Iran Press/ Asia: While US and Chinese diplomats are due to meet on Monday in Rome, the White House warned Beijing to help Russia with sanctions and military equipment.

US officials were quoted by media outlets, including the Financial Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, as saying that Moscow had asked Beijing for military equipment since it invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, responded to the reports by saying, "I've never heard of that."

Pengyu told reporters that the situation in Ukraine was "disconcerting" and that China's priority was to prevent it from "escalating or even getting out of control."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his demand that NATO imposed a no-fly zone over Ukraine and warned that Russia could strike NATO territory.

Zelenskyy spoke after Russian forces launched airstrikes on a military training center in Yavoriv, near Ukraine's border with NATO member Poland.