Ukraine crisis LIVE: Russia says it made progress in negotiations

The head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukrainian officials says the parties have come closer to an agreement on a neutral status for Ukraine

9:00 PM

Ukraine is being kept in the dark: Russian Federation representative at UNSC

8:50 PM

Ukraine defence ministry says Russian forces have not made any fresh advances

Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said Ukrainian troops had prevented Russian troops from making any fresh advances on Friday.

 

Speaking on national television, Malyar said Russian forces had food and fuel supply issues and communications problems.

8:41 PM

Biden, Xi hold talks for nearly two hours, says White House

US President Joe Biden talked with Chinese President Xi Jinping for just under two hours on Friday morning, the White House said.

8:33 PM

Biden and China's Xi hold call amid tension over Russia's Ukraine war

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on a video call on Friday about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Chinese media said Xi underlined that such conflicts are in no-one's interests Biden was expected to tell the Chinese leader that Beijing would pay a steep price if it supports the invasion, a warning that comes at a time of deepening acrimony between the two nations.

 

The call began at 9:03 a.m. Eastern time (1303 GMT), the White House said.

 

Xi told Biden that conflicts and confrontations such as the events in Ukraine are in the interests of no one, 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 said.

8:08 PM

Xi says conflicts like Ukraine crisis in no one's interests: Chinese media

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden on Friday that conflicts and confrontations such as the events unfolding in Ukraine are in the interests of no-one, 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 United States must guide bilateral relations along the right track, and both sides should also shoulder due international responsibilities and make efforts for world peace.

7:52 PM

Kremlin says technical glitch behind interrupted Putin speech at stadium

The Kremlin said on Friday a technical glitch was behind the interrupted transmission of Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech to a packed Moscow stadium to mark the eighth anniversary of Crimea's annexation.

 

Russian state television suddenly cut away from Putin hailing what Russia calls its special operation in Ukraine and the bravery of its soldiers, to show patriotic songs being played at the event instead.

 

It later aired the full speech, which ended a few seconds after the cutaway with Putin leaving the stage as thousands of spectators waved Russian flags at the 80,000-capacity Luzhniki stadium.

 

Cited by RIA news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a server glitch had caused the interruption.
 

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb 24 in an effort to degrade its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

7:35 PM

Ukraine president says rescue work at bombed Mariupol theatre is ongoing

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

 

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

7:17 PM

UK supports Ukraine's position in peace talks: PM Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy he supports Ukraine's position in peace talks, Downing Street said in a statement after a call between the two leaders on Friday.

 

"The Prime Minister offered his support for Ukraine's position in negotiations and the President said the UK's close involvement was highly valued," the statement said.

7:16 PM

Putin hails Russia's 'special operation' in Ukraine to thousands in packed stadium

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed what Russia calls its special operation in Ukraine, appearing on stage at a rally at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on Friday in front of thousands of people waving Russian flags.

 

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in an effort to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

 

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

6:54 PM

At least 816 civilians killed in Ukraine since conflict began, UN says

The U.N. rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday that at least 816 civilians had been killed and 1,333 wounded in Ukraine through to March 17.

 

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

 

The real toll is thought to be considerably higher since OHCHR, which has a large monitoring team in the country, has not yet been able to verify casualty reports from badly-hit cities like Mariupol.

6:27 PM

Ukraine says 130 people rescued from bombed Mariupol theatre but many more could be trapped

Ukraine's human rights ombudswoman said on Friday 130 people had been rescued so far from a bombed theatre in Mariupol but that there was still no information on more than 1,000 other people officials believe were sheltering there when the bomb fell.

 

Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said rescue work was ongoing at the site, which Ukraine says was hit by a powerful Russian air strike on Wednesday. Russia has denied bombing the theatre or targeting civilians.

 

"Rescuers are working. There is only this information: 130 people are alive and have been taken out. The rest are waiting for help," she said on national television.

 

This is the first time Ukrainian authorities have shared an estimate of the number of survivors of the attack. There has been no confirmation of the number of possible casualties.

6:26 PM

The Embassy of India in Kyiv issues an advisory for all Indian nationals

5:53 PM

Russia says post-1991 'illusions' about the West are over

Russia has lost any illusions about ever relying on the West and Moscow will never accept a world order dominated by the United States, which is acting like a sheriff seeking to call all the shots in a saloon bar, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

 

Western nations have imposed sweeping sanctions across Russia's financial and corporate sectors in response to Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, plunging Russia's economy into its gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

 

Lavrov, President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister since 2004, said the West's reaction to what Moscow has called a "special military operation" had illustrated that the West was completely dominated by the United States and that the European Union was largely powerless.

 

5:40 PM

COVID-19 pandemic is 'far from over': WHO official

A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Friday that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic was a long way off, citing a rise in cases in its latest weekly data.

 

Asked by a journalist at a Geneva media briefing about the timing of the pandemic's end, Margaret Harris said it was "far from over".

 

"We are definitely in the middle of the pandemic," she added.

5:38 PM

Putin discusses Ukraine with Russian security council

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Moscow's conflict with Ukraine and its international repercussions with his security council on Friday, the Kremlin said on its website.

 

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb.

 

24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

 

Unlike some of the previous meetings with the council, Putin's video conference was not televised on Friday.

 

"The current international situation was discussed at the meeting and the exchange of views on the ongoing special operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine continued," the Kremlin said in a statement.