Ukraine's air force claimed Friday that Russia carried out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.

In a post on Facebook, Ukraine's air force claimed Russian jets took off from a base in Belarus and entered Ukraine's airspace, then a fire started in the village of Kopani.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov earlier claimed in a Facebook post that Russian forces would launch a strike against Kopani to "pull the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus into the war with Ukraine."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov on Friday accused Russia of preparing to carry out airstrikes against Belarusian villages close to the border with Ukraine in order to create a pretext for Belarus entering the war more directly.

Until now, Belarus has largely only acted as a base for Russia’s invasion forces and for missile and air strikes to be launched from its territory.

Ukraine claims it has information that Russia is planning to launch a series of false flag airstrikes against Belarusian villages to try to change that and create a push for war within Belarus, Reznikov said in a post online.

"I appeal to the Belarusian people. Friends. According to information in which we are completely sure and which we have confirmed, at the present moment the command of the Russian occupation troops is preparing a series of bloody provocations," he said.

Reznikov added, "According to their criminal conspiracy, Russian aviation is preparing to launch a strike on a range of population centers on the territory of Belarus, located close to the Ukrainian-Belarusian border."

He named the village of Kopani in the Brest region.

He denied Ukraine would ever launch strikes and said, "the goal of the provocation is to push the acting leadership of Belarus towards war against Ukraine. Moscow is trying to bind you with blood."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that it will restrict the export of U.S. luxury goods to Russia and Belarus, as well as "certain Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and malign actors located worldwide," as a result of their actions in Ukraine.

The Department of Commerce said it will impose restrictions on the export, reexport and transfer of luxury items including certain spirits, tobacco products, clothing items, jewelry, vehicles and antique goods.

"Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine continues to take a devastating toll on innocent civilians in Ukraine, fueling one of the worst humanitarian crises Europe has seen in decades," Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

Raimondo added, "Putin and the oligarchs who fund him have gotten rich off of Putin’s rampant corruption and the exploitation of the Russian people. We will not allow Putin and his cronies to continue living in opulence while causing tremendous suffering throughout Eastern Europe. Today’s action takes away another source of comfort and reminds them that Russia is increasingly isolated."

-ABC News' Luke Barr

The World Health Organization said Friday that it is urging Ukraine to now destroy its pathogen samples because Russia's war in the country risks an "accidental spill," according to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.

"This is part of us providing a public health advice to every country to try to ensure there is a minimized risk of any harm to population because of any possible accidental leak of pathogens," Jašarević said Friday from Lviv.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan

In a college gym-turned-shelter, Kyrill Nodikov, a Ukrainian poet who has been published in Ukraine and Russia, told ABC News he and his 20-year-old son are ready to enlist in the war.

Nodikov was seeking refuge in a shelter with his wife, their three kids, a dog and a tabby cat.

There are thousands of families struggling with the same dilemma: whether to take their animals, which makes their exodus far more complicated, or leave them behind. Most have stayed loyal to their animals.

When asked what it would be like to take care of her twins and pets by herself, Oksana, Nodikov's wife, started crying.

Sitting on mats on the floor of the gymnasium, the family gathered in a huddle, hugging, holding and comforting Oksana. And then they did the Ukrainian version of a pinky promise: hooking their pinkies and saying, “Peace, friendship, bubble gum."

-ABC News' Matt Gutman, Brandon Baur and Scott Munro