Russia-Ukraine war live updates: US rushing $200 million in weapons for Ukraine's defence

The UN Security Council scheduled a meeting Friday at Russia's request to discuss what Moscow claims are ``the military biological activities of the US on the territory of Ukraine,'' allegations vehemently denied by the Biden administration. ``This is exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack,`` Olivia Dalton, spokesperson for the US Mission to the United Nations said late Thursday. ``We're not going to let Russia gaslight the world or use the UN Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation."

Indian students, who were stuck in beleaguered Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, said it was a "miracle" to survive the war and they were now "relieved" to have finally reached Delhi on Friday morning. Dheeraj Kumar, a sixth year medical student in Sumy State University, said he was pleased to see his parents at the Indira Gandhi international airport.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians remained trapped in Ukrainian cities on Thursday, sheltering from Russian air raids and shelling as talks between Ukraine and Russia's foreign ministers made little apparent progress. With Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine entering its third week, officials in Mariupol said Russian warplanes again bombed the encircled southern port city where a maternity hospital was pulverised on Wednesday.