As the war enters its 776th day, these are the main developments.

Fighting

• The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission said it verified at least 604 civilians killed or injured in Ukraine in March, a 20 percent increase from February.  The toll included at least 57 children killed or injured, double the number from February, it said.
• Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, said a woman and a child were killed when Ukrainian shelling hit the village of Klimovo, about 10km (six miles) from Russia’s border with Ukraine. Bogomaz said three people were injured.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspected fortifications and trenches in the northeastern Kharkiv region and issued a new appeal for military support to protect the country’s second-largest city from Russian attacks. Russia fired a guided bomb at the city just as Zelenskyy announced his visit, injuring at least three people.
• Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 20 attack drones launched by Russia overnight aimed at critical infrastructure and power facilities in seven Ukrainian regions. Damage was reported in Lviv, Odesa and Poltava.
• Russia and Ukraine continued to trade accusations over attacks on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhizhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station. Moscow claimed Kyiv struck the site with a drone for a third day. Kyiv reiterated that it does not take any military action against nuclear facilities.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday at the request of both Ukraine and Russia to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant. The atomic watchdog earlier said the situation was “extremely serious”.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wrapped up a two-day visit to Beijing where he met China’s President Xi Jinping and top diplomat Wang Yi. Lavrov and Wang said the two countries aimed to deepen security cooperation. China and Russia declared a “no-limits” partnership just before Moscow invaded Ukraine and have deepened their relationship since. Beijing says it is neutral in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Cameron met United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and urged members of the US Congress to pass a $60bn aid package for Ukraine, which has been blocked by right-wing Republicans. He also travelled to Florida for talks with presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. Trump’s office said the two discussed “ending the killing in Ukraine” among other issues.

Weapons

• The US military said it transferred weapons to Ukraine, including more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition that were seized as they were being shipped by Iran to Houthi forces in Yemen.
• The US State Department approved $138m to provide critical repairs and spare parts for Kyiv’s HAWK air defence missile systems.