Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the east of the country as Moscow builds up its troops there after suffering setbacks near the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.
FIGHTING
* The mayor of Chernihiv said Russian bombardment had intensified over the past 24 hours, with more than 100,000 people trapped with supplies to last about a week.
* Russian forces have taken half of the strategic port of Mariupol, said an adviser to Zelenskiy.
* 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, the Mariupol 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.
DIPLOMACY
* Russia and Ukraine to resume peace talks online on April 1, said a senior Ukrainian official, after the latest round of face-to-face negotiations ended in Turkey.
* 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.
ECONOMY
* Russia demanded oil and gas payments be made in roubles by Friday, raising fears of energy shortages and boosting recessionary risks in Europe. Germany has warned of a possible emergency if Russia cuts supplies.
* The United States is considering a plan to release roughly a million barrels of oil a day from U.S. reserves for several months, to combat rising fuel prices caused by the Ukraine war, Bloomberg News reported.
HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS
* 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.
