♪♪ good morning. it is 9:00 a.m. this is sky news "breakfast" day 14 of the russian invasion. the problem is the cease-fire that has allowed citizens to escape. ukrainian pilots appear to be grounded by the united states and the transport secretary tells this program the uk will not be getting involved. it is wednesday in march.

the uk avoids discussions. >> we're not involved in this particular lone idea. and the americans have said that they will not proceed in that manner. the red cross says the conditions in the besieged city of mariupol are apocalyptic to allow civilians to escape. civilians have died so far during the conflict. the sky is the limit is now a criminal offense for any russian aircraft to enter airspace. no fries zone. coca-cola and starbucks join the list of global names suspending business in russia. ♪♪ the music amongst the misery

in the city of odesa finds sanctuary in the sound of the military men. well, this is the scene from the ukraine capital of kyiv this morning. we'll be live there for the latest very shortly. . also ahead, i'll be speaking to the uk's ambassador from ukraine. he'll be here with me in just a moment. and then at around quarter to 10:00, i'll be specking with a neurosurgeon who has been delivering tutorials on trauma surgery to ukrainian doctors who are on the front line. hello, good morning. when president zelenskyy renewed his calls for help to assure the safety of ukraine skies, he was

asked by opponents to get the fighter jets to pass to ukraine. last night, the pentagon said such a move is untenable and raised concerns. earlier this morning -- the uk will not get involved in any decision to involve jets for the ukrainian pilots. these are the main developments out of the russian invasion this morning. ukraine's deputy prime minister confirmed a cease-fire is in place to allow the safe passage of civilians from kee, sumu, kharkiv and mariupol. the mayor of sumu said that private cars have started leaving the city this morning. the u.n. refugee agency has estimated up to 2.2 million people have fled ukraine since the russian invasion began. ukraine says its forces are holding the line and resisting russian offenses near kyiv, as russia claims it's thwarted a

large part by ukraine, regarding the separatists held. military's military defense say ukraine defenses have had considerable success against russia. that is the top story. >> reporter: she's undergone surgery after being hit in the head by a bullet. how are you, asks the doctor? fine, comes the faint reply. this is the children's hospital in kharkiv, a city that's seen some of the fiercest fighting of this war. 8-year-old deema was hit by shrapnel when a shell hit the family home. it's lodged in the base of his skull. we have operated on four children suffering from shrapnel or bullet wounds. sadly, one little girl died yesterday. >> reporter: the staff here continue to work in the face of

regular bombardment and constant anxiety. russia denies targeting civilians but fewer in ukraine believe that. there is some hope for those trying to escape. buses bound for humanitarian corridors finally able to pass without being shelled. some from the city of mariupol did come under fire. they leave behind a desperate situation. what the government really wants is to get their hands on these polish fighter jets, poland happy to send them but only via the u.s. military in germany. >> we are ready to give all of our fleet to jet fighters to ramstein, but we're not ready to make any move on our own because we are not party to the war. >> reporter: it came as news to the americans. within hours the pentagon had

killed the idea. it's simply not clear that there is a substantive rationale for the u.s. or nato to be flying jets over ukraine it said. the concerns being dragged out of this conflict haven't prevented sanctions again, welcomed by ukraine's president. >> translator: every cent paid to russia, they turn into bullets and missiles. that are aimed at other sovereign states. >> reporter: but saltite images show the continuing destruction of his country. there is home for another humanitarian effort today. u.s. intelligence says putin has been surprised by the resistance of ukraine it his response, they say, will be to escalate this war. greg milan, sky news, washington. >> we're joined by the ambassador of uk. thank you for being with us again, we appreciate it. let's get the situation.

i do understand that the fighting is going on right now in your country? >> you understand what you see is also what we see. and the same was the biggest in kharkiv, we've lost people. with fighting, we need support which your correspondent in ukraine yesterday when talking to parliament was making it quite clear what we need. we need to close the sky or else we need support by military and we also need financial support to survive this very difficult situation. and we want people to be in safety so that now convassing the border. more than 1 million people cross just yesterday. it's a huge situation we're in right now. >> and the closing of the skies, as you know, nato says there's not going to be a no-fly zone.

are you thinking about some other way to make the airspace safer to continue to fighting the russians? because as you know, a lot of the fire power falling on ukrainians is coming from artillery. so perhaps fighting the russians from the sky will stop that. >> that's hugely the way we see it, all the tacticals they can be covered with at least control of our skies. we're taking a different look. one is the one you just described. the jets, our pilots are familiar with, some which soviet union produced and we used to use them and we have them now in our fleet. poland, some of the republics around ukraine, they still have possession, we could have a hold on them. something is anti-air missiles. we have our own, but it's not enough to withstand the pressure. not just jet planes but helicopters and cruise missiles which are bombarding us right away.

we also imagine the need, all of the humanitarian crisis areas, next to the nuclear stations and where people are, of course, millions of them are now very vulnerable against the air attacks of the russians. >> can you be specific on some of your answers there? you still want to try and see the ukraine air force get nato-held migs to fight? >> we can use migs, we we'll be happy to use f-16s, and train our pilots to work with them. this is difficult. the best bet are older, like migs and sahoys. we'll need to train our people if we have enough time. >> do you have enough time? >> no, we don't have enough time, you're right. the missiles, this will allow us to operate much. to have pilots, you need to operate for example, the

drones -- the drones. >> and you said anti-aircraft, you've got your own ground launch systems? what kind of systems are you looking at? >> at the top of the chain, top of the line. we need something that will allow us that will cup up to 40 meters. also much higher altitude. and the particulars i discuss with your military as well. >> it is the discussion to try and discussion capability from air to surface? >> absolutely. >> on that capability, there's assistance coming in all the time. how concerned are you that the resupply is going to become an issue soon? >> we're happy with what's coming and led by the uk and u.s. and rest of the world coming to help. some of the nations which we wouldn't expect to help come in with equipment we have to use

from you and we have to use that we get from the united states, same system which we can use right now. mostly anti-tank. which is extremely important, hundreds and hundreds of tanks we have to deal. >> you mentioned financial aid? what is that like? lots of humanitarian financial aid going towards ukraine. are you talk about something else? >> something else, more like -- capacities. electricity, water, and the decision that sort of middle-age ways we have to get the generates to support the grid. and that's something we need right now. but to get this huge capacity in ukraine is a logistic operation by itself. and in the middle of the war this has become increasingly difficult to get there. >> and you were in parliament this day as your president was speaking, you know how usual it

is to clap in parliament, you guys deserve applause. i wonder if you've been able to speak to president zelenskyy and tell us how he's holding up? >> i hold him about the coverage. unfortunately for technical reasons he couldn't stay and listen to all the parties, i had to explain all the parties, not just the prime minister united in support of ukraine. so much of the media coverage. so many people were staying covering the events. he knows about it, he feels it, the whole ukrainian people they hear it and understand the support is here. so he's holding that, widely with international support. >> he's aware for his ukrainian people how the world is opening its heart? >> we see it the hospitality which many nations are extending to our people getting to safety. mostly women and children are leaving ukraine right now. millions of them. but men are staying back home and fight. >> do you think britain is doing

enough to bring in refugees? >> we'll see the homeland affairs just in an hour. i'm going into discussions with two of the leaders, the immediate ones, we're talking about a package for ukrainians could be invited with no particular connection to families with no family members on this soil. >> so you're going to try and push for almost like an emergency visa? or visa waivers? >> we're working on that, that's a concerted effort with the european union with uk. ukraine's a bit farther for ukraine, as they want it to be closed to the nation, they want it to get back as soon as possible. we're trying to listen how we do it, without severing the connections and roots. >> let's talk about trying to end this war. of course, there are going to be the highest level talks in

turkey between mr. kubelo and mr. lavrov. >> i was the foreign secretary and doing my part in the administration. in most cases, he's just the facade of putin's regime. >> on these talks, someone part of that negotiation process in belarus, but the foreign ministers meeting is not -- >> we're not talking for nothing. we hope to get maximum, you're right, we hope to get to the border. but mostly about the human corridors. russia is not allowing to move any further. they want their conditions to be met. and in ukraine, we fight and not go with expectations of russians right now. >> you mentioned those conditions, those conditions were put out just a couple days ago. is there any way in that ukrainians can accept to bring an end to this war? obviously, your idea is to

become neutral, never join nato, to face that it seems unthinkable perhaps with the war? >> they also want us -- take crimea out of our hands. they also want at the border that they recognize two weeks ago specifically to create even higher ground for their own negotiations. and they wanted to us demilitarize, meaning laying down weapons and moving 150 meters our armed forces leaving kyiv. there's a -- they do it on purpose. they're just creating this information on a propaganda campaign. >> you're concerned this is not -- >> absolutely. >> finally, let's just talk about the millions of people displaced in your country. you mentioned people don't want to go too far away. they want to come back. cities are destroyed. when are they going to get back when the war is over? >> it's a great question.

and to be frank with you, we don't have many answers right now. what i can tell you, over the eight years of war, 8.1 million people were displaced. we managed to place them in a peaceful ukraine. we're a bigger size in the european continent, but what to do with 7 million people trying to get to the western borders, just the threats to the people all over the times and hours and days trying to get there. but what we're doing in poland, hungary, we're very thankful for the hospitality, we have to be concerned how our people can earn their living, and kids go to school. we've read about this and seen it on tv in africa, asia somewhere, but never would have expected to have it over a century in europe. >> okay, the ambassador to the

ukraine. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you. all right. well, let's take a look at how the morning's newspapers are covering the crisis in ukraine. we'll start with "the financial times" which leads on the story that the united states and uk have banned the import of russian oil and gas. that's the front page of the "metro" which reacts to that speech given by volodymyr zelenskyy in the house of commons yesterday. with the head line "hear hear hero." to the telegraph, mig fighter jets to the ukrainian air forces. we had the ambassador here, that's something welcomed very well by the ukrainian government. and the "times," the uk and u.s. have ruled that out. with the ambassador saying the ukrainians definitely definitely want it. now "daily star" has an

interview with the former boxing champion wladimir klitschko who is the brother of the mayor klitschko talking about defending his country in what he calls the biggest fight in his life. let's bring our defensive security editor debra hayes joining us. debra, good morning to you. let's pick up what we heard from the ambassador there, start with the polish jets story, making it very clear that the ukrainian government definitely would welcome having some mig 29s for their fighter pilots. >> reporter: yes, it's this is a huge issue in terms of what the ukrainians need to help protect their cities, and it's going to only the pressure that ukraine is putting on its allies is going to only intensify. and they basically see a solution to their bombardment that they're being subjected to to shut their skies. and they don't have the air

power to do it on their own. that's why they've been asking for western allies to effectively oppose a no-fly zone. which the sort of thing the allies did in libya back in 2011 and something before in previous conflicts but the issue with ukraine, of course is that the opposing side is russia. and so for nato to secure ukraine's skies that would involve them shooting out, shooting down russian jets. taking out russia's air defense systems, so a direct military confrontation between nato and russia. and that's not something that can be taken lightly. and so, obviously, ukraine appreciates that. but clearly, it believes that the imperative has to be to save lives here. and to do more to help the ukrainian military to push back against russia's advance. because without this, extra help in the skies, it becomes much, much harder to defend themselves

from the ground. and so it's just like halfway, sort of the idea being batted around. that some nato countries such as poland, that's within their air force jets that the ukrainian pilots came to fly on. so mig 29s, for example, it just is what the opponents are saying can be used. but poland clearly is sensitive to the fact that it if union articlely gifted these aircraft to ukrainian pilots, enabling ukrainian pilots to better be able to shoot russian aircraft out of the skies then that could potentially be putting poland on a collision course with russia. and poland is a nato member. so that would mean, if russia -- it's complicated, i'm sorry, if russia targeted poland, that would potentially draw in all nato allies to have to come to the defense of a nato ally. and so poland seems to have decided that actually this decision maybe it's too great for one nation's take on its

own. it kind of came up with this idea of gifting its jets to the u.s., effectively, a u.s. air base which is in germany. and saying in return, the u.s. would give equivalent jets to the polish air force but then these jets themselves would obviously either need to be given by the americans to the ukrainians. or poland has been saying such a decision really has to be taken by nato unanimously. and there's no suggestion that nato would unanimously agree to that. so it doesn't seem like that's going to actually happen. the only way it would happen, i think, is if a nation like poland decided on its own to do that, on its own to gift these jets. that would be something that could happen without consensus of our allies. but, clearly, at the moment, poland doesn't want to do that other allies have been -- well all, many allies, have been giving weapons, a lot of weapons to the ukrainian armed forces.

but so much, they have stopped short of doing something that would really give ukraine that ability on its own to potentially, effectively, establish its own no-fly zone. >> yeah, a fighter jet is quite different than a shoulder-launched rocket propelled grenade. we did talk about that, it seem that's ambassador thought there might be a space to have kind of more control of the sky with more offensive surface-to-air missiles. is there any legs in that, deborah, that nato could provide more weapons in that sort of area? >> reporter: it's a really fine line, isn't it? the fact given that allies like the netherlands and the u.s., they have been providing shoulder-launched missiles to the ukrainians which can shoot helicopters, for example, out of the sky. and ukraine clearly does have the ability to shoot down russian warplanes. it has its air defense systems

and its own fighter jets have not been taken out by russia's invasion, despite expectations that would be what would happen in the first few days. so it's a fine line. it's a fine balancing act that nato allies are currently performing because when does their support reach such a threshold that russia actually decides that nato itself is effectively intervening in this conflict, albeit without boots on the ground. and so far, we haven't reached that threshold. but the longer this conflict continues, the more support that nato allies, individually, not collectively, it's not a nato mission, but nato allies, individually support and give contributions to the ukrainian military to better their chances against russia's armed forces. then the greater the risk that russia turns around and decides, you know what, effectively, we're at war with nato.

and then you're in a whole new level of danger. because then the conflict does spread beyond the borders of ukraine. >> okay. deborah haynes for now, thank you. now, with ukraine's deputy prime minister confirming a cease-fire is under way to let some civilians flee some of the major cities, let's take a look now at the latest developments out of the war. the capital of kyiv woke up this morning to air raid sirens. there are no reports yet of shelling there. kharkiv, chernahiv and sumu have smelling. at least five people were killed when bombs hit a textile factory. and locals say that heavy shelling is making it impossible to remove the bodies of 12 people who will died after a psychiatric hospital was hit. they've been stuck there without food and medicine.

in kharkiv, two people including a 70-year-old were killed in a bombing and a governor says that abilities were pushed back. and in sumu, the city evacuated 5,000 people yesterday that's to ukraine's prime minister but forces continue to surround the city of mariupol. and residents are without water and food. the red cross described the situation in that city as apocalyptic. kyiv has also accused russia of making it impossible for civilians to leave some ukrainian cities through those so-called humanitarian corridors because of the constant shelling. the u.n. predicts 2.2 million refugees so far have exited the country and expects that to rise. our special correspondent outside of the capital with the latest. >> reporter: there's still a lot of people coming up of irpin,

irpin is the capital nearest to the west capital. we know there are several hundred, maybe several thousand people trapped until irpin and the three towns grouped closest to the capital. this is what the russian troops will face. this is one of the entrances. you can see they're trying to fortify. we're about half an hour's drive out of the capital right now. and there are a lot more of these checkpoints and trenches built as you go into the capital. but they're basically trying to fortify the capital. because we're told that the russian troops are within 500 meters of coming out of irpin and have taken up position. so if they do make it this far

and they're expecting the inevitable, i think fairly soon, the roads have all been littered with these spikes to try and stop the advance. the people are streaming out now and taking -- there's no official humanitarian corridor in this area, but they are taking advantage of any lull in fighting. to try and reach safety which is in the capital right now. and then trying to get, if they can, out of the capital. they've set up little first aid stations here. you can see, some of them obviously have told us they've been trapped there many, many days in irpin where they've been under siege. they feel troops have been entering. they talk about seeing tanks. there's no food. there's no electricity. there's no light. there's no water. so many of them felt they didn't have any choice but to try and pull out.

those are the ones that we've spoken to. if they are, if they are injured, they're taken to this first aid tent or if they need some subcitizen suss tin nens. they're besieged to try to get any trains, any transport that they can out of the capital. the worry is that the capital itself is going to be ringed. and there's going to be no escape route from the capital. and a lot of people feeling very worried about the immediate future. alex crawford reporting there outside of kyiv. just to let you know 9:30 tonight, we're running a special here on sky news, looking at president putin's invasion of ukraine. it's called "putin's war the

battle for ukraine" 9:30 p.m. on sky news. stay with us for that. let's take a look at other stories emerging from the russian invasion of ukraine. the u.n. said it's been able to verify 474 civilian deaths and 861 injuries in ukraine since russia began to invade with the real death toll likely to be much higher. and the u.n. refugee agency says that up to 2.2 million people have fled ukraine since the start of the offensive. in the uk, the home of this, say the number of visas issued have risen to more than 750 up from 500 yesterday. while a new processing center in lille in france is expected to be set up within the next 24 hours. the iaea said it's lost contact with systems that are monitoring the radioactive material of the chernobyl nuclear plant.

radiation there initially spiked after russian forces took control of the site several weeks ago. experts say another disaster is, at this stage, extremely unlikely. now, a list of high-profile companies boycotting russia is growing by the day with mcdonald's and coca-cola becoming the latest to suspend operations. let's take you to ian king. this list keeps on growing. who else is going to suspend activities in russia while the war goes on? >> well, we've had a number, including mother care 120 outlets in russia counting for 20% of sales in rrussia. we heard from l'oreal, the french cosmetics giant, closing in russia. and heineken, the world's second largest brewer, in fact, they're suspending production in russia

for the foreseeable future as well. we've heard from unilever, one of the biggest companies in the ftse 100. many household names in the food products it's ceasing imports and exports from russia. it will continue essential food and hygiene products that's the similar approach to the likes of kimberly clarke which making huggies and procter & gamble which makes pampers and other nappy brand. we've yet to hear from mondelez. and mineral water, they said they would continue to supply russia with essentials. unilever is very much in line with them. now, we had a clutch of big ones last night which you alluded to. pepsico and mcdonald's announced they're suspending operations,

symbolic, pepsico, in particular because it was the first western brand to be sold and manufactured in the soviet union. they set up manufacturing in the soviet union as long ago as 1974. they have quite a bigger meaning in russia and. coca-cola has announced suspending operations. mcdonald's, people will remember in 1990, how they opened in the square in moscow, 5,000 people for more than six hours to get a taste of western fast food. very big symbolic announcement from mcdonald's. they have 850 outletters by russia. they were joined by yum brands the parent company of kfc. they actually have more outlets in russia than mcdonald's. pizza hut and kfc, those two are going to be closed. the barrage of western sanctions keeps up against russian businesses. >> ian, thank you very much.

more on you later on through the day. let's show you if we can, the latest satellite pictures issued by nasa. as you can see, it's nighttime images what we've shown is the time line how the lights across ukraine have gone out. as you can see, ukraine going dark while the countries around it remain in the light. in the top right-hand corner, you can see that's the capital there of russia and moscow. well, since the break on sky news, release of fighter jets to ukraine. the transport sector tells us that poland won't get involved. we'll have that after the break. .

do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol.

you're watching sky news.

let's take you straight to moscow now where you can see the russian foreign affairs person is taking questions. let's take a listen to what she has to say this morning. >> translator: -- coming back to the negotiations, unfortunately, the agreements that are being implemented, we are asking ukrainian side to do everything in order to ensure safe passage of people. and we're hoping that in the next rounds of negotiations, we will be able to make more significant steps forward. the sovereignty of ukraine is -- as a russian, it would be better if we achieve results through a peaceful negotiations.

as for the situation with the biological weapons, laboratories on the territory, we commented on that yesterday, but i'll repeat main points. from the foreign ministries. we confirm that during the special military operation, we've uncovered certain facts. and we have uncovered that this urgent cover-up of the vestiges of programs that were being run in these laboratories, we cannot be talking about any use of these laboratories for peaceful purposes. these laboratories were financed by the ministry of defense, united states, and the administration of the united states to inform the national

committee officially, and not through their talking head. and informed about the programs being conducted in ukraine. and our position is that the material that is available today, the statements that were made during these dates by the ukrainian side and by americans, as deputy made statements on this. they did not have the opportunity to cover this up now. we know how many years and with what -- they were looking for opportunities to develop this -- to develop these weapons. and we found these weapons -- we've found your development.

we've found your biological materials that were developed among other things for military purposes, and all of that was found in ukraine. what were you doing there? this is a different land, it's got no borders with you. you don't have any military bases there. and what were you doing there? under the cover of scientific developments, we had your experts there who were giving instructions to the ukrainian side. how and what to do. today, based on the fact that this proof cannot be -- cannot be overturned, we would like to get details. the world has to know what you

were going to do there, what was the purpose and what were the schedules, and what was the volume of so-called investment into biological activity into ukraine. the material, data, everything, please put this on the table. in the start of the ukrainian bio labs received documents on the 24th of february to remove the vestiges of cholera and other diseases that were being stored there. all of that has got documents to confirm this. but moreover, we were -- have been talking about this over a number of years in the past. and the statements of the foreign ministry and statements of other russian bodies.

and russian government spoke about this on many occasions. and we asked american side to explain its activity. and now we're not asking. we're demanding, and the world is waiting. now, we're talking about the ministry of health care, of ukraine. to eliminate the vestiges of pathogens on these laboratories. the ministry of defense published its material, and they, the material has been received. and these documents are being analyzed by our experts, but now you can -- we can make a conclusion that, you know, in the ukrainian labs close to our borders, components of biological weapons were being developed.

urgent destruction of these materials was ordered in order not to disclose the materials and the programs that were being developed there. i have another question, with relation to this, how was this all destroyed? was it all destroyed? so this was ordered by the health care ministry of ukraine. >>. >> translator: and who was the head of health care ministry, do you know, do you remember? where did that wonderful doctor that came to head the health care ministry? i remember this very well. from the american continent. here's the announcer, what health care and who was engaged

in so-called health care in ukraine, so this is an open question. did they destroy the materials, or they didn't destroy them? and how can you check this now? are they in the hands of the extremists or nationalists? who can guarantee this? this data confirms that the complaints by the russian side had been justified, and we are not excluding using articles 5 and 6 of the convention, according to which the participants have to consult each other. and in relation to the purpose of the convention. and in relation to investigation of any violation of the convention. in order not to -- in order to

prevent any actions violating the convention, we are calling to reinstate the protocol, protocol of the convention. and we set about this many times, since 2001. this convention is being blocked by specifically the united states. and we would like to set up the working group to represent the interests of all participants of its convention. people are talking about oil and gas, about the companies, about their future and so on. they talk about airplanes, logistics, visas and borders, all of that can be regulated. all of that can be regulated. however, biological weapons, as we all understand, having gone

through the 2020 which was the year of coronavirus infection, this is not -- you cannot control that. maybe all countries and all continents, instead of watching all of this on cnn and reading "washington post," maybe they should be more careful, and maybe they should be more careful, and maybe they should look more careful. are they ready for another dissemination of biological material? if this material is in the hands of extremists? are they prepared for this, or are they just -- are they just -- are they just -- so we

see these biological laboratories have been bit all over the world and ministry of defense of the united states is controlling this directly. and all of these laboratories are not monitored. and we would like to promote the initiatives under this convention. we would like to create this mobile teams which would help people in case of any attacks. also, apart from that, we also propose to introduce into the reporting by the members of the convention, the information about the foreign activity on biological weapons, only these

comprehensive steps would be able to place the activity of the united states, biological activity of the united states under control. and also actions of their allies on the parts of the territory. and only this way, would be able to control the implementation of the principles of this convention. and we would place all of these materials, and we would provide all of the reference to all of this materials very briefly. this is not a new topic on 2021. there was a briefing, we answered the question about the development of the protocol, with the effectively mechanisms of checking the connection of the convention. we are saying again to the whole world how united states unilaterally did not support those documents.

and what were they doing over all this period of time? this happened in 2021. washington consistently blocked any starting of negotiations under this convention. and we were hoping that united states would come to senses. they -- and they would be able to be take part in this. but now it's clear that they were doing this on purpose. they were not -- they were preventing the convention purpose. they were wanting to block any possibility for any checks or audits in the laboratories where they continued the development -- development to do with the biological weapons. furthermore, august 2020, two

years ago, again, i remind you, there were sanctions that were taken against pew institute researches and united states were the only that had chemical weapons. and with this, they were -- various inventions of biological weapons. and we said that this is a comprehensive approach of the united states. on the one hand, they were preventing -- preventing the control overactivities in other countries, biological activities in other countries. on the other hand, they pressed on with the development of new types of biological weapons. moreover, we also point your

attention to the fact that chemical companies in the united states were with experts and we find out one of the experts that was responsible for -- i'd like to list the number of statements that we've made in relation to the laboratories located in the territory of georgia and other countries that are parts of the soviet union. there were a number of questions that were posed in relation to the activity of -- with relation to the research center that was

created in georgia. and there was a department for research of their american military. again, we gave extensive comments on the laboratory and we'll provide all the references. april 2020, again, we had a briefing and again we raised this topic. increased presence of biological presence of american military abroad. we said that these laboratories were officially included in the -- in the system, the united states system of control of distribution of -- also in the

territory of post-soviet countries, they built the laboratories where they conducted research for biological weapons. and all obligations and norms that were accepted by the united states. in 2020, january, 17th of january, statements by lavrov, the foreign minister, again, he raised that issue in 2018, the interview of lavrov to the media. again, he raised this topic. and this was raised in the context of ukraine. interview of the deputy foreign minister to the information agency, december 2018, again, this topic was raised. this topic was raised on many

occasions and we knew what was going on. it wasn't just a general threat. this was a threat, if it comes out, it cannot be contained. and all humanity understands this now. furthermore, a situation with ensuring safety of nuclear facilities in ukraine. and during the operation the chernobyl nuclear stations were taken under control this was to prevent american nationalists or mercenaries, to prevent them from being able to -- >> we've been listening to maria zakharova, she's a spokesperson

for the russian foreign minute ministry, suggesting, miss zakharova that the russians have discovered. just discovered the remnants of a chemical biological weapons and added that the united states is control of all of these sites. ukraine issued a stark statement completely denying that the u.s. were running any biological weapons sites in ukraine, as how this surfaces of ukraine. but those claims nevertheless being made by miss zakharova at this hour. more to come on the invasion of ukraine coming throughout the day on sky news. these are the latest pictures coming in from the romanian border there with ukraine. as tens of thousands of people are seeking to flee the russian advances as many cities in

ukraine remain surrounded. but ukrainians ready to fight, fighting the russian invasion. more on this story just ahead on sky news. this is an athlete. 20 reps deep, sprinting past every leak. in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected. her strength, respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us is you. do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients her strength, respected.

that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol.

hundreds killed, thousands injured and an estimated 2 million refugees, as we enter day 14 of the russian invasion of ukraine. this morning, a worsening humanitarian crisis in the city of mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in desire straits. meanwhile, russia has pushed further away from the global economy as the u.s. bans oil imports and more major companies suspend operations. good morning. and welcome to "way too early." i'm jonathan lemire on this wednesday, march 9th. there's no