Ukraine has filed a suit against Russia at the highest U.N. court in The Hague for disputes between states, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.

Some 368,000 people have fled abroad from the fighting in Ukraine, the UN refugee agency said on Sunday, citing data provided by national authorities.

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.

About 150 Bangladeshis have entered Poland from Ukraine over the last two days, fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24.

Ukrainian soldiers beat back a Russian attack in the capital Kyiv only hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warns Moscow would attempt to take the city before dawn.

Snactions against Russia

Refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to pour across its western borders yesterday, with around 100,000 reaching Poland in two days and some finding temporary sanctuary in sports halls and others in churches.

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 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.

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.”

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.

Ukraine’s president said Friday his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after the Kremlin launched a large-scale invasion.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine risks making President Vladimir Putin an international pariah, but he does not fear such isolation -- quite the contrary, experts say.

Kyiv under attack

Ukrainian forces yesterday fought off Russian troops in the capital Kyiv on the second day of an invasion that has claimed dozens of lives, as the EU approved sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin.

The Covid-19 pandemic continued its strong retreat this week around the world, with the number of cases cut by half since their peak a month ago.

Gunfire has been heard in central Kyiv and there are reports of heavy fighting in the city’s northern suburbs after Ukraine said it expected a Russian armoured attack on the capital and its outskirts.