Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as "a lie" a report by the independent Novaya Gazeta Europe that an undisclosed clause in Putin's decree would allow one million reservists to be mobilised, RIA reported. * Some Russians detained while protesting against Putin's partial mobilisation have been handed draft papers while in custody, the OVD-Info rights group said.

Some draft-age Russians headed abroad to escape their country's biggest conscription drive since World War Two, while explosions shook southeastern Ukraine on the eve of referendums planned there by pro-Moscow separatists.

DIPLOMACY/POLITICS * World leaders at the United Nations called for Moscow to be held accountable for human rights violations in Ukraine as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended Moscow's war and accused its neighbour of committing atrocities.

* Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said any weapons in Moscow's arsenal, including strategic nuclear weapons, could be used to defend territories incorporated into Russia from Ukraine. * President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed as "superheroes" the senior Ukrainian commanders, including those who led the dogged defence of Mariupol, freed by Russia as part of a prisoner swap.

* Finland said it was considering barring most Russians from entering the country as traffic across the border from its eastern neighbour "intensified" following President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilisation order. * Prices for air tickets from Moscow rocketed as some Russian men rushed for the exits. The Kremlin said reports of an exodus of draft-age men were "exaggerated".

* Russia's General Staff said some 10,000 volunteers had enlisted without even waiting for their call-up papers, Russian news agencies reported. * Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as "a lie" a report by the independent Novaya Gazeta Europe that an undisclosed clause in Putin's decree would allow one million reservists to be mobilised, RIA reported.

* Some Russians detained while protesting against Putin's partial mobilisation have been handed draft papers while in custody, the OVD-Info rights group said. * Chinese President Xi Jinping is unlikely to abandon his "old friend" Putin even as the war strains Beijing's "no limits" partnership with Moscow, experts say.

ECONOMY * The European Union is looking at an oil price cap, tighter curbs on high-tech exports to Russia and more sanctions against individuals, diplomats said.

* Germany is looking at nationalising gas importer Sefe, previously Gazprom Germania, to protect it from bankruptcy, two sources familiar with the matter said, a day after Berlin moved to nationalise top gas importer Uniper. QUOTES

* "In the end, getting a fine or a few days of arrest is better than getting a funeral." -Russian anti-war protest movement Vesna (Spring). * China hopes that the "flame of war" will go out as soon as possible, a Chinese foreign ministry statement cited Foreign Minister Wang Yi Wang as saying.

(Compiled by Shri Navaratnam, Michael Perry, Mark Heinrich and Catherine Evans)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)