Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* Britain said it was imposing new sanctions on 206 individuals in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including 178 who it said were involved in propping up Russian-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine. QUOTES * "The United States is ready to fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian - that is the way it is." - Putin * The Russian army is using all types of artillery, all types of missile, air bombs in particular phosphorous bombs against residential districts and civilian infrastructure, ...

Russia is beefing up its forces for a new assault on Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, setting the stage for a protracted battle that is certain to inflict heavy losses on both sides as the Russians try to encircle Ukraine's fighters. FIGHTING

* Russia's defense ministry said that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in the besieged port city of Mariupol. Ukraine's defense ministry spokesman said he had no information on such a surrender. * The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, said in televised remarks that more than 100,000 people remained in the city awaiting evacuation. He said earlier that some 21,000 civilian residents had been killed during the siege.

* At least seven people were killed and 22 wounded by shelling in Ukraine's northeastern region of Kharkiv over the past 24 hours, Governor Oleh Synegubov said. * Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address to Estonia's parliament that Russia was using phosphorous bombs in Ukraine, accusing Moscow of using terror tactics against civilians. He did not provide evidence and Reuters has not been able to independently verify his assertion.

* The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it is closely watching the war in Ukraine after an unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol. * Russia said that claims by the United States and Ukraine that its forces could use chemical weapons were disinformation because Moscow destroyed its last chemical stockpiles in 2017.

DIPLOMACY * U.S. President Biden said for the first time that Russia's invasion amounts to genocide.

* The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Polish leader's office said. * Russian President Vladimir Putin reappeared after a rare public silence to say the invasion was a "noble" cause and that peace talks had reached a dead end.

* Ukraine told Russia to release prisoners of war if it wants the Kremlin's top political ally in the country freed from detention. ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

* Russia can easily redirect exports of its vast energy resources away from the West to countries that really need them while increasing domestic consumption of oil, gas and coal, Putin said. * Countries that are seeking advantage by failing to condemn Russia's "heinous war" against Ukraine are being short-sighted and will face consequences if they undermine Western sanctions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

* Germany would face a sharp recession if gas supplies from Russia are suddenly cut off, the country's leading economic institutes said, and the government said the war poses "substantial risks" for Europe's largest economy. * Britain said it was imposing new sanctions on 206 individuals in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including 178 who it said were involved in propping up Russian-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine.

QUOTES * "The United States is ready to fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian - that is the way it is." - Putin

* The Russian army is using all types of artillery, all types of missile, air bombs in particular phosphorous bombs against residential districts and civilian infrastructure, ... this is clear terror against the civilian population." - Zelenskiy