MAIN HEADLINES

• 516 civilians have been killed and 908 injured according to the UN Human Rights Office

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has posted a video showing the wreckage of what he claimed was a maternity hospital hit by Russian airstrikes. He asked, "How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now!" and described the destruction as an "atrocity."

• The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is under the joint control of Russian forces and Ukrainian specialists, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated, reported Interfax. 

• The loss of power at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine does not have any critical impact on safety, the U.N. nuclear watchdog stated.

• The U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, stated that Ukraine has biological research facilities, adding that Washington and Kyiv are working to prevent biological research facilities from falling into Russian hands.

• The Russian Foreign Ministry has demanded that the U.S. provide detailed information about the work done by biological laboratories in Ukraine, accusing it of attempting to conceal evidence of work with "highly hazardous pathogens of plague, anthrax, rabbit-fever, cholera and other lethal diseases," in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention. The claim comes after Russian authorities discovered documents from staff at Ukrainian laboratories.

• Washington has rejected a Polish offer to hand its Russia-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine that is desperate for protection from the air.

• The last batch of Chinese students to be evacuated from Ukraine have reached Lviv after a 1,000-kilometer journey from Sumy in the north of Ukraine. More than 100 made the journey and will now head south to Slovakia.

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the international community would be responsible for a mass "humanitarian catastrophe" if it did not agree to a no-fly zone to protect the country.

• Members of Russia's National Guard have detained more than 400 people in Ukraine's Kherson region who protested against the occupation by Russian forces, Ukraine's military high command said.

• Both Russia and Ukraine said they would "observe a regime of silence" from 0700 GMT to provide safe passage for civilians wanting to leave Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol.

• The Russian foreign ministry said that its goals in Ukraine would be better achieved through talks and that it does not plan to overthrow the country's government.

• Beer giant Heineken halts brewing and sales in Russia, with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and coffee chain Starbucks also suspending operations.

IN DETAIL 

Ceasefire and corridors 

Russia announced a new ceasefire in Ukraine on Wednesday to let civilians flee besieged cities, but there were only limited signs of progress providing escape routes for hundreds of thousands of people trapped without medicine or freshwater.

The governor of Sumy, an eastern city, said civilian cars were leaving for a second day through a safe corridor set up to Poltava further west.

But by midday in Ukraine, there was no confirmation that any of the other evacuation corridors had been successfully opened, including a route out of Mariupol, seen as the most urgent, where the Red Cross has described conditions as "apocalyptic."

The mayor of Enerhodar, near the site of Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, which Russian forces seized last week in a battle that raised international alarm, said humanitarian supplies would be allowed in, and buses would take residents out on the way back.

The most significant humanitarian concern is Mariupol, a southern port surrounded by Russian troops for more than a week.

Residents there have been sheltering underground from relentless bombardment, unable to evacuate their wounded, and with no access to food, water, power, or heat. Local ceasefires to let them leave have failed since Saturday.

Kyiv said 30 buses and eight trucks of supplies failed to reach it on Tuesday after they came under Russian shelling in violation of the ceasefire. Moscow has blamed Kyiv for failing to halt fire.

Later on Wednesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of holding 400,000 residents of Mariupol hostage by shelling the southern Ukrainian port city despite efforts to establish a safe evacuation corridor for civilians.

"Almost 3,000 newborn babies lack medicine and food," he posted on Twitter. "Russia continues holding hostage over 400,000 people in Mariupol, blocks humanitarian aid and evacuation. Indiscriminate shelling continues."

Russia has consistently denied targeting civilians in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Biological laboratory claims

Russia demanded the U.S. explain its involvement in what Moscow branded as a 'biological weapons program' in Ukraine. 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova demanded transparency from Washington over the allegation, which both Kyiv and the Pentagon denied.

"We can already conclude that in Ukrainian biological laboratories in direct proximity to the territory of our country, development of components of biological weapons was being carried out," she said.

Zakharova said Russia had documents showing that the Ukrainian health ministry had ordered the destruction of samples of plague, cholera, anthrax, and other pathogens after February 24. CGTN Europe has requested the documents that at the time of writing do not appear to have been independently verified. 

Her comments came after testimony from the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, at a Washington Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing, on Tuesday. 

Responding to a question on whether Ukraine has "chemical or biological weapons"， Nuland said, "Ukraine has biological research facilities," adding that the U.S. was "working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces, should they approach." 

Nuland, who has a long history of working in Ukraine, added that it would be beyond doubt that Russia would be responsible should there be a "biological or chemical weapon incident or attack inside of Ukraine."   

In response to earlier Russian allegations about the purported military biological program in Ukraine, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday: "This absurd Russian misinformation is patently false."

A Ukrainian presidential spokesperson said: "Ukraine strictly denies any such allegation."

Zakharova said the alleged program was financed by the Pentagon. "We are not talking here about peaceful uses or scientific goals... What were you up to there?" she said.

"The U.S. Defense Department and the presidential administration of the U.S. are obliged to officially explain to the global community, officially, not through talking heads, about the programs in Ukraine.

"We demand details," she said. "We demand, and the world awaits."

Zakharova said it was not clear if the alleged materials had indeed been destroyed, adding: "Have they fallen into the hands of extremists or nationalists - who will provide a guarantee?"

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday, also urged the U.S. to disclose more information about the biological laboratories it runs in Ukraine and guarantee their safety.

Jets deal rejected

Any supply of fighter jets to Ukraine must be done jointly by NATO countries, the Polish prime minister said on Wednesday, after Washington rejected Poland's offer to fly all its MIG-29 jets to a U.S. airbase with a view to them being given to Kyiv.

Asked about the offer of Polish MIGs, the Kremlin described it as a potentially dangerous and undesirable scenario. 

Ukraine has pleaded with Western nations to provide fighter jets to counter the Russian invasion. Some U.S. lawmakers have been pushing President Joe Biden's administration to facilitate the transfer of aircraft.

On Tuesday, Poland said it was ready to deploy all its MIG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and put them at the disposal of the U.S., urging other NATO members to do the same. But the Pentagon later dismissed the offer as not "tenable." 

Food crisis 

The conflict in Ukraine is threatening global grain production the supply of edible oils and fertilizer exports, sending basic commodity prices rocketing and mirroring the crisis in energy markets.

The burgeoning crisis is set to intensify as Ukraine's government has banned exports including rye, barley, sugar and meat until the end of this year, according to a Kyiv cabinet resolution published on Wednesday.

Moscow has now signaled it will take a similar approach. Russia must prioritize grain supplies to domestic bakeries over export markets, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said as he unveiled new measures to support the sanctions damaged economy.

"This is important to keep the food market in balance, and we are closely monitoring prices for the most essential social goods such as food, including bread," he told a governmental meeting.

According to the United Nations food agency, world food prices rose to a record high in February to post a year-on-year increase of 20.7%, while many markets have continued to climb this month. 

Refugees

Thousands more Ukrainian refugees fled to central and eastern Europe on Wednesday, many with no contacts and nowhere to go, as host countries scrambled to accommodate them.

The UNHCR is planning a cash program for refugees to help them pay rent in private accommodation. "It will start hopefully by this week in Poland," Grandi said. "We will try to do this to complement what governments are doing."

The United Nations' plans are based on four million refugees arriving, but Grandi said the number would likely have to be revised upwards.

More than 1.3 million people have crossed into Poland since the war began, while nearly 320,000 have crossed into Romania - more than half entering via non-EU member Moldova - and 153,000 having entered Slovakia, officials said.

Cover image: A wounded serviceman of Ukrainian Military Forces smokes after the battle with Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Lugansk. /AFP/Anatolii Stepanov