U.S. President Joe Biden will call on Friday for an end of normal trade relations with Russia and clear the way for increased tariffs on Russian imports as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine, a source said.
Washington’s moves to tighten the screws on Moscow come as U.S. and European officials accuse Russia of war crimes over its bombardment of civilians in Ukrainian cities, amid repeated violations of ceasefires with each side blaming the other.
RUSSIAN COLUMN REDEPLOYS
* Satellite images showed a Russian military column threatening Kyiv from the north had dispersed to new positions, private U.S. company Maxar Technologies MAXR.N said, possibly in preparation for an assault on the capital.
AID
* The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to approve legislation providing $13.6 billion to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
EVACUATIONS
* Ukrainian authorities evacuated almost 40,000 people from five cities, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, but none from the encircled southern city of Mariupol, and Russian planes bombed an institute in Kharkiv that is home to an experimental nuclear reactor.
CEASEFIRE OFFER
* The Russian defence ministry said it would declare a ceasefire on Friday and open evacuation corridors from five cities.
BIOSECURITY
* The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the country’s public health laboratories to prevent “any potential spills” that would spread disease among the population, the agency told Reuters on Thursday.
* The United Nations Security Council will convene on Friday at Russia’s request, diplomats said, to discuss Moscow’s claims, presented without evidence, of U.S. biological activities in Ukraine.
DIPLOMACY
* Talks between Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers in Turkey made little apparent progress.
HOSPITAL HIT
* After international condemnation of a Russian strike on a hospital in Mariupol and Moscow’s claims the building no longer served as a healthcare facility, the Kremlin said it would investigate further. The defence ministry later denied hitting the hospital.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* President Putin said sanctions on Russia would rebound against the West and Moscow would solve its problems and emerge stronger.
* IMF head Kristalina Georgieva said the war and sanctions have triggered a contraction in global trade and sent food and energy prices sharply higher, which will force the IMF to lower its global growth forecast next month.
* Rio Tinto became the first major miner to announce it was cutting all ties with Russia.
* European soccer champion Chelsea is now effectively controlled by the British government after sanctions were imposed against Russian owner Roman Abramovich and the sale of the club is on hold.
* European Union leaders agreed to phase out buying Russian oil, gas and coal, a draft declaration showed.
HUMANITARIAN TOLL
* Over 2.3 million people have fled Ukraine so far, according to the latest U.N. tally, around half of them children.
* Russian forces are operating with “reckless disregard” for civilians as they face stronger-than-expected resistance in Ukraine, U.S. spy chiefs said.
QUOTES
* “Air strikes started from the early morning. Air strike after air strike. All the historic centre is under bombardment. They want to absolutely delete our city, delete our people. They want to stop any evacuation,” Petro Andrushenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, told Reuters by phone.
* “We will do everything to ensure that we never again depend on the West in those areas of our life which have a significant meaning for our people,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
(Compiled by Gareth Jones, Grant McCool and Michael Perry; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Kim Coghill)
