LIVE Russia-Ukraine crisis: Biden calls Putin 'war criminal'

Russia has stepped up its bombardment of Kyiv, as a series of strikes hit a residential neighbourhood in the capital city.

The leaders of three European Union countries have travelled to Kyiv. US President Joe Biden will travel to Europe next week for face-to-face talks with European leaders about Russia’s attack.

Fox News says one of its video journalists was killed in Ukraine when the vehicle he was travelling in was struck by incoming fire.

Here are the top developments as on March 16:

11.31pm: Joe Biden called Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”

President Joe Biden called Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” on Wednesday over his attack on neighboring Ukraine.

10.15pm: Five bodies found in rubble of shelled dormitory in Ukraine’s Chernihiv

Ukraine’s emergencies service said rescue workers had found the bodies of five people, including three children, during searches on Wednesday of residential buildings damaged by shelling in the northern city of Chernihiv.

The bodies were found in the ruins of a dormitory building, it said in an online statement.

9.30pm: In Kharkiv, critical Covid patients at the mercy of Russian bombardment

In Kharkiv’s regional infectious diseases hospital, doctors escort those COVID-19 patients they can down to the bomb shelter in the basement when the air raid sirens sound.

But the most seriously ill, needing constant oxygen supply, cannot be moved, even if this means leaving them vulnerable to Russian bombardment.

“The ones in critical condition remain in their rooms. If we bring them down here they will simply die,” said Pavlo Nartov, the hospital’s director.

More details here

8.40pm: Russian bombing hits theatre in Mariupol sheltering residents, city council says

Russian forces bombed a theatre where civilians were sheltering in the encircled port city of Mariupol on Wednesday, the city council said.

It said the number of casualties was not yet known. Reuters could not independently verify the information. Russia denies targeting civilians.

8.28pm: Three killed after shelling and fire in Ukraine’s Kharkiv

Three people were killed and five wounded after shelling caused a fire at a market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service said on Wednesday.

The fire was later extinguished, it said in an online statement.

8:12pm: Russia blocks BBC website

Russia’s media watchdog Roskomnadzor on Wednesday blocked access to the BBC’s main news website, with Moscow’s foreign ministry warning of more retaliatory measures against the media.

8:10pm: UN court orders Russia to cease hostilities in Ukraine

The United Nations’ highest court on Wednesday ordered Russia to stop hostilities in Ukraine, granting measures requested by Kyiv although many are skeptical that Russia will comply.

Two weeks ago, Ukraine asked the International Court of Justice - also known as the World Court - to intervene, arguing Russia violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by falsely accusing Ukraine of committing genocide and using that as a pretext for the ongoing invasion.

“The Russian Federation shall immediately suspend the special military operations it commenced on 24 February 2022,” the court’s president, U.S. judge Joan E. Donoghue, said. Countries who refuse to abide by court orders can be referred to the U.N. Security Council, where Russia holds veto power.

7.16pm: Glimmers of hope seen at talks as Russia’s onslaught goes on

Both Russia and Ukraine projected optimism ahead of another scheduled round of talks Wednesday, even as Moscow’s forces rained fire on Kyiv and other major cities in a bid to crush the resistance that has frustrated Kremlin hopes for a lightning victory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, went before the US Congress via video and, invoking Pearl Harbor and 9/11, pleaded with America for more weapons and tougher sanctions against Russia, saying: “We need you right now.”

6.34pm: Russia and Ukraine draw up neutrality plan

Both countries have made significant progress on a tentative 15-point neutrality plan. This includes a ceasefire and withdrawal, if Ukraine declares neutrality and accepts limits on its armed forces, according to three people involved in the talks.

6.07pm: Putin says will not allow Ukraine to become ‘springboard’ to threaten Russia

5.13pm: Council of Europe expels Russia from human rights body

The 47-nation organization’s committee of ministers said in statement that “the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as from today, after 26 years of membership.”

The decision comes on the heels of weeks of condemnation of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Early in the week, the group’s parliamentary assembly already initiated the process of expulsion and unanimously backed that Russia would be kicked out.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted Wednesday that it would have left the body regardless. In an interview with Russian broadcaster RBK, he accused NATO and EU countries of “abusing their majority in the council, eventually transforming it into a tool for anti-Russian policy.”

4.29pm: Czech prime minister: Ukraine above all needs more weapons

Ukraine above all needs more supplies of weapons to defend itself against Russia’s attack, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday after returning from a visit to Kyiv.

He said his delegation - which also included the prime ministers of Poland and Slovenia - also discussed sanctions, weapons and humanitarian aid, as well as possible future diplomatic steps with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky.

3.14pm: Ukraine prepares potential move of sensitive data to another country -official

The Ukrainian government is preparing for the potential need to move its data and servers abroad if Russia’s attacking forces push deeper into the country, a senior cybersecurity official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Victor Zhora, the deputy chief of Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection, emphasized his department was planning for a contingency, but that it is being considered at all suggests Ukrainians want to be ready for any Russian threat to seize sensitive government documents.

More details here

2.23pm: Kremlin says Sweden, Austria could be models for Ukraine neutrality

The Kremlin said Wednesday that Ukraine becoming a neutral state with a status comparable to Sweden and Austria is being discussed at talks with Kyiv and would be a “compromise”.

“This is an option that is being discussed now and that can be considered as a compromise,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

1.56pm: Russia says parts of a Ukraine compromise deal are close

Russia said on Wednesday that some parts of a possible peace deal with Ukraine were close to being agreed after Kyiv agreed to discuss neutrality, raising hopes of an end to the biggest war in Europe since World War Two.

“Neutral status is now being seriously discussed along, of course, with security guarantees,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said told RBC news.

“Now this very thing is being discussed in negotiations - there are absolutely specific formulations which in my view are close to agreement,” Lavrov said.

1.32pm: Red Cross President arrives in Kyiv for planned five-day visit to call for greater humanitarian access, civilian protection

1.22pm: Polish, Czech and Slovenian PMs back in Poland after Kyiv trip, says spokesperson

The delegations including the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have arrived in Poland after their visit to Kyiv, a Polish government spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“The Polish, Slovenian and Czech delegations safely returned from Kyiv to Poland,” Piotr Muller wrote on Twitter.

1.00pm: Russia’s Lavrov says Ukraine peace talks not easy, sees hope for compromise

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that peace talks with Ukraine aren’t easy, but added that there was hope for compromise.

More details here

12.36pm: Train station targeted in Ukraine refugee hub near Mariupol

Russian forces on Wednesday targeted the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, where thousands of refugees are taking shelter after escaping the besieged port city of Mariupol, regional officials said.

“Civilian objects have been bombed for the first time in Zaporizhzhia,” the regional governor Alexander Starukh wrote on the Telegram social media platform.

More details here

12.20pm: Ukraine launches counteroffensives in several areas

Ukraine’s armed forces are launching counteroffensives against Russian forces “in several operational areas,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

“This radically changes the parties’ dispositions,” he added, without giving details.

12.05pm: Prosecutor general says 103 children have been killed in war in Ukraine

The Ukrainian prosecutor general said on Wednesday 103 children have been killed so far in the war in Ukraine.

Russian forces have struck more than 400 educational establishments and 59 of them have been destroyed, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said on Facebook.

10.54am: Moscow to retaliate against Montenegro over expulsion of Russian diplomat

Russia will respond to Montenegro’s decision to declare a Russian diplomat persona non grata, Yuri Pilipson, director of the Fourth European department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying on Wednesday.

Montenegro cited violations of diplomatic norms for its March 4 action in ordering the Russian diplomat to leave the country.