(Source: Reuters) Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow and encouraged Switzerland to do more to combat Russian oligarchs who, he claimed, were using their money to assist wage war on his nation.
FIGHTING
- Russia claimed to have destroyed a significant weapons store in Ukraine’s western Ivano-Frankivsk area with hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles.
- According to local authorities, a Russian mortar bombardment on the Ukrainian village of Makariv in the Kyiv region killed seven people and hospitalized five more on Friday. Russia denies that civilians are being targeted.
- According to presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, there have been no substantial changes in frontline regions in the last 24 hours. He said fighting was still going on and singled out Mariupol in the southeast, Mykolaiv, and Kherson in the south, and Izyum in the east as hotspots.
CIVILIANS
- As of March 18, the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reported that at least 847 people had been killed and 1,399 injured in Ukraine. So far, 112 children have been slain in Ukraine, according to the prosecutor general’s office.
- Pope Francis paid a surprise visit to a paediatric hospital in Rome, where children refugees were being treated.
PUTIN DEFIANT
In an interview with the Japanese television channel TBS, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin is healthy, sane, and “in better shape than ever.” In a speech in Moscow on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that all of the Kremlin’s goals in Ukraine would be realized.
CHINA CONDEMNS SANCTIONS
Sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries are becoming increasingly “outrageous,” according to a senior Chinese government official.
MARKETS AND ECONOMY
If this year’s planting campaigns are hampered by the invasion, Ukraine may not be able to export enough crops, according to presidential adviser Oleh Ustenko.
SUITS FOR SPACE
Russia’s space agency has denied claims in Western media that Russian cosmonauts stationed on the International Space Station wore yellow uniforms with blue trim in support of Ukraine. On its Telegram channel, Roscosmos’ press service stated, “Sometimes yellow is just yellow.”