Russia-Ukraine War Highlights: Ukraine envoy warns of Putin nuclear danger; food prices could rise 20%; fresh UK sanctions

And with that haunting image, we wrap up our coverage of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thank you for joining us today, and do not forget to come back when we resume our coverage of the war. Good night, and good luck!

Ukrainian civilians who volunteered to join the Territorial Defence Forces train with weapons in Odessa on Friday. (Image: Reuters).

Russian strikes in west Ukraine aimed at halting use of airfields: US 

The United States assesses that Russian strikes in western Ukraine in the past 24 hours were aimed at preventing airfields from being used by Ukrainian forces, a senior US defence official said on Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, could not say the extent to which targeted airfields had been used by Ukraine's air force.

Broader war in Ukraine could displace 15 million: Swiss minister

A broader war in Ukraine could displace 15 million people, Switzerland's justice minister said on Friday, citing estimates from the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. "If you assume the hostilities continue, that the Russian army advances more strongly in the West (of Ukraine), that perhaps there are escape corridors, then it could be that practically 1 million people leave the country each week," Karin Keller-Sutter told a news conference in Bern on the Swiss approach to taking in refugees.

"There are now estimates from UNHCR that you have to reckon with around 15 million displaced persons -- that is the highest number...It is said around half the population minus men who are of course in the armed forces and defending the country."

A UNHCR spokesperson said the agency had not for now revised its initial projection for 4 million refugees leaving the country but it was closely following the situation. United Nations agencies have said more than 2.5 million refugees have fled the fighting in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on February 24. Moscow denies it has been targeting civilians in what it calls a "special operation" to disarm and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

Germany open to ramping up EU military aid to Ukraine, Scholz says

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expects the European Union to go along with a proposal to double the bloc's military aid to Ukraine. "I believe nobody thought he (EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell) is wrong when he says the European Union should further engage in this issue," Scholz told reporters after a meeting of EU leaders in Versailles.

He was responding to a question on whether the summit had agreed on Borrell's proposal to double the EU's military aid by earmarking another 500 million euros for this purpose. "This sum is on the table," Scholz added.

El Salvador says Ukraine is factor in bitcoin-backed bond timing

El Salvador is looking for the right timing to launch a bitcoin-backed bond, which could happen between March 15 and 20 but may depend on the war in Ukraine, the Central American nation's finance minister Alejandro Zelaya said on Friday. President Nayib Bukele aims to issue his country's first-ever $1 billion bitcoin-backed bond this month and use the proceeds to buy more cryptocurrencies and build "Bitcoin City" - a planned metropolis that would use geothermal energy from a nearby volcano to "mine" the digital coins. "We believe that between March 15 and 20 is the right timing, we have the tools almost finished. But the international context will tell us ... I didn't expect the war in Ukraine," Zelaya told a local TV channel.

European bank looking at ways to let Ukrainian refugees convert cash

The European Central Bank is working on a financial facility to let millions of Ukrainian refugees convert their savings into hard currency, to help them make a new start in Europe as they flee war at home, three sources with direct knowledge said.

Over two million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's shock invasion last month and their numbers could swell to over five million within weeks.

Many of them are struggling to buy even basic necessities as their savings in hryvnia are non-convertible across most of Europe, meaning they have no means to exchange them at reasonable rates. That in turn leaves them prey to unscrupulous traders offering ultra-low rates of exchange.

Several ECB policymakers, primarily from the bloc's east, asked ECB chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday for a joint solution and the bank is now scrambling to design a facility. "This would be a humanitarian, goodwill effort, rather than a regular policy instrument, but we are still bound by laws so it's not like we could just say, come, we'll covert it for you," one of the sources said. "But we have days, not weeks to figure it out."

The sources said that EU leaders were also pressuring the bank to act and had asked the ECB to speed up its efforts.

Russia may use chemical weapons in false flag attack: Official

Russia might use chemical weapons in Ukraine in a "false flag" attack to provide a retrospective justification for its invasion, but there is nothing to suggest a broader use of such weapons in the war, a Western official said.

"We think that chemical weapons could be used in a false flag attack to provide a retrospective justification for Russia's invasion of Ukraine," the official said on Friday. "The context that we've been looking at it in is from a false flag perspective. Clearly, whilst the Russians are highly likely to have a chemical weapons capability, there is nothing to suggest that they intend to use at this point in a major escalation of the current conflict."

Putin tells Lukashenko sanctions are 'attempts to limit' Russia's development.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart and close ally Alexander Lukashenko met in Moscow on Friday to "discuss developments in Ukraine", an official Kremlin statement said. 

According to the statement, Putin claimed the "overall developments (in Ukraine) are positive," and, referring to the recent host of sanctions impost on his country, added, "Of course, there are also problems caused by the current events, the restrictions and sanctions we all know of, and so on ... we have seen this before – attempts to limit our development, to contain it. Now they are being made on a larger scale."

Putin added that "negotiations ... are now being held almost on a daily basis. There are certain positive shifts there, as our negotiators have reported to me."
 

EU plans to present proposals by mid-May on eliminating dependency on Russian energy by 2027

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that the European Union plans to present proposals by mid-May on eliminating its dependency on Russian energy by 2027. “By mid-May, we will come up with a proposal to phase out our dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal by 2027, backed by the necessary national and European resources,” said von der Leyen, speaking alongside EU Council President Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron following the EU leaders’ summit on Ukraine in Versailles, France. 

Ukraine must sow as many crops as possible this spring: Zelenskyy

Ukraine must sow as many crops as possible this spring, despite the Russian invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday. "This spring, as much as any spring, we must make a full-fledged sowing campaign. As much as possible," Zelenskiy said in a televised statement. "Because it's about life. About our life. About our future," he added.

Ukraine is a major global producer and exporter of grain and vegetable oils, but officials and farmers expect a decline in the 2022 harvest and exports due to the war. Ukraine's agriculture producers' union said earlier on Friday farmers were likely to reduce the area sown to sunseed, rapeseed and corn this year, replacing them with cereals - buckwheat, oats and millet.

NATO chief says Ukraine needs more than 'bare minimum' humanitarian corridors

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that humanitarian corridors constituted the "bare minimum" of what Ukraine needs at this moment, and called on Russia to withdraw its forces and engage in diplomatic efforts in good faith.

Talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Turkey on Thursday made no apparent progress towards a ceasefire as the conflict entered its third week.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a forum in Antalya, Turkey, Stoltenberg said talks between the warring parties were important, but added any real solution was dependent on Russia withdrawing its troops. "I continue to believe it is important that we work hard for a political, diplomatic solution," Stoltenberg said. "The bare minimum is to establish humanitarian corridors where people can get out and humanitarian aid can get in."

He said the nuclear rhetoric from Russian President Vladimir Putin was "dangerous" and "reckless", and reiterated that NATO would not send troops or jets into Ukraine despite the repeated appeals from Ukrainian officials.

Attack on Ukrainian capital could happen 'at any moment': Brother of Kyiv mayor

Wladimir Klitschko, a member of Ukraine's territorial defence forces, former boxing champion and brother of Kyiv’s mayor, told CNN that Russian troops have been attacking areas in the entire country of Ukraine today, with their main target being the capital of Kyiv. "In the next upcoming days, we're expecting significant attack on the capital. They are regrouping. They're trying to find different strategies and trying to find the right way and the right timing. So every hour counts, and then we're expecting an attack on the capital at any moment, especially, as I said, the next coming days. Their target is the capital," Klitschko said. (Image: Reuters)