Civilians were fleeing from areas of eastern Ukraine ahead of an anticipated Russian offensive, while Kyiv said it was checking unconfirmed reports that Russian forces had used chemical weapons in the besieged port city of Mariupol.
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FIGHTING
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow's military operation in Ukraine would undoubtedly achieve what he said were its "noble" objectives.
Speaking at an awards ceremony in the Russian Far East, Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies that said Moscow had no other choice but to launch a military operation to protect Russia and that a clash with Ukraine's anti-Russian forces had been inevitable.
* Russian-backed separatist forces did not use chemical weapons in their attempts to take full control of Mariupol despite Ukrainian allegations to the contrary, Eduard Basurin, a separatist commander, told the Interfax news agency.
* Fighting in eastern Ukraine would intensify during the next two to three weeks as Russia continued to refocus its efforts there, the UK's Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin on Tuesday.
DIPLOMACY
* Putin flew into Russia's far east Amur region for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expected to focus on Ukraine and Russian-Belarusian integration.
* All options would be on the table in how the West responds to any use of chemical weapons in Ukraine by Russia, British Junior Defence Minister James Heappey said on Tuesday.
CIVILIAN TOLL
* Tens of thousands of people have likely been killed in Russia's assault on Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told South Korea's parliament.
ECONOMY AND BUSINESS
* Russia's economy is on track to contract by more than 10 per cent in 2022, the biggest fall in gross domestic product since the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.
Russia is facing soaring inflation and capital flight while grappling with a possible debt default after the West imposed crippling sanctions to punish Putin for sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24.
* Russian state-owned gas producer Gazprom continued to supply natural gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday at the pace of 74.6 million cubic metres a day, in accordance with requests from European consumers, the company said.
QUOTES
"I would like to remind world leaders that the possible use of chemical weapons by the Russian military has already been discussed. And already at that time it meant that it was necessary to react to the Russian aggression much harsher and faster," Zelenskiy said.
"We are seriously concerned about the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons during Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference.
"We, as a sole country that has suffered nuclear attacks during war, intend to keep on appealing firmly that any threat of the use of nuclear weapons, let alone their actual use, should never be allowed."
Australian Associated Press
