Ukraine War: Russia underscored that Moscow’s troops were not working to topple Ukrainian government.
New Delhi:
Russia said Wednesday negotiations with officials from Kyiv to resolve the conflict in Ukraine were making headway and underscored that Moscow’s troops were not working to topple the Ukrainian government.
“Some progress has been made,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a press briefing, referring to three rounds of talks with Kyiv. She said the Russian military had not been tasked to “overthrow the current government.”
Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed to a day-long ceasefire around a series of evacuation corridors to allow civilians to escape the fighting.
Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow vowed to respect the truce from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm around six areas that have been heavily hit by the fighting, including regions near Kyiv, in Zaporizhzhia in the south, and some parts of Ukraine’s northeast.
Meanwhile, power has been entirely cut to the Chernobyl power plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, and its security systems, Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo said Wednesday.
The plant “was fully disconnected from the power grid,” Ukrenergo said in a statement on its Facebook page, adding that military operations meant “there is no possibility to restore the lines”.
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The United States has sent two Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to Poland to defend against any “potential threat” to US or NATO forces in the alliance’s territory, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday, as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.
The missile batteries, normally stationed in Germany, were repositioned at Poland’s “invitation,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The move is seen as reflecting growing fear that a Russian missile could — deliberately or not — cross the border from neighboring Ukraine into NATO member Poland.
News of the deployment comes a day after Washington rebuffed a Polish offer to send Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine via a US air base in Germany, saying the proposal raised “serious concerns” for the entire NATO alliance.
The war with Russia has sparked a health crisis in Ukraine, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday, decrying at least 18 verified attacks on health care facilities and personnel.
The UN health agency said Ukraine’s health system was proving “remarkably resilient” following Russia’s invasion on February 24.
But WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan warned that the violence, which in the space of two weeks has driven nearly 2.2 million people to flee the country, was also creating a multipronged health crisis.
Some 1,000 health facilities, including hospitals and health clinics, are situated within 10 kilometres of the frontlines, he said.
Russia carried out an air strike on a children’s hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday during an agreed ceasefire period that was meant to allow the evacuation of civilians from the besieged southern city, said regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Seventeen people were wounded in the attack, including women in labour, he said.
Russia has denied targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” in Ukraine.
Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said Russia had largely failed on Wednesday to respect agreements to allow civilians to be evacuated from towns and cities through humanitarian corridors.
Evacuations took place from the cities of Sumy and Enerhodar, but not from the regional capital of Kharkiv and only partially in areas in the Kyiv region, he said on television.
A children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been destroyed by Russian air strikes, the city council said in an online post on Wednesday.
“The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children’s hospital. The destruction is colossal,” it said, adding that it did not yet know any casualty figures.
The report could not immediately be verified by Reuters. Russia has denied targeting civilians in its assault on Ukraine.
A children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been destroyed by Russian air strikes, the city council said in an online post on Wednesday.
“The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children’s hospital. The destruction is colossal,” it said, adding that it did not yet know any casualty figures.
The report could not immediately be verified by Reuters. Russia has denied targeting civilians in its assault on Ukraine.
Britain said Wednesday it was preparing to send more portable missile systems to help Ukrainian forces destroy Russian tanks and aircraft, but denied it was escalating the conflict.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK had so far delivered 3,615 Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAWs) “and continue(s) to deliver more”.
“We will shortly be starting the delivery of a small consignment of anti-tank Javelin missiles as well,” he told parliament.
Wallace added that “in response to Ukrainian requests, the government has taken the decision to explore the donation of Starstreak high-velocity man-portable anti-air missiles”.
Like NLAWs, the British Starstreak missiles are a mobile system designed to be fired by troops in the field, targeting helicopters and planes.
“We believe that this system will remain within the definition of defensive weapons but will allow the Ukrainian force to better defend the skies,” the minister said.
“I want to assure the House (of Commons) that everything we do is bound by the decisions to supply defensive systems and are calibrated not to escalate to a strategic level.”
Britain is planning to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles to help it defend its skies from Russian invasion, defence minister Ben Wallace said, stressing that the technology fell within the definition of defensive weapons.
“It is vital… that Ukraine maintains its ability to fly and suppress Russian air attack,” Wallace told lawmakers.
“In response to Ukrainian requests, the government has taken the decision to explore the donation of STARStreak high-velocity man-portable anti-air missiles. We believe that this system will remain within the definition of defensive weapons, but will allow the Ukrainian force to better defend their skies.”
Wallace said the decision had been taken in principle to supply the systems, and the government was working out how to get them into Ukraine and train Ukrainian forces to use them.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia on Wednesday of holding 400,000 residents of Mariupol hostage by shelling the southern Ukrainian port city despite efforts to establish a safe evacuation corridor for civilians.
“Almost 3,000 newborn babies lack medicine and food,” he wrote on Twitter. “Russia continues holding hostage over 400,000 people in Mariupol, blocks humanitarian aid and evacuation. Indiscriminate shelling continues.”
Russia has denied targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” in Ukraine.
80,035 Ukrainian refugees registered in Germany so far -ministry
Some 80,035 Ukrainian refugees have been registered in Germany as of Wednesday, a German interior ministry spokesperson said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday Russia must urgently observe a temporary ceasefire to allow repairs on a power line to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, saying radiation could be leaked if an electricity outage continues.
“Reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity to power the Chornobyl NPP. After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent,” he said on Twitter.
Indian students evacuated from Ukraine’s Sumy were seen smiling after boarding a special train on Wednesday, in pictures tweeted by the embassy which are certain to bring relief to tense families back home.
The last big group of about 600 Indians and 17 from other countries took the train from Ukraine’s Poltava and are likely to catch a flight back home from Poland on Thursday.
Beijing said Wednesday it will provide war-torn Ukraine with about $790,000 in humanitarian aid, with the first shipment already on its way, though China has yet to condemn Russia’s invasion of the country.
China has repeatedly blamed NATO’s “eastward expansion” for worsening tensions between Russia and Ukraine, echoing the Kremlin’s prime security grievance while refusing to criticise Moscow’s decision to send troops across the border.
But a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping told his French and German counterparts China was “deeply grieved” by the outbreak of war in Europe, the first shipments of aid to the country of 44 million had been sent, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
“At the request of the Ukrainian side, the Red Cross Society of China will provide a batch of humanitarian aid… including food and daily necessities, worth five million yuan ($792,000),” ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.
UK authorities have impounded a private jet reportedly linked to Russian oligarch Eugene Shvidler as they apply new sanctions targeting Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had already banned Russia-linked aircraft from UK airspace and airports, and on Tuesday he ordered the Bombardier Global 6500 jet to be detained at Farnborough in southern England.
Shapps announced new rules allowing him to order airports to detain Russian aircraft and tell the Civil Aviation Authority to terminate registration of planes owned by sanctioned individuals.
“We will suffocate (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s cronies’ ability to continue living as normal while thousands of innocent people die,” Shapps tweeted.
The Bombardier is the first jet to be detained in the UK, a popular destination for oligarchs, under the new rules.
“The UK government has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to prevent a flight which is in dispute from taking off from Farnborough Airport,” a Department for Transport spokesperson said on Wednesday.
JustIn | European Union adding 160 Russian oligarchs, senators to sanctions blacklist, news agency AFP reported
Power has been entirely cut to the Chernobyl power plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, and its security systems, Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo said Wednesday.
The plant “was fully disconnected from the power grid,” Ukrenergo said in a statement on its Facebook page, adding that military operations meant “there is no possibility to restore the lines”.
On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the defunct plant, site of a 1986 disaster that killed hundreds and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe.
Thousands more Ukrainian refugees fled to central and eastern Europe on Wednesday, many with no contacts and nowhere to go, as host countries scrambled to accommodate them.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the number of refugees has now probably reached 2.1-2.2 million, the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, said.
Most are women and children, as men stay home to fight.
So far, most refugees have gone to relatives, friends or contacts in the Ukrainian diaspora rather than to reception centres being set up by authorities, Grandi said.
The Kremlin on Wednesday said that a Polish offer to deliver Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine via a US airbase could lead to a “dangerous scenario”, as Russian troops continued their advance into Ukraine.
“This is a highly undesirable and a potentially dangerous scenario,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Radioactive substances could be released from Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant because it cannot cool spent nuclear fuel after its power connection was severed, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company Energoatom said on Wednesday.
Work to repair the connection and restore power to the plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops, has not been possible because fighting is under way, it said.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that the US had launched an economic war against Moscow, describing an onslaught of sanctions against the country over its military incursion into its pro-Western neighbour Ukraine.
“The United States has declared economic war on Russia and it is de facto waging this war,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, with the Russian government scrambling to impose measures to limit the economic fallout of the sanctions.
JustIn | Polish offer of jets to Ukraine creates ‘potentially dangerous scenario’, says Kremlin, news agency AFP reported
ttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday met students from Gorakhapur who returned from Ukraine, and claimed that only India was taking action to bring back its citizens from the war-torn country.
The Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive. The Indian citizens stuck in Ukraine are being airlifted once they cross to neighbouring countries such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
The chief minister claimed that students from other countries were left on their own while “only India has ensured the safe return of their residents.” “This facility (of bringing back home) was available only to Indian citizens and students. You must have seen that students from other countries studying with you were left on their own at the mercy of God. Their governments did not take any cognizance of bringing them back,” he said.
New Satellite Pics Show Signs Of Intense Fight Around Ukraine’s Capital Kyiv
Even as crippling economic sanctions hit Russia and humanitarian corridors are set up to evacuate civilians from Ukraine, an intense fight is raging in and around Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.
A set of high-resolution satellite pictures released by a private US company shows the ongoing military activity as well as some of the recent damage caused by airstrikes and artillery shelling.
JustIn | Kremlin says US waging ‘economic war’ on Russia, news agency AFP reported
JustIn | Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant says ‘completely halted’ over Russian offensive, news agency AFP reported
Russia demanded on Wednesday that the United States explain to the world why it had supported what Moscow cast as a military biological programme in Ukraine.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova demanded transparency from Washington over the allegation, which is denied by Kyiv and which a Pentagon spokesman has described as absurd.
“We confirm facts, unearthed as part of the special military operations, which testify to an emergency attempt to erase evidence of military biological programmes,” Zakharova told reporters.
“We are not talking here about peaceful uses or scientific goals,” Zakharova said. “What were you up to there?”
“These (programmes) were financed by the U.S. Department of Defence.”
Russia and Ukraine agreed to open more humanitarian corridors on Wednesday to evacuate terrified civilians from bombarded cities as Moscow said some progress was being made in talks with Kyiv.
After air-raid sirens rang out again in Kyiv overnight, the plan was to open safe routes out of five Ukrainian areas including two suburbs of the capital that have been devastated by Russian shelling.
But previous ceasefire efforts have been bedevilled by violations, with Moscow apparently determined to push forward a 14-day-old invasion of its neighbour that has shocked the world.
Russia’s war has sent around 2.2 million refugees across Ukraine’s borders in what the UN has called Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, and sparked fears of wider conflict.
Russia said Wednesday negotiations with officials from Kyiv to resolve the conflict in Ukraine were making headway and underscored that Moscow’s troops were not working to topple the Ukrainian government.
“Some progress has been made,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a press briefing, referring to three rounds of talks with Kyiv. She said the Russian military had not been tasked to “overthrow the current government.”
JustIn | Russia says not trying to ‘overthrow’ Ukraine government, news agency AFP reported
Dutch brewer Heineken became on Wednesday the latest foreign business to halt its operations in Russia over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, saying it would stop selling and producing beer there.
The world’s second-biggest beer company had already suspended new investments and exports to Russia last week.
EU agrees to toughen sanctions on Russia, Belarus over Ukraine
The EU has agreed to add more Russian oligarchs and officials to its sanctions blacklist, tighten controls on cryptocurrency transfers and target the maritime sector over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, diplomats said Wednesday.
US Congress reaches agreement for Ukraine aid
US congressional leaders reached a bipartisan agreement early on Wednesday to allocate $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine
Universal Music Group suspends operations in Russia
The multinational music corporation Universal Music Group on Tuesday said it is suspending its operations in Russia in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
UNHCR head estimates 2.1-2.2 million people have now fled Ukraine
The number of people fleeing Ukraine since the Russian invasion began has probably now reached 2.1-2.2 million people, the head of the United Nation’s refugee agency UNHCR said on Wednesday.
Ukraine will on Wednesday try to evacuate civilians through six “humanitarian corridors”, including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. She said in a video statement that Ukrainian armed forces had agreed to stop firing in those areas from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. (0700-1900 GMT)and urged Russian forces to fulfil their commitment to local ceasefires.
Ukrainian city of Enerhodar says civilians can be evacuated on Wednesday
The mayor of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar said on Wednesday a temporary ceasefire was in force, allowing the evacuation of civilians to start through a “humanitarian corridor”.
At least 10 people were killed in a Russian military attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Severodonestk on Tuesday, a local official for the Lugansk region said in a statement on Telegram.
The Russian military “opened fire” on residential homes and other buildings in the town, he said, without immediately specifying whether it was an artillery attack.
Russia warned the West on Wednesday that it was working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the West’s most sensitive areas.
“Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses,” Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry’s department for economic cooperation, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.
The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates discussed developments in Ukraine and ways to strengthen two-way ties during a telephone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, the state news agency said.
IMF board to consider $1.4 billion in funding for Ukraine on Wednesday
The International Monetary Fund’s executive board is poised to approve on Wednesday $1.4 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine to help it respond to Russia’s invasion, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday.
Designate Russia as ‘terrorist state’: Ukraine President urges UK Parliament
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged British MPs to designate Russia as a “terrorist state” after President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military operation against his nation and called for tougher sanctions on Moscow to “make sure our skies are safe”.
Britain unveiled on Wednesday new aviation sanctions giving it the power to detain any Russian aircraft and banning exports of aviation or space-related goods to Russia.
Britain will also strengthen its ban on Russian aircraft, making it a criminal offence for any to fly or land in the United Kingdom.
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) on Wednesday announced that it is imposing a temporary restriction on the withdrawal of cash in foreign currencies, local media reported.
Issuing a statement, CBR said that it is imposing a USD 10,000 limit on foreign cash withdrawals from foreign currency accounts by clients until September 9, adding that customers who want to withdraw more can take the balance in rubles, Sputnik reported.
A humanitarian corridor out of the besieged Ukrainian city of Sumy will continue to function on Wednesday, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said.
About 5,000 people rode buses out of the northeastern city on Tuesday after Moscow and Kyiv agreed on the corridor, he said,
An air alert has been declared in and around Kyiv, with residents urged to get to bomb shelters as quickly as possible, reports AP
Russia is facing global condemnation for attacking Ukraine. The anger has led to sanctions by the West as well as companies shutting their outlets in Moscow and other Russian cities. There are more than 300 companies, which have left Russia in the past two weeks. The big brands are
US Vice President Kamala Harris will collaborate with Poland and Romania on next steps to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and reassure them of Washington’s support during her meetings with leaders of both countries starting Thursday.
The countries have been increasingly anxious about Russia’s aggression in the region and are NATO’s easternmost members. They share a border with Ukraine, where thousands of refugees are flooding in.
Crude jumps on US Russian oil ban, Asian shares wobble
Crude oil prices jumped again on Wednesday while Asian stocks struggled for footing as investors assessed the impact of the worsening conflict in Ukraine and a new US ban on Russian oil.
Putin ‘angry and frustrated’: US intel
US intelligence chiefs brand Russia’s Vladimir Putin “angry and frustrated”, warning he is likely to “double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties”.
Russia Now Global Economic Pariah, Ruble Worth Less Than One Penny: US
Russia has become a global economic pariah after it attacked Ukraine and the international community has joined the US in imposing tough sanctions against Moscow, the Joe Biden administration has claimed.
The United States said Tuesday it was working with Ukraine to prevent invading Russian forces from seizing biological research material amid concern governments or unscrupulous actors might try to use such items to create bioweapons.
Russia said it is ready to provide humanitarian corridors on Wednesday for people fleeing Kyiv and four other Ukrainian cities, as the number of refugees created by the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two surpassed 2 million.
Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia’s National Defence Control Centre, was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency that Russian forces would “observe a regime of silence” from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) to ensure safe passage for civilians wishing to leave Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
IAEA says loses contact with Chernobyl nuclear data systems
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer transmitting data to the UN’s atomic watchdog, the agency said Tuesday, as it voiced concern for staff working under Russian guard at the Ukrainian facility.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged “maximum restraint” over Ukraine, calling the crisis “deeply worrying” in a video summit with his French and German counterparts Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz.
The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, on Tuesday condemned the Kremlin’s “mass murder” of civilians, including children, in an open letter to the global media on the Russian invasion.
McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Starbucks on Tuesday bowed to public pressure and suspended their operations in Russia, joining the international corporate chorus of outrage over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Several of these companies, symbols of American cultural influence in the world, have been the subject of boycott calls on social media as investors have also begun to ask questions about their presence.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia’s stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbor.
Referring to NATO membership, Zelensky said through an interpreter that he does not want to be president of a “country which is begging something on its knees.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia’s stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbor.