What you need to know right know:
- Around 13,000 people were evacuated from a number of Ukrainian cities on Saturday, the deputy prime minister said, almost twice the number who managed to get out on Friday.
- The governors of Kyiv and Donetsk regions said Russian attacks were continuing in areas where Ukraine was trying to evacuate people and bring aid through humanitarian corridors.
- Around 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion, President Zelenskiy said. He also said Russia was sending new forces after suffering what he said were its biggest losses in decades.
- Satellite images showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern city of Mariupol, a private US company said.
- The United States said it was rushing up to $200 million in additional small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine.
- Zelenskiy said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Bennett and discussed prospects for peace talks to end the conflict with Russia.
- Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder met Putin for several hours on Thursday evening in a bid to end the war, Germany's Bild am Sonntag reported, although it was unclear what was achieved.
- The Kremlin said Putin told the leaders of France and Germany about the state of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv and responded to their concerns about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
- Ukraine's foreign minister said his government was willing to negotiate to end the war but would not surrender or accept ultimatums.
22:00: Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv, and France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown he was not ready to make peace.
With Russia's invasion in its third week, the Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that "the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back."
Reuters was unable immediately to verify the report and Russia offered no immediate comment. Moscow denies targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24. It blames Ukraine for failed attempts to evacuate civilians from encircled cities, an accusation Ukraine and its Western allies strongly reject.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier that Moscow was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces put 31 of Russia's battalion tactical groups out of action in what he called Russia's largest army losses in decades. It was not possible to verify his statements.
He also said about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed so far and urged the West to get more involved in peace negotiations. The president suggested Russian forces would face a fight to the death if they sought to enter the capital.
"If they decide to carpet bomb (Kyiv), and simply erase the history of this region ... and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that's their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves," he said.
21:00: Around 13,000 people were evacuated from a number of Ukrainian cities on Saturday, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, almost twice the number who managed to get out the previous day.
Vereshchuk said in an online message that no one had managed to leave the besieged city of Mariupol and blamed obstruction by Russian forces. Moscow had earlier accused Ukrainian forces of intentionally trapping people there.
20:00: The United States on Saturday said it would rush up to $200 million in additional small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine, as Ukrainian officials pleaded for more equipment to defend against heavy shelling by Russian forces.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday authorized the additional security assistance, the White House said, paving the way for the "immediate" shipment of fresh military equipment to Ukraine, a senior administration official said.
Biden's decision brings total U.S. security aid provided to Ukraine to $1.2 billion since January 2021, and to $3.2 billion since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine, according to senior administration officials.
In a memorandum to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden directed that up to $200 million allocated through the Foreign Assistance Act be designated for Ukraine's defense.
19:30: Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv, and France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown he was not ready to make peace.
With Russia's invasion in its third week, the Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that "the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back."
Reuters was unable immediately to verify the report and Russia offered no immediate comment. Moscow denies targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24 and blames Ukraine for failed attempts to evacuate civilians from encircled cities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier that Moscow was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces put 31 of Russia's battalion tactical groups out of action in what he called Russia's largest army losses in decades. It was not possible to verify his statements.
17:30:: The United States has accused Russia of using a UN Security Council meeting on Friday for “lying and spreading disinformation” as part of a bid to justify attacks with chemical or biological agents in Ukraine.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia was playing out a scenario put forth in the council last month by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken — that President Vladimir Putin would “fabricate allegations about chemical or biological weapons to justify its own violent attacks against the Ukrainian people”.
“The intent behind these lies seems clear, and is deeply troubling,” she said. “We believe Russia could use chemical or biological agents for assassinations, as part of a staged or false-flag incident, or to support tactical military operations.”
Russia had requested the council meeting to address its allegations of US “biological activities” in Ukraine — a charge made without any evidence and denied by both Washington and Kyiv.
16:52: Russian forces pounding the port city of Mariupol shelled a mosque that was sheltering more than 80 people, including children, the Ukrainian government said on Saturday.
Fighting also raged in the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and Russia kept up its bombardment of other resisting cities.
There was no immediate word of casualties from the shelling of Mariupol’s city-centre mosque.
The encircled city of 446,000 people has endured some of Ukraine’s worst misery since Russia invaded, with unceasing barrages thwarting repeated attempts to bring in food, water and medicine, evacuate trapped civilians and even bury the dead.
“They are bombing it (Mariupol) 24 hours a day, launching missiles. It is hatred. They kill children,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a video address.
15:58: Conflict raged near Kyiv on Saturday and Ukrainian officials said heavy shelling and threats of Russian air attacks were endangering attempted evacuations of desperate civilians from encircled towns and cities elsewhere.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces had put 31 of its battalion tactical groups out of action in what he called Russia's largest army losses in decades.
He said 500-600 Russian troops had surrendered on Friday alone and that about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed since the conflict began. It was not possible to verify his statements.
Zelenskiy also said he had spoken to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron about pressuring Russia to release the mayor of the city of Melitopol, who Ukraine says was kidnapped on Friday by Russian forces.
I spoke with @OlafScholz, @EmmanuelMacron. We discussed countering the aggressor, RF crimes against civilians. I ask my partners to help in releasing the captive mayor of Melitopol. Prospects for peace talks also discussed. We must stop the aggressor together
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 12, 2022
15:30: Crisis talks between Moscow and Kyiv over the conflict in Ukraine, which had been conducted in person in Belarus, have continued via a video link, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday, according to the RIA news agency.
Peskov said Russian president Vladimir Putin had briefed French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz in a call on Saturday about the negotiations held in video format in recent days.
He said Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Russia's delegation at the in-person talks, would continue to lead the negotiations on Russia's behalf.
15:00: Russian president Vladimir Putin did not show a willingness to end a war with Ukraine during a call on Saturday with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz, a French presidency official said.
The French and German leaders reiterated their call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine as a condition for full negotiations, the official said.
14:20: The eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha has been completely destroyed following the Russian invasion but fighting continues for territory there to prevent a Russian encirclement, Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Saturday.
10:50: The governors of two Ukrainian regions, Kyiv and Donetsk, said in separate statements on Saturday Russian attacks were continuing in areas where Ukraine was trying to evacuate people and bring aid through "humanitarian corridors."
"Humanitarian cargo is moving towards Mariupol, we will inform you how it develops ... The situation is complicated, there is constant shelling," Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told local media. "The situation is extremely difficult."
08:21: Deep under the streets of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine hundreds of people are sheltering from fierce Russian bombardment, occupying the Heroiv Pratsi metro station where they do what they can to get comfortable.
From tiny babies to the elderly, residents sit or lie on mattresses and blankets arranged on the ground beside ticket machines, on platforms and inside trains halted alongside.
Some look at mobile phones, others do laundry which they dry on the handrails of the train, mothers feed toddlers and a man hurries past with a kettle full of water.
The scenes are similar on transport systems across the worst-affected areas of Ukraine, although in Kharkiv, the country's second city that has suffered some of the heaviest shelling since the invasion began, the numbers are high.
Above ground, where people go and stand in line for food and supplies when it is safe enough, the snow falls on near-empty streets.
Mariupol
Ukraine said on Friday the situation in Mariupol was now critical as Russian forces tightened their noose around the Black Sea port city and the death toll from Russian shelling and a 12-day blockade reached almost 1,600.
Russia's defence ministry was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying Mariupol was now completely surrounded, and Ukrainian officials accused Russia of deliberately preventing civilians getting out and stopping humanitarian convoys getting in.
Russian shelling prevented evacuees from leaving the city again on Friday. Elsewhere, Russian forces also stopped some buses of people trying to flee the Kyiv region, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video address.
Interior ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko expressed doubt that the latest attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol would succeed, and a new effort to evacuate civilians appeared to have failed.
"The situation is critical," Denysenko said.
The city council said 1,582 civilians had been killed in Mariupol since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and unseat leaders it calls neo-Nazis
Ukrainian defenders in the city "continue to successfully dispose of all the Russian trash that came into our country" and virtually destroyed an entire Russian tactical group on Friday, the military said in a Facebook post. Reuters was unable to corroborate the claim.
Residents of Mariupol, a strategically important city of over 400,000 in peacetime, have been without power or water for more than a week. Attempts to arrange a local ceasefire and safe passage out have failed, with each side blaming the other.
Officials in Mariupol said Russian shelling was relentless on Friday. Tass quoted the Russian defence ministry as saying all bridges and roads into Mariupol had been destroyed or mined by Ukrainian forces.
