The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have travelled to Kyiv by train to demonstrate Europe's solidarity with Ukraine as it battles to fend off Moscow's assault.
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The three premiers were expected to deliver pledges of assistance as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators resumed their peace talks.
DIPLOMACY
* US President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders will hold a special summit in Brussels on March 24 to discuss the war, the alliance's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
* President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine may seek security guarantees that fall short of NATO membership.
* Kyiv and Moscow resumed talks via videolink, which Ukrainian negotiators said focused on ceasefires and troop withdrawals.
CIVILIAN TOLL
* The confirmed civilian toll in Ukraine is 691 people killed and 1143 injured, the United Nations human rights office said, adding the true figures were probably "considerably higher".
* Kyiv will impose a 36-hour curfew after intense shelling, which killed at least four people.
FIGHTING
* Russia said its forces had taken full control of the southern region of Kherson. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
* Ukraine reported more air strikes on an airport in the west, heavy shelling on Chernihiv northeast of Kyiv and attacks on the southern town of Mykolayiv.
FLEEING THE CONFLICT
* Ukraine planned another attempt to deliver supplies to besieged port of Mariupol as the first group of civilians allowed out of the city reached safety.
* About three million people have fled Ukraine, nearly half of them children, according to the UN refugee agency. About 1.8 million are in Poland and some 300,000 in Western Europe.
* Convoys of more than 100 buses ferrying civilians have left the besieged northeastern city of Sumy, the Red Cross said.
ECONOMY AND SANCTIONS
* The United States imposed sanctions on Russians it accused of gross human rights violations and slapped fresh measures on Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko.
* Russia retaliated by sanctioning US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others.
* The European Union hit Moscow with more sanctions targeting Russian steel and iron imports, exports of luxury goods and investments in Russia's energy sector.
* Britain will ban luxury goods exports to Russia and hit $US1.2 billion ($A1.7 billion) worth of Russian imports with a 35 per cent tariff, while blacklisting additional hundreds of individuals and entities for their links to Kremlin.
Australian Associated Press
