hit Lviv aircraft repair plant, mayor says

We have an update on the attack on Lviv from earlier this morning.

According to the city’s mayor, Andriy Sadovy, several missiles hit an aircraft repair plant, destroying a building.

The plant had been stopped and there were no casualties from the strike, he said in an update posted to his Telegram account this morning.

At least three blasts were heard shortly after 6am with air raid sirens sounding across the city.

An explosion close to the airport on 18 March 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine
An explosion close to the airport on 18 March 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

Updated

Russia has established a no-fly zone over Ukraine’s Donbas region, according to a separatist official from the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, the Interfax news agency is reporting.

Meanwhile, Russian state media outlet Tass reports that the no-fly zone in the south of the country has been extended until 26 March, citing a source in the ministry of transport.

“The Krasnodar airport confirmed the extension of the closure of airports in southern Russia until 3.45am Moscow time on 26 March,” Tass reported.

Updated

Here is an interesting take on how war has split Ukrainian-Russian families from Guardian reporter Lorenzo Tondo in Lviv.

As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its fourth week, an information war between people on both sides of the border is intensifying. The military onslaught is not just demolishing residential buildings and city centres in Ukraine; it is sorely testing myriad familial cross-border ties that have endured for decades, centuries even.

While people in Ukraine can see with their own eyes what is happening to their country, people in Russia do so only through the house of mirrors that is state television, and when those cowering in bunkers send videos and messages about their plight, many (but not all) of the recipients simply dismiss it as fake news.

Read the full story below.

Lviv’s mayor has confirmed the blasts heard earlier this morning hit the area near the city’s airport but did not hit the airport itself.

In an update posted to his official Telegram account just before 8am local time, Andriy Sadovy said Russian missiles hit the area near Lviv airport.

I can’t say the address in real time yet, but it’s definitely not an airport,” he said.

Sadovy said the situation was still being clarified and urged people not to share photos from the scene.

Updated

The Ukrainian military has released its daily operational report as of 6am local time, claiming its forces destroyed 14 Russian air targets on Thursday.

These reportedly included seven aircrafts, one helicopter, three UAV drones and three wing missiles.

“In certain temporarily occupied territories, Russian occupiers are trying to create a demonstrative positive image of themselves by distributing food items to civilian population,” the Ukrainian defence ministry added.

Officials also maintained that low morale within Russian troops led to an “increase in the number of cases of [desertion] and refusal of military personnel” to participate in the war against Ukraine.

The force earlier claimed Russia was taking up measures to “make up for the loss of personnel at the expense of foreigners” while preparing for a possible attack on Kyiv.

Updated

More photos of civilians fleeing Ukraine provide a powerful snapshot of the refugee crisis.

According to UN estimates, more than 3 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February.

While tens of thousands of people continue to flee the country each day, a small but growing number are heading in the other direction. At first they were foreign volunteers, Ukrainian expatriate men heading to fight and people delivering aid. But increasingly, women are also heading back.

A woman holds her child while waiting in a line to board a train leaving for Lviv in Ukraine
A woman holds her child while waiting in a line to board a train leaving for Lviv in Ukraine Photograph: EyePress News/REX/Shutterstock
A young boy plays with a puzzle at a temporary accommodation centre for evacuees from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol
A young boy plays with a puzzle at a temporary accommodation centre for evacuees from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Refugees wait at Lviv railway station in Lviv, Ukraine, en route to Poland
Refugees wait at Lviv railway station in Lviv, Ukraine, en route to Poland Photograph: Mykola Tys/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

Rescue worker dies from explosive injuries in Kharkiv blast

Emergency services are currently working to contain a blaze in one of the largest shopping centres in Kharkiv, according to officials.

Ukraine’s state emergency services said they received a call reporting commercial pavilions had caught fire with two residential buildings partially damaged on Thursday.

As a result of the shelling, two rescuers suffered explosive injuries and are currently receiving medical treatment, the agency said in an update this morning.

However, one of the rescuers was reportedly unable to be saved and died from their injuries.

A blaze which broke out in one of the largest shopping centres in Kharkiv killed a rescue worker, according to officials
A blaze which broke out in one of the largest shopping centres in Kharkiv killed a rescue worker, according to officials Photograph: Ukraine’s state emergency services
Fire fighters work to extinguish the blaze
Fire fighters work to extinguish the blaze Photograph: Ukraine’s state emergency services
Rescue workers continue to contain the damage caused by the blast
Rescue workers continue to contain the damage caused by the blast Photograph: Ukraine’s state emergency services

Updated

Explosions rock Lviv this morning

Explosions are being reported in the western Ukrainian City of Lviv this morning, with those in the city claiming that the airport was hit by a Russian missile.

Smoke was purportedly seen rising from near Lviv International Airport, according to multiple videos posted across social media. The airport sits about 6km (3.7 miles) from the city centre.

At least three blasts were heard shortly after 6am with air raid sirens sounding across the city.

Ukraine 24 television station published a short video over its Telegram channel in which a mushroom-shaped plume of smoke could be seen rising on the horizon.

BBC news journalist, James Reynolds, also uploaded a photo of the city skyline where smoke could be seen coming from the west in the direction of the airport.

Updated

On the topic of China, the Guardian’s world affairs editor Julian Borger asks: will it side with Russia and divide the world?

A potential tipping point in China’s role in the world may be underway as it decides how far to go in backing Russia’s war on Ukraine.

While China has abstained on United Nations security council resolutions on the invasion, it has sided with Moscow rhetorically, echoing Russian talking points blaming Nato, and recycling conspiracy theories, and the Biden administration believes it has already decided to bail Russia out economically.

At a meeting in Rome on Monday between the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, the Chinese delegation stunned US officials by echoing debunked Russian claims that the US and Ukraine had been pursuing a secret biological weapons programme together. The Americans came away from Rome more pessimistic than ever about Beijing intentions.

“There are lots of indications that the Chinese are doing more behind the scenes to support Russia, in every sector: financially, economically and militarily,” one official said. “And that’s deeply troubling. If they continue on this path, it will be a decisive turning point that will likely lead to much deeper anxiety in Europe about China and a more profound schism between Washington and Beijing.”

Members of Congress have warned that if there is evidence of Chinese military aid to the Russian campaign in Ukraine, they will impose punitive economic measures. Corporate leaders are also likely to reassess their business with China, along with European governments.

Read the full story below.

Biden to warn Xi Jinping China will face ‘costs’ if it helps Russia

US President Joe Biden is set to speak with his Chinese counterpart at 1pm GMT today, where he is expected to warn Xi Jinping he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues fellow authoritarian ally Russia from intense western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The two leaders’ first phone call since a video summit in November will be a chance to air differences as the United States spearheads an unprecedented pressure campaign on Russia, placing China in a geopolitical bind.

It’s “an opportunity for President Biden to assess where President Xi stands,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

It will be the first time the pair have spoken directly since Russia invaded Ukraine more than three weeks ago.

Washington warned China was considering military support for Russia’s war, a step that would dramatically widen the gulf between Beijing and Western governments.

Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow and Washington fears the Chinese could switch to full financial and even military support for Russia, transforming an already explosive transatlantic standoff into a global dispute.

Not only could Beijing potentially help Russia weather crippling pressure on its banks and currency, but western governments would also face a decision on whether to impose sanctions against China, likely prompting turmoil on world markets.

US President Joe Biden is expected to warn China’s Xi Jinping he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues Russia from intense western sanctions
US President Joe Biden is expected to warn China’s Xi Jinping he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues Russia from intense western sanctions Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Biden will make clear that China will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia’s aggression, adding “we will not hesitate to impose costs” during a news briefing in Washington.

Blinken said China had a responsibility to use its influence with Putin and to defend international rules, but that it appeared Beijing was “moving in the opposite direction”.

“We’re concerned that they’re considering directly assisting Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine,” he said, officially confirming for the first time reports earlier in the week that US officials believed China had signalled its willingness to provide Moscow with such support.

Blinken did not elaborate on what the costs might be to China, and Washington has not yet offered evidence of the claim that China has signalled a willingness to help Russia.

Moscow has denied asking China for military assistance, and China’s foreign ministry has called the idea “disinformation”.

Summary

Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you to report all the latest developments unfolding in Ukraine.

Here is a recap of where the crisis currently stands:

  • US president Joe Biden labelled Vladimir Putin “a murderous dictator,” and “a pure thug” during an address for St Patrick’s day.
  • Biden will speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at 9am Eastern time (1300 GMT) on Friday to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine “and other issues of mutual concern” the White House said.
  • Meanwhile, a Chinese foreign ministry official met with Russia’s ambassador to China on Thursday to exchange views on bilateral relations, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
  • The World Health Organization said it has so far verified 43 attacks on health care, with 12 people killed and 34 injured, including health workers in Ukraine. The agency said the war is having “devastating consequences for the health of Ukraine’s people; consequences that will reverberate for years or decades to come” during remarks made at the United Nations security council meeting on Thursday.
  • Russia is being forced to divert “large numbers” of troops to defend its supply lines rather than continuing its attacks in Ukraine, British defence intelligence analysts believe. The UK Ministry of Defence’s latest intelligence report says logistical problems continue to beset Russia’s troops.
  • The Ukrainian military claims Russia is taking up measures to “make up for the loss of personnel at the expense of foreigners” while preparing for a possible attack on Kyiv.
  • A Russian editor who protested against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine during a state TV news broadcast says she is quitting her job but not accepting France’s asylum offer, calling herself “a patriot”.
  • More than 320,000 Ukrainian citizens have returned to help their country fight since Russia began its invasion, according to the state border guard service of Ukraine.
  • Canada will offer Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion a temporary Canadian residence permit for up to three years.
  • The Australian government has imposed sanctions on two Russian oligarchs who have assets in the country as well as placing sanctions on Russia’s finance ministry and 11 additional banks and government organisations.
  • Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest address: “The occupants thought they were going to Ukraine which they had seen before, in 2014-2015, which they corrupted and were not afraid of, but we are different now.”
  • About 130 people have been rescued so far from the basement of a theatre hit by a Russian airstrike in the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, officials said. Hundreds of people were hiding beneath the theatre, which was designated as a shelter for displaced civilians, when it was struck on Wednesday.
  • Meanwhile, about 30,000 civilians have fled Mariupol city so far, local authorities said. Mariupol’s city hall said that “80% of residential housing was destroyed” and about 350,000 residents were hiding in shelters and basements in Mariupol.
  • More than 20 people were killed and 25 injured when a Russian airstrike destroyed a school and community centre in Merefa, close to the north-east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, on Thursday local officials said.
  • The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Melitopol, who was allegedly abducted by Russian forces, was freed in exchange for nine captured Russian conscripts, according to the head of Ukraine’s presidential office.
  • Russia says it will raise allegations that the United States has biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine during Friday’s UN security council meeting, claims that Washington says are disinformation and part of a potential “false-flag operation” by Moscow.
  • Lawyers are drafting a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow but a breakthrough depends on the Kremlin accepting a ceasefire, Ukraine’s defence minister said.
  • Russia was accused by the UK, the US, France, Albania, Ireland and Norway of war crimes, as Paris claimed Vladimir Putin was only pretending to be interested in negotiating a peace deal.
  • The Pentagon reportedly assessed that Putin may resort to threats to use nuclear weapons as sanctions and setbacks on the ground “slowly weaken Russian conventional strength”. “Russia likely will increasingly rely on its nuclear deterrent to signal the west and project strength to its internal and external audiences,” said Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, in new 67-page summary of global threats, according to Bloomberg.

As usual, for any tips and feedback please contact me through Twitter or at samantha.lock@theguardian.com

The Guardian keeps you up to the minute on the crisis in Ukraine with a global perspective and from our team around the world and around the clock. Thank you for reading and stay tuned.

Updated

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