Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

As the economic pain of the war weighs on Russia, the country’s central bank slashed interest rates on Thursday, the latest in a raft of measures by Moscow aimed at easing the pressure that Western sanctions.

On the battlefield, Russia’s ambitions are narrowing to three cities in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. With the depletion of troops and equipment, some analysts expect the battle to be Russia’s last major offensive of the war.

In other developments:

- Russia’s Supreme Court delayed a hearing to determine whether the Azov battalion, a regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard that made up the bulk of the fighters at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, should be designated a terrorist organization.

- After five hours of negotiations, a spokesman for Turkey’s president said that the process for Finland and Sweden to join NATO could not proceed “without meeting the security concerns of Turkey.” Read more

@nytimes