KYIV, March 16, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Here are the latest developments in
Russia's war in Ukraine:

   - US announces $800 mn in assistance -

   US President Joe Biden will announce $800 million in new security
assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, a White House official says -- the same
day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to deliver a speech to
the US Congress.

   The announcement brings "the total (aid) announced in the last week alone
to $1 billion," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says.

   - European leaders visit Kyiv -

  A trio of leaders from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenian meet
Ukraine's president in his besieged capital, with Warsaw calling for a NATO
peace mission "protected by armed forces" to help Kyiv.

   "This cannot be an unarmed mission," Vice Premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski says.
"It must seek to provide humanitarian and peaceful aid to Ukraine."

   - Journalists killed -

   Two journalists from the US Fox News network are killed in fighting near
the Ukrainian capital.

   Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova die and
correspondent Benjamin Hall is wounded when their vehicle is struck by
incoming fire in Horenka, outside Kyiv.

  - Russia says quitting Council of Europe -

   Russia says it would pull out of the Council of Europe as pressure mounts
for Moscow to be expelled from the pan-European rights body over its invasion
of Ukraine.

   - 35-hour curfew in Kyiv -

   A 35-hour curfew begins in the Ukrainian capital.

   Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has warned of a "difficult and dangerous
moment" for the city as Russian forces have stepped up strikes on residential
buildings.

   - 20,000 leave besieged city -

   Around 20,000 people manage to leave the besieged port city of Mariupol by
driving along a humanitarian corridor agreed with Russian forces, a Ukrainian
presidential aide says.

   - Refugees top 3 million -

   More than three million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the
invasion, the UN migration agency IOM says.

   Around half are minors, says the UN children's agency.

   The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says 1.8 million people have fled to Poland.

   - 97 children killed -

   Ninety-seven Ukrainian children have died since the invasion began,
Zelensky tells Canadian lawmakers.

   He renews his calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine to "stop the bombing".
NATO allies, including Canada, have rejected the proposal, fearing it would
lead to an expansion of the conflict.

   - TV protester fined, released -

  Marina Ovsyannikova, the journalist who protested against the conflict
during a prime-time news broadcast on Russian state television, is fined and
released.

   A Moscow court ordered her to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles ($280, 247
euros) after she barged onto the set of Russia's most-watched evening news
broadcast holding a poster reading "No War".

   - 'Fundamental contradictions' in talks -

   Ukrainian negotiations team member Mykhailo Podolyak says there are
"fundamental contradictions" in talks aimed at ending Russia's military
attack.

   "We'll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation
process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room
for compromise," Podolyak tweets.

   - Brent drops below $100 a barrel -

   Brent oil futures finish under $100 a barrel for the first time since the
second day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost three weeks ago.

   - No NATO for Ukraine -

   Zelensky says his country should accept that it will not become a member
of the US-led NATO military alliance, a key Russian concern it used to
justify its invasion.

   "Ukraine is not a member of NATO... We have heard for years that the doors
were open, but we also heard that we could not join. It's a truth and it must
be recognised," Zelensky tells military officials.

   - Russia to exit Council of Europe -

   Russia's foreign ministry says it is launching a procedure to exit the
Council of Europe, amid growing pressure for its expulsion from the pan-
European rights group.

   - Russia 'enlists 40,000 Syrian fighters' -

   Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from the Syrian army and
allied militias to be put on standby for deployment in Ukraine, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights war monitor says.

   - Five journalists killed -

   An Irish cameraman for Fox News and a Ukrainian working as a producer for
the US television network have been killed in fighting near Kyiv, Fox News
says.

   Two other Ukrainian journalists, as well as a US documentary filmmaker,
have also been killed, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights chief Lyudmyla
Denisova says.

   - 'Massive' damage to airport -

   Russian bombardment causes "massive" damage to the airport of the eastern
Ukrainian city of Dnipro, destroying the runway and damaging the terminal,
regional authorities say.

   - China wary of sanctions -

   China's foreign minister says Beijing "is not a party to the crisis" in
Ukraine and does not want to be affected by Western sanctions following US
reports that Moscow asked Beijing for military and economic aid.

   - German warning on software -

   Germany's cyber security agency BSI urges consumers not to use the anti-
virus software made by Russia's Kaspersky, warning the firm could be
implicated in cyber warfare.

   The United States already banned government agencies from using the
software in 2017. Kaspersky denies being in league with the Kremlin.