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Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka said that Russia's attack on Ukraine will affect the ties between small and big countries.

Speaking at a press conference organised in the ministry on Monday, he said that the sovereignty of both small and big countries will be equal.

He was of the opinion that it cannot be said that Nepal is supporting Ukraine just by issuing a statement taking its side.

"Ukraine is a sovereign country. Russia's attack on Ukraine will disrupt the world peace. This will affect the ties between the small and big countries. That is why, we issued a statement honouring the UN charter," Minister Khadka said.

Russia is trying to manipulate French President Emmanuel Macron and other Western leaders by demanding that any humanitarian corridors in Ukraine exit through Russia or Belarus, a senior Ukrainian official said on Monday, Reuters reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine was calling on Russia to agree to a ceasefire from Monday morning to allow Ukrainians to evacuate towards the western Ukrainian city of Lviv instead.

Ukraine received Russia's proposal early on Monday morning after Macron held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vereshchuk told a televised briefing.

"I hope that French President Emmanuel Macron understands that his name and sincere desire to help ... in reality is being used and manipulated by the Russian Federation," she said.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of shelling areas designated as humanitarian corridors to prevent people escaping cities that are under attack, according to Reuters.

Russia's defence ministry said the new "corridors" would be opened from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, as well as the port city of Mariupol. Moscow has blamed Ukraine for the failure so far of humanitarian corridors and denies targeting civilians.

The two sides were preparing for a third round of talks at an undisclosed location on Monday. Ukraine has played down the prospects of any breakthroughs.

About 200,000 people remained trapped in Mariupol, most sleeping underground to escape more than six days of shelling by Russian forces that has cut off food, water, power and heating, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

Russia's invasion has been condemned around the world, sent more than 1.5 million Ukrainians fleeing abroad, and triggered sweeping sanctions that have isolated Russia in a way never before experienced by such a large economy, Reuters reported.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

The European Union has asked the UN nuclear watchdog to safeguard Ukraine's nuclear plants, two of which are now under Russian control, and mobilise international help in case of an emergency, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Russian forces have seized Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe' biggest, and the spent-fuel and radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl, next to the now defunct power plant where the world's worst nuclear accident happened in 1986, Reuters reported.

"I... request that IAEA does its utmost to ensure the nuclear safety of Ukraine's nuclear facilities under the current conditions of war," EU energy policy chief Kadri Simson wrote in a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Rafael Grossi.

Russia "should immediately cease its violent actions against Ukraine and first and foremost return all of Ukraine's nuclear facilities to the full operational and regulatory control of Ukraine," said the letter, dated March 4 and seen by Reuters.

Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces had seized control of Zaporizhzhia on Friday after setting an adjacent training facility on fire. Russia's defence ministry blamed the attack on Ukrainian saboteurs.

Russian forces have since placed staff running the facility under their command and restricted communications with the outside world - developments the IAEA said on Sunday it was "extremely concerned" about. Read full story

While the fire at Zaporizhzhia was quickly extinguished and there was no damage to its reactors, it highlighted concerns about the potentially disastrous consequences should the conflict damage one of Ukraine's four operating nuclear power plants, Reuters reported.

Simson called on the IAEA to mobilise the international community "to be ready to provide Ukraine with assistance in case of an emergency".

Ukrainian power producer DTEK called on Sunday for Western countries, NATO and the U.N. to introduce no-fly zones over Ukraine's nuclear power plants.

The EU is preparing to urgently link Europe's electricity system to Ukraine's grid, which would allow Ukraine to receive emergency power from Europe if military attacks caused power outages.

China’s friendship with Russia is “rock solid” and the prospects for cooperation are very broad, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday, Reuters reported.

Cooperation between the two countries brings benefits and well-being to the two peoples, he told his annual news conference on the sidelines of China’s annual meeting of parliament, according to Reuters.