Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

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© Reuters. A person stands in front of a damaged residential building, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the Ukraine crisis right now:

HEADLINES

* Frequent artillery blasts could be heard in Kyiv coming from some distance from the city center. Russian troops attacked an army base located on a main avenue in Kyiv but the assault was repelled, the Ukrainian military said.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Ukrainian military to overthrow leadership and negotiate peace.

* Ukraine and Russia are discussing a place and time for talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said on social media.

* Russia vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday that would have deplored Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, while China abstained from the vote.

* The White House said the United States would, in a rare but not unprecedented move, impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The European Union and Canada are also imposing sanctions on Putin and Lavrov.

* Canada, the United States, Britain and the European Union said they could act to exclude Russia from the SWIFT global interbank payments system.

* The White House asked Congress to approve $6.4 billion in aid to address the humanitarian and security crisis.

* Ukraine said more than 1,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia did not release casualty figures. The United Nations said 25 civilians had been killed and 102 wounded, figures that were likely to be a “significant under-estimate”. None of the tolls could be independently verified.

* Ukraine’s president Zelenskiy spoke to Biden about strengthening sanctions, defence assistance.

* NATO allies will provide more weapons to Ukraine, and will make significant additional deployments of forces to the Eastern part of the alliance.

* Moscow said its forces captured the strategic Hostomel aerodrome outside Kyiv and landed paratroopers in the area. This could not immediately be confirmed and the Ukrainian authorities reported heavy fighting there.

* The conflict could drive up to 5 million people to flee abroad, U.N. aid agencies said, adding that at least 100,000 people were uprooted and fuel, cash and medical supplies are running low.

* Ukraine said Russian warships shelled a Moldovan-flagged chemical tanker and a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship near Odessa.

QUOTES

– “Shots and explosions are ringing out in some neighbourhoods. Saboteurs have already entered Kyiv,” said Kyiv’s mayor, former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitchko. “The enemy wants to put the capital on its knees and destroy us.”