The EU on Friday indefinitely froze Russian assets in Europe so that Hungary and Slovakia, both run by Moscow-friendly governments, cannot prevent any of the roughly €210 billion from being used to support Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine said it had recaptured two settlements in the northern Kharkiv region and pushed Russian troops back in Kupiansk. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog.

Yesterday's key developments:

• Ukraine has submitted a detailed counterproposal to the US peace plan, taking time to carefully review and refine their response.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) urged sports bodies to fully reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes into junior competitions and allow them to compete with their national flag and anthem.
• The US is pushing for a demilitarised"free economic zone" between Russian and Ukrainian troops in the east of the country as part of a settlement to end the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.