President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 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.

Thousands of tourists from Russia are currently stranded in Thailand, officials said on Tuesday, as unprecedented Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine put a squeeze on Russians struggling to find flights and finances.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address British lawmakers via videolink in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the first time a president of another country has addressed the main Westminster chamber.

Energy giant Shell said Tuesday that it will stop buying Russian oil and natural gas and shut down its service stations, aviation fuels and other operations in the country amid international pressure for companies to sever ties over the invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter.

An 11-year-old boy from Ukraine has crossed the border into Slovakia with just a plastic bag, a passport and a telephone number written on his hand, Slovak police said Sunday.

Seventeen citizens of Bangladesh, Nepal, Tunisia and Pakistan along with Indian students numbering around 570 have been evacuated by India from Sumy city, one of the worst-hit areas in northeastern Ukraine, Indian media reported today.

The number of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine has now increased to 2 million, the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday.

Recent data shows Russia has become the world’s most sanctioned country due to its war on Ukraine, The Star reports quoting Bernama.

The 28 crew members of the Bangladeshi ship “Banglar Samriddhi”, who were stranded in war-ravaged Ukraine, will leave for Bangladesh from Romania’s capital Bucharest via a special flight this (March 8) evening.

Five Bangladeshi citizens -- reportedly detained at a camp in the Ukrainian city Zhuravychi -- informed The Daily Star of their sufferings. As their phones were seized, they lost means of communication. They were not being given enough food either, they said.

Ukraine's military intelligence on Tuesday said its forces killed a Russian general near the besieged city of Kharkiv, the second Russian senior commander to die in the invasion.

At least nine people, including two children, have died in an air strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, some 350 kilometres east of Kiev, the rescue services said Tuesday.

Russia planned to open humanitarian corridors in Ukraine Tuesday for civilians to flee besieged cities, but Kyiv insisted the move was a publicity stunt and people would not be able to escape.

Fears of an energy war between Russia and the West grew on Tuesday after the United States pushed its allies to ban Russian oil imports as punishment for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, where talks on humanitarian corridors made little progress.

Tens of thousands of Sydney residents have been told to evacuate their homes as severe storms and flash flooding inundated swathes of Australia's largest city Tuesday.

The World Bank said its executive board on Monday approved a $723 million package of loans and grants for Ukraine, providing desperately needed government budget support as the country battles a Russian invasion.

Moscow said yesterday it would provide corridors for residents of Ukraine’s two main cities to flee to Russia and Belarus, a move Ukraine called an “immoral” stunt to exploit the suffering of civilians under Russian bombardment.

Russian authorities have blocked several independent media outlets including news site Mediazona as the Kremlin seeks to control coverage of its war in Ukraine, a rights group said.

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda yesterday warned Washington’s top diplomat Antony Blinken that a failure to stop Russia’s aggression in Ukraine would lead to a global conflict.