#Ukrainian media reports about powerful explosions in #Kyiv. City CCTV cameras shows that as the result of the shellings some districts of the city were left without electricity. There were also reports of explosions in #Kharkiv and #Kherson. pic.twitter.com/BYuvJAP2Wm
Canada is sending soldiers to Poland to help with the care, co-ordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, including some who will come to Canada. Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the deployment of up to 150 troops Thursday. More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled into Poland since the first Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and over 2 million more have fled into other surrounding countries.
Anand said the majority of the deployed troops will head to reception centers across Poland to help care for and register Ukrainian refugees. Another group is being sent to help co-ordinate international aid efforts. Canada has deployed hundreds of additional troops to eastern Europe since Russia’s invasion as the NATO military alliance seeks to both support Ukraine and prevent the conflict from expanding into a broader war.
Today, I announced that I have authorized the deployment of up to 150 @CanadianForces personnel to Poland. Approximately 100 CAF members will deploy immediately. They will assist Poland in caring for Ukrainians fleeing the violence caused by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/WkExuMbtSl
resident Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians “gave us a maximum of five.” In his late-night video address, Zelenskyy called it “an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their life – to fight.”
Zelenskyy gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including “those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it’s to the bottom” of the sea.It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed to port.Zelenskyy said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.
In 50 days, France has delivered over €100 million in military equipment to Ukraine. We will be providing additional capacity. I committed to it. We Europeans are also mobilizing €1.5 billion to equip the Ukrainian forces. And we will continue.
Russia's threats of using the tactical nuclear weapons in the ongoing conflict must not be taken "lightly," CIA Director Bill Burns has warned. "Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they've faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons,” he said in public remarks at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
CIA “watches for that very intently,” Burns said. "While we've seen some rhetorical posturing on the part of the Kremlin about moving to higher nuclear alert levels, so far we haven't seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern—but we watch for that very intently,” he added.
The Russian military says the damaged Moskva missile cruiser, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, has sunk while being towed to a port during bad weather after an explosion. Russian Defense Ministry said the Moskva sank Thursday in a storm as it was gutted by the fire. The ministry previously said a fire on the warship set off some of its weapons and forced the crew to evacuate denying the Ukraine Army's claims of attack on the warship with a missile. Russia says the Soviet-era ship was badly damaged and the crew had already been evacuated onto another vessel before the ship went down.
"During the towing of the cruiser Moskva to the port of destination, the ship lost stability due to the damage to the hull received during the fire from the detonation of ammunition," the ministry said.
"In the stormy sea conditions, the ship has sunk."
Russian authorities have accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on the Russian region of Bryansk which borders Ukraine, the latest in a series of allegations of cross-border attacks by Kyiv on Russian territory. Russia’s Investigative Committee alleged that two Ukrainian military helicopters entered Russia’s air space on Thursday and, “moving at low altitude, acting deliberately, they carried out at least six airstrikes on residential buildings in the village of Klimovo,” about 11 kilometers away from the Russian border.
It said at least six houses in the village were damaged and seven people, including a toddler, sustained injuries. The Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the attack. Russia’s state security service, or the FSB, also accused Ukrainian forces of firing mortars at a border post in the Bryansk region.
France is considering moving its Ukraine embassy back to Kyiv, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba during a telephone conversation. In a statement later, the French foreign ministry said that this "redeployment will happen very soon and will allow France to deepen its backing for Ukraine even further in all spheres to face the war unleashed by Russia on February 24."
"We [France] consider returning remains unthinkable for those French people who lived in Ukraine. The return of French compatriots today remains formally prohibited,” the French government said in a statement adding that “the whole of Ukraine remains a war zone”.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, has warned that the prospects of Finland and Sweden joining the NATO defensive Alliance will "seriously worsen military situation" as Kremlin will take “security and defense measures that we will deem necessary." In an interview with state-owned news agency Tass, the Russian minister threatened “the most undesirable consequences” if the two neutral nations joined the Alliance and "brought the military to Russia's doorstep."
Russia's President Vladimir Putin warned the EU, US, and other Western nations against any attempts of replacing Russian oil with alternatives threatening "consequences for the world economy." He said: "This will have consequences for the world economy and the consequences of such steps can be very painful." He blamed "unfriendly countries" for creating disorder in the globe's economy as he asserted that they will not be able to stop using Russian gas or find alternatives.
Angry protesters have projected a Ukrainian flag on the Russian Embassy in Washington according to the videos surfacing onTwitter. The incident happened during a geopolitical light show in DC and the protesters and activitists displayed solidarity with Ukraine by projecting the flag on the Russian embassy. Using 15 projector lights and four generators the crowd projected Ukraine flag, Benjamin Wittes, one of the organizers of the protest said on Twitter. But staff at the Russian embassy also tried to flip on a floodlight to blot out the flag which the organizer described as "cat and muse game."
"The fact that they felt compelled to respond the way that they did over many hours by the way," Wittes said. "They saw the protest as the way that we meant it. To not allow them to the space of their own embassy."
More cat and mouse…. pic.twitter.com/dagrsnQlLo
US ambassador to the United Nations has accused Russia of making the "precarious food situation in Yemen" and elsewhere even worse by invading Ukraine, calling it “just another grim example of the ripple effect Russia’s unprovoked, unjust, unconscionable war is having on the world’s most vulnerable.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a UN Security Council meeting on war-torn Yemen that the World Food Program identified the Arab world’s poorest nation as one of the countries most affected by wheat price increases and lack of imports from Ukraine.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky shot back saying: “The main factor for instability and the source of the problem today is not the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, but sanctions measures imposed on our country seeking to cut off any supplies from Russia and the supply chain, apart from those supplies that those countries in the West need, in other words energy.”
The State Border Guard Service of #Ukraine showed a satellite image showing that the #Russian military destroyed 77% of the territory of the village of #Gorenka in the #Kyiv region. pic.twitter.com/xFlQFMUiDg
UN humanitarian chief has ordered a safe passage of civilians out of the besieged port city of Mariupol after two aid workers and their family members were killed in the Russian shelling. “I am deeply saddened by the deaths of at least two aid workers who were killed, together with five of their relatives, during an attack that hit the office of the non-governmental organization Caritas in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on March 15. The events took place nearly one month ago but the information has become available only now,” said Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator said in a statement.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin warned the EU, US, and other Western nations against any attempts of replacing Russian oil with alternatives threatening "consequences for the world economy." He said: "This will have consequences for the world economy and the consequences of such steps can be very painful." He blamed "unfriendly countries" for creating disorder in the globe's economy as he asserted that they will not be able to stop using Russian gas or find alternatives.
WFP executive director David Beasley warned in an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russia’s invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.The war that began on Feb. 24 was “devastating the people in Ukraine,” Beasley said, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict, according to Associated Press report.
Shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv has intensified with active hostilities around the area of Izium that is witnessing heavy damages to the civilian property, Oleh Syniehubov, the head of Ukraine's Kharkiv region military administration said on state television. "These are exclusively peaceful areas where there is no military infrastructure," he said in remarks on national television. "And so the enemy is trying to destabilize our population, in fact inflicting such blows from which civilians alone are actually suffering."
They’ve been trying to destroy us for 50 days, but the 🇺🇦 people are heroically resisting. We fear nothing, we know what we’re fighting for. We are brave enough to put an end to evil. Stop feeding the 🇷🇺 military machine. Help 🇺🇦 with weapons. Then peace & good will win faster. pic.twitter.com/WdDbZsvZ4e
❗️An air-raid alert on the entire territory of #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/SyJgc4ryVx
Russia's Ministry of Defense has said that the warship Moskva that has sunk lost its stability due to hull damage received during a fire from the detonation of ammunition while it was being towed to the port of destination, according to Tass. Conflicting accounts have emerged on both Ukraine and Russia side as Russian Defense Ministry says Moskva sank in a storm after being gutted by fire due to ammunition fire, while Ukraine forces claim that it hit the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet with missiles.
Russia acknowledged a fire aboard the Moskva but no attack. US and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze.
The head of the International Monetary Fund warned that Russia’s war against Ukraine was weakening the economic prospects for most of the world’s countries and called high inflation “a clear and present danger” to the global economy.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the consequences of Russia’s invasion were contributing to economic downgrades for 143 countries, although most of them should continue to grow.
The war has disrupted global trade in energy and grain and is threatening to cause food shortages in Africa and Middle East. Georgieva made her comments in a speech on the eve of next week’s spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington.
An unexpectedly strong recovery from 2020’s pandemic recession has caught businesses by surprise, leaving factories, ports and freight yards unable to keep up with robust customer demand and forcing prices higher.
“In a world where war in Europe creates hunger in Africa; where a pandemic can circle the globe in days and reverberate for years; where emissions anywhere mean rising sea levels almost everywhere — the threat to our collective prosperity from a breakdown in global cooperation cannot be overstated,” Georgieva said.
“Now,” Georgieva said, “grain and corn prices are soaring, and leaders across Africa and the Middle East are telling me that supplies are running low. Food insecurity is a grave concern.
“We must act now with a multilateral initiative to bolster food security. The alternative is dire: More hunger, more poverty and more social unrest — especially for countries that have struggled to escape fragility and conflict for many years.”
Ukraine's defence ministry has said that two more children have died from the injuries after the Kramatorsk train station attack by the Russian troops last week. This has taken the death toll to 59, including seven children.
Two more children have died after being hit by a 🇷🇺 missile at the railway station in #Kramatorsk. The total number of victims reached 59, including 7 children. A bloody children’s toy will be sent by @NPU_GOV_UA to the @UN as proof of this barbaric crime. 📷 by Roman Kulyk pic.twitter.com/A4ZFjK2JzL
Russian military says the damaged Moskva missile cruiser has sunk while being towed to a port. The Russian Defense Ministry said the Moskva sank Thursday in a storm after being gutted by fire. The ministry previously said a fire on the warship set off some of its weapons and forced the crew to evacuate.
Russian warship, what are you sinking?
But Ukrainian officials said the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was hit by Ukrainian missiles late Wednesday off the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa. The US was not able to confirm Ukraine’s claims of striking the warship, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday. Still, he called it “a big blow to Russia.”
The #Latvian bank SEB will stop servicing payments to #Belarus and #Russia. This decision was made taking into account "the risks associated with the war in Ukraine and the growing volume of sanctions against Russia and Belarus." pic.twitter.com/TlHel6jZiH
Held negotiations with 🇫🇷 President @EmmanuelMacron. Discussed the investigation of Russian crimes, the resistance of 🇺🇦 people to the invader. We appreciate the strong support of 🇫🇷. The negotiation process was also discussed. We strive for peace in Ukraine, in Europe!
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Western countries’ attempts to phase out Russian gas imports will have a "negative impact on their economies" as EU has "no reasonable replacement" for Russian gas. Speaking Thursday, Putin said European attempts to find alternatives to Russian gas shipments will be “quite painful for the initiators of such policies.”
Putin noted that “supplies from other countries that could be sent to Europe, primarily from the United States, would cost consumers many times more.” He added it would “affect people’s standard of living and the competitiveness of the European economy.”
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price has said that Washington plans to restore its diplomatic presence in Ukraine "as soon as it would be safe." When asked about when Washington would reopen embassies citing examples of other nations operating diplomatic operations, Price stressed that the Bden administration is evaluating when it would be safe to have the US diplomats on the ground in Ukraine. There is "no indication" that this would happen in the near future, he iterated.
Kremlin is claiming that at least six helicopters of the Ukraine Armed Forces have conducted airstrikes on the village of Klimovo in the Russian region of Bryansk. It cited the investigative committee report and said that seven Russian civilians have died from the attack. The Governor of Russia's Bryansk region said in a telegram update that two residential buildings in the village had been hit by Ukraine shelling that targetted the civilians. Further, he claimed that Ukraine's Army has attacked another village in Russia’s Belgorod region.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, has warned that the prospects of Finland and Sweden joining the NATO defensive Alliance will "seriously worsen military situation" as Kremlin will take “security and defense measures that we will deem necessary." In an interview with state-owned news agency Tass, the Russian minister threatened “the most undesirable consequences” if the two neutral nations joined the Alliance and "brought the military to Russia's doorstep."
French President Emmanuel Macron declined to use the term “genocide” to describe Russia’s Ukraine war, arguing against an “escalation of words.” Asked about the use of the term by U.S. President Joe Biden, Macron said “the word genocide must be spelled out by jurists, not by politicians.”
Speaking on French radio France Bleu, Macron said he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday and will speak again with him later that day. He said he will do “everything to end this war and stay by the Ukrainians’ side.”
Macron previously denounced “war crimes” in Ukraine and France sent magistrates and police officers to help the International Criminal Court, which opened an investigation, according to Associated Press report.
Russian authorities have accused Ukrainian forces of launching air strikes on the Russian region of Bryansk which borders with Ukraine, the latest in a series of allegations of cross-border attacks by Kyiv on Russian territory. Russia’s Investigative Committee alleged that two Ukrainian military helicopters entered Russia’s air space on Thursday and, “moving at low altitude, acting deliberately, they carried out at least six air strikes on residential buildings in the village of Klimovo,” about 11 kilometers away from the Russian border.
It said at least six houses in the village were damaged and seven people, including a toddler, sustained injuries. The Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the attack. Russia’s state security service, or the FSB, also accused Ukrainian forces of firing mortars at a border post in the Bryansk region.
France is considering to move its Ukraine embassy back to Kyiv, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba during a telephone conversation. In a statement later, the french foreign ministry said that this "redeployment will happen very soon and will allow France to deepen its backing for Ukraine even further in all spheres to face the war unleashed by Russia on February 24."
"We [france] consider returning remains unthinkable for those French people who lived in Ukraine. The return of French compatriots today remains formally prohibited,” the French government said in a statement adding that “the whole of Ukraine remains a war zone”.
International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan who has recently visited the Ukrainian towns of Bucha and Borodyanka this week has described the scenes of the civilian killing as "war crime." the ICC prosecutor visited the mass graves where he found the civilian dead bodies buries in plastic bags after facing atrocities in the hands of the Russian forces before they retreated.
“Ukraine is a crime scene. We’re here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC are being committed. We have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth,” Khan said after visiting Bucha.
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