Ukrainian Military: Slow down attacks by Russian units

According to the Ukrainian army, it held back attacks by Russian units in several places.

In the north of the country, Russian troops were stopped from advancing into the city of Chernihiv, according to a report by the Ukrainian General Staff published on Facebook on Friday night.

At Kharkiv in the east of the country, Russia is continuing its attempts to blockade the city from the north - these are still unsuccessful.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Pentagon: Russian troops encircle towns in Ukraine

According to the Pentagon, the Russian military is trying to surround Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv.

"Kharkiv and Chernihiv, Mariupol - we see these efforts to encircle and surround," said a senior US defense official.

This is also observed around the capital Kyiv.

According to the official, the Russian soldiers came from several directions.

"So what we see are these different lines of advance towards Kyiv." But Kyiv is much larger than the other cities and is heavily defended.

Zelenskyy: Almost 100,000 evacuees - Mariupol further blocked

Almost 100,000 people have been evacuated from embattled cities in Ukraine in the past two days.

This was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video speech.

However, the port city of Mariupol and nearby Volnowacha would continue to be blocked.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of shelling the escape corridor and a meeting point for people fleeing Mariupol on Thursday.

According to UN estimates, a total of around 2.3 million people left Ukraine.

Ukraine can hope for more weapons from the EU

The Ukrainian armed forces could get more weapons and equipment from the EU.

According to EU Council President Charles Michel, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell proposed at the Versailles summit to mobilize 500 million euros for additional supplies.

A first package of 500 million euros had already been approved at the end of February.

The summit put a damper on Ukraine's hopes for rapid accession to the European Union - there were no concrete commitments.

Schröder on talks with Putin about the Ukraine war in Moscow

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is in Moscow to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine war.

Corresponding reports from the “Politico” website and the “Bild” newspaper were confirmed by the German Press Agency.

According to dpa information, a first meeting between Schröder and Putin took place on Thursday.

It was initially unclear whether more were planned.

The federal government had previously announced that the trip had not been agreed with her.

Facebook group relaxes hate speech rules for war in Ukraine

Facebook group Meta is partially relaxing its rules to allow calls for violence against Russian troops in Ukraine.

A Facebook spokesperson cited the phrase "death to Russian invaders" as an example of an exception to utterances that would normally have violated policies.

"We will continue to ban credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," he wrote on Twitter.

The easing only applies to users in some countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Hungary, wrote the New York Times.

Disney plans to suspend all business in Russia

Because of the war against Ukraine, Disney no longer wants to do any business in Russia.

The decision comes “in light of the relentless attack on Ukraine and the escalating humanitarian crisis,” the media and entertainment giant said.

Disney had already announced last week that it would initially no longer release films in Russia.

Now the group is stopping all activities - from its television stations and the marketing of TV content to the licensing business to cruises and the "National Geographic" magazine brand.

Russia wants UN Security Council meeting over alleged bioweapons

According to Russia's wishes, the UN Security Council is to deal with biological weapons allegedly manufactured by the USA in Ukraine on Friday.

The background to this is Russia's accusation that the United States and Ukraine are developing biological weapons.

This week, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed there was a network of bio-laboratories in Ukraine working for the US Defense Department.

International fact-checkers have long since invalidated this claim.

The US sees the Russian claims as "propaganda" and a possible pretext for using weapons of mass destruction in the Ukraine war.

That will be important on Friday

The agriculture ministers of the seven major industrial nations (G7) will discuss the effects of the Ukraine war on global food security via video conference on Friday.

It is important to work together to ensure that the "senseless war does not further aggravate the food supply in some parts of the world," said German Minister Cem Özdemir.

Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko wants to visit Russia's Putin on Friday.

Belarus supports the Russian war of aggression and made its territory available for the deployment of troops.