UKRAINIAN forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the east as Moscow builds up troops there after setbacks near the capital Kyiv, said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who called for Russia to be punished with stronger sanctions.
FIGHTING
* British military intelligence reports shelling, missile strikes around Chernihiv and heavy fighting in Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces control the city centre. Heavy fighting is expected in Kyiv suburbs in coming days.
* Russia's defence ministry said it was prepared to observe a ceasefire in Mariupol on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported.
* Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in Mariupol, the mayor's office estimates, and about 170,000 people remain trapped amid ruins without food, heat, power or running water. Many more have fled. Reuters has been unable to verify the figures.
ECONOMY
* Russia demanded oil and gas payments be made in roubles by Friday, and a Russian newspaper said Gazprom was studying options for halting gas supplies.
* The United States is considering a massive release of oil reserves. The International Energy Agency (IAE) will hold an emergency meeting on Friday.
DIPLOMACY
* Russia and Ukraine are to resume peace talks online on April 1, said a senior Ukrainian official.
* Russian President Putin was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, a U.S. official said, citing declassified intelligence.
HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS
* A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for Mariupol to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and bring out trapped civilians, the deputy prime minister said.
* Russia may have committed war crimes by killing civilians and destroying hospitals in its pounding of Ukrainian cities, the top United Nations human rights official said.
QUOTES
* "We cook what we find among neighbours. A bit of cabbage, a bit more of potatoes, we've found tomato paste, some beetroot," said former steel worker Viktor from Mariupol.
READ MORE: Latest development on Ukraine-Russia crisis
Reuters
Thu Mar 31 2022
Ukrainian serviceman secures the site of a bombing at a shopping centre as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. - REUTERS
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