HEADLINES

• Ukraine has accused Russian forces of bombing a theater in besieged Mariupol, where it says hundreds of civilians including many children were sheltering. So far 130 survivors have been rescued, with no casualties. Moscow denies hitting the site. 

• Governor of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv says 53 civilians have been killed there in bombardment over the past 24 hours. Russia says it is not targeting civilians.

• While Russia continues its air assault, its ground advance has largely stalled, with its forces suffering heavy losses in recent days, according to British military intelligence.

• One person was killed by a Russian missile attack in Kyiv this morning, Ukraine's emergency services have reported.

• Despite the ongoing fighting, talks between Russian and Ukraine continue via video link, with the Kremlin saying it is putting "colossal energy" into the negotiations.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday urged Germany to take the lead in efforts to end the war in a video address to lawmakers in Berlin, calling on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to tear down "the wall" between "free and unfree" Europe.

• U.S. President Joe Biden's accusation that President Vladimir Putin was a war criminal is unacceptable, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding Washington had no right to lecture Moscow on launching conflicts.

• He added that many people in Russia are showing themselves to be "traitors", doudbling down on Putin's claim that the West was using Russian "fifth columnists" to destroy the country.

• Russia's Dmitry Medvedev warned the U.S. that Moscow had the might to put it in its place, accusing the West of stoking "disgusting" Russophobia in an attempt to destabilize Russia.

• The UN Security Council will vote on a Russian-drafted call for aid access and civilian protection on Friday, but diplomats say it will fail because it does not call for a withdrawal of Russian troops.

• China's foreign ministry firmly rejected Washington's claim that Beijing's unwillingness to condemn Russia was inconsistent with its position on the UN charter. 

• However, U.S. President Joe Biden will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

• President Zelenskyy has not altered his position that Ukraine's international borders must be recognised as they were when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, according to his office. 

• In a late night address on Wednesday, the president called Russia a "terrorist state", asking its citizens to question whether the siege of Mariupol was any different from that of Leningrad in World War Two. 

• Ukraine is asking Japan for high-quality satellite imagery to help it fight Russian troops, according to Japanese newspaper The Nikkei.

• Moscow has set out new controls on foreigners trading Russian assets, requiring non-nationals to provide details before trading while temporarily stopping sales of securities and real estate.  

• Italy is considering blocking raw material exports to counter potential shortages arising from the Ukraine conflict.  

IN DETAIL

Mariupol theater 

Local officials said rescuers in the besieged southern port of Mariupol were looking through the rubble of a theater where hundreds of civilians had been sheltering, after Kyiv said Russian forces dropped a powerful bomb on the site on Wednesday. 

"The bomb shelter held. Now the rubble is being cleared. There are survivors. We don't know about the (number of) victims yet," mayoral adviser Petro Andrushchenko said.

He said rescue work was under way to reach survivors and establish the number of casualties, which was still unknown.

Russia denied hitting the theater, which satellite pictures showed had the word "children" written out on the ground in front before it was blown up.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the allegation that Russia had bombed the theater was a "lie".

She repeated that Russian forces have not targeted civilian areas since the conflict exploded on February 24.

Mariupol has suffered the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the conflict, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in basements with no food, water or power for weeks. 

Russian forces have begun letting some civilians leave this week but have blocked aid convoys from reaching the city.

"War criminal"

The Kremlin has said President Biden's allegations that Putin was a war criminal were "unforgivable", while insisting its military operation in Ukraine was "going to plan" amid talk of compromise at peace talks.

Russian forces have kept up their bombardments of besieged cities and intensified shelling in Kyiv. However, heavily outnumbered Ukrainian forces have prevented Moscow from capturing any of Ukraine's biggest cities so far, despite the largest assault on a European state since World War Two, stoking fears of wider conflict with the West.

Washington announced an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine, with the new package including drones, anti-armor and anti-aircraft systems.

"More will be coming as we source additional stocks of equipment that ... we are ready to transfer," Biden said, later condemning Putin. "He is a war criminal," he told reporters.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the comment was "unacceptable and unforgivable rhetoric". However, he added on Thursday that the delegations from Russia and Ukraine will continue negotiations today.

Ukraine still hopes for a diplomatic solution, with both sides tentatively optimistic about reaching a deal. Zelenskyy said negotiations were becoming "more realistic", while Moscow said proposals under discussion were "close to an agreement."

Zelenskyy addresses Bundestag

Invoking the fall of the Berlin Wall, President Zelenskyy on Thursday urged Germany to tear down what he called a wall between "free and unfree" Europe and stop the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to the Bundestag by videolink, Zelenskyy appealed to Chancellor Scholz to return freedom to Ukraine, referencing the historic 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Zelenskyy described a new wall "in the middle of Europe between freedom and unfreedom", accusing Germany of having helped build it, isolating Ukraine with its business ties to Russia and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

"And this wall is getting bigger with every bomb that falls on Ukraine, with every decision that is not taken," he added.

Germany last month halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas directly to Germany. 

Invoking former U.S. president Ronald Reagan's appeal to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, to bring down the Berlin Wall, Zelenskiy told German lawmakers: "That's what I say to you dear Chancellor Scholz: destroy this wall."

"Give Germany the leadership role that it has earned so that your descendants are proud of you. Support freedom, support Ukraine, stop this war, help us to stop this war," he added.

Lawmakers in the Bundestag welcomed Zelenskyy with a standing ovation and the chamber's vice president, Katrin Goering-Eckardt, told him: "Your country has chosen democracy, and that's what Vladimir Putin fears."

China-U.S. talks

Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak by phone to Biden on Friday, the White House has announced, as Washington continues to claim it hopes to discourage China from backing Russia in the Ukraine crisis. 

The call was announced by White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who said it was part of ongoing U.S. efforts to maintain open contact between the two countries.

"The two leaders will discuss managing the competition between our two countries as well as Russia's war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern," she said.

The call comes after White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spent seven hours in Rome talking with China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi on Monday.

During that meeting, Sullivan raised Washington concerns about China's potential alignment with Russia, with Sullivan allegedly warning Yang about "the potential implications and consequences" for China of providing support to Russia.

The Rome talks were described as intense but with no specific outcome.

China has taken a neutral stance on the crisis, backing talks to end the conflict while urging "maximum restraint" and de-escalation.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Twitter that Beijing's position on Ukraine was "above-board, objective, fair, and beyond reproach."

He added: "The US and NATO should focus on promoting peace in Ukraine and stop fueling the tensions by sending ammunition. They need to join hands with Europe and Russia to work for lasting peace through dialogue."