US President Joe Biden spoke to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a video call on Friday in which Biden aimed to persuade Xi to join Western pressure on Russia during a conversation lasting nearly two hours, according to the White House. The high-stakes call was the first between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine and comes as Russia expanded its offensive in eastern Ukraine and the war entered its fourth week. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said conflicts between states were "in no-one's interest", adding Beijing and Washington should "shoulder" responsibility for world peace during a call with US President Joe Biden, Chinese state TV reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “extremely concerned” about the situation in Mariupol when he talked by phone to Russia’s president on Friday.

Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova on Friday said 130 people had been rescued so far from the rubble of a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol, after Ukraine said a powerful Russian air strike hit the building where hundreds of people had been sheltering from the war on Thursday.

Russian missiles hit an aircraft maintenance plant Friday in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, said the mayor.

Russian bombardments have expanded in eastern Ukraine with deadly attacks on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and shelling in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.

Kyiv city authorities on Friday said 222 people had been killed in the capital since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.
UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom on Friday revoked the licence of Russia's state-funded television channel RT, in the latest international repercussion for Moscow.

The UNHCR said Friday that more than 3.25 million Ukrainians had fled across the border since the war began on February 24, with more than 2 million crossing the Polish border. The UN children’s agency says around half of those who have fled are children.

France 24