Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Zelenskiy said he had not seen it. * British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said any peace talks were likely to fail and compared holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiating with a crocodile. Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can get through," Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the Ukraine war, declaring the port of Mariupol "liberated" after nearly two months of siege, despite hundreds of defenders still holding out inside a giant steel works. FIGHTING

* Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces control most of Mariupol, but Ukrainian troops remain in a part of it. Around 120,000 civilians were blocked from leaving the besieged city, he added.. * Putin said the remaining Ukrainian troops at the Azovstal steel factory were free to lay down their weapons and surrender.

* Russian forces are advancing from staging areas in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region towards Kramatorsk, which continues to be hit by rocket attacks, the UK Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin. * The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, said it was under intense bombardment.

* U.S. President Joe Biden pledged $800 million in more weaponry for Ukraine on Thursday and said he would ask Congress for more money to help bolster support for the Ukrainian military. DIPLOMACY

* Zelenskiy ruled out heading to Moscow for direct talks with Russian leaders on ending the war. * The Kremlin said Moscow was still waiting for Ukraine's response to Russia's latest written proposal in peace talks between the two sides. Zelenskiy said he had not seen it.

* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said any peace talks were likely to fail and compared holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiating with a crocodile. * Denmark and Spain's prime ministers pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine during a trip to Kyiv.

* Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a "global security initiative" that upholds the principle of "indivisible security" - the concept, which Russia endorses, that no country may strengthen its own security at others' expense. * Italy's ecological transition minister said his country could start being independent from Russian gas by the second half of next year.

ECONOMY * G7 finance ministers said they have provided and pledged together with the international community additional support to Ukraine exceeding $24 billion for 2022 and beyond, adding they were prepared to do more.

* World Bank President David Malpass said the food security crisis caused by the war was likely to last months and perhaps into next year. QUOTES

* "There's no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities ... Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can get through," Russian President Vladimir Putin. "If you have a helmet and a bulletproof vest, but you do not have a gun in your hands, you are doomed," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as he appealed to NATO and EU member Bulgaria for military aid.

(Compiled by Kevin Liffey and Alexandra Hudson)