Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian troops have succeeded in containing the Russian army, forcing the Kremlin to consider negotiations with his country.
Look back at how the day's updates unfolded in the blog below.
Key events
- Russia conducts military drills on islands disputed with Japan, according to media reports
- Russia announces completion of first stage of 'special military operation' in Ukraine
- Russia's refocus on Ukraine's east suggests invasion has not gone as planned
- Macron aiming to meet with Putin in coming days
- Ukrainian resistance brings Russia to negotiating table, Zelesnkyy says
- Russia says it wants to focus on Donbas, as Ukraine reoccupies towns around Kyiv
Live updates
By Nicholas McElroy
That's all from the blog today
As always, thanks for following along.
Keep up to date with the latest development on the war in Ukraine at https://www.abc.net.au/news/.
By Nicholas McElroy
New phase of Ukraine war? Russia appears to shift focus
A quick recap.
Russian forces in Ukraine appear to have shifted their focus from a ground offensive aimed at Kyiv to instead prioritising what Moscow calls the liberation of the contested Donbas region, suggesting a new phase of the war.
It appears too early to know whether this means President Vladimir Putin has scaled back his ambitions in Ukraine, but Russian military moves this week indicate a recognition of the surprisingly stout Ukrainian resistance.
Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but he said Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.
Putin's forces are under great strain in many parts of the country, and the United States and other countries are accelerating their transfer of arms and supplies to Ukraine. In recent days, US officials have said they see evidence of Ukrainian defenders going on the offensive in a limited way in some areas.
Putting a positive face on it all, the deputy chief of the Russian general staff said his forces had largely achieved the “main objectives” of the first phase of what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
The Associated Press
By Nicholas McElroy
War crimes, intent and the war in Ukraine
do civilians have to be "intentionally" targeted for it to constitute a war crime?
-curious
Possible war crimes have been reported in Ukraine. These include Russian forces destroying homes, firing on civilians as they evacuate through safe corridors, targeting hospitals, using indiscriminate weapons like cluster bombs in civilian areas, attacking nuclear power plants and intentionally blocking access to humanitarian aid or food and water.
But, put simply, intention matters.
Destroying a hospital alone is not evidence of a war crime.
Prosecutors have to show that the attack was intentional or at least reckless.
By Nicholas McElroy
Ukraine says Russia's war has killed 136 children so far
The war in Ukraine has killed 136 children so far, Ukraine's office of the prosecutor general said on Saturday in a message on the Telegram app, adding that the number of wounded children stood at 199.
Reuters could not immediately verify the details.
Reuters
By Nicholas McElroy
Piano played through air raid sirens in Lviv
In the tweet below, a Ukrainian pianist who goes by the name Alex plays Time by Hans Zimmer amid air raid sirens in Lviv.
"My inner protest to sirens, bombs, murders, war!" he said in the video originally posted to his Instagram page @alexpian_official last week.
The performance has since received a shout out from Zimmer during a concert.
By Nicholas McElroy
Russia conducts military drills on islands disputed with Japan, according to media reports
Russia has conducted drills on islands claimed by Tokyo, Japanese media says.
It comes days after Moscow halted peace talks with Japan because of its sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's Eastern Military District said it was conducting military drills on the Kuril islands with more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of pieces of army equipment, Russia's Interfax news agency said Friday.
It did not say where on the island chain, connecting Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the drills were taking place. Japanese media said they were on territory the Soviet Union seized at the end of World War II that is claimed by Tokyo.
Japan's Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister's Office could not be reached to comment on the exercises.
The territorial dispute over the four islets — which Russia says are part of its Kuril chain and which Japan calls its Northern Territories — has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from reaching a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.
Japan reacted angrily on Tuesday after Russia withdrew from long-running treaty talks and froze joint economic projects related to the islands, in retaliation for Japan joining Western sanctions over Moscow's month-old invasion.
Russia's exercises involved repelling amphibious warfare, including destroying defence aircraft carrying troops and testing skills to operate fire control systems of anti-tank guided missiles, Interfax said.
Reuters
By Nicholas McElroy
UK will fund $3.5 million worth of food supplies for Ukraine
Britain says it will fund 2 million pounds ($3.5 million) worth of vital food supplies for areas of Ukraine which are encircled by Russian forces following a direct request from the Ukrainian government.
Just over a month after Moscow invaded Ukraine in what it describes as a "special military operation", Russian troops have failed to capture any major Ukrainian cities and have resorted to pounding them with artillery and air strikes.
Worst hit has been the eastern port of Mariupol, a city of 400,000 under siege since the war's early days. Tens of thousands of people are still believed to be trapped inside with no access to food, power or heating.
Britain said around 25 truckloads of dried food, tinned goods and water will be transported by road and rail from warehouses in Poland and Slovakia to the most at-risk Ukrainian towns and cities.
"The need on the ground in Ukraine is clear, with so many people in encircled areas trapped in basements without access to food or water," Alice Hooper, the British Foreign Office's Humanitarian Adviser, said in a statement.
"We are working with partners at the borders to ensure these vital UK supplies reach the places they are needed most as quickly as possible."
Reuters
By Nicholas McElroy
A child refugee fleeing the war in Ukraine with her family reacts as she sits in a bus after crossing the border by ferry at the Isaccea-Orlivka border crossing in Romania on Friday.
By Nicholas McElroy
Ukraine's President appears to respond comments from Russian general
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.
In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Mr Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on "the main goal, the liberation of Donbas."
Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.
Mr Rudskoi’s statement also was a suggestion that Russia may be backing away from trying to take Kyiv and other major cities where its offensive has stalled.
Mr Zelenskyy noted that Russian forces have lost thousands of troops but still haven’t been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city.
The Associated Press
By Nicholas McElroy
One month on: Russia's invasion of Ukraine drags on
This week marks a month since Russia invaded Ukraine — a relentless offensive that's left a trail of destruction across several cities, including the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Aerial bombardment and artillery fire has left thousands dead and forced millions to flee their homes.
But the Russian onslaught is being met with stubborn resistance not only from Ukrainian forces, but civilians who have refuse to surrender.
By Nicholas McElroy
Russia announces completion of first stage of 'special military operation' in Ukraine
The Russian Ministry of Defense says the main tasks of the first stage of Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine have been completed in general and the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces has been significantly reduced.
The Russian military will "concentrate on the main thing — the complete liberation of Donbass," said Sergei Rudskoy, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, at a news briefing in Moscow.
He said armed forces in Donbass control 93 per cent of the Luhansk region and 54 percent of the Donetsk region.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also said that since March 4, Russia has opened a number of humanitarian corridors, with nearly 420,000 civilians having been evacuated from Ukraine and the Donbass region to Russia.
Reuters
By Nicholas McElroy
Joe Biden, in Poland after Brussels summit, thanks humanitarian efforts
US President Joe Biden has thanked Poland for its humanitarian efforts as hundred of thousands of Ukrainians have been displaced over the past month, with many crossing into Polish territory.
By Jon Healy
'Daily' attacks on hospitals increasing: WHO
The World Health Organization says there have been over 70 distinct attacks on hospitals, ambulances and doctors in Ukraine since Russia's all-out war against Ukraine began on February 24.
WHO keeps track of attacks on medical facilities, transports and personnel and said there have been 72 such attacks in Ukraine during the invasion, resulting in 71 deaths as a direct result.
Deliberate attacks on hospitals will likely be a top priority for war crimes prosecutors looking into Russia's actions in Ukraine.
"The pattern of attacks will help prosecutors build the case that these are deliberate attacks," Ryan Goodman, professor of law at New York University and former special counsel at the US Department of Defense, told the AP.
"Prosecutors will draw inferences from how many medical facilities were targeted, how many times individual facilities were repeatedly struck and in what span of time."
By Jon Healy
Refugees start arriving in safer cities
Buses arrived in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday carrying evacuated residents from nearby Mariupol and Melitopol.
The displaced were met by volunteers at the car park of a shopping centre, which was turned into a makeshift processing facility during Russia's invasion of the country.
Officials there were registering the evacuees and assigning them to temporary residences.
Refugees were also leaving Zaporizhzhia on train services bound for safer parts of the country.
The port city of Mariupol has seen some of the most intense bombardments of the conflict so far.
By Jon Healy
Mykolaiv: One of Ukraine's 'hero cities' trying to resist Russian forces
Mkyolaiv is considered a key checkpoint for the Russian army if they try to take Odesa by land. People in the city have been resisting and repelling the attacks for weeks.
According to some analysts, Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to take Odesa have been ruined by the resistance in Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Mykolaiv and other cities "hero cities" for their resistance to the Russian forces.
Health facilities, houses and shops have all been damaged in Mykolaiv and its outskirts as Russian forces continue to try to advance through it.
There were no injuries when a bomb hit part of the city's Psychiatric Hospital on Monday, authorities said, but the concern is about what can happen in the coming days.
Marina Mykolaivna lives a few metres from the hospital with her mother and sister and was in her house with her mother when the blast wave made the walls shake, breaking windows and covering them with glass.
"I can't tell you how I feel in my soul, it's difficult to say. Sometimes I'm scared, sometimes I'm angry about the situation," she said.
A few kilometres from the centre of Mykolaiv, Pavel Babin showed the crater left by a cluster bomb that damaged several houses and killed one of his neighbours earlier this month.
"It's sad, I want to cry. Everything has to be rebuilt from zero," he said, before immediately adding, "I will rebuild (his house) — maybe better than before. We are from Mykolaiv, we never give up."
By Jon Healy
Joe Biden visits US troops near the Poland-Ukraine border
US President Joe Biden has personally thanked American troops stationed near Poland's border with Ukraine, calling them the "finest fighting force in the history of the world", during his tour of Europe.
After meeting NATO and EU leaders in Brussels, Mr Biden flew to Poland to see the humanitarian crisis that is developing as millions of Ukrainians escape Russia's assault on their homeland.
The United States has bolstered its forces in Europe in response to the war in Ukraine, pushing the number of US service members in Europe to more than 100,000 for the first time in decades.
Mr Biden told the troops in Poland they were doing an important job: preserving democracy.
"I came for one simple basic reason: to say thank you," Mr Biden said in an address to service men and women stationed in Rzeszow, Poland, just 100 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
By Jon Healy
EU trying to find ways to reduce energy prices
The European Union will be able to make joint gas purchases on behalf of member countries as a way to reduce costs, as prices rise due to the war in Ukraine.
Heads of government have authorised the European Commission to buy gas for member states, while non-EU countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia will also be able to join.
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen says European countries will be in a stronger bargaining position if they work together.
"We will now use our collective bargaining power. Instead of outbidding each other, driving prices up, we will pool our demand," she said.
"In addition, we must complete pipeline infrastructure and ramp up our storage and the interconnectors. This will be our insurance policy against supply disruption."
By Jon Healy
Russia's refocus on Ukraine's east suggests invasion has not gone as planned
As we mentioned earlier, Russia's defence ministry says the first stage of its campaign is mostly accomplished, and it will now concentrate its efforts on eastern regions of Ukraine.
Western officials say this suggests President Vladimir Putin's pre-war strategy has failed, with Moscow signalling it will now focus on "liberating" the Donbas region.
Former NATO commander Rear Admiral Chris Parry says the announcement is a sign of how badly the war has gone so far for Russia.
"Any professional would say to you that's not really borne out by the actions on the ground and they've been catastrophically failing their troops and also their politicians," he said.
"They've not delivered the knockout victory that they were promising and this is a catastrophic climbdown by the general staff to say, 'Actually, our war aims were just the Donbas.' That's ridiculous. No professional's going to believe that."
By Jon Healy
'They won't let me into Ukraine', Biden says
From CNN's chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins: While in Poland, President Biden says he is "disappointed" he can't see the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine firsthand. "They will not let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at what's going on in Ukraine," Biden says.
By Jon Healy
Smoke rises from port in Russian-occupied Berdyansk
Satellite images show a capsized Alligator-class landing ship and a burning storage tank in the south-eastern Ukrainian port of Berdiansk.
The images from Maxar Technologies appear to show the same ship that was on fire in video released by the Ukrainian navy on Thursday.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence said the ship was the Russian landing ship Orsk and it had been destroyed in a strike by Ukrainian forces.
Berdyansk, on the Sea of Azov, is 84 kilometres (52 miles) from the besieged city of Mariupol and is also occupied by Russian military forces.
A US defence official confirmed Ukrainian forces had destroyed the Russian warship in the port, but it was unclear how many casualties there had been.
