Reuters World News Summary

Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko are slated to meet bilaterally with finance officials from the Group of Seven countries and others, and take part in a roundtable on Ukraine to be hosted by the World Bank on Thursday, the sources said. Chinese truckers left stranded for days at highway exit by hardline COVID curbs Earlier this month Chinese truck driver Dong Zhigang finished a job in the coastal city of Nantong and began what should have been a four-hour journey north to his home village in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Russian crowd mourns Black Sea flagship after sinking

Dozens of people gathered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Friday to mourn the sinking of the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, a symbol, the crowd heard, of hope, revival and power until its demise. Some embraced and others laid flowers in memory of the Moskva missile cruiser at a monument to the 1696 foundation of the Russian navy in the centre of Sevastopol, headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.

Ukraine says fighting rages in Mariupol, blasts rattle Kyiv

Ukraine said on Friday it was trying to break Russia's siege of Mariupol as fighting raged around the city's massive steel works and port, and the capital Kyiv was rocked by some of the most powerful explosions in two weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the military situation in the south and east of the country was "still very difficult," while praising the work of his armed forces.

S.African flood victims search for bodies of lost loved ones

Bonakele Mtshali was away at a funeral when flash floods on South Africa's east coast swept her iron-roof shack off the hillside in Lindelani township, taking two of her girls with it.

She had been searching with a growing sense of foreboding since Monday's disaster. Then her elder son, Zamani, 23, got a call on Thursday from some other townspeople who had discovered a body by the river. It was Baphiwe, her 17-year-old.

Riots erupt in Sweden's Orebro ahead of right-wing extremist demonstration

Violent riots erupted in the central Swedish city of Orebro on Friday as counter-protesters attacked police ahead of a planned right-wing extremist demonstration. Police said on its website that four police cars had been set on fire and at least four police officers and one private individual had been injured as protesters threw stones and large groups attacked police cordons and tore down riot fences.

Zelenskiy asked Biden to designate Russia a 'state sponsor of terrorism' - Washington Post

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy recently made a direct appeal to U.S. President Joe Biden for the United States to designate Russia a "state sponsor of terrorism," the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing people familiar with their conversation. Biden did not commit to specific actions during that call, the newspaper reported.

Ukraine says five killed in shelling in city of Mykolaiv

Five people were killed by shelling in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Friday and cluster munitions were used, Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv region, said on Telegram on Friday. Reuters could not independently verify the statement. Russia denies targeting civilian areas in Ukraine.

Ukraine's prime minister, finance officials to visit Washington next week

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and top Ukrainian finance officials will visit Washington next week during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday. Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko are slated to meet bilaterally with finance officials from the Group of Seven countries and others, and take part in a roundtable on Ukraine to be hosted by the World Bank on Thursday, the sources said.

Chinese truckers left stranded for days at highway exit by hardline COVID curbs

Earlier this month Chinese truck driver Dong Zhigang finished a job in the coastal city of Nantong and began what should have been a four-hour journey north to his home village in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. On Friday, nine sticky days in his cab later, he still had not made it home. Like many Chinese truckers, Dong, 30, had fallen victim to some of the country's recent hardline anti-COVID measures and disruption as local authorities scramble to maintain China's zero-COVID policy.

Recaptured Ukrainian village left with wrecked tanks, bodies and questions

Smashed tanks in the mud, destroyed buildings and mourning families mark a recaptured east Ukrainian village whose residents are contemplating the price both they and their former Russian occupiers have had to pay. Ukrainian soldiers last month retook Husarivka, an agricultural village with a peacetime population of 500-600 around 150 km southeast of Kharkiv city, after heavy fighting following the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.

'Fortress in a city': Ukrainians cling on at steel plant in Mariupol

Explosions rumbled and smoke rose this week from a steel making district in besieged Mariupol where dwindling Ukrainian forces are holed up as Russia tries to take full control of its biggest city yet. The Azovstal iron and steel works, one of Europe's biggest metallurgical plants, has become an aptly apocalyptic redoubt for Ukrainian forces who are outgunned, outnumbered and surrounded seven weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine.