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.

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.