Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

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. FIGHTING * Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces control most of Mariupol, but Ukrainian troops remain in a part of it.

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. But the Ukrainians and Americans said the siege was not yet over. 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, he said. * Hundreds of Ukrainian troops remain bunkered down at Mariupol's Azovstal steel factory. Putin told his troops to blockade it.

* Ukraine troops still held ground in Mariupol, the U.S. said. * Russian forces captured 42 villages in the eastern Donetsk region, an aide to Zelenskiy's chief of staff told Ukrainian television.

* Russian forces are advancing towards Kramatorsk, also in the east, which continues to be hit by rocket attacks, the UK Ministry of Defence said. * The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, said it was under intense bombardment.

DIPLOMACY * 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.

* Zelenskiy ruled out heading to Moscow for direct talks with Russian leaders on ending the war. He said Russia had rejected a proposal for an Easter truce. * The Kremlin said Moscow was still waiting for Ukraine's response to Russia's latest written proposal in peace talks. 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 Putin to negotiating with a crocodile. * Denmark and Spain's prime ministers pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine during a trip to Kyiv.

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.

* Ukraine's central bank governor said the country expects to lose a third of its GDP in 2022. * 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.

* U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged countries that have not yet condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine to do so and to avoid violating sanctions imposed on Russia. 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": Putin on blockading the steel plant. "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, appealing for military aid.

(Compiled by Alexandra Hudson and Rosalba O'Brien)