We are on brink of surviving war – Zelensky tells Italian MPs

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been addressing the Italian parliament by video link.

He told Italian MPs his country was on the brink of surviving its war with Russia and warned Moscow wanted to break through to the rest of Europe, Reuters news agency reports.

“For Russian troops, Ukraine is the gates of Europe, where they want to break in, but barbarism must not be allowed to pass,” he said.

He repeated his appeal made in prior addresses for more sanctions to be imposed on Russia.

Italian PM Mario Draghi said his country wanted to see Ukraine in the EU, and that it must offer military aid to the country to halt massacres.

WHO reports 62 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it has verified 62 separate attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began almost four weeks ago.

The organisation said 15 people had died in the attacks, and at least 37 others had been injured.

Meanwhile, WHO officials in Poland say a rapid assessment suggests that about half a million refugees who have arrived there are suffering from mental health problems, primarily due to trauma.

In addition, health workers at the borders report children and mothers arriving who are suffering exhaustion and dehydration, while many older people arrive after travelling for days without medicines for underlying conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) now reports 3.557 million people have fled Ukraine. This figure is getting close to its original planning for four million, and the agency acknowledged today that it could be exceeded soon.

At least 117 children killed in invasion – Ukraine officials

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February, at least 117 children have been killed and more than 155 others injured in the country, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine reports.

It says most of the fatalities and injuries have been reported in or around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv (58) and in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv (40).

It adds that in Kharkiv, a Russian tank reportedly struck a car belonging to a family travelling with two children.

While in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, it says, evacuation buses carrying children were hit by Russian shelling.

Prosecutors also say they have recorded 548 instances where schools and other educational facilities were hit, 72 of which they say were “completely destroyed”.

They add that the figures they report are not conclusive due to difficulties accessing or inspecting sites in some parts of the country.

Ukrainians are enduring a living hell – Guterres

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said the people of Ukraine are enduring a living hell, and warned that the situation was becoming more destructive and unpredictable by the hour.

“The war is going nowhere, fast,” he told reporters in New York, describing it as unwinnable.

“Continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible, and militarily nonsensical… It is time to stop the fighting now and give peace a chance.”