16th & 17th Day of Russia Ukraine War Latest Updates 11 & 12 March

The Russian military has widened its offensive in Ukraine and satellite imagery indicates that the Russian convoy that remained stalled for many days, appears to be manoeuvring for a new push against Kyiv.

* Softening up of the capital city Kyiv continues. Re-grouping and re-positionig of Russian troops is in process.

* According to latest reports of 12 March, Kyiv has been surrounded and fall of Kyiv may be a matter of days.

* Cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Mariupol have been already encircled by the Russian forces and continue to suffer heavy shelling.

* Mayor of Odessa says the city could be surrounded by Russian forces from three sides.

* Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of abducting the Mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov.

* Russian rocket attacks destroyed a Ukrainian airbase and an ammunition depot near Vasylkiv, in the Kyiv region.

* According to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, a mosque (of Sultan Suleiman) in Mariupol, where 80 civilians, mostly Turkish nationals were taking shelter, has been shelled by Russian forces. No detail of casualties is yet available.

● Air strikes were carried out on night 10/11 March targeting Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine and Dnipro in central Ukraine.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russians have suffered very heavy losses in the war but Russians are sending fresh reinforcements.

● US has denied Russian allegation regarding biological weapons and accused Moscow of planning a possible false flag operation.

● According to UN, 2.5 million refugees have fled the country since 24 February.

● Former German Chancellor Schroeder met President Putin in Moscow for talks on ending the war. No details of the talk have been released.

* A military drone crashed in Zagreb, Croatia shortly after 22:00 GMT on night 11/12 March. Only one person was hurt.

* Marking on the drone that crashed in Zagreb included Cyrillic lettering and a five pointed star. Experts say the drone was a Soviet-era TU-141 reconnaissance aircraft.

* Despite the drone's vintage, it has been deployed by the Ukrainian military both in 2014 and during the current conflict. Zagreb is 570 kilometers from Ukrainian border.

* Belarus denies plans to join Russian invasion against Ukraine.

* Transmissions of Russia Today (RT) have been blocked by YouTube in Pakistan.