· Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his last speech: "The invaders thought they were going to the Ukraine they had seen before, in 2014-2015, which they corrupted and they were not afraid, but we are different now."
U.S. President Joe Biden will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping this Friday to discuss Russia's war against Ukraine "and other issues of common interest," the White House said. Biden is expected to tell the Chinese president that he will face "costs" if Beijing saves Russia from strong Western sanctions.
About 130 people have been rescued so far from the basement of a theater hit by a Russian airstrike in the city of Mariupol, officials said. Hundreds of people were hiding under the theater, which was designated as a shelter for displaced civilians, when it was hit on Wednesday.
· About 30,000 civilians have fled the city of Mariupol so far, local authorities said. The Mariupol municipality said "80% of the dwellings were destroyed" and about 350,000 residents were hiding in shelters and basements in Mariupol. In addition to bombing the theater, the municipality said a swimming pool housing civilians, "mostly women, children and the elderly" had also been hit.
Lawyers are drafting a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow, but progress depends on the Kremlin accepting the ceasefire, Ukraine's defense minister has said. Oleksiy Reznikov, who has led the Ukrainian delegation to the negotiations, said technical work was progressing, but Russia must stop the attacks in order for any agreement to be possible.
Uzbekistan 's foreign minister has called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine and said he would not recognize Moscow-backed separatists in the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, Reuters reports. Abdulaziz Kamilov's statement marks the strongest anti - war statement to come from Russia's former Soviet allies to date.
