President Volodymyr Zelensky has told Ukrainians they have "withstood the blow" of Russia's invasion as he urged citizens to continue fighting.

In an impassioned speech delivered from Kyiv on Saturday night, Mr Zelensky told the country that the time has come for them to launch a fightback.

"You need to go out and drive this evil out of our cities," he said.

The rallying cry came alongside a plea to US President Joe Biden to source more combat jets for Ukraine.

US officials are believed to be in discussions with political leaders in Poland over the possibility of Warsaw providing Ukraine with a number of MiG fighter jets.

Poland has been slowly phasing the Soviet-era fighter out of use - and officials are understood to be weighing whether to provide them to Ukraine, where pilots are not trained to fly Western-made jets.

Some reports suggest they could be exchanged for new US-sponsored replacements.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has entered its 11th day, with some experts suggesting the invasion may have stalled in places - despite President Vladimir Putin's insistence on Saturday that the operation is "going to plan."

While fighting has continued in many parts of the country, Moscow's forces have only captured one major Ukrainian city, Kherson - though it has made other key advances, such as seizing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday.

Outside the capital of Kyiv, a massive convoy stretching over 40 miles (64km) remains stalled outside the city and Ukrainian defence officials say they have been hitting s.elected targets within the convoy where they can. Elsewhere:

The head of the UN's refugee agency told Reuters that the number of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion could rise to 1.5 million by the end of the weekend.

"This is the fastest moving refugee crisis we have seen in Europe since the end of World War Two," UNHCR head Filippo Grandi said.

As fighting rumbles on in Ukraine, Western sanctions continue to hammer the Russian economy.

On Saturday night, the payments giants Visa and Mastercard both announced that they will withdraw their services from Russia, with Visa's chief executive Al Kelly saying in a statement that the company had been "compelled to act following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed".

The move means Russian banks will no longer be supported by the companies' networks, and any cards issued outside of the country will stop working at Russian merchants or ATMs.

But Sberbank, the country's largest lender, emphasised that Russians will be able to withdraw cash, make transfers, and pay both in offline stores and Russian internet stores, because transactions in the country pass through the domestic National Payment Card System, which does not depend on foreign payment systems.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1257 HRS, MAR 06, 2022
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