Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Russian gas was still flowing to Europe on Friday despite a deadline set by President Vladimir Putin to cut it off unless customers start paying in roubles, Moscow's strongest threat to retaliate for sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian gas was still flowing to Europe on Friday despite a deadline set by President Vladimir Putin to cut it off unless customers start paying in roubles, Moscow's strongest threat to retaliate for sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. NEXT STEPS * Under the decree signed by Putin, foreign buyers of Russian gas must open rouble accounts in state-controlled Gazprombank from Friday to allow foreign currency to be converted to roubles. Analysts said the plan, which puts Gazprom at the heart of the trade, was more about shielding it from future sanctions than depriving Europe of gas. * Member states of the International Energy Agency are set to convene an extraordinary meeting (1200 GMT) to discuss a possible coordinated release of oil stocks to bring down prices. U.S. President Joe Biden announced a release from the U.S. emergency oil reserve on Thursday. * EU and Chinese leaders met for their first summit in two years with Brussels pressing Beijing for assurances that it will not supply Russia with arms or help Moscow circumvent sanctions. U.S. officials are also urging countries to keep up the pressure as the initial economic shock seems to be ebbing. * Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began meeting India's leaders in New Delhi after seeing his Chinese counterpart earlier in the week, as Moscow tries to keep the Asian powers on its side. * One of Putin's allies warned that Russia, a major global wheat exporter, could limit supplies of agriculture products to "friendly" countries only. * Russia and Ukraine are due to resume peace talks online, a senior Ukrainian official said.

FIGHTING * Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks on the Donbas region in the southeast after they repelled Russia's assault on the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. * He said Russia was building up forces near the besieged and devastated southern port of Mariupol, where officials say some 170,000 people are trapped. * Russia had promised an evacuation ceasefire for Mariupol after a request to Putin from the leaders of France and Germany. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was hopeful evacuations of thousands of civilians could begin but that its teams which went in to collect people on Friday had not been allowed to take any aid. ECONOMY * Banks should beware of fake news that could trigger a run on their deposits, the European Union's banking watchdog said in a warning about potential fallout from the war in Ukraine. QUOTES * "When I came out of the basement into the street, all the houses were on fire," said 14-year-old Karina Ivashchenko, who has escaped from Mariupol to Poland. "Black smoke everywhere. All houses, all glass - it was simply gone. It was very scary. I have never seen anything like it. It was hell." * "When our army came then I fully understood we had been liberated. It was happiness beyond imagination. I pray for all this to end and for them never to come back. "When you hold a child in your arms it is an everlasting fear," Lilia Ristich said in Irpin near Kyiv.