Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

RUSSIA is beefing up its forces for a new assault on Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, setting the stage for a protracted battle that is certain to inflict heavy losses on both sides as the Russians try to encircle Ukraine's fighters, analysts said.

FIGHTING

* The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, said on Wednesday in televised remarks that more than 100,000 people remained in the city awaiting evacuation. He said earlier that some 21,000 civilian residents had been killed during the siege.

* Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered in Mariupol. There was no comment from Ukrainian officials on the statement from Kadyrov, an ardent supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

* Ukraine's General Staff, in its morning report on Wednesday, said that Russian forces were proceeding with attacks on Azovstal and the port.

* Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said it was not possible to open any humanitarian corridors on Wednesday, and she accused occupying Russian forces of violating a ceasefire and blocking buses evacuating civilians.

* The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it is closely watching the war in Ukraine after an unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol.

* Russia's appointment of Army General Alexander Dvornikov as commander of the Ukraine war shows how Ukrainian resistance and Russia's ineffective pre-war planning is forcing it to reassess its operations, British military intelligence said.

DIPLOMACY

* U.S. President Biden said for the first time that Russia's invasion amounts to genocide. Read full story

* Russian President Putin reappeared after a rare public silence to say the invasion was a "noble" cause and that peace talks had reached a dead end.

* Ukraine told Russia to release prisoners of war if it wants the Kremlin's top political ally in the country freed from detention.

* Washington is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday another $750 million in military assistance for Ukraine.

* Polish President Andrzej Duda and the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are on their way to Kyiv to meet Ukraine's President Volodimir Zelensky, an adviser to the Polish leader said on Wednesday.

ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

* Russia's economy is on track to contract by more than 10% in 2022, the biggest fall since after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, a former finance minister said.

* Ukrainian President Zelenskiy urged the European Union to impose sanctions on all Russian banks and Russian oil and to set a deadline for ending imports of Russian gas.

* Russia's energy minister told Izvestia newspaper that Moscow is ready to sell oil and oil products to "friendly countries in any price range", Interfax news agency reported.

* The World Bank is preparing a $1.5 billion support package for Ukraine.

QUOTES

* "The United States is ready to fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian - that is the way it is." - Putin

* "We'll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies (as genocide), but it sure seems that way to me." - Biden

READ MORE: Latest development on Ukraine-Russia crisis