Russia’s massive assault on Ukraine is providing Western intelligence agencies and analysts with a rare live opportunity to verify their assessments of the Russian army’s strengths and weaknesses in the field.

The Pentagon on Wednesday conclusively rejected as too “high risk” a plan to transfer fighter jets from Poland to Kyiv to battle Russian forces, pouring cold water for now on Ukraine’s bid for more firepower in the skies.

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.

Russian firms have encountered problems in securing financing for April contracts to sell crude and oil products, but the situation can be resolved, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency on Thursday.

China has refused to supply Russian airlines with aircraft parts, an official at Russia's aviation authority was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on Thursday, after Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA) halted supply of components.

The body of slain sailor Hadisur Rahman is in the process of being brought from Ukraine to Bangladesh via Romania and could reach Romania tomorrow, Bangladesh Ambassador to Poland, Sultana Laila, told The Daily Star today.

Ukraine said on Thursday Moscow had snubbed its plea for humanitarian access to rescue hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped under bombardment, as the opposing sides yielded nothing at the highest level talks since the Russian invasion began.

Ukrainian's president accused Russia of carrying out genocide after officials said Russian aircraft bombed a children's hospital on Wednesday, burying patients in rubble despite a ceasefire deal for people to flee the besieged city of Mariupol.

A Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital Wednesday in the besieged port city of Mariupol and wounded at least 17 people, Ukrainian officials said, amid growing warnings from the West that Moscow’s invasion is about to take a more brutal and indiscriminate turn.

Moscow yesterday said it does not intend to occupy Ukraine or overthrow its government as Russia and Ukraine agreed to open more humanitarian corridors to evacuate terrified civilians from bombarded cities.

As the 28 sailors came out of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s arrivals terminal one after the other, one pained cry stood out among the otherwise cheerful sounds of happy reunions.

Now that he was alive and heading towards Lviv, the Ukrainian city near the border with Poland, it was some sort of a miracle for Rubaiyat Habib.

Russia yesterday said the United States must explain what Moscow claims was a military biological programme in Ukraine - an allegation Washington has already dismissed as “absurd” misinformation.

Power has been cut to the Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, Ukraine said yesterday, but the UN’s atomic watchdog said

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is no longer pressing for Nato membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia’s stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbor.

US intelligence chiefs on Tuesday branded Russia’s Vladimir Putin an “angry,” isolated leader craving global clout, frustrated about how his Ukraine invasion has not gone to plan, and lobbing provocative nuclear threats at the West.

The Kremlin yesterday accused the United States of declaring an economic war on Russia that was sowing mayhem through energy markets, and it put Washington on notice it was considering its response to a ban on Russian oil and energy.

US officials have demanded Venezuela supply at least a portion of oil exports to the United States as part of any agreement to ease oil trading sanctions on the OPEC member nation, two people close to the matter said.

The Kremlin accused the United States on Wednesday of declaring an economic war on Russia that was sowing mayhem through energy markets, and put Washington on notice it was considering its response to a ban on Russian oil and energy.