Russia-Ukraine war live updates: US rushing $200 million in weapons for Ukraine's defence

At least 1,582 civilians in Ukraine's southeastern city of Mariupol have been killed as a result of Russian shelling and a 12-day blockade, the city council said in an online statement on Friday. "We will never forget and will never forgive this crime against humanity," it said.

Russian forces bearing down on Kyiv are regrouping northwest of the Ukrainian capital, satellite pictures showed, in what Britain said could be preparation for an assault on the city within days. Kyiv accused Russian forces of bombing and shelling cities across Ukraine, and of hitting a psychiatric hospital near the eastern town of Izyum where hundreds of patients were sheltering in the basement. In Russia, prosecutors asked a court to declare Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook and Instagram, an "extremist" organisation, after it allowed posts in Russia and its western neighbours calling for the death of invading Russian troops.

The woman who was Ukraine's first female volunteer to get a full military contract wants the new recruits in her charge to drop all notions about the romance of war.Iryna Sergeyeva was accepted as a reservist in the territorial defence forces when Ukraine was still trying to quash a Kremlin-backed insurgency across its industrial east in 2017.

Russia's attack on Ukraine will "deeply destabilise" fooda supplies in Europe and Africa as some of the world's most fertile agricultural land goes unplanted, French President Emmanuel Macron warned Friday.

The Russian airstrike on a children's and maternity hospital in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is the latest in a series of attacks that have gutted apartment buildings and killed people in their homes or simply going about their business.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday the European Union "should do more" for his embattled country, a day after EU leaders doused its hopes of quick accession to the bloc. "The European Union should do more. It must do more for us, for Ukraine," he said in a video statement on Telegram more than two weeks after Russia invaded his country. "The decisions of politicians must coincide with the mood of their people," he added.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expressed concern about the situation at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Friday following its takeover by Russian forces and a problem with its power supply.Ukraine said on Wednesday there was an increased risk of a radiation leak at Chernobyl, which suffered the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986, after a high-voltage cable was severed during fighting and electricity to the plant was cut off.

The euro rose on Friday after Russian President Vladimir Putin said there had been some progress in Moscow's talks with Ukraine.Even if Putin provided no details, the euro rose 0.4% to $1.1043 minutes after Putin said in a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko that talks continued practically on daily basis. "There are certain positive shifts, negotiators on our side tell me," Putin said, without elaborating. The euro was 0.25% higher at $1.1023 as of 1225 GMT, after rising as high as $1.11215 on Thursday in a choppy day.