What you need to know right now By Reuters

(Reuters) – Russian forces advanced deep into the ruined eastern factory city of Sievierodonetsk, but Ukrainian troops were still holding out there on Friday as Russia’s assault on its neighbour entered its 100th day.

FIGHTING AND WEAPONS

* After 100 days of war, Ukraine is fighting for time, trying to hold out against overwhelming Russian fire on its eastern front long enough for Western weapons to arrive and give it a badly needed edge.

* Ukrainian forces have had some success fighting Russians in the city of Sievierodonetsk but the overall military situation in the Donbas region has not changed, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

* Britain’s defence ministry said Moscow had failed to achieve its initial objectives to seize Kyiv and Ukrainian centres of government but was achieving tactical success in the Donbas.

* Prosecutors investigating war crimes cases in Ukraine are examining allegations of the forcible deportation of children to Russia since the invasion as they seek to build a genocide indictment, the country’s top prosecutor said.

* Ukraine does not plan to use multiple-launch rocket systems it receives from the United States to attack facilities in Russia, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said on Friday.

ECONOMY

* The United States issued new sanctions, with targets including several yachts linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and an oligarch who heads a major steel producer.

* Slovakia expects solidarity from the European Union to mitigate impact of the bloc’s sanctions on Russian , Slovak Economy Ministry said on Friday.

DIPLOMACY

* NATO should consider granting Ukraine “de facto” rather than “de jure” membership of the alliance when it discusses its strategy for the next 10 years at a summit in June, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Friday.

* Ukraine is working with international partners to create a U.N-backed mission to restore Black Sea shipping routes, its foreign ministry said.

* Kremlin says Russia has no plan to close “the window” to Europe which Tsar Peter the Great sought to open 300 years ago despite heavy sanctions.

QUOTES

“The entire temporarily occupied territory of our state is now a complete disaster zone, for which Russia bears full responsibility,” Zelenskiy said in an overnight address.