Ukrainian forces yesterday repulsed an attack on Kyiv, officials said yesterday, as Russian forces kept pounding Ukrainian cities with artillery and cruise missiles for a third day running.

Iurii Melnyk, an associate professor of journalism at the Ivan Franko National University of Ukraine’s Lviv, is keeping the world posted after Russia began its invasion on February 24. The Daily Star’s Diplomatic Correspondent Porimol Palma caught up with him on Friday for on-the-ground information.

Germany has approved the deliveries of 400 anti-tank rocket launchers to Ukraine, a government source said Saturday, in a U-turn from its longstanding policy of banning weapon exports to conflict zones.

All Russian units in Ukraine were on Saturday given the order to resume their offensive from all directions after a pause on Friday, the RIA news agency quoted Russia's defence ministry as saying.

Clutching a mobile phone number of a woman she had never met, Nataliya Ableyeva crossed the border from Ukraine into Hungary on Saturday, entrusted with a precious cargo. A stranger's children.

The United States is providing Ukraine with US$350 million (S$473.71 million) in additional military equipment to fight off Russia's "brutal and unprovoked assault". Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Saturday (February 26).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reiterated his call for an immediate cessation of violence and a return to dialogue.

Nearly 120,000 people have so far fled Ukraine into Poland and other neighboring countries in the wake of Russian invasion, the UN refugee agency said on Saturday.

A Ukrainian soldier blew himself up to destroy a bridge in the southern province of Kherson to stop invading Russian tanks from marching ahead. His sacrifice to stop a column of Russian tanks is now being praised by the Ukrainian military, who has described Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych as a hero, NDTV reports.

At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Health Ministry was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Saturday.

Russia will respond to the seizure of money of Russian citizens and companies abroad by seizing funds of foreigners and foreign companies in Russia, RIA news agency quoted Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the security council, as saying on Saturday.

The Eiffel Tower lit up on Friday in the national blue-and-yellow colours of Ukraine, at the request of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo which Hidalgo said was to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine in the wake of Russia's attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday it was "a crucial moment" to decide on Ukraine's membership of the European Union, as Russia continued to invade its neighbour.

The Western countries are sending weapons to Ukraine, tweeted President Volodymyr Zelensky after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron today.

Canadian liquor stores are removing Russian vodka and other Russian made alcoholic beverages from their shelves in an act of condemnation over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday that would have deplored Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, while China abstained from the vote - a move Western countries view as a win for showing Russia's international isolation.

Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine’s capital early Saturday as explosions reverberated through the city and the president urged the country to “stand firm” against the siege that could determine its future. He refused American help to evacuate, saying: “The fight is here.”

Fighting was reported in the east, west and south of Kyiv early today, the third day of Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Guardian reports quoting multiple sources.

US President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts agreed Friday to send thousands of troops backed by air and naval support to protect allies near Russia and Ukraine in response to President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade, the organization’s top civilian official said.

The European Union has agreed to place Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on its list of sanctioned individuals following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday.