Russia-Ukraine crisis: Lavrov arrives in Turkey for talks with Kyiv counterpart

The Russian military assault on Ukraine is on its 14th day.

Thousands of people are thought to have been killed, both civilians and soldiers, though the actual number is unknown.

Russian aircraft on Tuesday night bombed residential areas around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and Zhytomyr, to the west of Kyiv, and its military also stepped up its shelling of Kyiv’s suburbs, the Ukrainian emergency services said.

Two million people — half of them children — have fled Ukraine, UN officials said Tuesday, as Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II grows by the day.

US President Joe Biden said the US would ban all Russian oil imports, even if it will mean rising costs for Americans, particularly at the gas pump.

Here's the latest of all top developments on March 9

11:59pm: Air strike on Ukraine hospital sparks uproar on eve of talks

An apparent Russian air strike destroyed a paediatric and maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Wednesday, triggering global outrage.

Russian troops closed in on the capital Kyiv, as the two countries prepared for their first high-level talks since Moscow launched its deadly attack two weeks ago.

As fighting raged for a 14th day, a Ukrainian official said a Russian air strike on a children’s hospital in Mariupol wounded at least 17 staff.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on Twitter showing massive destruction at the large medical complex, including blown-out windows and internal walls ripped out, which he said was caused by a “direct strike by Russian troops” and left adults and children “under the wreckage”.

11:23pm: Air strike wounds 17 staff at Ukraine children’s hospital

A Russian air strike on Wednesday hit a paediatric and maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, injuring at least 17 staff, officials said.

The attack came as women were in labour in the recently refurbished hospital, Donetsk regional military administration told AFP.

The attack came as the World Health Organization warned the war with Russia has sparked a health crisis in Ukraine, with at least 18 verified attacks on health care facilities, ambulances and personnel, resulting in 10 deaths and 16 injuries.

11.20pm: Russia’s Lavrov arrives in Turkey for talks with Ukraine counterpart

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived after a flight to Turkey’s southern city of Antalya on Wednesday, according to a Reuters witness, ahead of planned talks Thursday with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

The meeting would be the first between the nations’ top diplomats since Russia attacked Ukraine two weeks ago.

10.45pm: Ukraine evacuated 40,000 in one day but problems with Mariupol, Kyiv and Kharkiv areas

Ukraine evacuated more than 40,000 people in one day on Wednesday but struggled to get civilians away from conflict zones around the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol, one of the negotiators in the Russia talks David Arakhamia said.

“Over 40,000 women and children were evacuated from all over Ukraine in one day. Tried 100,000, but failed,” he said in a post on social media. Ukraine has accused Russia of shelling civilian areas and preventing the evacuations. Russia in turn blamed Ukraine.

Separately Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about boosting Ukraine’s defensive capabilities.

8:52pm: Ukraine says Russian air strike hit hospital in Mariupol

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy accused Russia on Wednesday of carrying out an air strike on a hospital in the southern port city of Mariupol in which he said children were among people “under the wreckage.”

Mariupol’s city council said the hospital had been destroyed. It said it did not know any casualty figures but added: “The destruction is colossal.”

The reports could not immediately be verified by Reuters. Russia has denied targeting civilians in its assault on Ukraine.

7:31pm: Ukraine accuses Moscow of breaking ceasefire

Ukraine accused Russia on Wednesday of breaking a ceasefire to prevent the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the besieged port of Mariupol, where the Red Cross has described conditions as “apocalyptic”.

Russia said it would hold fire to let civilians flee besieged cities, but efforts to evacuate Mariupol appeared to have failed again, as have several previous attempts since Saturday.

“Russia continues holding hostage over 400,000 people in Mariupol, blocks humanitarian aid and evacuation. Indiscriminate shelling continues,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. “Almost 3,000 newborn babies lack medicine and food.”

More details here

7:25pm: Turkey hosts top Russia, Ukraine diplomats in bid for peace

The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers will Thursday hold face-to-face talks in southern Turkey in the first high-level contact between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia attacked its neighbour two weeks ago.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has pushed for Turkey to play a mediation role, has expressed hope the talks can avert tragedy and even help agree a ceasefire.

More details here

7:20pm: Germany won’t send warplanes to Ukraine

Germany will certainly not send warplanes to Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday, after the United States rejected an offer by Poland to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 jets to a U.S. base in Germany as a way of helping Ukrainian forces.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Scholz said Germany had provided all kinds of defence equipment and had sent weapons.

Ukraine has pleaded with Western nations to provide it with fighter jets to counter a Russian invasion that has forced more than two million refugees to flee the country.

7:15pm: Mariupol says children’s hospital destroyed by Russian bombing

A children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been destroyed by Russian air strikes, the city council said in an online post on Wednesday.

“The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children’s hospital. The destruction is colossal,” it said, adding that it did not yet know any casualty figures.

The report could not immediately be verified by Reuters. Russia has denied targeting civilians in its assault on Ukraine.

7pm: Fresh evacuation efforts for devastated Ukraine cities

Russian troops were seen by AFP Wednesday pushing closer to the capital Kyiv, while Moscow accused the United States of waging “economic war” through a barrage of sanctions.

Moscow had vowed to respect a 12-hour truce starting at 9:00 am to allow civilians to flee six areas that have been heavily hit by fighting, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

For the first time the corridors included Irpin, Bucha and Gostomel, a cluster of towns on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv that have been largely occupied by Russian forces.

5:46pm: Britain plans to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles

Britain is planning to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles to help it defend its skies from Russian attack, defence minister Ben Wallace said, stressing that the technology fell within the definition of defensive weapons.

“It is vital... that Ukraine maintains its ability to fly and suppress Russian air attack,” Wallace told lawmakers.

“In response to Ukrainian requests, the government has taken the decision to explore the donation of STARStreak high-velocity man-portable anti-air missiles. We believe that this system will remain within the definition of defensive weapons, but will allow the Ukrainian force to better defend their skies.”

5:40pm: Shelling disrupts evacuation of eastern town of Izyum

A planned evacuation of civilians from the Ukrainian town of Izyum in the eastern Kharkiv region was held up by Russian shelling on Wednesday, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said an online post.

“Buses are still waiting at the entrance to Izyum,” he said, adding that negotiations with the Russians were under way with the support of the Red Cross.

5:30pm: Harris heads to Poland amid turbulence over jets for Ukraine

Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Warsaw to thank Poland for taking in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s attack took an unexpected turn before she even left Washington. She’ll be parachuting into the middle of unexpected diplomatic turbulence over fighter jets.

The Polish government on Tuesday came out with a plan to transfer its Russian-made fighter planes to a U.S. military base in Germany, with the expectation that the planes would then be handed over to Ukrainian pilots trying to fend off Russian forces. In turn, the U.S. would supply Poland with U.S.-made jets with “corresponding capabilities.”

5:25pm: Russia must prioritise domestic grain supplies for bread

Russia must prioritise grain supplies to domestic bakeries over export markets, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said as he unveiled fresh measures to support the domestic economy on Wednesday in the face of international sanctions over Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine are both major wheat exporters, and the military conflict is threatening global grain production and the supply of edible oils and fertilisers exports, sending commodity prices rocketing and mirroring the crisis in energy markets.

More details here

4:38pm: Britain will gain from accepting Ukrainian refugees

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain would gain from accepting refugees and that he expects hundreds of thousands of visas to be granted to people fleeing Ukraine amid criticism of his government for keeping strict entry requirements.

4:35pm: Ukrainians flee some besieged cities as conditions worsen

Renewed efforts to evacuate civilians from besieged and bombarded Ukrainian cities were underway Wednesday as authorities seek to rescue people from increasingly dire conditions. Days of shelling have largely cut residents of the southern city of Mariupol off from the outside world and forced them to scavenge for food and water.

Authorities announced another cease-fire to allow civilians to escape from Mariupol, Sumy in the northeast, Enerhodar in the south, Volnovakha in the southeast, Izyum in the east, and several towns in the region around the capital, Kyiv.

Previous attempts to establish safe evacuation corridors have largely failed due to attacks by Russian forces, and there were few details on Wednesday’s new effort. It was not clear if anyone was able to leave Mariupol, but some people did start streaming out of Kyiv’s suburbs, even as air raid sirens repeatedly went off in the capital and explosions could be heard there.

4:15pm: Many head to Kyiv hoping for onward evacuation

Civilians from besieged towns northwest of Kyiv worked their way toward the capital Wednesday, crossing over a small river via a damaged bridge.

The bridge area has come under sporadic mortar fire in recent days, with civilians killed. But there was little shelling reported in the area Wednesday morning, so civilians took their chance to leave their homes in the hope of finding safety.

2.52pm: US has declared economic war on Russia, says Kremlin

The Kremlin accused the United States on Wednesday of declaring an economic war on Russia that was sowing mayhem through energy markets, and it put Washington on notice it was considering its response to a ban on Russian oil and energy.

Russia’s economy is facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after the West imposed heavy sanctions on almost the entire Russian financial and corporate system following Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cast the West’s sanctions as a hostile act that had roiled global markets and he said it was unclear how far turbulence on global energy markets would go.

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Kremlin tells United States to await response to “economic war”

2.43pm: Russia demands US explain 'military biological programmes' in Ukraine

Russia demanded on Wednesday that the United States explain to the world why it had supported what Moscow cast as a military biological programme in Ukraine.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova demanded transparency from Washington over the allegation, which is denied by Kyiv and which a Pentagon spokesman has described as absurd.

2.31pm: Canada will send Ukraine another shipment of military equipment, Trudeau says

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call that Canada will send Ukraine another shipment of highly-specialized military equipment.

Trudeau said in a tweet that he also invited Zelensky to address Canada’s parliament.

2.08pm: No water or heat for civilians in Mariupol

The besieged Azov Sea port city of Mariupol has seen some of the most desperate scenes of the war, with civilians struggling without water, heat, basic sanitation or phones for several days.

With water supplies cut, people have been collecting water from streams or melting snow.

The representatives of Ukraine’s Red Cross are trying to deliver first aid to those who need it the most, but resources are scarce.

1.54pm: Russia says it prefers to achieve Ukraine goals via talks

Russia will achieve its goal of ensuring Ukraine’s neutral status and would prefer to do that through talks, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Moscow’s aims do not include overthrowing the Kyiv government and it hopes to achieve more significant progress in the next round of talks with Ukraine, Zakharova told a briefing, adding that Russia’s military operation was going strictly in line with its plan.

1.48pm: Russian-linked private jet impounded as UK deepens aviation sanctions

Britain said on Wednesday it had impounded a plane connected to a Russian billionaire under new aviation sanctions which give authorities the power to detain any Russian aircraft and to ban exports of aviation or space-related goods to Russia.

The measures to strengthen action against Russian aircraft mean it is a criminal offence for any to fly or land in the United Kingdom.

More details to follow

1.33pm: UK says Russia not making progress in Kyiv

British defence officials say Russia’s assault on Kyiv has failed to make progress but several Ukrainian cities continue to suffer heavy shelling.

In an update posted on social media Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence said “fighting north-west of Kyiv remains ongoing with Russian forces failing to make any significant breakthroughs.”

It said the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain encircled by Russian forces and are being heavily shelled.

The ministry said Ukraine’s air defences were holding up against Russian aircraft, “probably preventing them achieving any degree of control of the air.

1.22pm: EU agrees to toughen sanctions on Russia, Belarus over Ukraine

The EU has agreed to add more Russian oligarchs and officials to its sanctions blacklist, tighten controls on cryptocurrency transfers and target the maritime sector over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, diplomats said Wednesday.

The 27-nation bloc also gave the go-ahead to cut three Belarusian banks from the global SWIFT payments system over Minsk’s support for the Kremlin’s attack, the French mission, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, tweeted.

1.07pm: UK slaps more curbs on Russian aircraft

Private jets with links to Russian individuals, and arriving or departing from the UK will be impounded under new rules announced by the Boris Johnson government on Wednesday, as demands grow that the UK should impose more sanctions and welcome more Ukrainian refugees.

The ban includes any aircraft owned, operated or chartered by anyone connected with Russia or designated individuals or entities, and will include the power to detain any aircraft owned by persons connected with Russia, officials said.

More details here

12.54pm: Russia, Ukraine agree day-long evacuation corridors

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed a day-long ceasefire around a series of evacuation corridors to allow civilians to escape the fighting, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Vereshchuk said Moscow vowed to respect the truce from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm around six areas that have been heavily hit by fighting, including regions near Kyiv, in Zaporizhzhia in the south, and some parts of Ukraine’s northeast.

12.04pm: Ukraine makes new attempt to get civilians out of Mariupol, other cities

Ukraine will on Wednesday try to evacuate civilians through six “humanitarian corridors”, including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

She said in a video statement that Ukrainian armed forces had agreed to stop firing in those areas from 9 am until 9 pm (0700-1900 GMT) and urged Russian forces to fulfil their commitment to local ceasefires.

11.52am: Poland only ready to act on jets for Ukraine within NATO framework, presidential adviser says

Poland is ready act on supplying MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, but only within the framework of NATO, an adviser to the Polish president said on Wednesday after the United States rejected a proposal to put Polish planes at Washington’s disposal.