The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said Vladimir Putin is using “Nazi terminology” in his invasion of Ukraine, invoking the Holocaust during an address to Israel’s legislature.
Mr Zelensky, whose family lost relatives during the Holocaust, said to the Knesset: "The Nazis talked about a 'Final Solution' to the Jewish question.
"Now Moscow is talking about a final solution for Ukraine."
His comparison drew immediate criticism from some Israel officials, including Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel from the right-wing New Hope party.
"We cannot rewrite the history of the Holocaust, a genocide that was also committed on Ukrainian soil.
“This war is terrible, but comparing it to the horrors of the Holocaust and the Final Solution is outrageous," Mr Hendel tweeted, while also voicing support for Ukrainians.
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Boris Johnson spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to ask what his military require in their battle against Russia's invasion.
A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister "set out his intention to advance Ukraine's interests at this week's Nato and G7 meetings and in upcoming bilateral engagement with key allies, and he asked for the president's latest assessment of Ukraine's military requirements in the face of Russian aggression".
Wagner Group assassins have entered Ukraine with orders to kill Volodymyr Zelensky and his leadership team, Ukraine intelligence says, Verity Bowman reports.
Read the full story here.
Nestle insisted it was not making any profits in Russia after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Swiss food giant of doing business as usual.
In a speech live-streamed to a rally outside the Swiss parliament in Bern on Saturday, Mr Zelensky urged Swiss companies to stop doing business in Russia and condemned firms that carried on regardless despite the siege of Mariupol.
He singled out Nestle and their "good food, good life" slogan.
"Business works in Russia even though our children are dying and our cities are being destroyed," he said.
But a Nestle spokesman said many of the firm's activities in Russia had been wound down, following the Kremlin-ordered invasion of neighbouring Ukraine on February 24.
A group of children stuck in a clinic in Mariupol for weeks have been taken to Russian-controlled territory, a carer and a relative of the clinic's worker said today.
The 19 children, aged between four and 17 and mostly orphans, have been living in freezing cellars hiding from shelling in harrowing conditions.
From nearby towns in the Donetsk region, they were sent to a Mariupol sanatorium that specialises in pulmonary conditions before Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.
Their carers have been unable to get to them since due to heavy fighting in the strategic port city that has been destroyed by Russian forces.
The foster carer of six of the children, Olga Lopatkina, has been calling for their evacuation and wants to take them west and out of the country.
But on Sunday, her oldest son, 17, called her to say they had been taken to Donetsk - Ukraine's separatist capital now under Russian control.
She told AFP they were in a hospital in Donetsk.
"I don't know how to get them now," she said, adding that the call was quick and no adult had informed her to tell her about the children's whereabouts.
A Black Sea Fleet commander has been shot dead by Ukrainian forces, becoming the first Russian naval chief to be killed during the invasion.
Read the full story here.
Protesters opposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine were detained and beaten in the southeastern port city of Berdyansk today, reports suggest.
About 200 people attended the rally against Russian troops in the Zaporozhye region and the Ukrainian broadcaster Hromadske reported that numerous protesters were detained and beaten.
China's ambassador to the US said his country was not sending weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, but he did not definitively rule out the possibility Beijing might do so in the future.
In a lengthy phone call on Friday, US President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that there would be "consequences" if Beijing provided material support to Moscow as it prosecutes its war against Kyiv.
Asked today on CBS whether China might send money or weapons to Russia, Ambassador Qin Gang spoke about the present, saying: "There is disinformation about China providing military assistance to Russia. We reject that."
Instead, "what China is doing is sending food, medicine, sleeping bags and baby formula, not weapons and ammunition to any party," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Israel would have to live with the choices it makes on whether to help protect Ukraine against the Russian invasion, addressing the Knesset via video link.
Mr Zelensky questioned Israel's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome defence system to Ukraine.
Russia's claim to have used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine was a way to reclaim war momentum, but the next-generation weaponry has not proved to be a "game changer," the US Defence Secretary said today.
Moscow said it has fired two hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, and while Lloyd Austin would not "confirm or dispute" whether Russia used such weapons, he warned that Vladimir Putin's invasion was undergoing a change in tactics including the targeting of civilians.
Mr Austin told CBS that Russia's use of the hard-to-intercept hypersonic missiles would mark an escalation of its campaign, but "I would not see it as a game changer".
Officials in the ravaged city, much of which is in Russian hands, say civilians are being stripped of documents and sent into the hands of the enemy, reports Nataliya Vasilyeva.
Read the full story here.
The US-made Patriot air defence system is on its way to Slovakia, Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said today, paving the way for Bratislava to possibly deliver similar hardware to Ukraine.
Nato member Slovakia said this week it was willing to provide its Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft system to Ukraine but only on the condition that it received a substitute to avoid an Alliance security gap.
US President Joe Biden promised to help Ukraine get air defence systems with a longer range than the shoulder-borne Stinger missiles already on the ground, but to do so without entering into direct conflict with Russia.
The old S-300 system would be an ideal weapon since the Ukrainian army is already familiar with the hardware.
"I can confirm that the first units to deploy the anti-aircraft Patriot system are gradually arriving," Mr Nad said on Facebook, adding the delivery would continue over the next few days.
Russia has deployed TOS-1a Heavy Flamethrower Launches, discharging rockets that can melt human organs, Russian propaganda shows.
Read the full story by Verity Bowman here.
Reports that thousands of Mariupol residents have been forcibly deported to Russia are "disturbing" and "unconscionable" if true, the US ambassador to the UN said today.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US had not yet confirmed the allegations made on Saturday by the Mariupol city council via its Telegram channel.
A shell exploded outside an apartment block in Kyiv, wounding five people, the city's mayor said today.
The ten-storey building in the northwestern Sviatoshyn district was badly damaged, with all the windows blown out and scorch marks from a fire that broke out.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that "the enemy's airstrikes" had wounded five people, two of whom were taken to hospital.
"It was lucky" that there were not more casualties, Sviatlana Vodolaga, a spokeswoman for the state emergency service told AFP, adding that six people were rescued from the block.
Some 20,000 people attended an anti-war concert in central Berlin today, police said, with listeners waving Ukrainian flags and holding banners with slogans opposing the Russian invasion.
Gathering near the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of a divided Germany during the Cold War, many performers wore shades of blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his plea for talks with Vladimir Putin, taking to US television to say negotiations were the only way to "end this war."
Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces is going on inside the eastern port city of Mariupol, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said today.
Many of Mariupol's 400,000 residents have been trapped for more than two weeks as Russia seeks to take control of the city, which would help secure a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The former head of Britain’s Joint Forces Command, General Sir Richard Barrons, has told Times Radio the war in Ukraine means the UK needs to increase defence spending to at least 3 per cent of GDP for five years.
"We are now clear that war in the 21st century is this full orchestra of cyber and social media amplification as supporting acts - but nobody Mariupol has been cybered to death so far - and then the full orchestra of 21st century military forces; maritime, land, air, space, cyber, multi domain operations and we know that we are at the bottom of a trajectory there," he said.
"You can trace that to the end of the Cold War. So our forces have never been less ready in terms of size, training and general readiness to take on this kind of problem."
At least 902 civilians have been killed and 1,459 injured in Ukraine, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) has said.
Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, the OHCHR said.
The actual toll is thought to be considerably higher since the OHCHR, which has a large monitoring team in the country, has not yet been able to receive or verify casualty reports from several badly hit cities including Mariupol, it said.
Amid the killing, hopes of a ceasefire are rising. But might Putin’s ‘peace plan’ be just another trick? Experts are divided, write Richard Woods and Paul Nuki.
You can read their full analysis here.
Inna Sovsun, a Ukrainian MP, has told Times Radio she believes thousands of Ukrainians are being "forced to sign papers" and "work for free", claiming it is effectively slave labour.
She said: "So from what we know from the city mayor and the city council, they're taking Ukrainian citizens, they're sending them through what are called the filtration camps and then they're being relocated to very distant parts of Russia, where they're being forced to sign papers (saying) that they will stay in that area for two or three years and they will work for free in those areas.
Asked if this was slave labour, she said: "It is, yes. It is."
Pope Francis spoke about his visit yesterday to a Rome hospital that is treating children wounded in Ukraine.
"One was missing an arm and another had a head wound," he said.
He also asked people to guard against potential human trafficking of those fleeing Ukraine.
"Let's think about these women, these children ... who are without work, separated from their husbands. They will be sought by the 'vultures' of society. Please. Let's protect them," he said.
Germany and Qatar have reached a long-term energy partnership, a German official has said, as Europe's biggest economy seeks to become less dependent on Russian energy sources.
It comes after Boris Johnson travelled to Saudi Arabia as the UK looked to make similar changes to its energy security.
Russia is the largest supplier of gas to Germany and Robert Habeck, the country's economy minister, has launched several initiatives to lessen Germany's energy dependence on Russia.
A spokesperson for the German economics ministry said: "The companies that have come to Qatar with (Habeck) will now enter into contract negotiations with the Qatari side."
Ten million people have now fled their homes in Ukraine due to Russia's "devastating" war, the United Nations refugees chief has said.
"The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million have fled either displaced inside the country, or as refugees abroad," the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Twitter.
On his trip to Poland and the generosity of people both there and in the UK, David Cameron said: "There's a great sense here of what people are living through on the other side of the border, and a great sense of wanting to help.
"And I know people back at home in the UK are incredibly generous with donations to a small project like The Chippy Larder but more generally to the Disasters Emergency Committee and other things.
"And I'm sure people will be very generous in welcoming Ukrainian refugees into their homes and communities. "
Sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine are hurting its economy and President Vladimir Putin, France's finance minister has said, adding that banning Russian oil and gas imports into the European Union remained an option for Paris.
"They're hurting the Russian state and they're hurting Vladimir Putin," Bruno Le Maire told LCI television in an interview.
Le Maire said: "Should we in the immediate stop buying Russian oil, should a little bit further down the line we stop importing Russian gas? The president has never ruled out these options."
David Cameron has told Times Radio the West should be "permanently ratcheting up the sanctions" against Russia as the war in Ukraine continues.
"Nato has shown itself very united. I think we've seen a lot of Western unity more generally. I think that the wake up call that it's given, with the increased defence spending from countries like Germany, with the focus on energy security, with the Nato unity, the Western unity, I think the response has been good," he said.
"We've got to keep doing everything we can. That means arming and helping the Ukrainian army, it means helping with humanitarian aid. I think there's more we can do there. And I think it's about permanently ratcheting up the sanctions."
Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, has said that he hoped the current energy price shock to inflation rates would last a matter of months and that he did not see a years-long inflationary spiral in European Union economies.
"I cannot give a precise date, it may be during 2023," Le Maire, adding that energy prices would fall back to more reasonable levels once Europe cut back on its gas and oil imports from Russia.
"I don't think we have entered an inflationary spiral."
Pope Francis has called the conflict in Ukraine an unjustified "senseless massacre" and asked leaders to stop "this repugnant war".
"The violent aggression against Ukraine is unfortunately not slowing down," he told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square for his weekly Sunday address and blessing.
"It is a senseless massacre where every day slaughters and atrocities are being repeated," he said.
Austria has unveiled a 2 billion euro package to help households and businesses shoulder massive increases in energy prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The measures include increasing subsidies for commuters by half, funding price cuts for public transport and cutting surcharges on natural gas and electricity.
"Many people depend on their car and cannot switch over at short notice. These people must be helped. We also support companies that are suffering now from high energy prices," the finance ministry said.
Air Marshal Philip Osborn told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News Russian forces are "demoralised because they were poorly prepared and proven to be inadequate", and are now stalled because they have "lost momentum".
He added: "We are seeing them pull resources and manpower from across Russia, even from Syria, and that is not a good indication for a supposed superpower.
"They are stalled because they are running out of options.
"Really what is left to them now is to double down on brute force to put pressure on the Ukrainian government."
Olha Stefanishyna said Ukraine was still open to talks with Russia but added the country was not prepared to give up some territory to Russia, adding that the priority is a ceasefire.
The deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: "Absolutely not. Ukrainian territory is a territory which has been fixed in 1991.
"Within its entirety and internationally recognised border, it's not only the position of Ukraine, it's the position of the whole world enshrined in numerous decisions of the UN Security Council... so that is not an option for discussion.
"Of course, there might be room for discussion on the reintegration of those territories that have been under occupation for the last eight years."
She added: "I can say that the feeling of the political priority is still there, while the ultimate agenda of today is the the ceasefire and the security guarantees."
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani received Robert Habeck, the German economy minister, where the two discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations, particularly in the energy sector, the Emiri court said in a statement today.
Germany is exploring ways to diversify its sources of liquefied natural gas in a bid to make the country less dependent on Russia.
The first units deploying the Patriot air defence system have started arriving from Nato partner countries in Slovakia and the deployment will continue in the coming days, Jaroslav Nad, the Slovak Defence Minister said.
The system will be operated by German and Dutch troops and will initially be deployed at the Sliac airport in central Slovakia to help reinforce defence of Nato's eastern flank.
It comes after the UK committed to deploying the British Army’s Sky Sabre air-defence missile system to Poland along with 100 troops to protect Polish air space from “Russian aggression”.
The deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine said she was determined to put soldiers on trial after fellow Ukrainian MPs reported that women in areas under military bombardment are being raped and executed by Russian soldiers.
Olha Stefanishyna said she shed tears after hearing the reports of what was reportedly happening to women during the war, but added she has "a very strong aggression to make sure that each and every military criminal who has committed these crimes are held to account."
She told Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "We have more than 2,000 cases, criminal cases, open in our executives office.
"Each and every soldier who has committed this war crime, by order or not, will be held accountable. Be sure, Russian soldiers, that we see it all and Ukrainian women, we will stand for each other and we will prevail."
Ukraine may be able to withstand the Russian invasion for "as long as we can supply them (with weaponry) and for as long as their morale holds up," the former head of the UK's Defence Intelligence has said.
Air Marshal Philip Osborn told Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "We need to bear in mind that they have been preparing for this.
"This, for most of the West started three weeks ago - for Ukraine, this started nearly a decade ago. They have had time to prepare and think.
"Frankly, I think they will hold out as long as we can supply them and for as long as their morale holds up, and those are two very easy things to say but really challenging to do.
However, Ukrainian politicians have not been as optimistic.
Olha Stefanishyna, the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, also told the programme that "it's absolutely clear that only a Ukrainian army, and only a Ukrainian president, will not be able to withstand it alone."
A Ukrainian politician has said the situation in her country is becoming "more and more severe" as the war with Russia wages on.
Olha Stefanishyna, the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said Ukrainian forces resisting against the Russians were facing "severe attacks" over the past 15 days.
She told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: "Russia has committed nearly all possible war crimes which humanity has seen over the Second World War.
"The number of civilian victims is far more than those from the armed forces of Ukraine. It is absolutely essential that no one is getting used to the war.
"We've said we will resist and we will go stronger regardless of any attempt by the Russian federation, which has failed so far in its majority."
Ukraine sees a high risk of an attack on western Ukraine's Volyn region being launched from Belarus, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said today.
The Russian invasion has mostly focused on northern, southern and eastern areas of Ukraine, though missiles also hit the Yavoriv military base last week, close to the Polish border.
It was not immediately clear whether Ukraine saw the threat of an attack on Volyn from Russian forces or the Belarusian military, which has so far not publicly committed troops to supporting Russia.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister told Hurriyet daily on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine were getting closer to an agreement on "critical" issues and have nearly agreed on some subjects.
Mr Cavusoglu also said that he was hopeful for a ceasefire if the sides don't take a step back from the progress they have made towards an agreement.
The Russian defence ministry has claimed that it has once again used hypersonic missiles against targets in Kostyantynivka in the Mykolaiv region.
The Kremlin deployed its newest Kinzhal (‘Dagger’) missiles on Friday to destroy a weapons storage site.
Putin described the weapons as "invincible" when he unveiled them in 2018. Russian hypersonic missiles were thought to have been used for the first time in Syria in 2016.
You can read more about these weapons here from Dominic Nicholls, our Defence and Security Editor.
Berlin has supplied just one-fifth of missiles pledged in response to Russian invasion, with many held up by red tape, writes Henry Bodkin, our Senior Reporter, and Jorg Luyken:
You can read their full piece here.
Authorities in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv say at least five civilians have been killed in the latest Russian shelling.
Regional police in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, said the victims of the Russian artillery attack early Sunday included a nine-year-old boy.
Kharkiv has been besieged by Russian forces since the start of the invasion and has come under a relentless barrage.
The strategic port city is now beyond help, admits adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, as the Kremlin’s infantry, tanks and artillery roll in, writes Colin Freeman.
You can read the full piece here.
Writing for the Telegraph, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has said "the UK has always been a place of sanctuary which stands for freedom and democracy, and against barbarism and tyranny."
You can read her full piece here.
Russia says that it had again fired its newest hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, destroying a fuel storage site in the country's south.
"Kinzhal aviation missile systems with hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large storage site for fuels and lubricants of the Ukrainian armed forces near the settlement of Kostyantynivka in the Mykolaiv region," the Russian defence ministry said.
Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, said seven humanitarian corridors would open on Sunday to enable civilians to leave frontline areas.
Britons who take in Ukrainian refugees will only get the ￡350-a-month payments for the first year despite their stay in the country lasting for up to three years, writes Ben Riley-Smith, our Political Editor.
Full details of how the new sponsorship scheme, which will allow people in the UK to offer spare rooms to Ukrainians fleeing the conflict, have emerged via Government sources.
The scheme, drawn up by Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, launches tomorrow with aspects of the approach still under development.
You can read the full details here on how it is expected to work, including how you can go about sponsoring a refugee from Ukraine.
Russia struck Ukraine on Sunday with cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, the Interfax news agency has reported.
Mariupol's city council have claimed that Russian forces have bombed an art school in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where about 400 residents had taken shelter.
There was no immediate word of casualties from the attack on Saturday, although the council said the building was destroyed and there were victims under the rubble.
Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
"To do such a thing to a peaceful city, what the occupiers have done, this is a terror that will be remembered even in the next century," he said.
He added that Russian shelling is blocking efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies to Ukrainian cities.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered to suspend activities of 11 political parties with links to Russia.
The largest of them is the Opposition Platform for Life, which has 44 out of 450 seats in the country's parliament. The party is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who has friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk's daughter.
Also on the list is the Nashi (Ours) party led by Yevheniy Murayev. Before the Russian invasion. the British authorities had warned that Russia wanted to install Murayev as the leader of Ukraine.
Speaking in a video address early Sunday, Zelensky said that "given a large-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation and links between it and some political structures, the activities of a number of political parties is suspended for the period of the martial law." He added that "activities by politicians aimed at discord and collaboration will not succeed."
Some Syrian paramilitary fighters say they are ready to deploy to Ukraine to fight in support of their ally Russia but have not yet received instructions to go, two of their commanders told Reuters.
Nabil Abdallah, a commander in the paramilitary National Defence Forces (NDF), said he was ready to use expertise in urban combat gained during the Syrian war to aid Russia, speaking to Reuters by phone from the Syrian town of Suqaylabiyah.
"Once we get instructions from the Syrian and Russian leadership, we will fight this righteous war," Mr Abdallah said on March 14, four days after President Vladimir Putin gave a green light for 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to deploy in Ukraine.
"We don't fear this war and are ready for it once instructions come to go and join. We will show them what they never saw ... We will wage street wars and (apply) tactics we acquired during our battles that defeated the terrorists in Syria," he added.
Ukraine has enough wheat, corn and other basic food reserves to last it until 2023, the deputy head of the presidential office, Rostislav Shurma, reportedly said.
"Today there are enough reserves of wheat, corn, sunflower oil and basic products in warehouses for 3-5 years. We will definitely feed ourselves".
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has opened up diplomatic and commercial opportunities for gas exporter Qatar to expand energy sales to the West and bolster its alliance with Washington amid US tensions with other Gulf Arab states.
Qatar has sought a largely neutral stance on the conflict, but while trying to avoid choosing sides, it has signalled through its response that it can offer significant political and economic assistance to Western partners.
With many European energy importers looking urgently for ways to ease their heavy dependence on Russia, Qatar has suggested it could direct more gas in future to Europe.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in contrast have resisted Western calls for a rapid rise in oil output to contain a jump in crude prices caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
One of Europe's biggest iron and steel works, Azovstal, has been badly damaged as Russian forces lay siege to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, officials said on Sunday.
"One of the biggest metallurgic plants in #Europe destroyed. The economic losses for #Ukraine are huge. The environment is devastated," tweeted Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko.
Ms Vasylenko posted a video of explosions on an industrial site, with thick columns of grey and black smoke rising from the buildings.
One of her colleagues, Serhiy Taruta, wrote on Facebook that Russian forces "had practically destroyed the factory".
"We will return to the city, rebuild the enterprise and revive it," Azovstal's director general Enver Tskitishvili wrote on messaging app Telegram, without specifying the extent of the damage.
Russian troops have reportedly blocked a convoy of busses en route to pick up fleeing Mariupol residents, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia's siege of the port city of Mariupol was "a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come", while local authorities said thousands of residents there had been taken by force to Russia.
"Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents were deported onto the Russian territory," the city council said in a statement on its Telegram channel late on Saturday.
Russian news agencies have said buses have carried several hundred people Moscow calls refugees from the strategic port on the Sea of Azov to Russia in recent days.
Some 400,000 people have been trapped in Mariupol for more than two weeks, sheltering from heavy bombardment that has severed central supplies of electricity, heating and water, according to local authorities.
China stands on the right side of history over the Ukraine crisis as time will tell, and its position is in line with the wishes of most countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
"China will never accept any external coercion or pressure, and opposes any unfounded accusations and suspicious against China," Mr Wang said.
Mr Wang's comments came after US President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Friday of "consequences" if Beijing gave material support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
During the video call, Mr Xi told Mr Biden the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible and called on NATO nations to hold a dialogue with Moscow. He did not, however, assign blame to Russia, according to Beijing's statements about the call.
Australia expanded its sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine Sunday, immediately banning all exports of alumina and bauxite while pledging more weapons and humanitarian assistance.
The export ban aims to impact aluminium production in Russia, which relies on Australia for 20 percent of its alumina.
It comes just days after Canberra sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who owns a stake in Queensland Alumina Limited - a joint venture between Russian aluminium company Rusal and mining giant Rio Tinto, which has vowed to sever all business ties with Russia.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government was working with partners to "put the maximum cost, the maximum pressure on the Putin regime to withdraw from Ukraine".
In a video post from a rubble-strewn street, Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin told President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron that they had promised assistance "but what we have received is not quite it".
He urged them to save the civilian population.
"Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it has been wiped off the face of the earth," he said speaking in Russian in the video filmed on Friday.
In it, flames can be seen coming from several buildings while others were decimated in the city on the Sea of Azov that before the Russian invasion had 440,000 people. Apparent explosions could also be heard.
"You have promised that there will be help, give us that help. Biden, Macron, you are great leaders. Be them to the end," he said.
Mr Vershnin said the city was facing the fate of the Syrian city of Aleppo that was destroyed in 2016 in a Russian-backed siege during Syria's revolution-turned-civil war. Russia helped Syrian President Bashar Assad's government with a ruthless strategy by locking sieges around opposition-held areas, bombarding and starving them until the population's ability to hold out collapsed.
Years ago, Mariupol also endured fierce fighting against Russian-backed separatists after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, but managed to beat back repeated assaults.
When three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, some saw a message in them wearing the colours of the Ukrainian flag. They shot that down on Saturday.
Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev said each crew picked the colour of the flight suits about six months before launch because they needed to be individually sewn. And since all three of them were graduates of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, they chose the colours of their prestigious alma mater.
"There is no need to look for any hidden signs or symbols in our uniform," Artemyev said in a statement on the Russian space agency's Telegram channel.
"A colour is simply a colour. It is not in any way connected to Ukraine. Otherwise, we would have to recognise its rights to the yellow sun in the blue sky.
"These days, even though we are in space, we are together with our president and our people!"
Since Russia invaded Ukraine a little over three weeks ago, many people have used the Ukrainian flag and its colours to show solidarity with the country.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the space agency Roscosmos, reiterated Artemyev's point in a tweet, posting a picture of the university's blue and gold coat of arms.
Shortly after their arrival at the orbiting station on Friday, Artemyev was asked about the flight suits. He said there was a lot of the yellow material in storage and "that's why we had to wear yellow".
Russian cosmonauts arrive in space wearing colours of the Ukrainian flag
Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for an EU army risks destabilising Europe, Poland’s deputy prime minister has warned, describing the military assistance of the US and UK as “more important”.
Piotr Glinski said the Ukrainian resistance proved that a willingness to fight was the “most important” factor, and he doubted if contemporary Europe was ready for such a conflict.
Germany has failed to deliver its historic pledge to provide arms to Ukraine, ministers have said, amid reports that weapons have been held up by red tape and are too old to be used.
Berlin has supplied just one-fifth of the missiles it promised in response to the Russian invasion, with the lack of weapons causing increasing frustration inside Ukraine.
Oleksiy Reznikov, the Ukrainian defence minister, told Paul Grob, the UWC president, on Saturday that most of the lethal aid had failed to arrive as it was “caught up in bureaucracy”.
“The Germans made a very important historic decision that they would supply arms and military support to Ukraine,” Mr Grob told The Telegraph.
“When we meet with the German Foreign Ministry they keep saying ‘it’s coming, it’s coming’, but the Ukrainians tell us ‘nothing is coming’. That’s critical.”
Read the full story here.
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