(Reuters) – Ukrainian forces are capturing eastern towns of Kyiv, while Russian forces trying to take the capital fall back on their overextended supply lines. This is a sign of a change in war momentum.

A suburb east of Kyiv’s mayor said that Ukrainian troops had taken a village nearby and that thousands of people were leaving, in response to an order from authorities to evacuate the area.

REFUGEES

* About 3.7 million people have left Ukraine since the conflict began, a U.N. refugee official said.

* A United Nations human rights team is looking into allegations that civilians have been forcibly moved from Mariupol to Russia, a senior official said.

* If Mariupol resident Alexandra’s husband could have stayed alive long enough to receive the humanitarian aid that finally came, he would have lived, she said.

FIGHTING

* The United States assesses that Russia is suffering failure rates as high as 60% for some precision-guided missiles in Ukraine, three U.S. officials told Reuters.

* LVIV – The northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv has in effect been cut off by Russian forces, the regional governor said.

Viacheslav Chaus stated, “The city was also under fire from artillery warplanes.”

ENERGY/MARKETS

* The United States will supply the European Union with more liquefied (LNG) to help curb its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, U.S. President Joe Biden said as EU leaders met to deal with an energy crunch triggered by the war. ]

* European shares fell for a third straight session on Friday and were set to end the week lower as the Russia-Ukraine conflict kept investors cautious heading into the weekend.

* The Swiss trading arm of Russian energy firm Lukoil has scaled back operations after the oil company cut its supply of capital to guarantee nearly $1 billion in margin calls in the wake of sanctions, according to three sources.

QOTATIONS

* “I told my wife to grab the children and to hide in the basement, and I went to the drafting station and joined my unit straight away. The next day, we were at the frontline. Andriy is a Ukrainian soldier at the frontline northwest Kyiv.

* “We have to stay fully, totally, thoroughly united.” After meetings with Western allies, Biden arrives in Brussels.