Russia-Ukraine War: Mariupol has been encircled and shelled by Russian forces since February.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said situation in Donbas region remained extremely difficult reiterating that Russia was building up forces near the besieged city of Mariupol.
"There will be battles ahead. We still need to go down a very difficult path to get everything we want," he said.
US also said that Russia is refocusing its military efforts on the Donbas region which could herald a "longer, more prolonged conflict".
US President Joe Biden says that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may be "isolated" and could have placed some of his advisors under "house arrest".
NATO warned that it is not seeing a pull-back of Russian forces in Ukraine and expects "additional offensive actions".
Ukraine's government has sent 45 buses to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol, where Russia has declared a local ceasefire following a global outcry over the suffering of civilians trapped by a month of relentless shelling.
Here are the Highlights on the Ukraine-Russia War:
Over 3,000 people 'rescued' from besieged Mariupol: ZelenskyOver 3,000 people have been led to safety from the besieged city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian president said Saturday.
"Today, humanitarian corridors were working in three regions: Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia. We have managed to rescue 6,266 people, including 3,071 people from Mariupol," Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address early Saturday.
Camp of Ukrainians at the U.S.-Mexico border swells, as more refugees arriveHundreds of Ukrainians are camping in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico, hoping to seek U.S. asylum, a dramatic increase in arrivals just days after the Biden administration said the United States would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing from war.
Many of the Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion of their home country have flown to the U.S.-Mexico border hoping officials will allow them in so they can reunite with U.S. relatives or friends.
Buses carrying Mariupol residents arrive in Zaporizhzhia: AFPA column of buses carrying escaped residents of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia to the northwest on Friday, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.
The buses carried people who had been able to escape Mariupol to Russian-occupied Berdiansk and from there were bussed to Zaporizhzhia, more than 200 kilometres northwest of the besieged city, the evacuees and officials said.
In a video address posted on Telegram Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed that the evacuation was proceeding successfully.
UN official heads to Moscow seeking 'humanitarian ceasefire'A top United Nations official will visit Moscow this weekend to try to secure a "humanitarian ceasefire" in Ukraine, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Friday.
Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, will fly to Moscow on Sunday then on to Kiev.
U.S. providing Ukraine with supplies in case Russia deploys chemical weapons
The United States is providing Ukraine with supplies and equipment in case Russia deploys chemical or biological weapons, the White House said on Friday, underscoring that this would not compromise domestic preparedness in any form.
UN Under-Secretary-General to visit Moscow, Kyiv to discuss Ukraine situation
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths will visit Moscow on April 3 and then will visit Kyiv to discuss the ongoing situation in Ukraine and a potential for a ceasefire, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.
"My special envoy, Martin Griffiths, was asked by me to pursue a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine. He will be flying to Moscow on Sunday and after that he will be going to Kiev," Guterres said during a press conference.
Moscow accuses Kyiv of air strike in Russia in new snag for talksMoscow on Friday accused Kyiv of carrying out its first air strike on Russian soil, in a new blow to hopes of any de-escalation in President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine.
Peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials resumed via video, but Moscow warned that the helicopter attack on a fuel depot in the town of Belgorod would hamper negotiations.
Kyiv would neither confirm nor deny it was behind the attack, with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba saying he did "not possess all the military information".
After over a month of a military campaign that has reduced parts of Ukraine to rubble, Moscow said in peace talks earlier this week it would scale back attacks on the capital Kyiv and the city of Chernigiv.
Western sanctions to plunge Russia into 'deep' recession: US official
Senior US officials said Friday that Russia's economy will shrink by 10 percent under Western sanctions and dismissed signs of recovery in the ruble as a mirage.
"The economic consequences Russia is facing are severe: high inflation that will only get higher, and deep recession that will only get deeper," a senior official with the Treasury Department told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said Russia has been "backed into a corner to becoming a closed economy" and will not cope because of its overwhelming reliance on imports of manufacturing equipment and consumer goods, while producing mostly raw materials.
"As a closed economy Russia will only be able to consume what they produce, which will be a stark adjustment," the official said.
Kyrgyzstan restricts rallies linked to Russia-Ukraine warKyrgyzstan on Friday banned rallies connected to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in its capital, police said, as the gruelling conflict fuels pro- and anti-Moscow sentiment in the impoverished Central Asian country.
Kyrgyzstan, a majority-Muslim country of nearly seven million people that hosts a Russian military base, has witnessed several small rallies both for and against the Kremlin's invasion that began in February.
The police department of Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek said on Friday that courts representing the city's various districts had banned "all types of peaceful gatherings, rallies and actions" related to the conflict.
EU warns China against backing Russia's Ukraine warTop EU officials warned China's leader Xi Jinping at a virtual summit Friday that any attempt to aid Russia's war in Ukraine could hurt business ties between the two economic superpowers.
The EU and US worry that Beijing's failure to condemn the invasion means it could be willing to help the Kremlin sidestep the impact of sanctions or even supply hardware to aid the war effort.
"No European citizen would understand any support to Russia's ability to wage war. Moreover, it would lead to a major reputational damage for China here in Europe," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
"The business sector is watching very closely the events and evaluating how countries are positioning themselves. This is a question of trust, of reliability and of course of decisions on long-term investments."
Von der Leyen insisted that "China has an influence on Russia and therefore we expect China to take its responsibility to end this war and that Russia comes back to a peaceful negotiations solution".
Russia offers to educate Depardieu on UkraineThe Kremlin on Friday offered to "explain" Moscow's actions in Ukraine to French actor Gerard Depardieu after he denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin's "crazy, unacceptable excesses".
Depardieu, a long-time star in France before Peter Weir's 1990 film "Green Card" made him a Hollywood celebrity, left France and took up Russian nationality in 2013 to protest against a proposed tax hike on the rich in his homeland.
The 72-year-old became a friend of Putin, but came out against the conflict in Ukraine and called for negotiations just days after the start of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.
"I'd suggest that Depardieu most likely does not fully understand what is happening," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russia launches conscription drive amid Ukraine conflictRussia on Friday launched its spring draft of young men eligible for national service, vowing conscripts will not be sent to fight in Ukraine, where over 1,000 troops have been killed.
The Russian military holds two annual draft sessions, in spring and autumn, when it recruits eligible men aged 18 to 27 to serve for a year.
This time, President Vladimir Putin has set a recruitment goal of 134,500 men, according to a Kremlin decree.
Military service is nominally mandatory for men but many Russians avoid the draft by entering higher education or evading the summons.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said this week that conscripts will not be sent to any hot spots and those currently ending their military service would all be sent home.
Putin stated on March 8 that he would not send conscripts or reservists to fight in Ukraine.
Just In| Russia-Ukraine talks resume via video, says Russian negotiator: news agency AFP
Russia-Ukraine War: Russia Withdrawing Some Troops From KyivRussia is continuing to withdraw some of its forces from Ukraine's northern Kyiv region and they are heading towards Belarus, the local governor said on Friday.
"We are observing the movement of joint (Russian) vehicle columns of various quantities," Governor Oleksandr Pavlyuk wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia-Ukraine War: Nearly 300,000 Refugees From Ukraine Recorded In GermanyAlmost 300,000 refugees from Ukraine have been registered in Germany as of Friday, according to Germany's Interior Ministry.
The ministry, citing figures from the federal police, said 294,508 refugees have been recorded so far and most of them are women, children or the elderly.
Russia-Ukraine War: Ukraine Says Some Russian Troops Still In Chernobyl Exclusion ZoneSome Russian troops were still in the "exclusion zone" around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station on Friday morning, the head of the Ukrainian agency in charge of the zone said.
Yevhen Kramarenko confirmed on national television that the Russian forces that occupied the power station after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24 had left the plant itself but said some troops had been seen in the exclusion zone outside the territory of the decommissioned power station.
Russia-Ukraine War: Russian Forces Withdrawing From Northern Ukrainian RegionRussian forces are withdrawing from the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine but have not yet left entirely, the local governor said in a video address on Friday.
"Air and missile strikes are (still) possible in the region, nobody is ruling this out," Governor Viacheslav Chaus said, adding that Ukrainian forces were entering and securing settlements previously held by Russian troops.
Russia-Ukraine War: Ukraine Unable To Get Supplies To Mariupol, Civilians Unable To Leave
An aide to the mayor of Mariupol said on Friday the besieged southern Ukrainian city remained closed for anyone trying to enter and was "very dangerous" for anyone trying to leave.
Russia-Ukraine War: UK Says Ukraine Has Retaken Villages Of Sloboda, LukashivkaBritish military intelligence said on Friday Ukrainian forces have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka to the south of Chernihiv and located along main supply routes between the city and Kyiv.
"Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counter attacks to the east and north east of Kyiv," Britain's Ministry of Defence said.
Chernihiv and Kyiv have been subjected to continued air and missile strikes despite Russian claims of reducing activity in these areas, the ministry added.
Russia-Ukraine War: Fuel Storage Unit On Fire In Russian City Near Ukraine Border, Regional Governor SaysA fire broke out at a fuel storage facility in the Russian city of Belgorod located close to the Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, two days after the province was rocked by blasts at an arms depot.
Two people were hurt in Friday's fire, Gladkov said on Telegram, and residents of three city streets were being evacuated.
European Union Is Not Centre Of The Universe: Russia Says Amid Sanctions Russia will not ask the European Union to end sanctions and has a sufficient "margin of safety", the RIA news agency quoted a Russian foreign ministry official as saying on Friday.
"The European Union is not the centre of the universe," Nikolai Kobrinets, the head of the European cooperation department at the ministry, said.
Russia-Ukraine War: After Ukraine Chernobyl Visit, UN Atomic Watchdog Chief In Russia UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi was in Russia on Thursday ahead of talks the following day with top Russian officials, after visiting neighbouring Ukraine.
Grossi visited a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Wednesday on his first trip to the country since Russia's invasion raised fears of a nuclear accident.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned of the dangers of the conflict -- the first in a country with a vast nuclear estate.
Russia Ties Sunk To "Mariana Trench" Depths: US Envoy On "Hostile" Moscow Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made John Sullivan's tough job as US envoy to Moscow even harder as he grapples with the Kremlin's nuclear saber-rattling and threats to sever relations while keeping his embassy running on one-tenth the normal staff.
"It was really bad two and a half years ago," Sullivan remembered of his arrival in Jan. 2020. "It's gotten worse."
Severe staff cuts imposed by Russia's government have not yet forced him to clean embassy toilets or buff floors, as rumored in Washington, though he said he knows how to do both.
Russia-Ukraine War: Ukraine Will Soon Be Able To Better Protect Its Skies, Envoy Tells JapanUkraine will soon be able to better protect its skies and cities from Russian attacks because it expects "super modern" military equipment from the United States and Britain, Ukraine's ambassador to Japan, Sergiy Korsunsky, said on Friday.
"They still have superiority in air force, in airplanes and missiles, and we expect to begin to receive super-modern equipment from the United States and Britain to protect our skies and our cities," Korsunsky told a news conference.
Russia-Ukraine War: War In Ukraine Could "Drag On For A While", US SaysRussia may be repositioning some of its forces around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to send them to the eastern Donbas region, where Ukrainian forces have been putting up fierce resistance, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has decided to keep elements of the 82nd Airborne Division in Europe for the time being along with an aircraft carrier strike group in the Mediterranean.
Russia has moved a "small number" -- perhaps 20 percent -- of its troops from around Kyiv after failing to capture the city, which continues to be targeted by Russian airstrikes, Kirby said.
Russia-Ukraine War: US Says Unclear If Russia's 40-Mile Convoy Headed To Kyiv Exists Anymore The Pentagon said on Thursday it was not clear that Russia's convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv, which once stretched some 40 miles, even exists anymore after failing to accomplish its mission.
"I don't even know if it still exists at this point... They never really accomplished their mission," said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.
The stalled convoy became a symbol of Russia's battlefield difficulties and had been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces during the first weeks of the more than month-long invasion.
Russia-Ukraine War: Biden Says Putin May Have Put Some Advisors "Under House Arrest" US President Joe Biden said Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may be "isolated" and could have placed some of his advisors under "house arrest."
In his first public remarks on Western assessments about Kremlin tensions over the war in Ukraine, Biden also said he was "skeptical" about Moscow's claim to be scaling back its onslaught in parts of the country.