Day 17: Biden Warns That US Forces Fighting Russia Would Mean WW3

US President Joe Biden on Saturday restated that his country will not directly intervene militarily against Russia in Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, Russia makes claims - without evidence - of US biological weapons activities in Ukraine at a meeting of the UN Security Council, BBC reported.

Following Russia’s claim, UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu says the UN is not aware of any biological weapons programme in Ukraine.

Earlier on Friday, Russia has expanded its offensive in Ukraine, attacking the cities of Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipro.

Ukraine repairing power lines to Chernobyl – IAEA

Ukraine has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that technicians have begun efforts to restore the external power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said the site currently occupied by Russian troops was taken off the power grid. They later claimed that the Russians were preparing a "terrorist attack" that had been thwarted, reports BBC.

Ukraine told the IAEA, the UN's nuclear energy watchdog, that work on Thursday evening successfully prepared one section, but that failures persist due to damage in other places.

The agency said the work was continuing "despite the difficult situation outside" the former Soviet power plant, the site of a nuclear disaster in 1986.