Evacuations from Ukraine's besieged cities proceeded on Saturday along eight of 10 humanitarian corridors, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, with a total of 6,623 people were evacuated, including 4,128 from Mariupol who were taken northwest to Zaporizhzhia. Russian forces intensified their attack in the battered port city of Mariupol, with heavy fighting on Saturday leading to the closure of a major steel plant, AP reported. Local authorities pleaded for more Western help. Meanwhile, the city council of Ukraine's Mariupol said Russian forces forcefully deported several thousand people from the besieged city last week, after Russia had spoken of "refugees" arriving from the strategic port.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his country's troops at a huge flag-waving rally in Moscow as Russian forces strike Ukrainian cities from a distance again, pounding the capital of Kyiv and the country's west. The war is now in its fourth week. Russian troops have failed to take Kyiv — a major objective in their hopes of forcing a settlement or dictating Ukraine's future political alignments — but have wreaked havoc and devastation.
The UN migration agency says the fighting has displaced nearly 6.5 million people inside Ukraine, on top of the 3.2 million refugees who have already fled the country. Ukraine says thousands have been killed.
The head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukrainian officials says the parties have come closer to an agreement on a neutral status for Ukraine — one of the key Russian demands as its offensive continues. Vladimir Medinsky said Friday that the sides also have narrowed their differences on the issue of Ukraine dropping its bid to join NATO.
But Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tweeted: "Our positions are unchanged. Ceasefire, withdrawal of troops & strong security guarantees with concrete formulas."
The United States and its allies have put a slew of sanctions in place aimed at crippling the Russian economy. Hundreds of international companies have announced that they are curtailing operations in Russia, and those who remain are under pressure to pull out.
Pope Francis on Friday denounced what he called the "perverse abuse of power'' in Russia's war in Ukraine and called for aid for Ukrainians whose identity, history and tradition are under attack. Francis' comments were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine's right to exist as a sovereign state.
Aid agencies are ramping up their efforts to deliver relief supplies to civilians affected by the fighting and refugees who have fled Ukraine. The Polish city of Rzeszow, about 100 km from the Ukrainian border, has become a humanitarian hub for the region.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Ludmila Denisova has accused Russian forces of shooting 56 elderly people in Luhansk, The Guardian reported.
In a post on Telegram, she wrote, “Today it became known about another terrible crime against humanity committed by the racist occupation forces—the shooting of 56 elderly people in Luhansk region. In the town of Kreminna on March 11, the Russian occupiers cynically and purposefully fired from a tank at a home for the elderly. 56 residents who lived to their old age in the house died on the spot. The survivors, 15 people, were abducted by the occupiers and taken to the occupied territory in Svatove to the regional geriatric boarding school.”
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“It is still impossible to get to the site of the tragedy to bury the dead old people. This is another act of horrific genocide - the extermination of the civilian population of Ukraine. For every such crime, for every innocent life taken, the leadership of the aggressor state must be held accountable in all the severity of international criminal law.”
A shell exploded outside an apartment block in Kyiv, wounding five people, the mayor said Sunday, the latest bombardment as Russian forces try to encircle the Ukranian capital. (AFP)
Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for control of Mariupol on Sunday, local authorities said, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia's siege of the southern port city was "a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come".
Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardment since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, and many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped in the city with little if any food, water and power. The U.N. refugee agency said 10 million people had now been displaced across Ukraine, including some 3.4 million who have fled to neighbouring countries such as Poland. Officials in the region said they were reaching capacity to comfortably house refugees.
At least 902 civilians have been killed and 1,459 injured in Ukraine as of midnight local time on March 19, the U.N. human rights office (OHCHR) said on Sunday. Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, OHCHR said.
The actual toll is thought to be considerably higher since OHCHR, which has a large monitoring team in the country, has not yet been able to receive or verify casualty reports from several badly hit cities including Mariupol, it said. (Reuters)
The family of Naveen S G, a medical student who was killed in Ukraine, has decided to donate his body to a medical college.
“My son wanted to contribute to the field of medicine. Now, we can only ensure that his body helps other students. After the rituals are completed, we will donate his body to SS Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in Davanagere,” Naveen’s father Shekarappa Goudar told the media. Read more
Pope Francis, continuing his implicit criticism of Russia, on Sunday calling the conflict in Ukraine an unjustified “senseless massacre” and urged leaders to stop “this repugnant war”.
“The violent aggression against Ukraine is unfortunately not slowing down,” he told about 30,0000 people in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Sunday address and blessing.
“It is a senseless massacre where every day slaughters and atrocities are being repeated,” Francis said in his latest strong condemnation of the war, which has so far avoided mentioning Russia by name. Read more
Ukraine says that Russia lost 14,700 troops since the war began.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Ludmila Denisova has accused Russian forces of forcibly transporting Ukrainian citizens to Russia, reports The Guardian.
According to the report, in a post on Telegram, she said: “In recent days, several thousand Mariupol residents have been deported to Russia. These are people from the Left Bank district of the city and the bomb shelter in the building of the sports club, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) hid from the constant bombing ...”
“It is known that the captured Mariupol residents were taken to filtration camps, where the occupiers checked people’s phones and documents. After the inspection, some Mariupol residents were transported to Taganrog and from there sent by rail to various economically depressed cities in Russia.”
“Our citizens have been issued papers that require them to be in a certain city. They have no right to leave it for at least two years with the obligation to work at the specified place of work. The fate of others remains unknown.”
Slovakia's Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad says the first multinational NATO units with the Patriot air defense systems have been moving to his country. Nad said on Sunday the transfers will continue in the next days.
Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to send their troops armed with the Patriots to Slovakia.
The troops are some of the 2,100 soldiers from several NATO members, including the United States, who will form a battlegroup on Slovak territory as the alliance boosts its defenses in its eastern flank following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Nad says the Patriots will be initially deployed at the armed forces base of Sliac in central Slovakia before they will be stationed at various places to protect the largest possible Slovak territory. AP
Russia said Sunday it has again fired its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, destroying a fuel storage site in the country's south.
The Russian defence ministry also said it killed more than 100 members of Ukrainian special forces and "foreign mercenaries" when it targeted a training centre in the town of Ovruch in northern Ukraine with sea-based missiles.
"Kinzhal aviation missile systems with hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large storage site for fuels and lubricants of the Ukrainian armed forces near the settlement of Kostyantynivka in the Mykolaiv region," the defence ministry said. (AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree that combines all national TV channels into one platform, citing the importance of a "unified information policy" under martial law, his office said in a statement on Sunday.
Ukrainian privately owned media channels have hitherto continued to operate since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. (Reuters)
Authorities in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol say that the Russian military has bombed an art school where about 400 people had taken refuge.Local authorities said Sunday that the school building was destroyed and people could remain under the rubble.
There was no immediate word on casualties.Russian forces on Wednesday also bombed a theater in Mariupol where civilians took shelter. The authorities said 130 people were rescued but many more could remain under the debris. (AP)
Russia struck Ukraine on Sunday with cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces. (Reuters)
Katya Hill tried to talk her brother out of it. She urged Jimmy Hill to postpone his trip to Ukraine as she saw reports of Russian tanks lining up at the border. But he needed to help his longtime partner, who has been suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis.
"He said, I don't know what I would do if I lost her, I have to try to do everything I can to try to stop the progression of MS,'" Katya said. "My brother sacrificed his life for her."
James 'Jimmy' Hill, 68, was killed in a Russian attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv that was reported Thursday, as his partner Irina Teslenko received treatment at a local hospital. (AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early Sunday the siege of the port city of Mariupol would go down in history for what he said were war crimes committed by Russian troops.
"To do this to a peaceful city what the occupiers did is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come," Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation. Russian forces have pushed deeper into the besieged and battered city where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help.
In the capital Kyiv at least 20 babies carried by Ukrainian surrogate mothers are stuck in a makeshift bomb shelter waiting for parents to travel into the war zone to pick them up. Some just days old, the babies are being cared for by nurses who cannot leave the shelter because of constant shelling by Russian troops who are trying to encircle the city.
The fall of Mariupol, the scene of some of the war's worst suffering, would mark a major battlefield advance for the Russians who are largely bogged down outside major cities more than three weeks into the biggest land invasion in Europe since World War II. (AP)
Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine's besieged and battered port city of Mariupol on Saturday, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help.
The fall of Mariupol, the scene of some of the war's worst suffering, would mark a major battlefield advance for the Russians, who are largely bogged down outside major cities more than three weeks into the biggest land invasion in Europe since World War II.
"Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth," Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin said from a rubble-strewn street in a video addressed to Western leaders that was authenticated by The Associated Press. (AP)
The city council of Ukraine's Mariupol said Russian forces forcefully deported several thousand people from the besieged city last week, after Russia had spoken of "refugees" arriving from the strategic port.
"Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents were deported onto the Russian territory," the council said in a statement on its Telegram channel late on Saturday.
"The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing. (Reuters)
A bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers visiting Poland said Saturday that the most urgent need in Ukraine's fight against a Russian invasion is to equip and support the country in every way that will help it defend its independence.
The seven-member delegation led by Rep. Stephen Lynch, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has visited reception centers for refugees from Ukraine in eastern Poland. They noted Poland's openness in accepting refugees from Ukraine, including in private homes. More than 2 million people fleeing war have come to Poland since Feb. 24, when Russia's troops invaded Ukraine. (AP)
When three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, some saw a message in them wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag. They shot that down on Saturday.
Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev said each crew picks the color of the flight suits about six months before launch because they need to be individually sewn. And since all three of them were graduates of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, they chose the colors of their prestigious alma mater. (AP)
Evacuations from Ukraine’s besieged cities proceeded on Saturday along eight of 10 humanitarian corridors, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, with a total of 6,623 people were evacuated, including 4,128 from Mariupol who were taken northwest to Zaporizhzhia. Russian forces intensified their attack in the battered port city of Mariupol, with heavy fighting on Saturday leading to the closure of a major steel plant, AP reported. Local authorities pleaded for more Western help. (AP)
Ukraine will receive a new shipment of US weapons within days, including Javelin and Stinger missiles, Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said in a televised interview on Saturday.“The (weapons) will be on the territory of our country in the nearest future. We are talking about days,” Danilov said. Ukraine's allies have delivered planeloads of weapons shipments to bolster its military against the Russian invasion. Russia has criticised such deliveries from NATO member states. (Reuters)
Russia's space agency on Saturday dismissed Western media reports suggesting Russian cosmonauts joining the International Space Station (ISS) had chosen to wear yellow suits with a blue trim in support of Ukraine. "Sometimes yellow is just yellow," Roscosmos' press service said on its Telegram channel. "The flight suits of the new crew are made in the colours of the emblem of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which all three cosmonauts graduated from ... To see the Ukrainian flag everywhere and in everything is crazy."
Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin was more acerbic, saying on his personal Telegram channel that Russian cosmonauts had no sympathy for Ukrainian nationalists.
In a live-streamed news conference from the ISS on Friday, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, the mission commander, was asked about the suits. "Every crew picks a colour that looks different. It was our turn to pick a colour," he said. "The truth is, we had accumulated a lot of yellow fabric, so we needed to use it up. That's why we had to wear yellow flight suits." (Reuters)
Ukraine has evacuated 190,000 civilians from frontline areas via humanitarian corridors since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a televised interview on Saturday. She said corridors in the Kyiv and Luhansk regions were functioning on Saturday, but a planned corridor to the besieged eastern port city of Mariupol was only partially operational, with buses not being allowed through by Russian troops. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Switzerland on Saturday to crack down on Russian oligarchs who he said were helping to wage war on his country from the safety of "beautiful Swiss towns".
In an audiolink address to thousands attending an anti-war protest in Bern, Zelenskiy thanked Switzerland for its support since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, but also had clear language about the Swiss financial sector.
"Your banks are where the money of the people who unleashed this war lies. That is painful. That is also a fight against evil, that their accounts are frozen. That would also be a fight, and you can do this," he said via a translator. "Ukrainians feel what it is when cities are destroyed. They are being destroyed on the orders of people who live in European, in beautiful Swiss towns, who enjoy property in your cities. It would really be good to strip them of this privilege." (Reuters)
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi listening, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday called out Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, saying that the military action was a “serious development” that has “shaken the foundation for international order”.
Modi did not mention Ukraine directly, only making a reference to “geopolitical developments”.
After their meeting in New Delhi, Kishida said, “I have expressed my views to Prime Minister Modi. I said that unilateral attempts to change the status quo by use of force should never be allowed in any sphere.” Read more
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud met Bektum Rostam, a special envoy for Ukraine's president in Riyadh, Saudi state news agency (SPA) reported on Saturday. The two discussed the crisis in Ukraine, emphasising the Kingdom's support for reducing escalation, protecting civilians and seeking negotiated political solutions and international efforts to resolve the crisis politically. (Reuters)
Russia said on Saturday it had used hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles to destroy a large weapons depot in Ukraine's western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Russia's Interfax news agency said it was the first time Russia had deployed the hypersonic Kinzhal system since it sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing that the underground depot hit by the Kinzhal system on Friday housed Ukrainian missiles and aircraft ammunition, according to a recording of the briefing shared by Russian news agencies. (Reuters)
Here are the important updates we know now about the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
*Russia said it had used hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles to destroy a large weapons depot in Ukraine's western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
*A Russian mortar attack on Ukrainian town of Makariv in the Kyiv region killed seven people and hospitalised five on Friday, local police said in a statement. Russia denies targeting civilians.
*Ukrainian authorities have not noticed any significant shifts over the past 24 hours in frontline areas, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said. He said fighting was ongoing and named the southeastern city of Mariupol, the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson, and the eastern town of Izyum as particular hotspots.
*Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians on Saturday via 10 humanitarian corridors from cities and towns on the front line of fighting with Russian forces, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
*The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said that 112 children have been killed so far in the war. The U.N. rights office said on Friday that at least 816 civilians had been killed and 1,333 wounded in Ukraine through to March 17.
*Border crossings from Ukraine have slowed but could rise again if conditions in the west of the country worsen, the U.N refugee agency said on Friday. The U.N. says 3.27 million have fled, with 2 million displaced inside the country.
*Russian President Vladimir Putin is healthy, sane and "in better shape than ever", his close ally Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has said in an interview with the Japanese television channel TBS. In a speech on Friday in Moscow, the Russian leader said all of the Kremlin's aims in Ukraine would be achieved.
*U.S. oilfield services companies Halliburton Co and Schlumberger said on Friday they have suspended or halted Russia operations. (Reuters)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Saturday for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow to stop its invasion of Ukraine, saying it would otherwise take Russia "several generations" to recover from its losses in the war.
Russian forces have taken heavy losses and their advance has largely stalled since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the assault on Feb. 24, with long columns of troops that bore down on Kyiv halted in its suburbs. However, they have laid siege to cities, blasting urban areas to rubble, and in recent days have intensified missile attacks on scattered targets in western Ukraine, away from the main battlefields in the north and east of the country.
Zelenskyy said refusal to compromise would come at a steep price. “I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk," he said in a video address early on Saturday. "The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover.” (Reuters)
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Saturday that he will explore liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply on a trip to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and aims to secure a hydrogen deal, making Germany less dependent on Russia.
Russia is the largest supplier of gas to Germany, according to data on the Economy Ministry's website. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Habeck has launched several initiatives to lessen Germany's energy dependence on Russia, including large orders of non-Russian LNG, plans for a terminal to import LNG and slowing the nation's exit from coal.
Habeck, ahead of the weekend trip, said "the goal...is to establish a hydrogen partnership in the medium term, that is, to flank it politically.” He will be accompanied by around 20 representatives from corporate Germany, many from the energy sector. He also wants to discuss "short-term" LNG supply and to "give the companies that ensure the gas supply in Germany the political framework to become independent of Russian gas, topics that could not be higher on the political agenda". (Reuters)
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there should be no way back from international isolation for President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. It would be a mistake to consider trade-offs, Johnson told members of his Conservative Party at a conference in Blackpool.
“There are some around the world, even in Western governments, who invoke what they call realpolitik and who say that we are better off making accommodations with tyranny,” Johnson said. “I have to say, I believe they are profoundly wrong.”
“To try to renormalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake again,” he said. (Bloomberg)
The Ukrainian military imposed a 38-hour curfew in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, starting at 14.00 GMT on Saturday and ending early on Monday, deputy mayor Anatoliy Kurtiev said.
"Do not go outside at this time!" he said in an online post.
The regional capital has become an important point of transit for some of the 35,000 people estimated to have fled the besieged Mariupol city in the southeast. (Reuters)
A Russian mortar attack on Ukrainian town of Makariv in the Kyiv region killed seven people and hospitalised five on Friday, local police said in a statement on Saturday. “As a result of enemy shelling of Makariv, seven civilians were killed,” the statement said. (Reuters)
Nine people were killed and 17 wounded in shelling of the suburbs of the city of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine on Friday, deputy mayor Anatoliy Kurtiev said on Saturday.
The military has since declared a 38-hour curfew in Zaporizhzhia, which was being attacked by Russian forces with mortars, tanks, helicopters and rocket systems, Kurtiev said in an online post. (Reuters)
Ukrainian authorities have not noticed any significant shifts over the past 24 hours in front line areas where Ukrainian troops are battling Russian forces, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Saturday.
In an online video address, he said fighting was ongoing and named the southeastern city of Mariupol, the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson, and the eastern town of Izyum as particular hotspots where Russian troops were on the offensive. (Reuters)
A generation of Ukrainians who knew of war only from history books and the stories of their grandparents has been forced to prepare to fight, and some are choosing to do it with the partners they were building their lives with only weeks ago.
In a training centre in the southern city of Odessa, young urban professionals who might normally be choosing where to meet friends for a coffee learn about handling weapons and applying emergency first aid to battlefield wounds.
'Every person should know how to fight, how to make medicine, aid for your relatives or other people,' said 26-year-old graphic designer Olga Moroz, training in civil defence alongside her boyfriend, 32-year-old sales manager Maxim Yavtushenko.
The couple, who had been planning their wedding in the summer, were at the dimly lit facility that provides basic training for 80 to 150 people a day, all seeking to have some kind of preparation for the day that Russian troops pressing closer to the city finally arrive. (Reuters)
In video after video taken in Ukraine, a puff of smoke and a brief flash of light signal that another clutch of Russian troops are about to die.
Sometimes it is only a split second before that light streaks to a tank or armoured vehicle that suddenly erupts in smoke and flame, often bursting from within as ammunition inside explodes.
Rewinding these videos a bit often shows Ukrainian soldiers before the attack, patrolling to an ambush point with large green tubes carried on their backs — each one a gift from Britain. In perhaps 15 seconds, and sometimes even faster than that, the soldiers can unsling the weapon, unfold its aiming sight, release a safety catch and wait for their prey to appear. What are there tubes? Read here.
In the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting for the Azovstal steel plant, one of the biggest in Europe, said Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, in televised remarks on Saturday.
Now there is a fight for Azovstal. "I can say that we have lost this economic giant. In fact, one of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe is actually being destroyed," Denysenko said. (AP)
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia are scheduled to meet for talks on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum in Turkey on Thursday. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said the talks will be held in “trilateral format”: that is, with Turkey present in the room as a mediator.
Turkey has sought to mediate between Russia and Ukraine since the time tensions rose. “Upon President @RTErdogan’s initiatives and our intensive diplomatic efforts, Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia & Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine have decided to meet with my participation on the margins of @AntalyaDF,” Cavusoglu tweeted. (Read more)
All four people on board a US military aircraft that crashed in northern Norway on Friday have died, local police said Saturday.
The MV-22B Osprey aircraft belonging to the US Marine Corps was taking part in a military exercise called Cold Response when it crashed in a remote region. Some 30,000 troops from 27 countries are involved in Cold Response, an exercise designed to prepare Nato member countries for the defence of Norway.
"Police reached the crash site at around 0130 CET (0030 GMT). It is regrettably confirmed that all four on board the plane have perished," Ivar Bo Nilsson, head of the operation for Nordland police, said in a statement. (Reuters)
Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians Saturday via ten humanitarian corridors from cities and towns on the front line of fighting with Russian forces, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
She said a corridor had been agreed for the besieged city of Mariupol, although the authorities' previous efforts to evacuate civilians there under a temporary ceasefire have mostly failed, with both sides trading blame. (Reuters)
Amid the Ukraine war, Russia has announced ‘humanitarian corridors’ to allow citizens to flee from the cities of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Kyiv. These corridors also allow food and medical aid to be brought to the areas of conflict. According to a United Nations estimate, over 3.1 million people have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in the last three weeks. Poland has accepted the move number of refugees, pegged at close to two million people.
So, how safe are these corridors? Do they work? Where else have they been used? Take a look
The MEA has appointed a funeral agent to take possession of the mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, the student killed in Ukraine. The agent has taken possession of the mortal remains and after completing necessary paper works, has transported the human remains to Warsaw in Poland. The Indian Embassy in Poland and Funeral Agent have completed all documentation required for transportation of the remains to India.
Commissioner of Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority and state nodal officer Manoj Rajan said the remains are expected to reach Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport on March 21, 2022 at 3 am through Emirates Flight Number EK0568. (Kiran Parashar reports from Bengaluru)
India's oil imports from the United States will rise by 11% this year, officials said Saturday, as it looks to secure supplies from producers around the world, including heavily sanctioned Russia.
The surge in oil prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month threatens to fan Indian inflation, stretch public finances and hurt growth just when it was emerging from a pandemic-induced slowdown. New Delhi faces criticism from the West for its long-standing political and security ties with Moscow, with some saying that engaging in business with Russia will help fund its war.
India has urged an end to the violence in Ukraine but abstained from voting against Russia. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, meeting his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during a visit on Saturday, said he will encourage a unified approach on Ukraine. (Reuters)
Russia's defence ministry reported the use of hypersonic Kinzhal missiles in Ukraine, according to an IFX report. Additionally, it said that the radio reconnaissance centres of Ukraine's military has been destroyed near Ukraine's Odessa. (Reuters)
A humanitarian corridor for evacuations in Ukraine's Luhansk region will be opened on Saturday morning, regional governor Serhiy Gaiday said on Telegram.
"A humanitarian corridor has been agreed, we will try to evacuate people and bring food today. A 'regime of silence' has been agreed for March 19, starting at 9 am (12.30 pm IST)," Gaiday said. (Reuters)
India’s neighbours in South Asia have taken their own positions on the war in Ukraine keeping in mind their history, economy, the big power rivalry playing out in their countries, and their relations with these powers. There was a clear divide among the seven countries between those who maintained a neutral position, and those who were unequivocal in their opposition to Russia.
Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal supported the resolution against Russia in the United Nations General Assembly. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka abstained. Nepal, which is a member of the UN Human Rights Council, also voted for the HRC resolution to set up an independent investigation into Russia’s alleged violations of human rights in Ukraine. (Read more)
?? Ukraine's President Zelenskyy called for meaningful talks with Russia to stop its invasion, as Moscow said it was "tightening the noose" around the key port of Mariupol.
?? Biden warned China's Xi of "consequences", which the White House said could include sanctions, if Beijing gave material support to Russia's invasion. Both sides called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in its fourth week.
?? Ukraine expects progress on its EU membership bid within months, Zelenskyy said after a call with the head of EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen.
?? As the prolonged assault has reduced much of Mariupol to rubble, Ukraine's defence ministry said it had "temporarily" lost access to the Azov Sea, which connects to the Black Sea and would be a major loss for Ukraine.
?? "Russian forces have made minimal progress this week," Britain said. It said Russian attempts to surround Kyiv and Mykolaiv have been pushed back while heavy Russian shelling of encircled cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol was reported on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces are blockading Ukraine's largest cities to create a "humanitarian catastrophe" with the aim of persuading Ukrainians to cooperate with them.
He said more than 9,000 people were able to leave besieged Mariupol in the past day, and in all more than 180,000 people have been able to flee to safety through humanitarian corridors.
He again appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold talks with him directly. "It's time to meet, time to speak," he said. "I want to be heard by everyone, especially in Moscow." (AP)
Ukraine's defence ministry said late Friday it lost access to the Sea of Azov "temporarily" as invading Russian forces were tightening their grip around the Sea's major port of Mariupol.
"The occupiers have partially succeeded in the Donetsk operational district, temporarily depriving Ukraine of access to the Sea of Azov," Ukraine's defence ministry said in a statement. The ministry did not specify in its statement whether Ukraine's forces have regained access to the Sea. (Reuters)
The Indian embassy in Kyiv, operating from Warsaw, issued an advisory, reminding citizens that they are still functional.
"Embassy of India continues to function and can be contacted through email: cons1.kyiv@mea.gov.in and the following 24*7 helpline numbers on WhatsApp for assistance: +380933559958, +919205290802, +917428022564," it said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling in Ukraine, which did create political ripples in Europe, has triggered a far more consequential debate on the importance of atomic weapons in deterring Chinese expansionism. For those facing Chinese wrath in Asia, it is not difficult to buy into the proposition that Russia would have thought twice before invading Ukraine if Kyiv had nuclear weapons.
In an important statement last week, the former prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, called for a national debate on hosting American nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. In South Korea, which is electing its president this week, front-runner Yoon Suk-yeol has talked of strengthening Seoul’s nuclear deterrence against both Pyongyang and Beijing. Taiwan, which is in the cross-hairs of President Xi Jinping’s regional strategy, is reportedly developing a nuclear-powered submarine that could offer some deterrence against a Chinese invading force. Australia, which is working with the UK and the US to build nuclear-powered submarines, is accelerating the project after the Ukraine invasion. (Read more)
As Ukraine mourns its dead, scores of empty strollers were lined up in the cobbled central square of the city of Lviv on Friday to commemorate the children killed in the country since Russia's invasion.
Lviv city hall placed 109 strollers, or prams, in neat rows — one for each child killed since the start of the war, according to Ukrainian authorities. Two stuffed teddy bears were laid in a bright blue baby carrier. A little girl sitting on a bench held a small Ukrainian flag.
"Remember your children when they were small and sitting in strollers like these," said Zhuravka Natalia Tonkovyt, a Canadian citizen of Ukrainian origin who was passing by, speaking as if to address Russian mothers. (Read more)
Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a packed Moscow stadium Friday and lavished praise on his troops fighting in Ukraine, three weeks into the invasion that has led to heavier-than-expected Russian losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home.
The invasion has touched off a burst of antiwar protests inside Russia, and the Moscow rally was surrounded by suspicions it was a Kremlin-manufactured display of patriotism. Several Telegram channels critical of the Kremlin reported that students and employees of state institutions in a number of regions were ordered by their superiors to attend rallies and concerts marking the eighth anniversary of Moscow's annexation of Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine. Those reports could not be independently verified.
In a rare public appearance by Putin since the start of the war, he praised Russian troops: "Shoulder to shoulder, they help and support each other," he said. "We have not had unity like this for a long time," he added to cheers from the crowd.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow, saying Russia would otherwise need generations to recover from losses suffered during the war.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had always offered solutions for peace and wanted meaningful and honest negotiations on peace and security, without delay.
"I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk," he said in a video address released in the early hours of Saturday. "The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover." (Reuters)
Norwegian authorities were searching Friday for a US Marine Corps aircraft that went missing during a training exercise.
Norway's military said in a statement that the Marine Osprey was reported missing Friday night when it did not make a scheduled arrival at the Arctic Circle municipality Bod. The civilian Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Northern Norway launched a search and rescue operation.
Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station on Friday wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, colors that appeared to match the Ukrainian flag. The men were the first new arrivals on the space station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.
Video of Artemyev taken as the spacecraft prepared to dock with the space station showed him wearing a blue flight suit. It was unclear what, if any, message the yellow uniforms they changed into were intended to send.
When the cosmonauts were able to talk to family back on Earth, Artemyev was asked about the suits. He said every crew chooses their own. (AP)
In talks between Russia and Ukraine toward a possible cease-fire after three weeks of intense fighting, negotiators are exploring prospects of possible “neutrality” for Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that has been moving closer to NATO in hopes of membership — infuriating Moscow.
The discussions this week have brought a glimmer of hope of a possible way out of the bloody crisis in Ukraine — and followed an acknowledgement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the most explicit terms yet that Ukraine is unlikely to realize its goal of joining the Atlantic alliance.
An official in Zelenskyy’s office said the talks have centered on whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where borders would be. Ukraine also wants at least one Western nuclear power involved in the talks, and a legally binding document on security guarantees. (Read more)
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is arriving on Saturday for his first visit to India as Prime Minister, in what is going to be the first head of government visit to India in 2022.
Kishida, who has come to India as Japan’s Foreign Minister earlier, has met PM Narendra Modi four times in the past few years. But, this is also his first bilateral visit overseas — he visited Glasgow for CoP26 last year.
The summit between the Indian and Japanese PMs is taking place three and half years since the last Summit was held in Japan in 2018. (Read more)
Underlining that India’s “legitimate energy transactions should not be politicised”, Delhi hit out Friday at the West, saying countries with “oil self-sufficiency or those importing themselves from Russia cannot credibly advocate restrictive trading”.
India’s sharp reaction comes at a time when Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s top oil firm, has bought 3 million barrels of crude oil that Russia had offered at a steep discount on prevailing international rates. The purchase, made through a trader, is the first since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine that led to international pressure to isolate the Putin administration.
Russian oil exports to India, the third largest energy consumer, quadrupled in March, Financial Times reported Friday. (Read more)