Ukraine is willing to become neutral and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbass region as part of a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, even as another top Ukrainian official accused Russia of aiming to carve the country in two.
Rescuers work at a site of fuel storage facilities hit by cruise missiles, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Lviv, in this handout picture released March 27, 2022. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
Zelenskiy took his message directly to Russian journalists in a video call that the Kremlin pre-emptively warned Russian media not to report, saying any agreement must be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum.
“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it,” he said, speaking in Russian.
But even as Turkey is set to host talks this week, Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russian President Vladimir Putin was aiming to seize the eastern part of Ukraine.
“In fact, it is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine,” he said, referring to the division of Korea after World War Two. Zelenskiy has urged the West to give Ukraine tanks, planes and missiles to help fend off Russian forces.
Zelenskiy later said in his nightly video address that he would insist on the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine in any talks.
In a call with Putin on Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan agreed to hold talks this week in Istanbul and called for a ceasefire and better humanitarian conditions, his office said. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators confirmed that in-person talks would take place.
Even before the Ukraine crisis erupted, Delhi upset Washington with its purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system
A senior White House official said on Friday India’s position at the United Nations over the crisis in Ukraine has been “unsatisfactory” but was also unsurprising given its historical relationship with Russia.
Mira Rapp-Hooper, director for the Indo-Pacific on the White House National Security Council, told a panel discussion it was necessary to provide India with alternatives to continued close ties with Russia.
“I think we would certainly all acknowledge and agree that when it comes to votes at the UN, India’s position on the current crisis has been unsatisfactory, to say the least. But it’s also been totally unsurprising,” she said.
India has developed close ties with Washington in recent years and is a vital part of the Quad grouping aimed at pushing back against China. But it has a long-standing relationship with Moscow, which remains a major supplier of its defense equipment. India has avoided condemning Russian actions in Ukraine and abstained in UN Security Council votes on the issue.
Rapp-Hooper said India had cleaved closer to Russia as a hedge as its relationship with China worsened, but it was thinking “long and hard” about its defense dependency on Russia.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses French lawmakers via video lin, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 23, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
Ukraine’s leader called for solidarity on Thursday, a month since Russia’s invasion began, warning he would see who sells out at summits in Europe where bolstering sanctions and NATO is planned but restrictions on energy could prove divisive.
U.S. President Joe Biden has arrived in Brussels for meetings of the alliance, G7 and European Union over a conflict that began on Feb. 24 and has caused more than 3.6 million refugees to flee the country.
Biden’s visit could also shine light on a dispute with European allies, some of whom are heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas, over whether to impose further energy sanctions.
The issue has been a “substantial” topic and the subject of “intense back and forth” in recent days, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. The United States has already banned imports of Russian oil.
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Moscow planned to switch gas sales made to “unfriendly” countries to roubles, causing European gas prices to soar on concerns the move would exacerbate the region’s energy crunch.
As the humanitarian toll from the conflict continues to rise, driving a quarter of Ukraine’s population of 44 million from their homes, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on people around the world to take to the streets and demand the war end.
“Come from your offices, your homes, your schools and universities, come in the name of peace, come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support life,” he said in a video address.
The United States planned to announce more sanctions on Russian political figures and oligarchs on Thursday, and officials would have more to say on Friday about European energy issues, Sullivan said.
Ahead of his meeting with Biden, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would boost its forces in Eastern Europe by deploying four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday he expected “serious steps” from Western allies.
He repeated his call for a no-fly zone and complained that the West had not provided Ukraine with planes, modern anti-missile systems, tanks or anti-ship weapons.
“At these three summits we will see who is our friend, who is our partner and who sold us out and betrayed us,” he said in a video address released early on Thursday.
At least 117 children have been killed so far in Russia’s war on Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told Italian lawmakers.
“But 117 will not be the final number,” he warned in a video link to both chambers of parliament in Rome. “They keep killing,” he said according to the Italian translation.
According to the office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 925 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine, including 75 children. It has warned this is likely an underestimate.
Zelensky called on Italy to freeze Russian assets and confiscate luxury goods such as yachts, arguing that this was necessary to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin. “You only need to stop one person so that millions can survive.”
While Australian PM Scott Morrison called for holding Russia to account for its Ukraine offensive in the virtual summit with PM Narendra Modi, Australia also expressed understanding of India’s position on Ukraine, as foreign secretary Harsh Shringla said after the meeting.
However, even as Modi and Morrison expressed serious concern over the conflict and the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, they agreed that that the conflict in Europe should not divert the Quad countries’ focus from the Indo-Pacific with Morrison underlining the need to ensure what is happening in Ukraine never occurs in the Indo-Pacific.
Modi briefed his counterpart about the situation at LAC and reiterated there cannot be normalisation of ties with China till peace and tranquillity along the border is restored. Morrison also spoke against Chinese activities in South China Sea. Shringla said a significant outcome of the summit was to institutionalise an annual bilateral summit mechanism. India had annual summits only with Russia and Japan till now.
While the 2 countries signed several agreements including one for co-investment in Australian critical mineral projects, an area Australia is looking to compete with China in, a joint statement by the 2 sides was still awaited till late in the night. Australia is looking to increase its investments in India by Rs 1500 crore with the fresh agreements.
While Modi didn’t mention Ukraine in his opening remarks, Morrison brought up Russia’s “unlawful invasion’’ saying the tragic loss of life underlies the importance of holding Russia to account. “But cooperation between like-minded liberal democracies is key to an open and inclusive and resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and I welcome your leadership within the Quad to keeping us focused on those important issues,’’ he said. While Japan had publicly said after the summit with India on Saturday that PM Fumio Kishida asked Modi to take up with President Vladimir Putin the need to main a “free and open international order’’, there was no such pronouncement by the Australians after the summit.
Ukraine said on Monday it would not obey ultimatums from Russia after Moscow demanded it stop defending besieged Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are suffering through Russian bombardments laying waste to their city.
Mariupol has become a focal point of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, but attacks were also reported to have intensified on the country’s second city Kharkiv on Monday.
The conflict has driven almost a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes, and Germany predicted the refugee number could reach as high as 10 million in coming weeks.
Europe said Russia was using refugees as a tool and that it was prepared to take more action on top of existing sanctions to isolate Russia from global finances and trade.
Russia’s military had ordered residents of Mariupol to surrender by 5 a.m. local time on Monday, saying those who did so could leave, while those who stayed would be handed to tribunals run by Moscow-backed separatists.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government responded that it would never bow to ultimatums and said cities such as the capital Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv would always defy occupation.
“There can be no question of any surrender” in Mariupol, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Russia’s invasion, now in its fourth week, has largely stalled, failing to capture any major city, but causing massive destruction to residential areas.
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov that was home to 400,000 people, has run short of food, medicine, power and water. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said its “heroic defenders” had helped thwart Russia elsewhere.
A part of Mariupol now held by Russian forces, reached by Reuters on Sunday, was an eerie wasteland. Several bodies lay by the road, wrapped in blankets. Windows were blasted out and walls were charred black. People who came out of basements sat on benches amid the debris, bundled up in coats.
Some, though, are managing to escape.
A total of 8,057 people were safely evacuated on Monday through seven humanitarian corridors from towns and cities under fire, said Vereshchuk. Among those brought to safety were 3,007 residents of Mariupol.
U.S.-RUSSIA WAR OF WORDS
Russia calls the war, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from “Nazis”.
Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Sunday, where residents are trapped with little food, water and power, while Ukraine’s president appealed to Israel for help in pushing back Russia’s assault.
Local residents gather in a street during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 20, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
In the capital, Kyiv, shellfire hit several homes and a shopping centre in the Podil district late on Sunday, killing at least one person, the city’s mayor said.
In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link and questioned Israel’s reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine.
“Everybody knows that your missile defence systems are the best… and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews,” said Zelenskiy, who is of Jewish heritage.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held numerous calls with both Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to end the conflict.
Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped with little if any food, water and power.
Burying his neighbours in a makeshift grave by the roadside, a man who identified himself as Andrei said they had died not by shelling but of ailments, stress and cold after weeks without access to medical help.
Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, which hosted the World Cup final in 2018, was packed for the rally, with patriot songs, and crowds waving Russian flags and shouting: “Russia! Russia! Russia!”
Russian military cadets and officers were among the crowds. Pic: AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed the country’s “special operation” in Ukraine at a rally marking the anniversary of the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, which hosted the World Cup final in 2018, was packed for the rally, with patriot songs, and crowds waving Russian flags and shouting: “Russia! Russia! Russia!”
Images and video from the stadium showed a sea of red, blue and white flags and banners, with one reading: “For Putin!”
Thousands at rally cheer on president
Mr Putin gave a speech from a stage at the venue – after discussing Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine with his security council on Friday, RIA news agency cited the Kremlin as saying.
He told the cheering thousands “we will implement all our plans”, insisting that the “main purpose” of the invasion of Ukraine is to “save people from suffering and genocide”.
Russia said its forces were “tightening the noose” around the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol on Friday and concern grew over mass civilian casualties as the United States again warned China against aiding Moscow in its invasion.
A Ukrainian service member checks cartridges for a machine gun at a position on the front line in the north Kyiv region, Ukraine March 18, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Russia’s advance in Ukraine has largely stalled, and its troops, frustrated by fierce Ukrainian resistance, have blasted residential areas to rubble. On Friday, missiles landed near Lviv, a western city where thousands have fled for refuge.
In Mariupol, the scene of heavy bombardment, officials estimated 80% of the city’s homes had been damaged and that 1,000 people may still be trapped in makeshift bomb shelters beneath a destroyed theatre.
Nearly 5,000 Ukrainians were evacuated from Mariupol on Friday, officials said, and residents reported seeing dead bodies along the roadside as they fled the city.
“We were careful and didn’t want the children to see the bodies, so we tried to shield their eyes,” said Nick Osychenko, the CEO of a Mariupol TV station who fled the city with six members of his family.
“We were nervous the whole journey. It was frightening, just frightening.”
Ukraine said it had rescued 130 people from the basement of a Mariupol theatre that was flattened by Russian strikes two days ago. Russia denied hitting the theatre and says it does not target civilians.
China is the one big power that has yet to condemn Russia’s assault, and Washington fears Beijing may be considering giving Moscow financial and military support, something that both Russia and China deny.
Naveen was killed in Kharkiv city on March 1 when he had come out of bunker in search of food. (News18/Special Arrangement)
The family of Karnataka student Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, who died in war-torn Ukraine, has decided to donate his body to a medical college in the state.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that the body of Naveen would reach Bengaluru International airport early on Monday.
Shekarappa, the student’s father, on Friday said that he was saddened as the process of bringing back the body of his son from Ukraine was delayed. “Now, the sadness has gone away after learning that we will be able to see his body for the last time,” he said.
The body is reaching the Chalageri village on Monday, he said. After performing the final rites, the family has decided to donate the body to the SS Medical College of Davanagere, he added. The decision has been taken to enable the medical college students with their studies, he said.
A U.S. official said Russia asked China for military equipment to use in its invasion of Ukraine, a request that heightened tensions about the ongoing war ahead of a Monday meeting in Rome between top aides for the U.S. and Chinese governments.
Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi, speaks at the opening session of US-China talks at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, March 18, 2021. President Biden is sending his national security adviser for talks with a senior Chinese official in Rome on Monday, March 14, 2022. The meeting comes as concerns grow that China is amplifying Russian disinformation in the Ukraine war. Last week the White House accused Beijing of spreading false Russian claims that Ukraine was running chemical and biological weapons labs with U.S. support. The White House says talks between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Yang Jiechi will center on “efforts to manage the competition between our two countries and discuss the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security.” (Frederic J. Brown/Pool via AP)
In advance of the talks, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan bluntly warned China to avoid helping Russia evade punishment from global sanctions that have hammered the Russian economy. “We will not allow that to go forward,” he said.
The prospect of China offering Russia financial help is one of several concerns for President Joe Biden. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that in recent days, Russia had requested support from China, including military equipment, to press forward in its ongoing war with Ukraine. The official did not provide details on the scope of the request. The request was first reported by the Financial Times and The Washington Post.
The Biden administration is also accusing China of spreading Russian disinformation that could be a pretext for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces to attack Ukraine with chemical or biological weapons.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put China in a delicate spot with two of its biggest trading partners: the U.S. and European Union. China needs access to those markets, yet it also has shown support for Moscow, joining with Russia in declaring a friendship with “no limits.”
In his talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi, Sullivan will indeed be looking for limits in what Beijing will do for Moscow.
“I’m not going to sit here publicly and brandish threats,” he told CNN in a round of Sunday news show interviews. “But what I will tell you is we are communicating directly and privately to Beijing that there absolutely will be consequences” if China helps Russia “backfill” its losses from the sanctions.
“We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world,” he said.
In brief comments on the talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian did not mention Ukraine, saying that the “key issue of this meeting is to implement the important consensus reached by the Chinese and U.S. heads of state in their virtual summit in November last year.”
A barrage of Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, killing 35 people and wounding 134, a local official said, in an escalation of the war to the west of the country as fighting raged elsewhere.
An injured serviceman is escorted by medical workers, following an attack on the Yavoriv military base, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at a hospital in Novoyavorivsk, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. REUTERS/Roman Baluk
Russia’s defence ministry said the air strike had destroyed a large amount of weapons supplied by foreign nations that were being stored at the sprawling training facility, and that it had killed “up to 180 foreign mercenaries”.
Reuters could not independently verify the casualties reported by either side.
The attack on the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, a base just 15 miles (25 km) from the Polish border that has previously hosted NATO military instructors, brought the conflict to the doorstep of the Western defence alliance.
Russia had warned on Saturday that convoys of Western arms shipments to Ukraine could be considered legitimate targets.
Britain called the attack as a “significant escalation,” and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded with a post on Twitter saying “the brutality must stop.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation”, warned any attack on NATO territory would trigger a full response by the alliance.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said Russian planes fired around 30 rockets at the Yavoriv facility.
Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said Russia had used high-precision, long-range weapons to strike Yavoriv and a separate facility in the village of Starichi.
“As a result of the strike, up to 180 foreign mercenaries and a large amount of foreign weapons were destroyed,” he said.
India has decided to temporarily relocate its embassy in Ukraine to Poland, the government said on Sunday.
Poland, China, India
The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that the decision to move the embassy from Kyiv was being taken in view of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Ukraine, including attacks in the western parts of the country.
“The situation will be reassessed in the light of further developments,” it added.
Earlier this month Ukraine’s government said that it had helped evacuate about 20,000 Indian students from areas of the country attacked by Russian forces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but several were still trapped.
The fighting between Ukraine and Russia is being closely watched by both the People’s Liberation Army and Taiwanese military as Ukraine’s forces, using anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles provided by the West, inflict heavy losses on their larger Russian opponents.
Beijing has never renounced the use of force to reunite Taiwan with the mainland and if it did decide to attack, there would be a much greater disparity in the size of its forces compared with Russia and Ukraine – making the lessons the conflict provides about asymmetric warfare and guerilla tactics especially important for both sides.
“The US and Nato have not deployed troops to participate in the Russia-Ukraine war, but they have provided targeted individual combat weapons to Ukrainian forces, making them the invisible warrior behind the war,” Ni Lexiong, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said.
He also said that Nato surveillance aircraft had been operating in the region and Ukraine had been given satellite reconnaissance information to monitor Russian troop movements.
In his latest speech, the Ukrainian leader hinted that future peace talks with Russia could take place in Jerusalem. He also took aim at NATO, saying the alliance has lacked “bravery” in its response to Putin’s invasion.
Widespread damage and impact craters have been seen in Moschun, a town northwest of Kyiv. Pic: Maxar
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia can only take Kyiv if it “razes it to the ground” – as he suggested future peace talks could take place in Jerusalem.
Mr Zelenskyy also said he doesn’t see “common consensus” for Ukraine to be accepted into NATO, before adding that the alliance has lacked “bravery” in its response to the invasion.
In his latest speech, Mr Zelenskyy said Russian and Ukrainian negotiating teams have started discussing concrete topics rather than exchanging ultimatums during peace talks.
However, he said the West has so far not been involved enough in the negotiations.
He said around 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed since the start of the war, and that on Friday, up to 600 Russian soldiers surrendered.
Mr Zelenskyy also said he hopes Israeli leader Naftali Bennett will have a “positive influence” on peace negotiations as he hopes for talks to take place in Jerusalem.
Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict during a 75-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
“The conversation is part of ongoing international efforts to end the war in Ukraine,” a German government spokesperson said.
Mr Scholz had earlier spoken to Mr Zelenskyy about the situation, the spokesperson added.
Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv, and France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown he was not ready to make peace.
Emergency rescue work is seen underway after an attack, where a residential building was reportedly hit by a rocket, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Kharkiv, March 12, 2022, in this screengrab obtained from handout video. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
With Russia’s invasion in its third week, the Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that “the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back.”
Ukrainian officials later said the convoy was not traveling along a “green corridor” agreed with Russia when it was struck on Friday, correcting their earlier assertion that it was on such a designated route.
Reuters was unable immediately to verify the report and Russia offered no immediate comment.
Moscow denies targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24. It blames Ukraine for failed attempts to evacuate civilians from encircled cities, an accusation Ukraine and its Western allies strongly reject.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces put 31 of Russia’s battalion tactical groups out of action in what he called Russia’s largest army losses in decades. It was not possible to verify his statements.
“We still need to hold on. We still have to fight,” Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Saturday, his second of the day.
It’s sunny and politically stable, there is little financial transparency and it’s easy enough to invest in a business or property and get a residency visa in return.
In Dubai, a luxury villa comes with a residency visa
On its website, the Dubai-based lifestyle magazine Russian Emirates offers readers a selection of commonly asked questions. They include everyday queries about where to find Russian food in the United Arab Emirates, and whether there are Russian- speaking doctors there. But by far the most popular question on the Russian-language magazine is this one, with over 83,000 views: “Can I get UAE citizenship?”
Over the past two weeks — that is, since Russia invaded Ukraine and Western nations imposed sanctions as a result — the readership of the Russian Emirates website has almost doubled to nearly 300,000 views in a week.
That is a trend that is likely to continue, experts say, as Russians look for ways to avoid sanctions and secure their wealth. Some are likely also trying to escape what they see as an increasingly perilous political situation at home.
“Russian tech executive Ilya Krasilshchik hurriedly packed up 3 suitcases and boarded a flight to Dubai this week: ‘The country that we lived in has been destroyed. What future is there for a country where chekisty have seized power?’” https://t.co/1OVfTm9k09
Russian troops have laid siege to the Ukrainian port city as US and its allies continue to pressure Moscow to end war.
Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine widens, with raids reported on east-central city of Dnipro and airfields in western Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk.
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, braces for an all-out assault as Russian military convoy edges closer.
Ukrainian officials say Russian shelling again prevented evacuations from Mariupol, where conditions are critical.
US and its top allies are revoking Russia’s “most favoured nation” status amid pressure campaign on President Vladimir Putin to end the war.
Ukrainian envoy to UN dismisses Moscow’s accusation that Kyiv is operating US-backed biological weapons laboratories as “insane delirium”.
Guatemala receives first arrivals of Ukrainians fleeing conflict
Guatemala has received its first arrivals of Ukrainian families fleeing their homeland since Russia’s invasion of its neighbor last month, authorities said.
The eight Ukrainians were the first to arrive in the Central American country “for humanitarian reasons,” an immigration spokesperson told Reuters news agency.
Another flight carrying 10 more Ukrainians is set to arrive later in the evening, officials said. It is unclear how many may have arrived privately to Guatemala since the Russian attacks on Ukraine began.
Dima Kasyanov, an 8 year-old boy, is seen at a bed in a hospital after being injured during shelling, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Lapshyn
Hundreds of thousands of civilians remained trapped in Ukrainian cities on Thursday, sheltering from Russian air raids and shelling as talks between Ukraine and Russia’s foreign ministers made little apparent progress.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine entering its third week, officials in Mariupol said Russian warplanes again bombed the encircled southern port city where a maternity hospital was pulverised on Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian authorities had managed to evacuate almost 40,000 people from the cities of Sumy, Trostyanets, Krasnopillya, Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel and Izyum, but Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said not a single civilian was able to leave Mariupol on Thursday as Russian forces failed to respect a temporary ceasefire to allow evacuations.
Efforts to send food, water and medicine into the city failed when Russian tanks attacked a humanitarian corridor, Zelenskiy said.
“This is outright terror … from experienced terrorists,” he said in a televised address.
Russia’s defence ministry said earlier that it would declare a ceasefire on Friday and open humanitarian corridors from Mariupol as well as Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has so far failed to reach its stated objectives, but has caused thousands of deaths and forced more than 2 million people to flee Ukraine, where several cities are under siege.
It has also hit the world’s economy, still emerging from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the war and the massive sanctions imposed on Russia as punishment have triggered a contraction in global trade and sent food and energy prices sharply higher, which will force the IMF to lower its global growth forecast next month.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its fifteenth day, the White House warned on Thursday, 10 March, that the Kremlin could be planning to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Russia was making “false claims about alleged US biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine”.
Additionally, in light of the ban imposed by the US on Russian oil imports, the United Arab Emirates will reportedly encourage OPEC members to bump up oil production, as oil prices surged after the ban was announced.
Ukraine has accused Russia of violating a ceasefire and destroying a hospital in Mariupol.
The United Kingdom announced on 9 March that it will be send more weapons to Ukraine to help defend itself against Russian aggression.
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, posted an open letter addressed to the world’s media on Tuesday, detailing what she described as the “mass murder of Ukrainian civilians.”
In recent weeks Zelenska has repeatedly used social media to highlight the plight of her nation, yet none have been quite as direct as her recent post, which ends with the rallying cry: “We will win. Because of our unity. Unity towards love for Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!”
As her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, has emerged as the face of Ukrainian defiance of the Russian invasion, Zelenska has become increasingly vociferous online as a means to support him and bolster international awareness of their country’s plight.
When Russia first invaded Ukraine on February 24, Zelensky declared in a video statement that he believed “enemy sabotage groups” had entered Kyiv and that he was their number one target. His family, he said, was the second target.
The whereabouts of his wife and two children are secret, for security reasons. Nonetheless, Zelenska has been playing an active role on social media, inspiring her people and backing resistance to Russian forces, while garnering support from the rest of the world. On Instagram alone, she has 2.4 million followers.
The 44-year-old published the open letter Tuesday on her various social media platforms, as well as on the President’s official website, in response to what she said was the “overwhelming number of media outlets from around the world” that had requested an interview with her.
Russia’s military admitted on Wednesday that young draftees were sent to fight in its war against Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that conscripts were involved in the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
“Unfortunately, some facts have come to light about the presence of conscript servicemen among the Russian armed forces conducting the special military operation on Ukrainian territory,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
“Practically all of the conscripts have been returned to the territory of the Russian Federation,” Konashenkov added.
Konashenkov said, however, that some of the conscripts have been captured.
“In addition, one of the divisions operating toll security has been attacked by a diversionist group of the national battalion,” he said, adding, “A number of military personnel, some of which conscripts, were captured in this attack.”
