Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday called on Pope Francis to mediate in his country’s conflict with Russia to help alleviate human suffering, nearly one month into Moscow’s invasion.

US President Joe Biden said Monday that India was an exception among Washington’s allies with its “shaky” response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Zhanna Agalakova, until her resignation this month a journalist with Russia's state-controlled Channel One broadcaster, said on Tuesday she quit in protest at the war being waged by Russia in Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden has said only India among the Quad group of countries was "somewhat shaky" in acting against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, as India tries to balance its ties with Russia and the West.

He survived the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II. He survived the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in the same war. And the Bergen-Belsen camp.

Russian forces advancing on the Ukraine capital Kyiv from the northeast have stalled, British intelligence said yesterday, as Ukraine rejected Russian calls for defenders to lay down their arms in the besieged city of Mariupol.

China’s ambassador to the US said Sunday his country was not sending weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, but he did not definitively rule out the possibility Beijing might do so in the future.

A Moscow court on Monday labelled Meta Platforms Inc an "extremist organisation", but said the decision would not apply to its WhatsApp messenger service, focusing its ire on the company's already banned Facebook and Instagram social networks.

Shelling hit a Kyiv shopping centre late on Sunday, killing at least eight people, wrecking nearby buildings and leaving smoking piles of rubble and the twisted wreckage of burned-out cars spread over several hundred metres.

Ukraine today rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power in a humanitarian crisis that is increasing pressure on European leaders to toughen sanctions on Moscow.

The United States has informally raised with Turkey the unlikely possibility of sending its Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems to Ukraine to help it fight invading Russian forces, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian authorities yesterday said that Russia had bombed a school sheltering 400 people in the besieged port of Mariupol, as Moscow claimed that it had again fired hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, the second time it had used the next-generation weapon on its neighbour.

Russia says for a second day in a row it has fired its newest hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, destroying a fuel storage site in Mykolaiv region. Hypersonic missiles travel faster than the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them hard to track and intercept.

Turkey on Sunday said Russia and Ukraine made progress on their negotiations to halt the invasion and the two warring sides were close to an agreement.

Ten million people - more than a quarter of the population - have now fled their homes in Ukraine due to Russia's "devastating" war, the United Nations refugees chief said Sunday.

Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that Russia’s military bombed an art school sheltering some 400 people in the embattled port city of Mariupol, where Ukraine’s president said an unrelenting Russian siege would be remembered for centuries to come.

Russia said Sunday it has again fired its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, destroying a fuel storage site in the country's south.

An ordinary person's trip to the Middle East for work, then returning home and going back again in the Middle East. Crossing two countries with the help of an intermediary, reaching Ukraine. Invasion of Ukraine, 22 days of living in continuous fear of death, and finally escaping Ukraine to reach France.

The United States has informally raised with Turkey the unlikely possibility of sending its Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems to Ukraine to help it fight invading Russian forces, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Saturday that at least 847 civilians had been killed and 1,399 wounded in Ukraine as of March 18.