KYIV, Ukraine: Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
- Putin hails 'liberation' of Mariupol -
President Vladimir Putin hails the "liberation" of Mariupol after being told by his defence minister that Russian forces now control all of the Ukrainian port city, apart from the vast Azovstal steel plant where Ukrainian fighters are holding out.
"Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape," Putin says in a televised meeting, adding it would be "impractical" to storm the plant, where up to 2,000 civilians are sheltering according to Ukrainian authorities.
- Four buses of evacuees -
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says four buses carrying evacuees from Mariupol left the destroyed city on Wednesday and the evacuations of women, children and the elderly will continue on Thursday.
- More torture, execution claims -
The head of police in the Kyiv region says the bodies of nine civilians, some showing signs of torture, have been found in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of the capital.
"The Russian military knowingly shot civilians who did not put up any resistance," Andriy Niebytov says. One of the victims was a 15-year-old girl, he says.
- Spanish, Danish leaders in Kyiv -
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen are the latest European leaders to travel to Kyiv to show support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Wednesday, visiting EU chief Charles Michel told Zelensky the EU would do "everything possible" to help Ukraine win the war. The leaders of Britain, Poland and the Baltic states have also visited Kyiv since Russian troops withdrew from the area.
- Le Pen 'dependent' on Putin -
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking a second term in an election runoff on Sunday, accuses his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in a TV debate of being 'dependent' on Russia and Putin.
Macron refers to a loan Le Pen's party contracted with a Russian bank in 2015. Le Pen, who has pushed for closer ties with Russia, says she borrowed from Russia because no French bank would give her a loan.
- Only aircraft parts -
The US Defence Department retracts its claim that Ukraine has been supplied with more aircraft, saying only parts have been delivered.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says that while fixed-wing aircraft have been offered by an unidentified country to bolster Kyiv's defences, "they have not received whole aircraft from another nation".
- UN seeks to mediate -
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has written to Putin and Zelensky to request meetings with the two leaders in their respective capitals, a UN spokesman says.
The UN has been largely sidelined so far as a potential mediator in the conflict.
- Russia snubbed at G20 meeting -
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen leads a multi-nation walkout of a G20 finance meeting during an address by Russian officials.
Russia was the target of a similiar protest last month at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
- Wimbledon ban -
Wimbledon bans Russian and Belarusian players from this year's Grand Slam tennis tournament over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, in a move likely to affect, among others, men's world number two Daniil Medvedev of Russia and female world number four Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which runs Wimbledon, says the move aims to "limit Russia's global influence through the strongest means possible".
- Over five million refugees -
More than five million Ukrainians have now fled their country since Russia invaded on February 24, the United Nations says.
But returns have also accelerated in recent weeks, reaching over one million, according to a spokesman for Kyiv's border force.
