The Russian military relentlessly pressed on with its drive to get Ukrainian cities to submit, shelling several towns already largely in ruins. But in the sole city seized by Russian forces, Kherson in Ukraine’s south, dozens of demonstrators staged a demonstration, showing disregard for the occupiers.

Russia’s pressed on with its drive to shell Ukrainian cities into submission, taking a stranglehold on the southern port of Mariupol and taking aim at Mykolayiv and Odesa further west

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for an urgent meeting with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to stop the fighting that has engulfed much of the country and sent more than a million Ukrainians fleeing across international borders. He repeated calls for a Western-installed “no fly zone” over Ukraine and, failing that, asked for aircraft to bolster his country’s defences.

The World Bank and the IMF are also working together to assess the economic and financial impact of the conflict and refugees on other countries in the region and the world.

Uzbek migrant workers are expected to experience losses amid the depreciation of the Russian rouble and difficulties wiring the money back to their homes due to sanctions imposed on some of the Russian banks.