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Russia-Ukraine war: UNSC to meet amid biological weapons claims | 5 updates
Russia-Ukraine conflict: Zelenskyy denied Moscow’s accusation that Ukraine is preparing to attack with chemical or biological weapons, saying it might be a sign of Russia's plan.
Concern over the nuclear power plants under Russian control continues to grow as Ukraine lost all communications with Chornobyl a day after the site lost all external power supplies. India has, meanwhile, is carrying out a challenging evacuation operation to help stranded Indians leave war-hit Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced due to the ongoing Russian offensive. According to Unicef, more than a million children have so far fled Ukraine – most of them with their families to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania – as the war continues to ravage the country.
Here are the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement the agency is aware of reports that power has now been restored to the Chornobyl NPP and is looking for confirmation. Ukraine had earlier informed the IAEA that emergency diesel generators were providing electricity to the site.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 100,000 people have been evacuated in the past two days from seven cities, including the Kyiv suburbs. Providing an update on Mariupol in a nightly video address, Zelenskyy said the Russian invaders "have a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to mock it, to constantly bomb and shell it."
Satellite photos show that a massive Russian convoy that had been mired outside Kyiv since last week reportedly due to food and fuel shortages appeared to have dispersed. The 64-kilometre line of vehicles, tanks and artillery has broken up and been redeployed, Maxar reported.
An Air India flight carrying students from northeastern Ukrainian city Sumy landed in Delhi on Friday morning. India had sent three flights to bring back 600 students from Sumy, of which one was for first, second and third-year students, second for fourth and fifth-year students, and the third is for those with pets, sixth-year students and for any other who may have been left behind. Another flight is expected to land in Delhi around 8.40am.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss Russia's claims of the US' “military biological activities" on the territory of Ukraine, which the Biden administration has rejected as "preposterous". The accusation, without any evidence, was made by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova who said Ukraine was running chemical and biological labs with American support.
(With inputs from agencies)
