Here’s what you need to know about the Ukraine crisis so far:
March 17 (Reuters) – Russian forces in Ukraine were blasting cities and killing civilians but no longer making progress on the ground, according to Western countries, as a war they believe Moscow had expected to win within days entered its fourth week.
CIVILIAN TOLL
* Local officials said rescuers in the besieged southern port of Mariupol were combing the rubble of a theatre where women and children had been sheltering, bombed the previous day. Russia has denied striking the theatre.
* Governor of the northern city of Chernihiv said 53 civilians had been killed there in bombardment over the past 24 hours.
* Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the reports. Russia denies targeting civilians.
STALLED INVASION
* Russia’s invasion has largely stalled on all fronts, with its forces suffering heavy losses and making minimal progress in recent days, British military intelligence said in a regular update.
Local residents from the residential building which was hit by artillery shelling stand in front of the building, in Kyiv, Ukraine. EPA-EFE/ROMAN PILIPEY
DIPLOMACY
* Talks between Russian and Ukraine continue via video link, with the Kremlin saying it was putting “colossal energy” into the negotiations.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Germany to take the lead in efforts to end the war in a video address to lawmakers in Berlin.
* The U.N. Security Council is due to vote on Friday on a Russian-drafted call for aid access and civilian protection, which diplomats say is set to fail because it does not call for an end to the fighting or withdrawal of Russian troops.
WAR OF WORDS
* Russia accused the United States of stoking “Russophobia” and said it had the power to put its “brash enemies into place.”
* Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov told European lawmakers the EU should recognise Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal a day after U.S. President Joe Biden used the term in comments Kremlin called “unforgivable.”
ECONOMY AND MARKETS
* Russian finance ministry said it had fulfilled its order to pay $117 million in interest on two international bonds. Some bondholders said they had yet to receive the payment.
* Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International said it was considering withdrawing from Russia, though its Russian unit said it would continue operating there.
* Moscow has imposed new tough rules on foreigners seeking to trade Russian securities and real estate.
QUOTES
There is a new wall “in the middle of Europe between freedom and unfreedom”, whch Germany helped build with its business ties to Russia, Ukraine’s Zelenskiy told German lawmakers.
“And this wall is getting bigger with every bomb that falls on Ukraine, with every decision that is not taken.”
