Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates: Russia vetoes UNSC resolution deploring 'aggression' in Ukraine as India, China and UAE abstain

Russia's invasion of Ukraine looks designed to take Kyiv and create a land corridor south to the Black Sea, splitting the country into two, military analysts and former officials said, echoing the view of Ukraine's generals. President Vladimir Putin may still seek some form of control over the entire country, they said, as he strives to stop Ukraine ever joining NATO. He is also not guaranteed victory. A senior U.S. defence official said on Friday that Russia was facing more resistance than it expected, not least in its advance on Kyiv. The tactics of the advancing Russian troops point to a "flanking movement" from Ukraine's weakest points - its northern border with Belarus, and in the south Crimea, which Russian annexed eight years ago, with its huge naval base. Such a strategy, if successful, could allow Moscow to control eastern Ukraine including its seaboard directly while reducing western Ukraine to a vassal state, and in turn reduce the financial costs of a long-term occupation, experts say.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to serve as a mediator in possible talks with Russia, Ukraine's UNIAN news agency reported. In the early hours on Thursday, Russia launched a special operation after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested assistance to defend themselves from ongoing attacks by the Ukrainian troops. The Western countries have strongly condemned the Russian military operation and boosted the sanctions pressure on Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to send a Russian delegation to the Belarusian capital of Minsk for negotiations with Ukraine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The Russian team will consist of representatives of the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Presidential administration, Peskov added on Friday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on soldiers in Russia's war on Ukraine to "return to their barracks" Friday. "We must never give up. We must give peace another chance," he told reporters after Moscow vetoed a UN resolution condemning its "aggression" in Ukraine.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden extended his country's measures against Russia to include sanctions on President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, including a travel ban for the two statesmen. Biden was the first world leader to announce sanctions, hours after Putin declared a "military operation" into Ukraine. The first tranche will hit four Russian banks, cut off more than half of Russia's technology imports, and target several of the country's oligarchs.

Ukraine and Russia will consult in coming hours on a time and place for talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said on social media, offering the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since the invasion began. The Kremlin said earlier it offered to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk after Ukraine expressed a willingness to discuss declaring itself a neutral country, but that Ukraine had proposed Warsaw as the venue. That, according to Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov, resulted in a "pause" in contacts.

Amid reports of hundreds of casualties - including shelling that sliced through a Kyiv apartment building and pummeled bridges and schools - there also were growing signs that Russia may be seeking to overthrow Ukraine's government, which U.S. officials have described as Putin's ultimate objective. It would be his boldest effort yet to redraw the world map and revive Moscow's Cold War-era influence.

Russia, as expected, vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Friday that deplored "in the strongest terms" the country's "aggression" against Ukraine and demanded the immediate withdrawal of its troops. Eleven of the council's 15 members voted for the motion, which was co-written by the United States and Albania. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.