Russian invasion of Ukraine

He said hoped to help build bridges between Russia and Ukraine and stop the “war of aggression”

A showdown looms in Ukraine as Russia appointed a new military commander and looked to concentrate its attacks on the eastern part of the country, while Ukraine's president said his troops will hold their ground, and urged Western leaders, in particular President Joe Biden, to do more.

"The task of our anti-war coalition is to end the war started by Russia as soon as possible. Free the country from invaders. And to guarantee the security of Ukraine, and thus the security of democracy and freedom of the people of Eastern Europe," Zelensky said.

Asked about Russia's reaction to Serbia's vote to suspend Russia in the Human Rights Council, Vucic said:

The defense ministers of Turkey, Italy, and the U.K. are scheduled for a tripartite meeting in Istanbul late on April 8 for discussing bilateral and regional security and defense cooperation, along with the issue of Ukraine.

Shortly afterwards, the Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger spoke up, saying that his country had donated its S-300 air defense system to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression.

Pro-Russian politicians in Moldova on Friday denounced a ban on symbols backing Russia's attack on Ukraine, such as the letters "V" and "Z", as well as the "St George" black-and-orange ribbon, adopted by parliament on Thursday evening.

"The Russian invaders are preparing a propaganda staging - they will show the dead in Mariupol, as if they were not killed by them, but by the Ukrainian military."

This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky in an address on April 7, published on his Facebook page.

Turkey's top diplomat has said he will be in the United States in May for talks with his U.S. counterpart as part of the recently launched "Strategic Mechanism," which aims to bolster ties between the two allies.

Russia is outside the UN body for human rights, battles in Donbas, Von der Layen will visit Kyiv - here are the latest and most important events related to the war in Ukraine.

Call for evacuation in eastern Ukraine