An easy 5 minute news update for English learners.
This is SBS news in Easy English. I'm Claire Slattery.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has criticised China for failing to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Morrison has announced Australia will join other western nations in increasing sanctions against Russia and its allies.
New measures will include the targetting of Russian leaders and media channels, as well as officials from neighbouring Belarus, while Australia will also send non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine.
Mr Morrison says he's concerned over reports that China has eased it trade restrictions on Russian wheat.
"So, at a time when Australia together with the United Kingdom, together with United States and Europe, and Japan are acting to cut off Russia, the Chinese government is following through on easing trade restrictions with Russia, and that is simply unacceptable."
The White House says there are 'credible reports' that Russian soldiers are holding staff hostage at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Russian forces seized the plant in the first hours of their invasion of Ukraine.
Located 130 kilometres north of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster when a reactor exploded in 1986, spreading radioactive waste across Europe.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki says the hostages should be released.
"This unlawful and dangerous hostage taking which could upend the routine civilian service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facility is obviously incredibly alarming and greatly concerning"
At least 137 people are reported to have died in the first hours of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
An estimated 100,000 Ukrainians have fled their homes, with several thousand now crossing into neighbouring countries, including Moldova, Romania, Poland and Hungary.
Residents in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv say international organisations must help to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
Diana Iskander, a Kyiv resident, has told SBS many are in panic, with essential food no longer available in supermarkets.
"From what I have seen on the street from what I have seen in the market, no bread, no canned food. People are panicking. People are just gathering their stuff and they are trying to leave. Some others are just hiding in shelters."
To other news briefly and...
A third person has died in flood waters caused by torrential rain lashing Australia's eastern seaboard this week.
Emergency services found the body of a 54-year-old man in a LandCruiser near the Maddens Creek crossing in Matcham, east of Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast overnight.
Several areas of the New South Wales Mid-North and Central Coasts were hit with more than 100 millimetres of rain in 24 hours.
Torrential rain is expected to continue in the area today, as Sydney rounds out what could be its wettest summer in three decades.
You're been listening to SBS News in Easy English.. I'm Claire Slattery.
