LIVE: At least 21 dead after Russian shelling of east Ukraine town

21 people have been killed by Russian artillery that destroyed a school and a community center in Merefa, near the northeast city of Kharkiv, officials said.

8:07 PM

G-23: Congress leader Kapil Sibal leaves from the residence of party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad

8:04 PM

UN establishes formal ties with Taliban-governed Afghanistan: Report

7:41 PM

Ukraine wants security guarantees from Turkey as part of any Russia peace deal

Ukraine wants Turkey to be among countries offering security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal with Russia to end the war, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday after meeting Turkey's foreign minister.

 

Speaking at a briefing after the talks in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Kuleba said Turkey was also helping to set up direct talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

7:40 PM

Russian-European Mars mission suspended over Ukraine war: Report

7:17 PM

15-20 Indians want to come out of Ukraine, says MEA

6:58 PM

Sonia Gandhi is open for talks to every Congressman, says Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

6:53 PM

US President names Indian-American Dr Ashish Jha the new White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator

6:28 PM

IT collection of Rs 13.63 lakh crores is expected to rise further till March 30: CBDT

6:17 PM

War in Ukraine will take global economic toll, group warns

Russia's war in Ukraine will disrupt commerce and clog up supply chains, slashing economic growth and pushing prices sharply higher around the globe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Thursday.

 

In a grim new assessment, the 38-country OECD said that over the next year, the conflict would reduce gross domestic product the broadest measure of economic output by 1.08per cent worldwide, by 1.4per cent in the 19 European countries that share the euro currency and by 0.88per cent in the United States.

 

But government spending and tax cuts could partially limit the damage, the organization said.

 

6:13 PM

Biden to speak with China’s Xi about Russia: White House

U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a call on Friday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the White House said on Thursday, as the United States piles pressure on China not to provide support to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

 

The planned phone call was announced by White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who said the call is part of ongoing U.S.

 

efforts to maintain open lines of communication between the two countries.

 

"The two leaders will discuss managing the competition between our two countries as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern," she said.

5:49 PM

Russian invasion of Ukraine largely stalled on all fronts, says UK defence ministry

Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Thursday.

 

In its latest Defence Intelligence Update posted on social media, the MoD said that while the Russian invasion had largely stalled, the Ukrainian resistance remained well-coordinated.

 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts, the MoD intelligence update reads.

 

Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses. Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated. The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands, it adds.

 

5:28 PM

PM Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison will hold a virtual summit on March 21: MEA

5:25 PM

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to visit India from March 19 to 20

4:55 PM

UK very disappointed with India's stance on Ukraine: Trade minister

Britain is very disappointed with India's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine but still regards it as an important trading partner, trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said on Thursday.

 

Asked if India's stance would impact trade talks with Britain, Trevelyan said: "We are very disappointed. We continue to work with Indian partners."

 

"India is an incredibly important trading partner for the UK … we will continue to work with countries around the world to make sure that Putin is unable to fund this war in the future," she told reporters.

4:48 PM

Biden brands Putin a 'war criminal'; Kremlin decries US President's remarks

US President Joe Biden has called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "war criminal", prompting an angry response from the Kremlin which denounced it as "unforgivable rhetoric" from a head of state.

 

Biden's off-the-cuff remarks on Wednesday was the harshest condemnation of Putin's actions from any US official since Russia launched a 'special military operation' in Ukraine three weeks ago.

 

Previously, President Biden had stopped short of labelling atrocities being documented on the ground in Ukraine as "war crimes," citing ongoing international and US investigations.

 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki later defended Biden and said the president had been speaking from his heart after seeing "barbaric" images of the violence in Ukraine.

 

"I think the President's remarks speak for themselves. He was speaking from his heart and speaking from what we've seen on television, which are barbaric actions by a brutal dictator through his invasion of a foreign country," she said.