UPDATES: New Proof Pentagon Involved in Bioweapons Components' Development in Ukraine - Russian MoD

Payne also said she is "not going to speculate on Australia's approach".

The Russian military has also destroyed two drones.

The Russian Defence Ministry stressed that the Pentagon's project in Ukraine was aimed at obtaining new strains of anthrax.

In early March, two of the world's largest shipping companies, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk Line, said they would temporarily halt cargo bookings to and from Russia in light of the Western countries' sanctions. German logistics giant DHL also decided to suspend some services to Russia and Belarus.

On Wednesday, he said that shelling from the direction of Ukraine resulted in a projectile exploding in Zhuravlyovka, several people were injured.

A Pentagon spokesperson said he could not confirm the information to Sputnik at the moment.

The UK will supply to Ukraine 6,000 missiles and will allocate 25 million pounds ($33 million) for Kiev's military needs, the UK Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

"The Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a major new package of support for Ukraine today [Thursday] at the NATO and G7 leaders’ meetings... The measures announced today include 6,000 missiles, consisting of anti-tank and high explosive weapons, and £25 million in financial backing for the Ukrainian military," the statement said.

"This more than doubles the defensive lethal aid provided to date to more than 10,000 missiles, and comes on top of the £400 million the UK has committed in humanitarian and economic aid for the crisis. The Prime Minister will set out the UK’s intention to work with partners to bolster Ukraine’s defence capabilities, including longer-range targeting and intelligence, as the Ukrainian people face down an unprovoked invasion," it said.

The failure of the UN Security Council to agree on a Russian-drafted resolution regarding the humanitarianism situation in Ukraine is regrettable, Chinese envoy Zhang Jun said during remarks at the General Assembly.

"It is regrettable that the council was unable to reach the broadest of possible agreements in the end," the envoy said on Wednesday.

The UN Security Council did not adopt the humanitarian resolution drafted by Russia calling for a negotiated ceasefire in Ukraine, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.

Russia and China voted in favor of the resolution while 13 other members of the UN Security Council, including the United States, United Kingdom and France - abstained from voting on Russia's draft resolution, and no countries voted against it.

The resolution condemns all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, including the Geneva Conventions. It also demands respect and protection for all medical and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical and related duties in Ukraine.

French car maker Renault has decided to suspend all operations in Russia, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, Renault said that activities at its manufacturing plant in Moscow are already suspended.

He added that despite the daily opening of humanitarian corridors, Ukrainian neo-Nazis continue to hold over 4.5 million civilians hostage as a "human shield" in Kiev, Kharkov, Chernigov, Sumy and more than two dozen other large settlements.

According to the mission, the Russian specialists are forcibly held in the railway car in which the cargo was delivered.

Sullivan also said that Washington would announce a new package of sanctions against Russian "political figures, oligarchs" on Thursday.

Trudeau called on the European countries to collectively step up to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which includes future plans to rebuild the Eastern European country.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to instruct Gazprom to change existing gas contracts into rubles.

The Austrian oil giant OMV will continue paying for Russian gas in Euros, OMV CEO Alfred Stern said on Wednesday.

"Sure. We don't have any other contractual base, I wouldn't be able to do anything like that," Stern told the PULS24 broadcaster when asked if the company will continue paying for gas in rubles.

NATO is calling on China to denounce Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and refrain from providing material support to Moscow, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

"We call on China to condemn the invasion and to engage in diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful way to end this war as soon as possible and not to provide material support [to Russia]," Stoltenberg said in a press conference ahead of the NATO Summit on Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed the situation in Ukraine during a phone conversation on Wednesday, the Kremlin said.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Naftali Bennett shared his assessments of the situation around Ukraine, taking into account his contacts with the leaders of a number of foreign states, and expressed some ideas regarding the ongoing negotiation process between Russian and Ukrainian representatives," the Kremlin said.

Putin also offered condolences to Bennett "in connection with yesterday's terrorist attack in Israel."

European politicians are making attempts to disregard the issue of biological laboratories in Ukraine, Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation at the military security and arms control talks in Vienna, said on Wednesday.

"They are trying to silence this topic in every possible way. They interrupt us, they don't let us talk, they say it's a fake, and there is no place on the forum for spreading such disinformation. That is, I did not notice any desire to discuss anything among Europeans or anyone," the diplomat told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

The adoption of West’s draft UNGA resolution on Ukraine would hurdle peace efforts and embolden Kiev’s negotiators, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Wednesday.

"Let me be clear that this scenario will make a resolution to the situation in Ukraine more difficult because it will more likely embolden Ukrainian negotiators and nudge them into maintaining the current unrealistic position, which is not related to the situation on the ground, nor to the need to tackle the root causes [of the conflict]," Nebenzia said during an emergency session of the UN General Assembly.

"We took this extremely difficult step [to start a special military operation in Ukraine] after having exhausted all peaceful and diplomatic means of resolving the conflict in Donbass. Only after Kiev unambiguously and on many occasions reaffirmed that it did not intend to fulfill the Minsk agreements as approved by the Security Council resolutions," Nebenzia said during an emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday there is a "real threat" that Russia might use chemical weapons in Ukraine.

"I think it's a real threat," Biden said before departing for Europe, when asked whether he is concerned with the threat of chemical warfare at the moment.

A senior Pentagon official told reporters on Tuesday that the United States sees no indication that there is an imminent risk of Russia using chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov at the same day criticized Washington's claims that Russia might use chemical and biological weapons. The diplomat noted that the US has not yet destroyed its own stockpiles of chemical weapons, and accused the latter of artificially delaying the process.

He stressed that Russia's entire arsenal of chemical weapons was completely destroyed under the strictest international control back in 2017.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the Russian government to instruct Gazprom to change existing gas contracts into rubles.

"The changes will affect only the currency of payment, which will be changed to Russian rubles. I ask the government to give the relevant order to Gazprom on amending existing contracts," Putin told a government meeting.

The Russian president also instructed the Central Bank and the government to determine the procedure for transactions with Europe in rubles within a week.

Poland did not make a decision to sever diplomatic relations with Russia, Polish foreign ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina said.

Earlier in the day, Warsaw ordered 45 Russian diplomats out of the country over alleged espionage. Moscow pledged to respond to the move, while Russian Ambassador to Warsaw Sergey Andreyev slammed the decision as unfounded. At the same time, he said that Russia and Poland will formally continue to maintain diplomatic relations.

"There are no such decisions. There have not been [such decisions] so far," Jasina told reporters.

The United States is exerting undisguised pressure on all countries in its anti-Russia campaign, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

“The fact that, in terms of comprehensive opposition to our country, the United States is already exerting overt and mostly undiplomatic pressure on all countries is well known to everyone. As for the G20, it is still a multilateral format, there are different points of view,” Peskov told reporters.

Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said last week that Poland can replace Russia in the G20. Commenting on the possibility of excluding Russia from the G20, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that it is pointless to remark on hypothetical statements.

Peskov added that despite the US pressure, some states prefer to stick to their “independent and sovereign position.”

The Russian Defence Ministry will update the information on the losses of military personnel during a special operation in Ukraine when “deems it necessary”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"Indeed, information was provided once by the Ministry of Defence, but, as we have already said, this prerogative belongs entirely to them, that is, to our military. When they deem it necessary, they will provide additional information," Peskov told reporters.

The Baltic states and Poland have called on the EU to ban the transportation of goods to and from Russia and Belarus by road, as well as limit the entry of their ships into EU ports, the Lithuanian transport ministry said on Wednesday.

"The Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis, together with the Ministers of Poland, Latvia and Estonia, addressed the European Commission (EC) Transport Commissioner Adina Valean and EU Transport Ministers with a joint letter calling for a ban on the carriage of goods by road to/from Russia and Belarus and restricted entry of these countries’ vessels to the EU ports," the ministry said in a statement.

Poland is expelling about 40 Russian diplomats, accusing them of espionage, the Polish Onet news portal reported on Wednesday, citing government sources.

According to the website of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw, it employs just over 50 diplomats.

The Russian armed forces also destroyed eight anti-aircraft missile systems, including six Buk-M1s, one S-300 and one combat vehicle of the Osa air defence system, 10 command posts, eight field artillery guns, three artillery reconnaissance stations manufactured by NATO countries.

Over the given period, a Ukrainian Su-24 front-line bomber, as well as 16 drones, including three Bayraktars, were downed by the Russian military.

"On the evening of March 22, high-precision long-range sea-based weapons attacked an arsenal in the settlement of Orzhiv, 14 kilometers northwest of the city of Rivne," Konashenkov said, noting that a large arsenal with weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian troops, including those received from Western countries, was destroyed.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the Russian army destroyed 184 aircraft and helicopters, 246 unmanned aerial vehicles, 189 anti-aircraft missile systems, 1,558 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 156 multiple launch rocket systems, 624 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 1,354 units of special military vehicles, the spokesman added.

The Russian emergencies ministry said on Wednesday that close to 18 tonnes of humanitarian supplies were delivered by convoys as essential life support to mobile settlement in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).

"The emergencies ministry convoys delivered almost 18 tonnes of humanitarian supplies, which included all the essentials – food, baby food, as well as basic necessities," the department press office said in a statement.

Everything needed for a comfortable stay is organized on the tent town's territory: warm modules, bedding, the ability to charge mobile phones as well as hot meals, according to the ministry.

"The humanitarian aid delivery will be carried out by Russian rescuers on a permanent basis. The mobile town of 30 tents, designed for 450 people, works around the clock," the statement read.

Earlier in the month, the mobile town and the necessary equipment were delivered by rescuers of the Don rescue center of the ministry to the Bezimenne village in Donetsk region.