Around 100 civilians evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol were due to arrive in a Ukrainian-held city on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, after US Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise visit to Kyiv.

Russian forces pounded Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region yesterday but failed to capture three target areas, Ukraine’s military said, while Moscow said Western sanctions on Russia and arms shipments to Ukraine were impeding peace negotiations.

Russia's armed forces said they had hit 17 Ukrainian military facilities with high-precision missiles on Saturday and also destroyed a command post and a warehouse used to store rockets and artillery.

Ukraine acknowledged yesterday that it was taking heavy losses in Russia’s assault in the east, but said Russia’s losses were even worse, as Nato warned the conflict could last years.

Russia fired two missiles into Kyiv on Thursday during a visit by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow pressed an assault in the east that drew new US pledges of military and humanitarian aid.

Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday of stealing grain in territory it has occupied, an act which it said increased the threat to global food security posed by disruptions to spring sowing and the blocking of Ukrainian ports during the war.

Russia yesterday warned the West that there would be a tough military response to any further attack on Russian territory, accusing the United States and its key European allies of openly inciting Ukraine to assault Russia.

Britain yesterday denied it was over-reaching against Russia after Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said “the whole of Ukraine” must be liberated, indicating that Crimea must also be regained.

NATO is ready to maintain its support for Ukraine in the war against Russia for years, including help for Kyiv to shift from Soviet-era weapons to modern Western arms and systems, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said on Twitter that his Indonesian counterpart had invited him to attend the summit of Group of 20 (G20) major economies to be held in the Southeast Asian country later this year.

Russia said yesterday it had destroyed a large quantity of Western-supplied weapons in Ukraine, while halting gas supplies to EU and Nato members Poland and Bulgaria in a move Brussels branded attempted blackmail.

Russia dramatically escalated its standoff with the West over the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, cutting natural gas off to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria and threatening to disconnect even more nations. European leaders decried the move as “blackmail.”

The United States yesterday vowed to move “heaven and earth” to help Ukraine win its battle against Russia’s unprovoked invasion, as allies from 40 nations met to bolster Kyiv’s defence against Moscow.

The United States will reopen its embassy in Ukraine soon, its top diplomat said yesterday after he and the US defense secretary visited Kyiv, promising more military aid and hailing the fight against Russia’s invasion.

Making the first official US visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded two months ago, Washington's top diplomat and its defense secretary pledged additional military aid, including advanced weapons, and a return of US envoys to Kyiv.

Russia’s defence ministry said yesterday its high-precision missiles struck nine Ukrainian military targets overnight, including four arms depots in the Kharkiv region where artillery weapons were stored.

The United States' top diplomat and defence chief were Sunday set to make their first wartime visits to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine two months ago, with fierce battles raging in the east of the country.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday criticized a decision by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before heading to Kyiv.

“Fierce battles” raged in eastern Ukraine yesterday all but killing hopes of an Easter truce as officials said they would make a fresh attempt to evacuate civilians from the war-torn city of Mariupol.

Russia said on Saturday it plans to deploy its newly tested Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of mounting nuclear strikes against the United States, by autumn.