Moscow warned Finland it would face consequences as it seeks to apply for NATO membership and Ukraine said it had damaged a Russian navy logistics ship in the Black Sea.
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The White House said it would support an application by Finland to join NATO while Russia said Finland's decision was a hostile move and would take "retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature".
FIGHTING
* Relatives and supporters of the Ukrainian fighters holed up in the Azovstal steel plant under bombardment in the southern port of Mariupol demonstrated in Kyiv, pleading for them to be rescued.
* One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said the West's increasing military support to Ukraine risked war between Russia and NATO.
ECONOMY
* Pressure on Europe to secure alternative gas supplies increased after Moscow imposed sanctions on European subsidiaries of state-owned Gazprom and Ukraine stopped a gas transit route, pushing prices higher.
* Ukraine has been forced to spend 245.1 billion hryvnia ($A12 billion) on the war instead of development, the finance minister said, providing a glimpse into the huge economic cost of Russia's February 24 invasion.
* The European Commission said it would work with EU governments to help Ukraine export millions of tonnes of grain stuck in the country because the Russian navy is blocking Ukraine's ports.
* Putin said the West had triggered a global economic crisis and a wave of ruinous inflation by imposing on Russia the most severe sanctions in recent history.
HUMAN IMPACT AND AID
* The UN Human Rights Council will investigate possible war crimes by Russian troops in the Kyiv area, a move that Russia said would amount to political score-settling. Russia denies targeting civilians.
* Four US Democratic lawmakers asked the chief executives of YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook owner Meta to archive content that could be used as evidence of suspected Russian war crimes.
* The top Democrat and Republican in the US Senate joined forces in a rare moment of unity in an attempt to pass $US40 billion ($A58 billion) in aid for Ukraine, only to be stymied by a single Republican lawmaker.
QUOTE
"The conditions they are in are horrible," said Alina Nesterenko at a demonstration in Kyiv calling for Ukrainian fighters holed up in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to be rescued.
"I have no words to describe them. That's why we are here. We are begging, we are pleading in every possible way, we are asking for our loved ones to be saved."
Australian Associated Press
