TOP HEADLINES

• The leaders of France, Germany and Italy visited Kyiv on Thursday in a show of European support for Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland. READ MORE BELOW

• Around 10,000 civilians are trapped in Ukraine's eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, where intense fighting with Russia has raged for weeks, the local governor said. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia's chief negotiator said Moscow is ready to restart peace talks with Ukraine but had yet to receive a response to its latest proposals, the Interfax news agency reported.

• Russia said Ukrainian forces prevented civilians sheltering in a chemical plant in the besieged eastern city of Sievierodonetsk from being evacuated via a humanitarian corridor. Russia created a corridor to evacuate civilians from the Azot chemical factory, but "the Kyiv authorities cynically scuppered the humanitarian operation," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

• U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new $1 billion pledge of arms and ammunition for Ukraine after reaffirming Washington's support for Kyiv in a call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The package includes more artillery, coastal anti-ship defense systems and ammunition for artillery and advanced rocket systems that Ukraine is already using, Biden says. 

• Zelenskyy said he was "grateful" for a new U.S. arms package to Kyiv after speaking to Biden. "The U.S. announced new strengthening of our defense, a new $1 billion support package," Zelenskyy said in an evening address. "I am grateful for this support. It is especially important for our defense in (the eastern region of) Donbas."

• With Olaf Scholz's long-awaited trip to Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ramped up the pressure on the German chancellor. "Every leader of our partner countries and naturally the chancellor as well knows exactly what Ukraine needs. It's just that the (weapons) deliveries from Germany are still less than they could be," Zelenskyy told Die Zeit weekly.

• Russia's offensive in Ukraine has pushed global displacement numbers above 100 million for the first time, and the UN warns the resulting hunger crisis could force many more to flee their homes.

• Turkey is ready to host a four-way meeting with the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine to organize the export of grain through the Black Sea, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday. Millions of tons of wheat are currently stuck in Ukrainian ports, either blockaded or occupied by Russian forces, and vessels face the danger of mines.

• Britain will soon deliver multiple-launch rocket systems to Ukraine in response to its request for heavy arms, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.

IN DETAIL
'Ukraine must resist and win'
France President Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for their first visit to Ukraine since the start of the conflict. The leaders arrived on a special train from Poland.

Macron said they will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and go to "a war site where massacres have been committed." The French leader has called alleged Russian atrocities in towns near Kyiv "war crimes." 

"This is a message of European unity addressed to Ukrainian men and women, of support," Macron said as he descended from the train. He said he came "to talk about both the present and the future since the coming weeks, we know, will be very difficult." 

"France has been alongside Ukraine since day one. We stand with the Ukrainians without ambiguity. Ukraine must resist and win," Macron told journalists in Irpin in response to a question on his previous remarks that Russia must not be humiliated.

The visit comes as Ukraine is pushing to be given official candidate status to join the European Union. The trio had traveled onboard a special train that left Poland in the early hours of Thursday. 

Romanian leader Klaus Iohannis is due to join his French, German and Italian counterparts in Kyiv later on Thursday.

Sievierodonetsk: Kyiv's army 'holding back the enemy'

Around 10,000 civilians are trapped in Ukraine's eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, where intense fighting with Russia has raged for weeks, the local governor said on Thursday.

"Out of 100,000 residents, around 10,000 remain," Sergiy Gaiday, the governor of the Luhansk region, said on Telegram. He said Kyiv's army is "holding back the enemy as much as possible."

"For almost four months they have dreamt of controlling Sievierodonetsk... and they do not count the victims," Gaiday said.

He said the Russian army "loses hundreds of fighters, finds reserves and continues to destroy Sievierodonetsk."

Moscow accused Ukrainian forces of preventing these civilians from being evacuated. Russia created a corridor to evacuate civilians from the Azot chemical factory, but "the Kyiv authorities cynically scuppered the humanitarian operation", the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

The city is the biggest in the Luhansk region that is still in Ukrainian hands and it has been under heavy shelling for weeks. The three bridges linking the city to Ukrainian-held Lysychansk, just across the river, have all been destroyed.

Capturing the city would allow Russian forces to advance further into the Donbas region.