News LIVE: Continuing war in Ukraine 'morally unacceptable', says UN chief

Live News Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke on phone with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson and discussed the situation in Ukraine. The two leaders had a detailed discussion on the situation in Ukraine, and Modi reiterated India's consistent appeal for cessation of hostilities and a return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy.

China on Monday reported 2,281 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday. Of the new local infections, 1,902 were reported in Jilin, 110 in Fujian, 67 in Liaoning, 43 in Heilongjiang, 31 in Shanghai, 25 each in Shandong and Guangdong, 14 in Jiangxi and 11 in Hebei, Xinhua reproted.

Ukraine defied a Russian demand that its forces lay down arms before dawn on Monday in Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been trapped in a city under siege and already laid to waste by Russian bombardment.

The European Union's foreign ministers disagreed on Monday on whether and how to slap sanctions on Russia's lucrative energy sector over its invasion of Ukraine, with Germany saying the bloc was too dependent on Russian oil to decide an embargo. The EU and allies have already imposed hefty measures against Russia, including freezing its central bank's assets. Russia's siege and bombardment of Mariupol port, which EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called "a massive war crime", is increasing pressure for action.