Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy warns of mass ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ without no-fly zone – live | World news

More than 400 Ukrainians who protested against the occupation of Kherson by Russian forces have been detained by Russia’s national guard, Ukraine’s military high command said.

In a statement, the Ukrainian military high command said hundreds have been arrested for protesting in the now Russian-occupied Kherson.

Due to the furious resistance of the residents of Kherson, the occupiers are attempting to introduce an administrative-police regime.

Russia has repeated allegations that the United States supported a military biological programme in Ukraine involving deadly pathogens including plague and anthrax – claims that the Pentagon has described as “absurd”.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said evidence of the alleged programme had been uncovered in Russia during what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Zakharova said:

We can already conclude that in Ukrainian biological laboratories in direct proximity to the territory of our country, development of components of biological weapons was being carried out.

She went on to allege that Russia had documents showing that the Ukrainian health ministry had ordered the destruction of samples of plague, cholera, anthrax and other pathogens after 24 February.

Both the Pentagon and the Ukrainian government has strongly denied these allegations, and Reuters reports that it was not possible to independently confirm the authenticity of any such documents.

Zakharova said the alleged programme was financed by the Pentagon and demanded transparency from Washington.

We are not talking here about peaceful uses or scientific goals… What were you up to there?

Russia “demands details”, she continued:

The US Defence Department and the presidential administration of the United States are obliged to officially explain to the global community, officially, not through talking heads, about the programmes in Ukraine.

In response to earlier Russian allegations about the purported military biological programme in Ukraine, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday:

This absurd Russian misinformation is patently false.

A Ukrainian presidential spokesperson said Ukraine “strictly denies any such allegation”.

Following Zakharova’s remarks earlier today, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia considers its claims that Ukraine conducted military biological programmes as an important issue for the whole world.

Hello from London, I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.

• Lumen Technologies, one of the companies that comprises the backbone of the internet, said on Tuesday it was pulling the plug on Russia because of an “increased security risk”. Lumen attempted to downplay the impact of the decision, saying in a brief statement it provides “extremely small and very limited” business services in Russia. But it is part of the network that allows data to flow through the infrastructure of the internet.
• The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that the international community would be responsible for a mass “humanitarian catastrophe” if it did not agree a no-fly zone and warned that the country was at maximum threat level. In his daily televised address, he said Ukrainians had shown throughout the last two weeks that they would never give in.
• Ukraine’s state power operator says that Russian forces have disconnected the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from the grid, reports Reuters.
• Kyiv authorities hoped to evacuate many more people from Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, the Ukrainian capital’s deputy mayor said today. He also said that heat, water, power supplies and phone connections were working normally in Kyiv.
• EU member states have agreed new sanctions against Russian leaders and oligarchs over the invasion of Ukraine, reports Reuters. The French presidency of the EU said members approved the sanctions at a meeting and that they would be formally adopted by the EU summit on Thursday and Friday in Versailles.
• The Russian foreign ministry has claimed that its goals in Ukraine would be better achieved through talks and that it does not plan to overthrow the country’s government, reports Reuters. It said about 140,000 Ukrainians had fled to Russia and that its actions in Ukraine were strictly following its plan.
• Congressional leaders in the US reached a bipartisan deal early this morning to provide $13.6bn to help Ukraine and European allies. The president, Joe Biden, originally requested $10bn for military, humanitarian and economic aid, but the backing from both parties was so strong that the figure climbed to $12bn on Monday and $13.6bn yesterday.
• Ukraine’s government has banned exports of rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sugar, salt, and meat until the end of this year, according to a cabinet resolution published on Wednesday. It will put food security across Europe into sharp focus, leading to shortages of grain and price rises of staples including bread.
• Civilians have started leaving Sumy in private cars after a “humanitarian corridor” was established for a second consecutive day. The mayor of the north-eastern city, Oleksandr Lysenko, made the announcement in televised comments.
• EU leaders gathering for a summit in Versailles on Thursday and Friday will say that Russia’s aggression “constitutes a tectonic shift in European history”, according to a draft communique seen by the Guardian. They will decide, the draft statement says, to “take more responsibility for security and take further decisive steps towards building our European sovereignty”.
• A Russian airstrike that reportedly killed 47 civilians as they queued for bread in Chernihiv on Thursday may constitute a war crime, an investigation by Amnesty International has found. At around 12.15pm on 3 March a square was hit by multiple bombs, killing civilians and severely damaging buildings.
• The number of people who have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion has reached 2.1-2.2 million people, the UN refugee agency said today. The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said during a visit to Stockholm that rather than talking about which countries refugees will go to, “the time is now to try to help at the border”.
• Britain has announced a series of new aviation sanctions, giving the government power to detain any Russian aircraft in the UK.
• The Ukrainian deputy prime minister has said that Russian armed forces have agreed to stop firing in areas of humanitarian corridors from 9am to 9pm local time (7am-7pm GMT) today. Iryna Vereshchuk said the evacuation corridors would be open on Wednesday in several areas including Mariupol, but warned Russian forces against shooting in those areas.

That’s it from me for now. Handing over to Leonie Chao-Fong. Thanks for reading.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that the international community would be responsible for a mass “humanitarian catastrophe” if it does not agree a no-fly zone and warned that the country is at maximum threat level.

“Russia uses missiles, aircraft and helicopters against us, against civilians, against our cities, against our infrastructure. It is the humanitarian duty of the world to respond,” he said in his daily televised address, reports Reuters.

He said Ukrainians have shown throughout the last two weeks that they will never give in.

The new EU sanctions (reported earlier) will include travel bans and asset freezes for around 100 Russians, reports Reuters.

The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said a decision could be made later today.

“Member states are working on a package of sanctions, around 100 people responsible at different levels of government,” he told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He said he hoped for agreement “by the end of this session today”.

The UK defence minister, Ben Wallace, is to make a statement in parliament on Ukraine, the house of commons leader has announced, reports Reuters.

More on Chernobyl, Ukraine’s state power operator says that Russian forces have disconnected the nuclear power plant from the grid, reports Reuters.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, also called for Britain’s visa requirement to be lifted for refugees.

PA reports that he told the Commons home affairs committee:

I understand how sensitive it is for your society…how reasonable, how justified it is with your own system, that’s frankly for you to decide. We will be happy if all the barriers are dropped for some period of time when we can get maximum (numbers) of people, then we will deal with that.

Ukrainian authorities say they do not know what the radiation levels are at Chernobyl nuclear power plant and have no control of Zaporizhzhia since they were seized by Russian troops.

The energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, on Wednesday said that Ukraine has not heard about what is happening there since it was seized and that the country has no control over what is happening at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, reports Reuters.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, has suggested that fighter jets would be more useful to Ukraine than Britain sending a plane to collect refugees.

Asked whether he would like to see a plane travel to Poland or Romania to bring back refugees, PA reports that Vadym Prystaiko told the Commons home affairs committee: “If you want to send planes, send F-16s.”

He said the UK could expect at least 100,000 people coming from Ukraine to the UK to reunite with relatives.

“I would expect 100,000 – at least – to come here to their relatives, some of them just members of families of your citizens who have no Ukrainian blood but for different reasons they have connections… which we are not aware of,” he told MPs.

Kyiv authorities hope to evacuate many more people from Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, the Ukrainian capital’s deputy mayor said today.

“We have places to house (refugees), we have trains to send people west,” Mykola Povoroznyk, said on television, reports Reuters. But, he added, it was unclear how many people they would be able to help escape.

He also said that heat, water, power supplies and phone connections are working normally in Kyiv.

EU member states have agreed new sanctions against Russian leaders and oligarchs over its invasion of Ukraine, reports Reuters.

The French presidency of the EU said members approved the sanctions at a meeting and that they will be formally adopted by the EU Summit on Thursday and Friday in Versailles.

They said the new measures clarify questions over cryptocurrencies, exclude three Belarus banks from Swift and target the maritime sector.

The Russian foreign ministry has claimed that its goals in Ukraine would be better achieved through talks and that it does not plan to overthrow the country’s government, reports Reuters.

It said about 140,000 Ukrainians have fled to Russia and that its actions in Ukraine is strictly following its plan.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said its goal is for Ukraine to have neutral status, which it would prefer to attain through talks, and that it hopes to make more significant progress in the next round.

The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has warned against British soldiers traveling to Ukraine to illegally fight, saying it is a “dangerous situation”.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

You cannot go and fight if you’re in the British Army, you cannot just get up and go and fight. Of course that’s inappropriate behaviour and you would expect the army to have some very, very strict rules in place, as they do.

Asked what Russia might do if a British soldier was captured or killed, PA reports that Shapps said:

There’s a big difference between Britain sending its army in and some people who are breaking with our law and going to do it.

But, clearly, this is a dangerous situation. And clearly, we want to make sure that the assistance we’re providing is done in an official way – like the anti-tank missiles that we provided prior to and during this conflict, and like the 22,000 Ukrainians that we’ve trained.

Congressional leaders in the US reached a bipartisan deal early this morning to provide $13.6bn to help Ukraine and European allies, reports the Associated Press.

President Joe Biden originally requested $10bn for military, humanitarian and economic aid, but the backing from both parties was so strong that the figure climbed to $12bn on Monday and $13.6bn yesterday.

“We’re going to support them against tyranny, oppression, violent acts of subjugation,” Biden said at the White House.

Party leaders are hoping to get the 2,741-page measure through the House today and the Senate by the end of the week, but the timing of the latter remains unclear.