Moscow/ Kyiv | Reuters: A Russian general said Moscow wants to seize all of southern and eastern Ukraine, far wider war aims than it had acknowledged as it presses on with a new offensive. Rustam Minnekayev said Moscow aimed to seize the entire eastern Donbas region, link up with the Crimea peninsula, and capture Ukraine's entire south as far as a breakaway, Russian-occupied region of Moldova. That would mean pushing hundreds of miles beyond current lines. Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held discussions on Friday, the head of Moscow's delegation said, but Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said diplomatic efforts to end the war remained stalled
Top developments:
FIGHTING
* Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces had increased attacks along the whole frontline in the east of the country and were trying to mount an offensive in the Kharkiv region, north of Russia's main target, the Donbas.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces control most of Mariupol but Ukrainian troops remain in a part of it. About 120,000 civilians were blocked from leaving, he said.
* The mayor of Mariupol appealed for the "full evacuation" of the city.
* The U.N. human rights office sounded the alarm about growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, urging both Moscow and Kyiv to order combatants to respect international law.
DIPLOMACY
*Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with UN Secy-General António Guterres in Russia next week, reported AFP News Agency citing Kremlin.
* U.S. President Joe Biden pledged $800 million in more weaponry for Ukraine and said he would ask Congress for more money to help the Ukrainian military.
* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said NATO must avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia that could lead to a third world war.
* Plans for Pope Francis to meet in June with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who has backed Russia's war in Ukraine, have been suspended, the pope told an Argentine newspaper.
* A senior White House adviser said he was confident Europe would close off or further restrict remaining Russian oil and gas exports.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin told European Council President Charles Michel he would only hold direct talks with Zelenskiy if ongoing discussions between the two countries produced concrete results, the Kremlin said.
ECONOMY
* Ukraine is working with lawyers on a mechanism to use frozen Russian funds to compensate it for its economic losses, its justice minister told Reuters.
* World Bank President David Malpass said the food security crisis caused by the war was likely to last months and that Ukraine had suffered some $60 billion worth of physical damage.
*JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, BNP Paribas and other global banks left holding Russian stocks by sanctions switch.
* Climate change campaigners held a wave of protests for Earth Day on Friday, pushing demands such as an immediate halt to European imports of Russian oil and gas, and an end to building fossil fuel infrastructure.