Ukraine And Russia: What You Need To Know Right Now

Russian forces have taken control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region said, and fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol.

FIGHTING

* Russian forces have taken control of the town of Slavutych, where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said. 

* The mayor of the besieged southeastern port of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, said the situation in city remained critical, with street fighting taking place in its centre.

* Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was seen chairing an army meeting and discussing weapons supplies in a video posted by his ministry, the first time he had publicly been shown speaking for more than two weeks. read more

* Russia said on Friday the first phase of its military operation in Ukraine was mostly complete and it would focus on "liberating" the Donbass region. 

DIPLOMACY

* U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with top Ukrainian government officials in Warsaw during his visit to Poland to show support for the NATO alliance's eastern flank in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

CIVILIANS

* Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said agreement has been reached on the establishment of 10 humanitarian corridors on Saturday to evacuate civilians from front line hotspots in Ukrainian towns and cities. read more

* More than 100,000 people still need to be evacuated from Mariupol, Vereshchuk said.

* The war in Ukraine has killed 136 children in the 31 days since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine's office of the prosecutor general said.

ENERGY/MARKETS/BUSINESS

* The Russian central bank said the Moscow Exchange will resume trading on Monday, with Russian shares and bonds in normal mode, albeit for half a day.

* Ukraine's Zelenskiy called on energy producing countries to increase output so that Russia cannot use its oil and gas wealth to "blackmail" other nations. 

* Ukraine's new agriculture minister Mykola Solskyi said Ukraine's ability to export grains was getting worse by the day and would only improve if the war with Russia ends.

QUOTES

* President Biden said what is happening in Ukraine will change the history of the 21st century, and we will work together to ensure that this change is in our favour, in Ukraine's favour, in the favour of the democratic world," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba after meeting Biden in Warsaw.

COMING UP

* Biden is due to give a speech in the late afternoon in Warsaw saying the "free world" opposes Russia's invasion of Ukraine.