KYIV: Intense fighting raged in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, where Russia has been concentrating its forces without making significant progress, while "very difficult negotiations" were underway over the fate of the last besieged defenders in the southern port city of Mariupol.

Europe on Friday pledged another half a billion dollars in military support for Ukraine as it resists the Russian invasion that began on February 24, while Sweden's and Finland's moves to apply for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership hit some obstacles.

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