Russia-Ukraine updates: US sanctions Russian military shipbuilder, diamond miner

The West has proven to be unreliable as an economic partner and a place for keeping foreign exchange reserves, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.

"Even disregarding the situation with Ukraine and the sanctions, conduct of the West proves that it is unreliable both as a part of the world where major reserve currencies are generated, as an economic partner, and as a country where forex reserves could be kept. They might easily be stolen," Lavrov told finalists of the international stage of the Leaders of Russia competition.

This is why Russia is strengthening cooperation with other countries, including China, he said.

Lavrov also commented on the reinstatement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which would allow Iranian oil supply on the global market.

"We never betray our friends in politics. Venezuela is our friend, and Iran is a state that is very close to us. Secondly, we do not pursue selfish interests, unlike the Americans," Lavrov said in response to a question whether the JCPOA reinstatement was advantageous to Russia.

"You can see what they [the Americans] are actually doing, trying to spite Russia and teach it a lesson," he said.

"So, the Americans have been contacting Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar regarding oil and gas. All of those countries, just like Venezuela and Iran, clearly said: when we discuss issues pertaining to the appearance of new actors in the oil market, all of us are committed to the OPEC+ format, where quotas for every actor are discussed and agreed upon by consensus," he said.

"For now, I see no reason to believe that this mechanism may somehow be dismantled. No one is interested in that," Lavrov said.

At least 112 children have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the local Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office said.

More than 140 children have been wounded during the first 24 days of the war, officials said.

Fifty-seven children have been killed in Kyiv, officials said. Another 36 were killed in Kharkiv and 28 were killed in the Donetsk Oblast, they said.

As Russia's attempts to capture Ukrainian territory have been slowed by Ukrainian resistance, the invading forces have switched to a “strategy of attrition,” the UK Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

"This is likely to involve the indiscriminate use of firepower resulting in increase civilian casualties, destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, and intensify the humanitarian crisis," the Ministry said on Twitter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the massive concert that occurred Friday in Moscow in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and on the eight-year anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

"A big rally took place. And I want to pay attention to one detail. It is reported that a total of about 200,000 people were involved in the rally in the Russian capital -- 100,000 on the streets, about 95,000 at the stadium. Approximately the same number of Russian troops were involved in the invasion of Ukraine," Zelenskyy said in his latest national address Friday night.

"Just imagine 14,000 corpses and tens of thousands of wounded and maimed people at that stadium in Moscow," he continued. "There are already so many Russian losses as a result of this invasion. This is the price of war. In a little more than three weeks. The war must end."

Zelenskyy noted progress in evacuating more than 180,000 Ukrainians through humanitarian corridors, though charged that Russian invaders are blocking the supply of humanitarian aid to some besieged cities.

"This is a totally deliberate tactic. They have a clear order to do absolutely everything to make the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian cities an 'argument' for Ukrainians to cooperate with the occupiers," he said. "This is a war crime. They will be held accountable for this. 100%."