Ukraine has recaptured more territory around Kyiv from Russian soldiers who left shattered villages and their own abandoned tanks as they moved away from the capital, while a disputed cross-border strike in Russia complicated peace talks.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning earlier this month after a meeting in Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal and investigative website Bellingcat report, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ukraine and Russia are preparing for the first face-to-face peace talks in more than two weeks, with Kyiv insisting it will make no concessions on Ukraine's territorial integrity as battlefield momentum has shifted in its favour.
Ukraine has defied a Russian demand that its forces lay down arms in Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been trapped in a city under siege and already laid to waste by Russian bombardment.
Australia will donate military equipment and coal to Ukraine's effort to defend its country from invasion while placing additional sanctions on Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has justified the invasion of Ukraine before a packed soccer stadium but coverage of his speech on state television was unexpectedly interrupted by what the Kremlin said was a technical problem with a server.
Russia has declared a partial ceasefire to allow humanitarian corridors out of the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha, the Kremlin's defence ministry says.
Russian invasion forces claim to have seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, but ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as Moscow's diplomatic and economic isolation deepened.
The United States says the diplomatic path remains open to end a stand-off with Moscow over Ukraine but said the risk of Russian military action was high enough to warrant pulling US embassy staff out of Kyiv.
