Russia-Ukraine crisis: Efforts to repair power lines at Chernobyl continuing, Ukraine tells IAEA

As the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces continued into its third week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Poland for its support to the nation. Meanwhile, the UN dismissed Russia's claims of a bioweapons programme being jointly run by Ukraine and the United States

Efforts to repair power lines at Chernobyl continuing, Ukraine tells IAEA

Humanitarian situation in some Ukraine cities 'catastrophic': Russian military

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is deteriorating quickly and has become catastrophic in a number of cities, the Russian military said on Saturday, speaking on the 17th day of what Moscow has termed a "special military operation".

"Unfortunately, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is continuing to deteriorate rapidly, and in some cities it has reached catastrophic proportions," the head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, Mikhail Mizintsev, said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. - AFP.

Russian defence ministry says Ukraine again refused to open humanitarian corridors to Russia

France says call with Vladimir Putin was 'difficult'

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron says his three-way call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin was “very frank and also difficult.”

French officials said the Russian leader gave no indication during the call Saturday lasting more than an hour that he intends to stop the fighting in Ukraine.

European leaders are working on what they describe as a punishing new set of “massive” economic sanctions against Moscow in the hope of getting Putin to change his mind. - AP.

Ukraine: seven civilians dead after Russia fired at evacuation convoy

Ukraine's intelligence service accused Russia on Saturday of firing at a convoy of civilian evacuees from the village of Peremoha in the Kyiv region, causing seven deaths.

"After the attack, the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back to Peremoha and are not letting them out of the village," the intelligence service said in a statement.

Russia has denied targeting civilians since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. - Reuters.

Alarm grows over Mariupol as Russia squeezes Kyiv

Russian forces upped the pressure on Kyiv Saturday and pummelled civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities, amid fresh efforts to get aid to the devastated port city of Mariupol.

Russian strikes destroyed the airport in the town of Vasylkiv, south of Kyiv, while an oil depot was also hit and caught fire, the mayor said.

Russia threatens to destroy convoys carrying foreign weapons for Ukraine

Russia has said that convoys carrying foreign weapons to Ukraine will become "legitimate targets" for the Russian armed forces.

Sergei Ryabkov, the country's Deputy Foreign Minister, said Russia has warned the United States of the consequences of arms transfers to Ukraine.

Convoys with foreign weapons recklessly supplied to Ukraine will become legitimate targets for the Russian armed forces, he said.

Most Ukrainian businesses not operating since Russian invasion, Zelenskyy says

Most Ukrainian businesses have stopped operating since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.

Zelenskiy's economic adviser previously estimated that the Russian invasion had already caused more than $100 billion of damage.

2.6 million flee Ukraine war: UN

The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine since the Russian invasion two weeks ago is now nearly 2.6 million, the UN said Saturday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said there were 2,597,543 refugees who had fled Ukraine so far, in the latest update on Saturday afternoon.

The figure was 92,650 higher than the last count on Friday.

This is the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since World War II, according to UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi.

Premier League disqualifies Abramovich from running Chelsea

The Premier League banned Roman Abramovich from running Chelsea on Saturday after the club owner was sanctioned by the British government over Russia's war on Ukraine.

Putin briefed French and German leaders on Russia-Ukraine talks: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the state of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv and responded to their concerns about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine during a three-way phone call on Saturday, the Kremlin said.

Hoping for significant positive influence from Israel's Bennett on Russia talks: Zelenskyy

Russia can only take Kyiv if it razes the city to the ground, says Zelenskyy

Germany aims to be nearly free of Russia oil this year

Germany said Saturday it aims to be nearly free of Russian oil imports by the end of this year, as countries look to squeeze Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

"With each day, indeed each hour, we are saying goodbye to Russian imports," economy and climate minister Robert Habeck was quoted as saying by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"If we get there, we will be independent of Russian coal by the autumn and nearly independent of Russian oil by the end of the year."

Ukraine’s president says Russia sending new troops after heavy losses

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russia was sending new forces to Ukraine after suffering what he said were its biggest losses in decades.

Awaiting new EU sanctions package against Russia, says Zelenskyy

Russia sending new troops into Ukraine: Zelenskyy

The Ukrainian President also said that Ukraine has no right to lower combat intensity

Russian forces squeeze Kyiv, surround Mariupol

Russian forces stepped up the pressure on Kyiv on Saturday and pummelled civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities, including hospitals in Mykolaiv and a mosque in Mariupol, the port city already devastated by two weeks of siege.

Russian strikes destroyed the airport in the town of Vasylkiv on Saturday morning, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Kyiv, while an oil depot was also hit and caught fire, the mayor said.

Ukraine requests S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems from Western countries

(Input from Nexta)

Hospitals shelled in Ukraine's Mykolaiv: AFP

Hospitals came under fire overnight in the port city of Mykolaiv in the south of Ukraine, including a cancer treatment centre and an eye clinic, an AFP reporter said Saturday.

The windows were blown out of the cancer treatment centre, where patients were undergoing chemotherapy and the doors damaged.

"They shot at the civilian areas, without any military objective," said the hospital's head, Dmytro Lagochev.

Israel not pushing Ukraine to yield to Russian demands, Ukraine adviser says

A top Ukrainian adviser on Saturday pushed back against suggestions Israel tried to nudge Ukraine into caving to Russian demands during talks.

Israel has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

A report in Israel's Walla news and Jerusalem Post had suggested, citing an unidentified Ukrainian official, that Bennett had urged Ukraine to give in to Russia.

JUST IN | Ukraine has said that a mosque housing 80 civilians was shelled in Mariupol

JUST IN | Russian rockets destroy Ukrainian airbase in Kyiv region

Ukraine expects new wave of Russian attacks on Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donbass regions

Ukraine expects a new wave of attacks on the Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donbass regions after a slowdown in Russia's offensive, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said on Saturday.

Arestovych also said Ukraine did not expect Belarus to join the Russian invasion force.

Ukraine humanitarian corridors, including from Mariupol, could open on Saturday -Ukraine official

Humanitarian corridors in Ukraine, including the one from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, could open on Saturday, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, said on state TV on Saturday morning.

Putin-Zelenskyy meeting possible after 'positive developments' in Russia-Ukraine negotiations

A meeting between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelenskyy is 'conceptually possible' but under certain conditions, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow on Friday.

The Kremlin spokesman however made it clear that the negotiators should first 'do their job' before the meeting.

'Russia's position is no secret, it has been formulated and brought to the attention of Ukrainian negotiators. We are waiting to receive their clarifications,' the Russian media quoted Peskov as saying.

Russia warns sanctions could cause ISS to crash: official

Meta-Russia standoff worsens, firm says won't tolerate 'Russophobia'

As Russia considers designating Meta as an extremist organisation for applying its policies to speech in the context of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the social network has said that its decision is temporary, taken in "extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances".

In a rare move, Meta has allowed posts with violent speech toward Russian soldiers on Facebook and Instagram in specific countries, including calls for harm or even death of Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Russia to restrict access to Instagram on March 14

The Russian government announced that it would block Instagram after parent company Meta said it would allow calls for violence against Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukrainian invasion.

The Russian government's communication agency announced it would block Instagram in Russia beginning on March 14, in response to Facebook's decision to temporarily allow users in some countries to call for violence against President Vladimir Putin, reports Vox.com.

Over 1,500 civilians in Mariupol killed

Ukrainian authorities have said that 1,500 civilians have been killed in Mariupol as Russian forces have continued its assault on the besieged port city.

In a social media post late Friday night, the Mariupol City Council said that at least "1,582 civilian residents of Mariupol have been killed by Russian occupying forces over the 12 days of the city's blockade, and ruthless firing on residential neighbourhoods", reports the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that authorities will again try to evacuate stranded people from Mariupol as many earlier attempts have failed due to the Russian bombing and shelling.

Moved 12,000 US troops along borders with Russia but not fighting WWIII in Ukraine, says Biden

US President Joe Biden said he has moved 12,000 troops along the borders with Russia, such as Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania while asserting that Vladimir Putin will not be victorious in the war he has waged against Ukraine.

Addressing members of the House Democratic Caucus on Friday, Biden stressed over "not fighting a third World War in Ukraine" but avowed sending an "unmistakable message that we will defend every inch of NATO territory".

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a group of 30 North American and European nations. According to NATO, its purpose "is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means."

7K foreigners held hostage by Ukraine, claims Russia

Amid war with Ukraine, Russia has claimed that it has opened 10 humanitarian corridors from Moscow to evacuate civilians and foreign citizens from Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol cities, including one humanitarian corridor from each city to Russia.

Russia alleged that around 7,000 people of different countries are held hostage by Ukraine while 70 vessels are stuck at ports.

In a statement on Friday, it has claimed that one corridor was through the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities to the west, to Poland, Moldova and Romania.

Russian prosecutors ask court to name Meta as "extremist organisation"

Prosecutors have asked a Russian court to designate Facebook's parent organisation Meta Platforms as an "extremist organisation," Interfax reported on Friday.

The state prosecutor also asked Russia's communications watchdog to restrict access to Meta's Instagram social networking service.

Mayor of Ukraine city abducted by Russian troops

The mayor of southern Ukraine's Melitopol was kidnapped on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying the city, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian officials said.

"A group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov," Ukraine's parliament said on Twitter.

"He refused to cooperate with the enemy," it added.

Senate gives final approval to Ukraine aid, huge budget bill

A $13.6 billion emergency package of military and humanitarian aid for besieged Ukraine and its European allies easily won final congressional approval, hitching a ride on a government-wide spending bill that's five months late but loaded with political prizes for both parties.

With Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion killing thousands and forcing over 2 million others to flee, the Senate approved the $1.5 trillion overall legislation by a 68-31 bipartisan margin late Thursday.

'Don't send your sons to war', Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeals to Russian mothers

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday called on the mothers of Russian soldiers to prevent their sons being sent to war in Ukraine.

"I want to say this once again to Russian mothers, especially mothers of conscripts. Do not send your children to war in a foreign country," Zelenskyy said in a video address released on Telegram.

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More US troops deploy overseas in wake of Ukraine invasion

US soldiers continued to deploy Friday to Europe, joining thousands already sent overseas to support NATO allies amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

About 130 soldiers from the 87th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Division Sustainment Brigade, lined up with rucksacks inside a terminal at Hunter Airfield in Savannah before marching outside and boarding their chartered flight. It departed amid grey skies and rain.

Republican USRep. Earl "Buddy" Carter, of Pooler, Georgia, was among those in attendance. He was seen "fist-bumping" many of the soldiers as they boarded the plane.