Highlights of the news on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine: The UK Ministry of Defense said the large Russian column northwest of Kiev has made little progress in more than a week and is suffering continued casualties, Reuters reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky accused Russia of committing genocide on Wednesday after officials said Russian planes bombed a children’s hospital, despite a ceasefire agreement for people to flee the besieged city from Mariupol.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration claimed on Wednesday that Russia may seek to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine as the White House dismissed Russian allegations of illegal chemical weapons development in the country it invaded. , AP reported. Without providing any evidence, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova previously claimed that Ukraine was running chemical and biological weapons labs with US support. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Russia’s claim “absurd” and said it could be part of Russia’s attempt to lay the groundwork for itself in using such weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine, according to AP.

“All of this is an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify its new premeditated, unprovoked and unwarranted attack on Ukraine,” Psaki tweeted on Wednesday, adding, “Now that Russia has made these false claims and that China has apparently endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia possibly using chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or creating a false flag operation using them.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom have warned that radioactive substances could be released from Ukraine’s infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as it cannot cool spent nuclear fuel after the electrical connection has failed. been cut off by Russian attackers.

Here are the latest updates from the Russia-Ukraine war:

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