A recap of developments from Ukraine on the ninth day of Russia's invasion.
What you need to know
- Russia has begun shelling a nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, the largest nuclear plant in Europe. A fire broke out at the plant as a result but was extinguished by 6pm NZ time.
- Ukraine says Russia has agreed to a ceasefire to evacuate civilians and deliver aid.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks.
- Russia has taken control of Kherson, a strategic port city near the Black Sea. Russian forces appear to be moving to cut Ukraine off from the sea via the south.
- A convoy of Russian troops remains stalled outside Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
- More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine since fighting began last week Thursday.
9pm: This concludes today's live updates on what has been an eventful day of news out of Ukraine.
1News Tonight will bring you the latest at 10:50pm OnDemand and on TVNZ1.
8.40pm: In ongoing financial woes for Russia, the Moscow stock exchange will be closed for the fifth day in a row.
8.15pm: Watch Daniel Faitaua's report on the growing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine below.
7.45pm: A wrap of the events at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant from an official has emerged.
It states the Russian military is now occupying it.
#Ukraine State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation confirms the site Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is occupied by the military forces of the Russian Federation pic.twitter.com/hQC07YrlJN
7pm: Hollywood couple Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have started a GoFundme page to raise funds for Ukraine. Kunis, who was born in Ukraine and lived in the European nation until she was seven, said she had never felt prouder to be a Ukrainian.
The pair will also donate US$3 million to the cause.
6.40pm: Shares have plummeted in Asia on Friday after Russia began shelling the Enerhador nuclear plant in eastern Ukraine.
Shares fell more than 2 per cent in Tokyo and Hong Kong and declined in most other Asian markets.
US futures were lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 1.6 per cent as technology companies led the way lower.
6.05pm: Ukrainian emergency services have confirmed a fire in the training building of the Enerhador nuclear plant has finally been extinguished after a blaze burned throughout early Friday morning (Friday afternoon NZT).
No casualties have so far been reported.
6pm: New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says she has written to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal "to express resolute support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity".
"I am joined in that stance by every New Zealand Parliamentarian, with our unanimous motion to condemn Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified bullying," Ardern said in a Facebook post.
"In response to Russia’s invasion, we moved to strongly condemn the aggression against Ukraine and to introduce a range of measures in response.
"We have banned exports of all goods that could be used by the Russian military and suspended foreign ministry consultations with Russia. There are now travel bans in place on key individuals from Russia and Belarus involved in the invasion against Ukraine, and this list will be reviewed regularly.
"We have not yet reached the extent of the measures New Zealand would take to condemn this act. We are pursuing new measures to target Russian investment, including measures to target financial institutions in New Zealand, including separate, but Russian targeted, specific legislation.
"We joined more than 30 states in referring the atrocities that have occurred in Ukraine to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court which will enable an investigation into war crimes that may have occurred in Ukraine.
"Our efforts are continuing and we will be able to announce more in the coming days."
5.40pm: Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus, according to chief executive Brian Chesky.
Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus
5.30pm: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also condemned Russia's attacks and says they "must cease immediately".
DPM @cafreeland and I just spoke with President @ZelenskyyUa about the horrific attacks at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. These unacceptable attacks by Russia must cease immediately.
5.05pm: Ukrainian media is reporting the Mayor of Enerhodar says there is currently no shelling at the nuclear power plant.
Firefighters have also reportedly been let back in to the plant to fight the blaze.
4.15pm: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that it has spoken with Ukrainian leadership, as we reported earlier, and has been told that "essential" equipment at the plant is still functioning.
#Ukraine tells IAEA that fire at site of #Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has not affected “essential” equipment, plant personnel taking mitigatory actions.
"Ukraine tells IAEA that fire at site of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has not affected essential' equipment, plant personnel taking mitigatory actions," the agency posted on Twitter.
The agency also says it has put its Incident and Emergency Centre in 24/7 response mode.
4pm: A US senator has called on Russians to "take out" President Vladimir Putin. South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham referenced Brutus (who assassinated Julius Caesar) and Claus von Stauffenberg (a German army officer who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler) and wondered if anyone could try the same in Russia.
Graham said it would be "doing your country - and the world - a great service".
Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country - and the world - a great service.
3.50pm: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has made another appeal to Europe for help following the attack on the Enerhodar nuclear plant.
Urgent video messages from President Zelensky that fighting at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant threatens a catastrophe for all of Europe. He pleads for the fighting to stop and reminds people what happened in Chernobyl. He says Russian forces know what they’re shooting at. pic.twitter.com/kgIgXkzjrX
"Europe must wake up now," Zelensky says.
"I address all Ukrainians and all Europeans to all people who know the word Chernobyl who know how much suffering and victims were caused by the explosion at the nuclear station. It was a global disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people fought against its consequences. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated.
"Russia wants to repeat it but six times harder.
"Europeans, please, wake up. Tell your politicians, Russian troops are shelling Zaporizhia nuclear power station, the city of Enerhodar. There are 6 energy unit. Six. One unit exploded in Chernobyl.
"We warn everyone that not a single nation every shelled nuclear power stations. For the first time in the history of humankind, the terrorist state commits nuclear terrorism.
"If there will be an explosion, it will the end to all of us, the end of Europe, the evacuation of Europe. Only immediate action of Europe can stop Russian troops and prevent the death of Europe from the disaster at a nuclear station."
3.45pm: The UK are seeking to hold an emergency UN Security Council meeting in light of Russia's attack on the Enerhodar nuclear power plant. UK prime minister Boris Johnson has reportedly said Putin's "reckless actions" threaten all of Europe.
In the early hours of the morning conversations with @POTUS and @BorisJohnson and @ZelenskyyUa about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The times of the calls indicate the concern. See below for details. pic.twitter.com/NAlMQPCVVj
3.40pm: The head of military administration from the region of Zaporizhia (where the Enerhodar power plant is located) says the safety of the plant is "secured".
Alexander Starukh says that he had spoken to the director of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, and had been assured of its safety.
"The director of the ZNPP assured me that at the moment, the nuclear security of the object is secured," he said.
3pm: The Guardian’s Julian Borger has spoken to Mariana Budjeryn, an Ukrainian expert at the project on managing the atom at Harvard University’s Belfer Center.
"Saying that a reactor building is hit doesn’t tell us much, because the most vulnerable [part of] this is the electricity and water supply," Budjeryn said.
"If the electricity is taken out, the back up generators kick in, but if those don’t kick in or their diesel fuel is set on fire, for example, the pumps can’t pump cold water into the reactor and into the spent fuel pools. That’s necessary to keep the nuclear reaction moderated. Otherwise the water will boil out and the core will go critical and explode.
"If the core explodes, there’s hope that the confinement chamber will capture the radiation from release into the environment. Confinement chambers are designed with withstand some level of impact even bombing.
"But of course we don’t know how they will stand to this intensity of shelling.
"But spent fuel pools - the fuel there is not as active, but they are usually overstuffed - so less active but more tightly packed material, also dangerous for going critical if the cooling system fails. And spent fuel pools are not covered by hardened concrete confinement chambers.
"We learned about how vulnerable spent fuel pools are during Fukushima.
"The backup generators failed and the water pumping system failed - it was lucky that ocean water flooded those and the reactor cores to provide cooling.”
2.45pm: US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have reportedly just been in discussions over the war. Part of that discussion included the fire at the Enerhodar plant.
A WH official says the President and President Zelensky spoke about the fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP on the phone call they just wrapped up.
2.40pm: The video below shows flames coming out of the Enerhodar plant.
2.20pm: There are no signs of elevated radiation levels at this stage, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
#Ukraine regulator tells IAEA there has been no change reported in #radiation levels at the #Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant site.
A plant spokesman also told the Associated Press firefighters cannot get to the fire as they are being shot at. The official said it was urgent for the fighting to stop to put out the flames.
2pm: Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs Dmytro Kuleba confirmed the fire at the nuclear power plant. He claims if the plant blows up, the consequences will be 10 times worse than the Chernoybl disaster in 1986.
Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Fire has already broke out. If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chornobyl! Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!
1.40pm: A building at the plant appears to be on fire on a YouTube live stream of the Enerhodar plant.
1.20pm: AP have provided this update on the nuclear power plant in Enerhodar: Russian troops are shelling Europe's largest nuclear power station in Ukraine.
“We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire,” Andriy Tuz, spokesperson for the plant in Enerhodar, said in a video posted on Telegram.
“There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.”
The plant accounts for about one quarter of Ukraine’s power generation.
1.00pm: A wrap of the day's developments so far from the BBC:
12.36pm: ITV reporter Dan Rivers, who is in Dnipro, gives details as to what the tentative agreement between Ukraine and Russia to set up humanitarian corridors looks like.
What does Ukraine and Russia's tentative agreement on evacuation corridors look like on the ground?@danriversitv explains what evidence he's seen on the routes out of Kharkiv today https://t.co/gUJ4ju84dI pic.twitter.com/NQMyxsK5SU
He says roads leading out of Kharkiv were busier than ever as cars tried to get out of the city.
Rivers says there are a lot of checkpoints along the way, but there appears to be no violence.
12.23pm: From the Associated Press:
The Biden administration says it is offering humanitarian relief to Ukrainians in the United States to protect them from being deported.
The government says Ukrainians can remain for up to 18 months under the programme known as a temporary protected status. The programme is for people fleeing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.
The Migration Policy Institute says as many as 30,000 Ukrainians may benefit.
12.00pm: From the Associated Press:
Ukrainian officials say a column of Russian forces is headed toward Europe's largest nuclear plant, which accounts for about one-quarter of Ukraine's power generation.
Ukrainian forces patrol as volunteers work to produce stoves, bulletproof vests, sandbags, barricades and anti-tank Czech hedgehogs for soldiers in Zaporizhzhia. (Source: Getty)
Both the Ukrainian state atomic energy company and the mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, say Russian troops are approaching the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Officials say loud shots were heard in the city late on Thursday (local time).
“Many young men in athletic clothes and armed with Kalashnikov have come into the city.
"They are breaking down doors and trying to get into the apartments of local residents,” the statement from Energoatom says.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has joined Ukraine’s president in calling on the West to close the skies over Ukraine’s nuclear plants as fighting intensifies around the major energy hub on the left bank of the Dnieper River and the Khakhovka Reservoir.
“Close the skies over Ukraine! It is a question of the security of the whole world!” Shmyhal says in a statement Thursday evening.
The US and NATO allies have ruled out creating a no-fly zone since the move would directly pit Russian and Western militaries.
11.25pm: Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is accusing Russia of manipulating TV coverage.
When Russians can’t achieve real goals, they focus on fake TV coverage. Having seized a TV tower in Kherson, they plan a show: Russian troops provide humanitarian aid while fake ‘locals’ brought in from Crimea stage a fake ‘demo’ in favor of Kherson region ‘uniting’ with Crimea.
11.21pm: Russian aerial bombing in Chernihiv have killed at least 28, BBC reporter Myroslava Petsa reports.
This is my hometown, the place where I was born, raised and fell in love for the first time. At least 28 Chernihiv residents have died in Russian aerial bombing today. pic.twitter.com/ZqsajdWga9
11.12am: 1News Europe correspondent Daniel Faitaua is in Romania, near its border with Ukraine.
In the town of Milișăuți in northeastern Romania, a city hall has been turned into a temporary camp for international students who have fled Ukraine. Many are medical students from India.
Vasile Cărare, the mayor of Milișăuți, tells 1News the community has rallied together to help hundreds of students.
A shelter for international students fleeing Ukraine in Milișăuți, Romania. (Source: 1News)
He says it was a “simple” choice for the town - they were asked to help, and so they did.
The students 1News spoke to said they were thankful for the shelter, and that they didn't expect the Russian invasion to cause so much catastrophe.
10.51am: In an angry Facebook post, Mayor of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev tells people to stop stealing food supplies.
"There is a real threat in the city that robbers are distributing food supplies. And the city needs food and industrial products," he writes.
He says the city will be distributing remaining food supplies in stores to those who need it most - hospitals, orphanages, and those in need.
"I also want to briefly address some of the bastards. I am ashamed of you. I am f**king ashamed to watch videos where healthy, strong, hard-working people are taking [items from] shopping malls, stores and supermarkets."
The southern Ukrainian port city is now being occupied by Russian forces.
10.40am: From the Associated Press:
More than 4 million refugees may end up fleeing Ukraine due to Russia's ongoing invasion, the United Nations says.
A couple say goodbye as a woman boards a train to Lviv from Kyiv. (Source: Associated Press)
On Thursday, the UN said 1 million people have already fled since Russia began invading last week, an exodus without precedent in this century for its speed.
“While the scale and scope of displacement is not yet clear, we do expect that more than 10 million people may flee their homes if violence continues, including 4 million people who may cross borders to neighbouring countries,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Thursday.
Syria, whose civil war erupted in 2011, remains the country with the largest refugee outflows - nearly 5.7 million people, according to UNHCR’s figures. But even at the swiftest rate of flight out of that country, in early 2013, it took at least three months for 1 million refugees to leave Syria.
10.26am: The EU will be granting Ukrainians fleeing their country temporary residence for up to three years, the BBC reports.
That means it will allow Ukrainian nationals and their families to work, study, and access welfare.
The Commission says the modified decision was "unanimous" after earlier reports Hungary did not support the move.
10.10am: Generous Kiwis have raised more than $100,000 in an appeal by Save the Children to help young people in Ukraine as they flee the Russian invasion.
The UN says more than 1 million have now fled Ukraine. Save the Children says at least 400,000 children are on the move across Eastern Europe, and estimates that at least 40 per cent of people who have travelled to Romania, Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, and Lithuania, to seek safety are children.
The charity says the children are at risk of hunger, illness, trafficking and abuse.
"These children have experienced things no child should ever be exposed to. It is vital that all children entering neighbouring countries are protected, and have access to life-saving food, clean water, shelter, and mental health support," the charity's New Zealand chief executive Heidi Coetzee says.
"But the catastrophe that we are seeing unfold before our eyes will not stop until the violence stops and children and their families are safe. In every conflict, it is children who bear the brunt and this needs to stop."
Save the Children continues to collect donations, and the money will go "directly to helping Ukrainian children", Coetzee says.
Daryna, 4 and Danilo, 2 playing at Save the Children's child area in Rădăuți, Romania. They fled with their mother Anna from Ukraine. (Source: Supplied/Save the Children) (Source: 1 News)
Among those who have fled Ukraine is one mum Anna and four-year-old Daryna and two-year-old Danilo.
Anna and her children stayed at a temporary camp before moving to a Reception Centre in Romania.
"We fled because we were scared. There was bombing in the area," Anna says.
"The airport had been bombed and fighting was getting near to a nuclear power station."
9.46am: The United Nations’ atomic watchdog says Ukraine has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that staff who have been kept at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant since Russian troops took control of the site a week ago are facing “psychological pressure and moral exhaustion".
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi says the staff must be allowed to rest and rotate so their crucial work can be carried out safely and securely.
Grossi received “a joint appeal from the Ukraine Government, regulatory authority and the national operator which added that personnel at the Chornobyl site ‘have limited opportunities to communicate, move and carry out full-fledged maintenance and repair work,’” the IAEA says in a statement.
Reactor No. 4 at the power plant exploded and caught fire in 1986, shattering the building and spewing radioactive material high into the sky. Even 36 years later, radioactivity is still leaking from history’s worst nuclear disaster.
Ukraine has lost regulatory control over all the facilities in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone to the Russians and asked the IAEA to undertake measures “in order to reestablish legal regulation of safety of nuclear facilities and installations” within the site, the statement adds.
Grossi has repeatedly stressed that any military or other action that could threaten the safety or security of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants must be avoided.
9.28am: From 1News US correspondent Anna Burns Francis:
The United States has announced another round of sanctions against Russia - this time calling out President Putin's "cronies".
The list of prominent oligarchs and their families will now see themselves cut off from the US financial system, the government saying it was "working to identify and freeze the assets of Russian elites... their yachts, luxury apartments, money and other ill-gotten gains".
Nineteen individuals have been named, including one of the country's richest men - Alisher Usmanov, whose mega-yacht Dilbar is already subject to a German seizure notice. It's currently in a shipyard in Hamburg and all work has been halted.
The selected group have been chosen because they are "known to direct, authorise, fund, significantly support or carry out malign activities in support of Russia's destabilising foreign policy", the US administration says in a statement.
Read the full story here.
8.58am: French President Emmanual Macron says he has spoken to Putin.
I spoke to President Putin this morning. He refuses to stop his attacks on Ukraine at this point. It is vital to maintain dialogue to avoid human tragedy. I will continue my efforts and contacts. We must avoid the worst.
"He refuses to stop his attacks on Ukraine at this point. It is vital to maintain dialogue to avoid human tragedy.
"I will continue my efforts and contacts. We must avoid the worst," Macron tweets.
Earlier today, Ukraine official Mykhailo Podolyak said a second round of talks with Russia didn't achieve the results he was hoping for.
He says the parties reached an understanding of securing humanitarian corridors.
⚡️ В Беларуси идёт второй раунд российско-украинских переговоров.#Россия #Украина #переговоры #Беларусь pic.twitter.com/rDBIyViYF1
8.46am: As well as new sanctions announced by the US this morning, the UK is also imposing more sanctions on leading oligarchs.
NEW RUSSIA SANCTIONS: The UK has imposed more sanctions on leading oligarchs. These associates of Putin are now cut off from their significant interests in UK.
8.45am: Ukrainian authorities say at least 33 civilians have been killed in a Russian airstrike in a residential area of Chernihiv.
Video verified by the New York Times shows projectiles hitting areas near homes and people running onto the street.
Video verified by The New York Times shows the bombardment of Chernihiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. As smoke cleared from the attack — which hit near apartments, pharmacies and a hospital — people are seen running in the street.https://t.co/J1MhFcNCnm pic.twitter.com/S2l2MBkxaF
This is how journalists figure out if all those Ukraine videos are realhttps://t.co/mwC6z4K8zc
8.30am: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the company has updated the software of the Starlink equipment he has sent to Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Musk announced Starlink's satellite internet service was available in Ukraine.
Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Musk on Twitter.
Thanks 🙏 https://t.co/eWTKXCBXlG
8.20am: From the Associated Press:
The Biden administration is announcing new sanctions against Russian oligarchs and others in Putin’s inner circle as Russian forces continue to pummel Ukraine.
Those targeted by the new sanctions include Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals and a close ally of Putin.
The US State Department says it is also imposing visa bans on 19 Russian oligarchs and dozens of their family members and close associates.
“These individuals and their family members will be cut off from the US financial system; their assets in the United States will be frozen and their property will be blocked from use,” the White House says.
8.10am: A bit more detail on developments in Kherson from the Associated Press:
Russian forces have taken a strategic Ukrainian seaport and set siege to another as Moscow tries to cut its neighbour off from the Black Sea.
The Russian military says it had control of Kherson, which has a population of 280,000 people, making it the first major city to fall since a Russian invasion began last week.
Russian armoured vehicles were seen in the otherwise empty streets of Kherson, in videos shared with The Associated Press by a resident.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued in Mariupol, in the outskirts of the strategic Azov Sea port city. Electricity and phone connections are mostly not working in Mariupol, which faces food and water shortages.
The Russians are pressing their offensive on a variety of fronts, even as the Kremlin says it is ready for talks to end the fighting that has triggered more than 1 million refugees.
7.45am: Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko tells Reuters Ukrainians have nowhere to retreat and will carry on defending their country against Russia.
It comes after days of shelling in several Ukrainian cities, including the recent targeting of civilian sites in Kyiv.
"Thousands, already tens of thousands are killed in this war against Ukraine. And this number will unfortunately only grow," Klitschko tells Reuters.
He says about half of the city's 3 million residents have fled.
The former boxer is among numerous athletes in Ukraine signing up to fight for their country.
Famous Ukrainian boxers past and present have been signing up to fight for their country against Russia, which is facing a growing list of bans or restrictions from major sporting competitions. 👉 https://t.co/R6A0PVQx9O pic.twitter.com/oCv3hhGEYg
7.36am: NBC News reports the US military has established direct communication channels with the Russian military.
SCOOP: The US military has established channels to communicate directly with the Russian military as a way to deconflict tactical movements around Ukraine, a senior defense official tells @ckubeNBC
7.34am: A bit more detail on those evacuation corridors now.
The second round of talks between a Russian and Ukrainian delegation has ended.
The second round of negotiations is over. Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved. There is a solution only for the organization of humanitarian corridors... pic.twitter.com/0vS72cwYSX
Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak tweets it didn't achieve the results Ukraine was hoping for, and that more negotiations would happen soon.
He says the parties reached an understanding of securing humanitarian corridors.
"I stress, with a possibility of a temporary ceasefire for the evacuation period in certain sectors," the BBC reports Podolyak saying.
7.20am: AP Correspondent Philip Crowther speaks to Breakfast. Here's what he had to say:
An estimated one million Ukrainians have fled Ukraine amidst the ongoing warfare. AP Correspondent Philip Crowther says despite this, men are continuing to arrive by train into the country to help protect their families and homeland. pic.twitter.com/iqSJ54WvDc
7.10am: From the Associated Press:
Ukraine says it has agreed with Russia to create safe corridors backed by ceasefires to evacuate civilians and deliver aid.
Earlier, Putin said the Russian military has offered safe corridors to civilians to allow them to leave areas of fighting in Ukraine.
Putin, speaking in a video call with members of his Security Council, charges that Ukrainian nationalist groups are preventing civilians from leaving.
The Russian leader says the groups were also using civilians as shields, taking up firing positions to provoke the Russian retaliatory fire.
Putin’s claim couldn’t be independently verified.
An armed man stands at the Independent Square (Maidan) in the center of Kyiv. (Source: Associated Press)
The Russian military says it has only struck military facilities and haven’t targeted residential areas, a claim that's contradicted by the abundant evidence of massive casualties and damage to residential areas of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and other cities in Ukraine.
Putin reaffirms his claim that the Russian military was fighting “neo-Nazis", adding that some Ukrainians were also “fooled by nationalist propaganda". Two days ago, Russia's strikes damaged a Holocaust memorial in Kyiv.
7.00am: Ata mārie and welcome to live coverage of the fighting in Ukraine from 1News.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks while urging the West to offer stronger military assistance to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a speech addressing the nation in Kyiv. (Source: Associated Press)
In a sarcastic reference to a long table Putin used for his recent meetings with foreign leaders and Russian officials, Zelenskyy says: “Sit down with me to negotiate, just not at 30 meters,” adding, “I don’t bite. What are you afraid of?”
During his news conference on Friday (New Zealand time), Zelensky says that prospects for another round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiations didn't seem promising, but emphasised the need to negotiate, adding that “any words are more important than shots".
He says the world was too slow to offer support for Ukraine and prodded Western leaders to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine to deny access to the Russian warplanes.
The US and NATO allies have ruled out the move that would directly pit Russian and Western militaries.
Zelensky charges that if the West remains reluctant to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine, it should at least provide Kyiv with warplanes.