Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– None dead in theatre bombing: city –
A Russian strike on a theatre sheltering civilians in Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol March 17 badly wounded one person but did not kill anyone, the city’s authorities say, in the first casualty tally. Earlier Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 130 people had been saved after the bombing on Wednesday but that “hundreds” are still trapped in rubble.
– Putin accuses Ukraine of ‘war crimes’ –
Russian President Vladimir Putin accuses Kyiv of “war crimes” in a call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, saying that Moscow is doing “everything possible” to avoid civilian deaths in Ukraine. Macron expresses “extreme concern” over the fate of Mariupol, urging “a lifting of the siege and humanitarian access” to the city.
– Biden warns China –
US President Joe Biden laid out to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping the “consequences” of any support for Russia in its war against Ukraine, the White House says. During their first call since the Russian invasion, lasting almost two hours, Xi said that war is “in no one’s interest”, but he showed no sign of giving in to US pressure to join Western condemnation of the invasion.
– Russia strikes plant near Lviv airport –
Russian forces destroy an aircraft repair plant near Lviv airport but no one was hurt, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says on the messaging app Telegram.
The western city is just 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the border with NATO member Poland.
– Kyiv tower blocks hit –
Authorities in the capital Kyiv say one person was killed when a Russian rocket struck residential tower blocks in the north-western suburbs. They said a school and playground were also hit.
– One dead, one trapped in Kharkiv –
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Russian strikes demolish the six-storey building of a higher education institution, killing one person and leaving another trapped in the wreckage, officials say.
– ‘Dire’ situation in east –
The UN warns that humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent across eastern Ukraine, with a potentially fatal lack of food, water and medicines in besieged cities such as Mariupol and Sumy.
– Russia claims progress in talks –
Russia’s top negotiator at talks with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, says that Moscow and Kyiv have brought their positions “as close as possible” on a proposal for Ukraine to become a neutral state. The Kremlin on Wednesday had said that a neutral Ukraine along the lines of Sweden or Austria was being discussed. But Ukraine rejected the proposal, saying it wanted its security to be guaranteed by international forces.
– G7 leaders convened –
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as current G7 president, invites the leaders of the world’s top industrialised countries to a meeting on Ukraine as part of EU and NATO summits next week.
– UK blocks Russia’s RT channel –
Britain’s broadcasting regulator revokes the licence of Russia’s state-funded television channel RT, in the latest international repercussion for Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
– ‘Extensive’ economic fallout –
The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other top world lenders warn of “extensive” economic fallout from the Ukraine war and express “horror” at the “devastating human catastrophe”.
– IEA urges cut in global oil consumption –
The International Energy Agency urges governments to urgently implement measures to cut global oil consumption within months following supply fears stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
– Russian diplomats expelled –
The three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announce the expulsion of a total of 10 Russian diplomats over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
– 3.25 million refugees –
More than 3.25 million refugees have so far fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the United Nations says, with more than two million crossing the border into Poland.
