- England beat Finland to get back on track
- King and Lewis propel West Indies to T20 triumph over Sri Lanka
- Pre-Halloween 'Terrifier' lands atop North America box office
- 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic
- Harris, Trump seek advantage in knife-edge election battle
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record in Chicago
- Kamindu and Asalanka power Sri Lanka to 179 against West Indies
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record as Korir wins in Chicago
- Spain send injured Yamal home 'to prioritise player's health'
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Iraq walks fine line with pro-Iran factions to avoid war
- Race four abandoned after New Zealand breeze into 3-0 lead in America's Cup
- West Indies win toss, put Sri Lanka in to bat in first T20
- Sudan rescuers say air strike killed 23 in Khartoum market
- Netanyahu tells UN to move Lebanon peacekeepers out of 'harm's way'
- Bangladeshi Hindus defy attack worries to celebrate festival
- Kiwis three up in America's Cup as Ineos pay for time penalty
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Dominant England crush Scotland at Women's T20 World Cup
- Dropped: The rise and fall of Pakistan batting maestro Babar Azam
- Israel fights Hezbollah on the ground, pounds Lebanon from the air
- Sabalenka outlasts local hero Zheng to win third Wuhan Open title
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Former Pakistan captain Azam dropped for second England Test
- 'Opportunist' Dupont dazzles on Toulouse return
- Australia replace injured Vlaeminck with Graham at Women's T20 World Cup
- Sinner wins Shanghai Masters to deny Djokovic 100th career title
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Israel hits Lebanon from the air and fights Hezbollah on the ground
- China's Yin has 'goosebumps' as she romps to LPGA win in Shanghai
- Pakistan to re-use Multan pitch for second England Test
- Blair and King Charles hail Salmond's 'devotion' to Scotland
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- England captain Stokes in line for second Pakistan Test return
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- Israel widens Lebanon strikes as troops fight Hezbollah along border
- Bowlers' graveyards: Pakistan's placid pitches under fresh fire
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Vietnam, China to expand rail links, cross-border payments
- Americans get their belief back as Pochettino makes his mark
- Vietnam, China to boost economic, defence cooperation
- Winning start for Pochettino's American adventure
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- US firms brace for more tariffs as election approaches
- Winning start for Poch's American adventure
- Morocco's tribeswomen see facial tattoo tradition fade
- Centre-left set to win as pro-Ukraine Lithuania votes
Zelensky vows victory as 100 days of war pass in Ukraine
Ukraine's president vowed victory Friday even as Russian troops pounded the east, and the United Nations pushed to get tens of millions of tons of grain out of the country and avert a global food crisis.
More than 100 days since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on February 24, thousands of people have been killed, millions sent fleeing and towns turned into rubble.
The advance of Russian troops has been slowed by a fierce Ukrainian resistance which repelled them from around the capital and forced Moscow to shift its aims towards capturing the east.
"Victory will be ours," Zelensky said in a video speech.
Later, in his nightly address, he dismissed the Russian army.
"At first it looked threatening. Then dangerous... And now probably just a bitter smile. Because what's left of it? ... War crimes, shame and hatred," he said.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "certain results have been achieved", pointing to the "liberation" of some areas from what he called the "pro-Nazi armed forces of Ukraine".
The West has sent ever more potent weapons to Ukraine and piled on ever more stringent sanctions, with the European Union on Friday formally adopting a ban on most Russian oil imports.
Putin's alleged girlfriend, former gymnast Alina Kabaeva, was also added to an assets freeze and visa-ban blacklist.
At the same time, the United Nations said it was leading intense negotiations with Russia to allow Ukraine's grain harvest to leave the country.
- 'No problem' to export grain -
"I am optimistic that something could give in," said Amin Awad, the UN crisis coordinator for Ukraine, voicing hope for a "breakthrough."
Putin in a televised interview late Friday said there was "no problem" to export grain from Ukraine, via Kyiv- or Moscow-controlled ports or even through central Europe.
He said this could be done from the Russian-controlled ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk, or the Ukrainian-held port of Odessa, as long as Ukraine "cleared" the waters around it of mines.
Russian troops now occupy a fifth of Ukraine's territory and Moscow has imposed a blockade on its Black Sea ports.
The UN has warned that especially African countries, which imported more than half of their wheat consumption from Ukraine and Russia, face an "unprecedented" crisis caused by the conflict.
Food prices in Africa have already exceeded those in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and the 2008 food riots.
On Friday, Putin met the head of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, at his Black Sea residence in Sochi.
Sall told Putin that African countries "are victims" in the conflict.
After the meeting, Sall said he was "very reassured", adding the Russian leader was "committed and aware that the crisis and sanctions create serious problems for weak economies".
France's President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, declared Putin had made a "historic" error in starting the war.
But he said he should not be "humiliated," to leave room for diplomacy.
Putin's troops are now concentrating in the Donbas, in the east, where some of the fiercest fighting is centred on the industrial hub city of Severodonetsk.
- Media driver killed -
"For 100 days, they have been levelling everything", Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Telegram -- though, he added, Ukraine was pushing the Russians back.
A driver transporting two Reuters journalists in eastern Ukraine was killed and the two international news agency reporters lightly wounded, a company spokesperson said.
The agency said the group was travelling "in a vehicle provided by the Russian-backed separatists and driven by an individual assigned by the separatists".
The French foreign ministry also on Friday said a French volunteer fighter in Ukraine had been killed in combat.
In areas around the capital Kyiv, which Russian troops retreated from at the end of March, some residents are still in desperate need.
At an aid distribution point in Horenka, northwest of Kyiv, a tearful Hanna Viniychuk, 67, said she had come for some basic necessities after losing her home to Russian bombardment.
"I'm grateful for this help," she said.
- 'Nothing to come back to' -
Ukrainian troops were still holding an industrial zone in Severodonetsk, Gaiday said, a situation reminiscent of Mariupol, where a steelworks was the south-eastern port city's last holdout until Ukrainian troops finally surrendered in late May.
The situation in Lysychansk -- Severodonetsk's twin city, which sits just across a river -- also looked increasingly dire.
"The shelling is getting stronger every day," he said.
In the city of Sloviansk, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Severodonetsk, the mayor has urged residents to evacuate as bombing intensified with water and electricity cut off.
Student Gulnara Evgaripova, 18, recounted heavy bombardments as she boarded a minibus to leave the city.
"The situation is getting worse," she told AFP.
Ekaterina Perednenko, a paramedic, said: "I am scared that there will be nothing to come back to."
burs-st/wd
M.Fischer--AMWN