Ukraine said on Friday that it was suffering severe casualties in Russia’s eastward onslaught, but claimed that Russia’s losses were far worse, as US President Joe Biden called on Congress to send up to $33 billion to assist Kyiv survive the attack.

A journalist from the US-backed Radio Liberty was found dead in the debris of Kiev after being murdered in a missile strike that Russia claimed targeted a rocket factory. The strike in central Kyiv took place during UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ visit to the capital.

After numerous failed evacuation attempts, one of the fighters holed up in the steel works in devastated Mariupol, a main target of Russia’s invasion, told Reuters that he hoped people who had been trapped there for weeks would be evacuated.

The administration of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had previously stated that an operation would be planned to remove civilians from the plant, and Guterres stated that extensive conversations were taking place.

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