World News Roundup: Turkey, overseeing passage to Black Sea, calls Russian invasion 'war'; More than 43,000 Ukrainians entered Romania since Russian invasion and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Turkey, overseeing passage to Black Sea, calls Russian invasion 'war'

Turkey called Russia's invasion of Ukraine a "war" on Sunday in a rhetorical shift that could pave the way for the NATO member nation to enact an international pact limiting Russian naval passage to the Black Sea. Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, Turkey has control over the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits that connect the Mediterranean and Black seas and can limit the passage of warships during wartime or if threatened.

More than 43,000 Ukrainians entered Romania since Russian invasion

More than 43,000 Ukrainians have fled to Romania in the three days since Russia invaded Ukraine by land, sea and air, border police data showed on Sunday. They have entered Romania through its four land border checkpoints with Ukraine, but also through its checkpoints with Moldova, data showed. Thousands of them have already exited the country on their way to Bulgaria and Hungary.

Ukraine will prove Russia's Putin is 'war criminal' - prosecutor general

Ukraine will prove in a fair court that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "a main war criminal" of the 21st century, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told Ukrainian TV.

Earlier, Ukraine said it had submitted an application against Russia to the International Court of Justice.

Ukraine's Zelenskiy says he spoke to Belarus' Lukashenko

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday said on his Telegram channel that he had spoken with Belarus' leader Alexander Lukashenko, after Kyiv had rejected talks in Belarus, accusing it of allowing Russian troops through its territory. He provided no further details so far.

Russian forces enter Ukraine's second city, gas pipelines explode

Russian military vehicles pushed into Ukraine's second-largest city on Sunday and explosions rocked oil and gas installations on a fourth day of fighting in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. Russian soldiers and armoured vehicles were seen in different parts of the northeastern city of Kharkiv and firing could be heard, a witness said. A burning tank was visible in a video posted by the government.

N.Korea resumes missile tests with first launch in a month

North Korea fired what could be a ballistic missile on Sunday, military officials in South Korea and Japan said, in what would be the first test since the nuclear-armed country conducted a record number of launches in January. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that North Korea had fired a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast from a location near Sunan, where Pyongyang's international airport is located.

U.S., allies target 'fortress Russia' with new sanctions, including SWIFT ban

The United States and its allies on Saturday moved to block certain Russian banks' access to the SWIFT international payment system in further punishment of Moscow as it continues its military assault against Ukraine. The measures, which will include restrictions on the Russian central bank's international reserves, will be implemented in the coming days, the nations said in a joint statement that also vowed further action to come.

Israel PM offers to mediate to stop Ukraine hostilities, Kremlin says

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett offered his country's services as a mediator to bring peace to Ukraine in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, the Kremlin said in a statement. It said the conversation had been an Israeli initiative and that Putin told Bennett that Russia had its delegation in the Belarusian city of Gomel ready to negotiate with Kyiv, but the Ukrainian side had "not seized the opportunity, in a show of incoherence".

U.N. reports at least 240 civilian casualties, 64 deaths in Ukraine

At least 64 civilians have been killed and more than 160,000 are on the move after Russian troops entered Ukraine this week, a United Nations relief agency said. "As of 5:00 p.m. on 26 February, (U.N. human rights office) OHCHR reports at least 240 civilian casualties, including at least 64 dead," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a status report,

Germany to increase defence spending in response to 'Putin's war' - Scholz

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday Germany would sharply increase its spending on defence to more than 2% of its economic output in one of a series of policy shifts prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Germany this week also halted its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project with Russia and agreed to send weapons to Ukraine after long resisting pressure from Western allies on both issues and facing accusations of being too dovish towards the Kremlin.

(With inputs from agencies.)