While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 18

As Russian troops appeared to stall in their advance on Ukrainian cities, the United States voiced concern on Thursday that China might assist Moscow with military equipment as the war entered its fourth week.

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv came under renewed Russian shelling as rescuers in the besieged port of Mariupol dug survivors from the rubble of bombed buildings. Officials from the two countries met again for peace talks but said their positions remained far apart.

Western sources and Ukrainian officials said Russia’s assault has faltered since its troops invaded on Feb 24, further dashing Moscow’s expectations of a swift victory and the removal of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government.

Despite battleground setbacks and punitive sanctions by the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown little sign of relenting. His government says it is counting on China to help Russia withstand blows to its economy.

A US citizen was killed in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv while waiting in a bread line amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, his family said on Thursday.

"My brother Jimmy Hill was killed yesterday in Chernihiv, Ukraine. He was waiting in a bread line with several other people when they were gunned down by Russian military snippers," Mr Hill’s sister said in a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon.  

"His body was found in the street by the local police," she wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited a wounded 16-year-old girl in a Kyiv hospital on Thursday and received some welcome news: He is a star on the TikTok video app.

After handing Katya Vlasenko a bunch of white and pink flowers as she lay in bed, Zelensky said: "It is not easy, but we do the right thing."

Vlasenko, who was wounded when her family's car came under fire as they fled Russian forces, replied: "And everybody supports you on TikTok," prompting a smile from the president and members of his entourage.

A 37-year-old man who said he felt humiliated by his teacher in primary school has confessed to stabbing her to death in 2020, three decades later, Belgian prosecutors said on Thursday.

Gunter Uwents told investigators he had never got over comments teacher Maria Verlinden made about him in class in the early 1990s, starting when he was a schoolboy aged seven.

The savage murder of 59-year-old Verlinden, at her home in Herentals near Antwerp in 2020, had gone unsolved despite repeated Belgian police enquiries and hundreds of DNA samples to try and find her killer. Her husband had made a public appeal for witnesses.

Alex Iwobi scored in the ninth minute of stoppage time as desperate Everton secured what could be a precious three points in their battle with relegation following a 1-0 win over Newcastle United in the Premier League on Thursday.

Everton had been reduced to 10 men following a red card for midfielder Allan on 83 minutes but, roared on by a vociferous home crowd, found a winning moment as Iwobi combined with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and side-footed the ball into the net.

The goal came in what turned out to be 17 minutes of stoppage time after the game was halted at the start of the second half when a pitch invader tied himself to a post in the goal at the Gwladys Street end of the ground and took a while to be removed.