EU countries have already poured billions of euros into tax cuts and subsidies to combat surging energy bills - but with gas prices jumping to fresh records following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, countries are seeking extra options.

New cases over the previous 24 hours published on Sunday stood at 81,283, pushing a 7-day moving average to 89,002, compared with just over 60,000 average new cases one week earlier. The number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants also reached their highest value level since Feb. 18.

The UN health agency has previously said that the acute phase of the pandemic could end this year but it would depend on how quickly we meet its target to vaccinate 70 percent of the population in each country, among other factors.

Seeking to force a military withdrawal from Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the EU - along with Western allies - has already imposed a panoply of punishing sanctions including a freezing of the assets of the Russian central bank.

"There can be no talk of surrendering weapons. We have already informed the Russian side of this," Iryna Vereshchuk told Ukrainska Pravda newspaper.

Zelensky, speaking in his daily video appeal to Ukrainians after addressing Israel's parliament by video link, said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had been trying to act as an intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.

"Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, everywhere in the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes," said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.

"Le President est-il devenu fou?" (Has the president gone mad?) by Patrick Weil takes a fresh look at US president Woodrow Wilson (1913-21), who helped forge the Treaty of Versailles after World War I and tried to establish lasting peace through the creation of the League of Nations. 

The leaders of the world's two largest economies had a nearly two-hour phone call, focusing on Ukraine, where China's close ally Russia is in the fourth week of a bloody assault.

As companies and consumers alike labor under the strain with food and energy prices soaring to multi-decade highs, governments are pondering what means they have at their disposal to react and lessen the pain.

The 44-year-old delayed declaring his intention to seek re-election to the last possible moment and is now under pressure to engage with voters and rivals ahead of polls on April 10.

As the two countries draw closer, France has renewed its commitment to support both Indonesia’s energy transition, as well as sustainable finance – all part of an effort to increase its development portfolio in the Indo-Pacific region.

The announcement came as Russia launched fresh attacks in Ukraine's capital, which has nearly been encircled by Moscow's troops in the third week of the invasion and that has lost an estimated half of its 3.5-million pre-war population.

The joint action, announced by the Australian government late Monday, is being taken at the International Civil Aviation Organization and comes in addition to a Dutch criminal trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian accused of murder over their alleged involvement in the crash, which killed all 298 civilians on board.

Talks between Kyiv and Moscow - in which Arestovich is not personally involved - have so far produced very few results other than several humanitarian corridors out of besieged Ukrainian cities.

"We do have deep concerns about China's alignment with Russia," a senior US official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding: "It was a very candid conversation."

Separately, Ukraine's state nuclear operator Energoatom accused the Russian military of detonating ammunition at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in the country's south.

Cold Response 2022, planned long before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, aims to test how Norway would manage Allied reinforcements on its soil, in line with Article 5 of NATO's charter which requires member states to come to the aid of another member state under attack.

Danylo Shapovalov, a surgeon volunteering for the Ukrainian territorial defence, said one of the Americans died instantly and he had treated the other.

Russia, the country he represents at the United Nations, had just invaded Ukraine, sending shock waves around the world that continue to reverberate today.

The service - part of the defence ministry - initially said the convoy left the village in a "green corridor" which had previously been agreed with Russia.

The Russian invasion - the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two - has upended Europe's security order and spurred EU capitals into rethinking what the bloc should stand for, its economic, defence and energy policies.

Biosecurity experts say Russia's movement of troops into Ukraine and bombardment of its cities have raised the risk of an escape of disease-causing pathogens, should any of those facilities be damaged.

At just 30 days from the first round of voting, the 44-year-old former investment banker has seen a spike in opinion polls since last week, garnering 30 percent of intentions to vote in several surveys.

"Three people were killed, including a female child, in yesterday's attack on a children's and maternity hospital in Ukraine's besieged Mariupol, according to updated figures this morning," the city council said on its Telegram channel. 

"The Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

The plant "was fully disconnected from the power grid," Ukraine's energy operator Ukrenergo said in a statement on its Facebook page, adding that military operations meant "there is no possibility to restore the lines".

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a news conference during a visit to Stockholm that "the time is now to try to help at the border", rather than discussions on the division of refugees between countries.

The trip was planned before Poland took the United States by surprise on Tuesday by offering to send its Mig-29 jets to Ukraine via a US air base.

On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the defunct Chernobyl plant, site of a 1986 disaster that killed hundreds and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe.