Russian war in Ukraine has entered its 16th day on Friday with more casualties being recorded.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says Russia is a ‘terrorist state’ as he accused Moscow of attacking food trucks, while debate rages about state of invading forces.
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Here are the 11 latest developments you should know:
Russia encircling Kyiv
The capital Kyiv risks being surrounded, with Russian forces moving in on areas north and west of the capital, the Ukrainian military says, with some of its suburbs heavily bombarded. Three other major cities are effectively besieged.
Kremlin ok’s fighters from Syria
The Kremlin says Syrians can volunteer to fight for Russia in Ukraine after President Vladimir backed plans to allow volunteer fighters to participate in the war.
His defence minister said some 16,000 volunteers, mostly from the Middle East, were ready to join Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
Care home, kindergarten hit
A kindergarten and an apartment block are hit in the first airstrikes on the central city of Dnipro, with at least one person dead.
A care home for disabled people near Kharkiv in the east is also hit, with 330 people in the building at the time, officials say.
Aid convoy attacked
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says trucks carrying food and medicine to the besieged port of Mariupol in the south – without water and power for 11 days – were attacked by Russian tanks.
The city’s mayor says it is being shelled “every 30 minutes”, with 1,200 civilians already dead.
71 children killed
Ukraine says at least 71 children have been killed and more than 100 wounded since the Russian invasion began.
Fighting rages for other cities
The Ukrainian military says fighting is raging for control of the northern city of Chernihiv and Kharkiv and Severodonetsk in the east.
It says two of its soldiers are killed in strikes on Lutsk military airbase in the northwest.
UN meets on Russia bio-weapon claim
The UN Security Council will meet Friday after Russia says biological weapons are being developed in Ukraine, claims both Washington and Kyiv deny.
The US says the allegations are a sign Moscow could soon use the weapons itself.
US warns more sanctions possible
The US and its European allies could impose more penalties on Moscow because “atrocities against civilians seem to be intensifying”, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says.
Oligarch attacks plan
Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia’s richest oligarchs and a Kremlin confidant, criticises plans to confiscate assets of foreign firms exiting the country, likening it to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
EU douses Ukraine’s hopes
European Union leaders tell Ukraine there is no fast way to join the bloc, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying membership is “for the long term, if at all.”
2.5 million flee
More than two and a half million people have fled the “senseless war” in Ukraine, the UN says – more than half to Poland. (AFP)
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