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.

11:24 PM

Russia launches over 1,000 missiles since start of Ukraine invasion, US official says

Russia has fired more than 1,000 missiles at Ukrainian targets since the start of its invasion, which has now entered its fourth week, a senior US defense official said on Thursday.

11:16 PM

Russia's Putin does not want peace, Italian prime minister says

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace and it is possible that further sanctions might be needed against Moscow to try to end the conflict in Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday.

 

"On Putin's part there is no willingness for peace. There is a willingness for war," Draghi told reporters.

10:39 PM

EU says dependence on fossil fuels is funding Russian 'war chest'

The European Union's dependence on Russian fossil fuels is financing Russia's "war chest", the bloc's environment policy chief said on Thursday.

 

"I don't need to go deep into our dependency on fossil fuels, and how many billions every year we pay to Russian war chest," EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius told a news conference in Brussels.

 

"The less we're dependent, the better it is for us," he said, referring to Europe's reliance on energy from Russia, which provides 40% of the bloc's gas.

10:38 PM

France's Macron does not rule out going to Kyiv, but only if it's useful

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he did not rule out following the example of eastern European leaders and traveling to Kyiv, but said such a trip needed to come at the right moment and be useful for resolving the crisis.

10:35 PM

Paris wheat higher as Ukraine war disruption in focus

Euronext wheat regained some ground on Thursday as investors turned more cautious about peace talks between Ukraine and Russia while analysts continued to forecast that the countries' war would cause massive disruption to Black Sea grain exports.

 

May wheat on Euronext was up 4.25 euros, or 1.2%, at 367.75 euros ($408.90) a tonne by 1654 GMT, after tumbling 6% on Wednesday.

 

Wheat prices have been extremely volatile during the conflict in Ukraine, as the market is heavily reliant on exports from Russia and Ukraine.

10:33 PM

Italy ready to rebuild theatre in Ukraine's Mariupol: Minister

The Italian government is ready to rebuild a theatre in the besieged Ukrainian city Mariupol which was devastated by a bomb attack, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said on Thursday after a cabinet meeting.

 

"The cabinet ... has approved my proposal to offer Ukraine the resources and means to rebuild it as soon as possible.

 

Theatres of all countries belong to the whole (of) humanity," Franceschini wrote on Twitter.

 

Ukraine has said the theatre was hit by a Russian air strike on Wednesday while people sheltered there from bombardments.

 

Russia denied striking the theatre. But its forces have blasted cities and killed many civilians in its assault on Ukraine, now entering its fourth week.

10:28 PM

France's Macron: Russia's invasion of Ukraine gave NATO an electric shock

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday Russia's invasion of Ukraine had delivered an "electric shock" to the NATO alliance and given it a new strategic clarity that it was lacking.

 

Macron, speaking to journalists as he launched his campaign for re-election, was responding to a question about whether he regretted describing NATO as "brain dead" around two years ago.

 

Macron said the situation in late 2019, when he made his remarks, was different from today, and that the alliance was indispensable for dealing with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

10:19 PM

Influx of Ukrainians will become big challenge for Germany: Scholz

The growing number of Ukrainians seeking refuge in Germany will become a "big, big challenge," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.

 

Speaking after talks with the leaders of Germany's 16 states to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, Scholz said that despite the challenge it should be relatively easy to help Ukrainians settle in given that they don't need visas to enter Germany and they have automatic access to healthcare and education as well as language and integration courses.

 

German police have so far registered just under 190,000 Ukrainians who have fled Russia's invasion of their country.

10:00 PM

Some creditors have received Russian bond coupon payments: Sources

Sovereign bond coupon payments that Russia was due to make on March 16 have been received by bondholders, in dollars, two market sources told Reuters on Thursday.

 

Earlier another source told Reuters that JPMorgan, Russia's correspondent bank, had received the funds from the government and credited to Citi for paying on to bondholders.

 

It means Russia has for now dodged a sovereign default that could have been caused by sanctions slapped on to punish it for invading Ukraine.

9:40 PM

Ukrainian city of Mariupol says number of possible casualties at theatre is unclear

Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol said on Thursday it was still not possible to estimate the number of possible casualties from what they said was an air strike on a theatre where hundreds of people were believed to have been sheltering.

 

"Yesterday and today, despite continuous shelling, rubble is being cleared as much as is possible and people are being rescued. Information about victims is still being clarified," the city council said in an online statement about Wednesday's incident.

 

It provided no figures on the number of people rescued.

 

Russia has denied bombing the theatre.

9:34 PM

Belarus to service national debt in Belarusian roubles due to sanctions

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko gave his finance ministry and banks the right to service the country's state debt in Belarusian roubles due to Western sanctions, a state decree showed on Thursday.

 

Lukashenko also ordered a ban on selling stakes in Belarusian companies to firms from unfriendly countries.

9:27 PM

21 killed in pre-dawn Russian attack on school

Twenty-one 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.

 

Merefa Mayor Veniamin Sitov said the attack occurred just before dawn on Thursday.

 

The Kharkiv region has seen heavy bombardment as stalled Russian forces try to advance in the area.

 

In the city of Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine's emergency service says a hostel was shelled, killing a mother, father and three of their children, including 3-year-old twins.

8:56 PM

UK says freezing tax cooperation with Russia and Belarus

Britain said on Thursday it was suspending the exchange of tax information with Russia and Belarus in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

 

"The UK is freezing tax cooperation with Russia and Belarus by suspending all exchange of tax information with them," Lucy Frazer, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said in a written statement to parliament.

 

"The suspension of tax information exchange will ensure the UK is not supplying Russia and Belarus with information that could lead to an increased tax benefit or yield for them."

 

8:41 PM

Xi, Biden to speak Friday on bilateral relations

China's president Xi Jinping will speak with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden on Friday night Beijing time, China's Foreign Ministry said.

 

The two will discuss China-U.S. bilateral relations and issues of common concern, the ministry said.

8:40 PM

Very big gap remains in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine: Western officials

Ukraine and Russia are taking peace talks seriously but a very big gap remains between the two sides, Western officials said on Thursday.

 

"Both sides are taking them seriously but there is a very, very big gap between the positions in question," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

"Those ... who saw (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin addressing the nation yesterday would be forgiven for thinking that Russia was not in compromising mood," another official said.