The United Nations on Friday said it had no evidence Ukraine had a biological weapons program while Washington and its allies accused Russia of spreading the unproven claim as a possible prelude to launching its own biological or chemical attacks.

US President Joe Biden on Friday vowed that Russia would pay a "severe price" if it used chemical weapons in Ukraine, while also pledging to avoid provoking Moscow into "World War III."

Russia has drawn up plans to seize the assets of western companies leaving the country as the Kremlin pushes back against sweeping sanctions and the exodus of international businesses since its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian strikes hit fresh civilian targets in central and eastern Ukraine yesterday, including a city previously considered a safe haven, as Moscow’s troops edged closer to the capital Kyiv.

Fleeing the horrors of war in Ukraine, Bangladeshis are finding new hope in other European countries.

The body of engineer Md Hadisur Rahman, who was killed in a rocket attack on the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) vessel stranded at a Ukraine port, is expected to reach Dhaka on March 13 or 14, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam yesterday.

The UN yesterday voiced alarm at Facebook’s decision to temporarily ease its policy on violent speech after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, warning it could spark “hate speech” against Russians.

International food and feed prices could rise by between 8 percent and 20percent as a result of the war, triggering a jump in global malnourishment, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday gave the green light for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine, doubling down an invasion that the West says has been losing momentum.

Nato must not allow Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to spill over into an open conflict between the alliance and Moscow, its chief Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday, warning a no-fly zone would likely lead to full-scale war.

Emmanuel Macron has led western European leaders in rebuffing appeals from Volodymyr Zelenskiy for fast-track EU membership for Ukraine despite the backing of eastern member states.

During the first week of war, Russia shifted from strategic strikes against military targets using cruise missiles to a stalled ground attack and, currently, a broader siege of major cities, including bombardments using rocket artillery and cluster munitions, sometimes against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.

The body of engineer Md Hadisur Rahman, who was killed in a rocket attack on the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) vessel stranded at a Ukraine port, is expected to reach Dhaka on March 13 or 14, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light on Friday for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine, doubling down an invasion that the West says has been losing momentum.

More than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine as of March 11, the UN migration agency said on its website on Friday.

The European Union will not impose sanctions on Russian gas or oil, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted on his Facebook page today, amid a summit of EU leaders in France.

Meta Platforms (FB.O) will allow Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a temporary change to its hate speech policy.

The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the country's public health laboratories to prevent "any potential spills" that would spread disease among the population, the agency told Reuters on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday Western sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine could send global food prices soaring, as Russia was one of the world’s main producers of fertiliser, which is essential to global supply chains.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday he did not believe the conflict in Ukraine would spiral into a nuclear war but cautioned the United States and Europe that Moscow never again wanted to be dependent on the West.