UKRAINE'S President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his people "need to achieve peace" and halt the Russian bombardment that has forced millions to flee to countries like Poland, where U.S. President Joe Biden is due to witness the crisis first hand.

As sanctions against Russia and its allies piled up, Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev said it was "foolish" to believe such actions against Russian businesses could have any effect on the Moscow government.

REFUGEES

* More than half of Ukraine's children have been driven from their homes, UNICEF said. 

* The United States said it plans to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing Russia's invasion.

* If Mariupol resident Alexandra's husband could have stayed alive long enough to receive the humanitarian aid that finally came, he would have lived, she said. 


FIGHTING

* The United States assesses that Russia is suffering failure rates as high as 60% for some precision-guided missiles in Ukraine, three U.S. officials told Reuters. 

* Ukraine said its forces destroyed the Russian landing ship the "Orsk" at the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk. Russian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

* Russia's defence minister was briefly shown by state media at a meeting of top officials after dropping out of public view for days. 


ENERGY

* German utilities said their country needed an early warning system to tackle gas shortages, a day after Russia ordered the switch of contract payments to roubles, raising the risk of a supply squeeze. 

* The Swiss trading arm of Russian energy firm Lukoil has scaled back operations after the oil company cut its supply of capital to guarantee nearly $1 billion in margin calls in the wake of Western sanctions, according to three sources.

* Energy and metals firms led a jump in Russian stocks on Thursday as trading resumed after almost a month's suspension, reflecting soaring global prices for oil, gas and other commodities on fears the Ukraine crisis will threaten supply. 


QUOTES

* "It could have been me," sobbed Viktoria as she buried her 73-year-old stepfather Leonid, killed when the car ferrying him to a hospital was blown up during fierce fighting in Mariupol. 

* "We have to stay fully, totally, thoroughly united," U.S. President Biden said in Brussels after meetings with U.S. allies.