A view of the debris of a privet house and a burned car in the aftermath of Russian shelling, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday. (AP)Russia Ukraine Crisis Live: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 137 civilians, including 10 military officers have been killed, and 316 people injured so far in the . The dead included all border guards on the Zmiinyi Island in the Odesa region, which was taken over by Russians. Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ‘left alone’ to fight Moscow.
Ukraine said it lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear site, the site of the 1986 disaster. A senior official wrote on Facebook that the staff at the Chernobyl plant had been “taken hostage” when Russian troops seized the facility, a move US termed “incredibly alarming and greatly concerning”. A senior US defense official said Russia may be intent on seizing Kyiv, the capital, and other key cities and ultimately installing a more friendly government.
World leaders have decried the invasion; the US and its allies said they will block the assets of four large Russian banks, impose export controls and sanction oligarchs. The countries on NATO’s eastern flank, especially the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all have received the first batches of US military troops and equipment. China, meanwhile, continues its support of the Kremlin with its customs agency approving imports of wheat from all regions of Russia, a move that could help to reduce the impact of possible Western sanctions.
A Ukrainian soldier in Krymske, which was shelled by separatists. (NYT)
The United Kingdom Friday said the Ukrainian Armed Forces have reportedly halted Russia’s advance towards Cherihiv, and that it was "unlikely" that Russia has achieved its military objective for the first day.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 137 civilians and military personnel have been killed so far in the Russian invasion of his country. He said that Ukraine has been 'left alone' to fight Moscow, said an AFP report.
He called them 'heroes' in a video address released early Friday in which he also said hundreds more have been wounded.
Zelenskyy says that despite Russia's claim it is attacking only military targets, civilian sites also have been struck. In his words: 'They're killing people and turning peaceful cities into military targets. It's foul and will never be forgiven.'
The president said all border guards on Zmiinyi island in the Odesa region were killed Thursday. Ukraine's border guard service earlier in the day reported that the island was taken by the Russians. (AP)
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is going to have an impact not only on global crude prices and what Indians will pay for petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders once elections in Uttar Pradesh conclude on March 7, it will also affect prices of cooking oil —which is likely to be more immediate.
India consumes around 2.5 million tonnes (MT) of sunflower oil annually. That makes it the fourth most consumed edible oil, after palm (8-8.5 MT), soyabean (4.5 MT) and mustard/rapeseed (3 MT). But India hardly produces 50,000 tonnes of sunflower oil and imports the rest – much of it from Ukraine and Russia. Read Full Report
Hours after his country came under attack Thursday, Ukraine’s Ambassador to India, Igor Polikha, said Kyiv is “deeply dissatisfied” with India’s position on Russian aggression. While “pleading” for India’s support, he said “I don’t know how many world leaders (Russian President Vladimir) Putin may listen to but the status of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji makes me hopeful”.
Referring to the large number of Indian students who study in medical colleges in Ukraine, Polikha said Indian intervention is also required for the safety of these Indian citizens. Read Full Report
As a stunned world watched the Russian attack unfold in Ukraine and key US and European leaders condemned the invasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Russian President Vladimir Putin and “appealed for an immediate cessation of violence”.
This is an important signal to the Western bloc which has been pressing on India to condemn the Russian action. US President Joe Biden has called it “unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces” while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called it “barbaric” saying Putin’s hands were stained with Ukraine’s blood. Read Full Report
The Ukrainian city of Mariupol, one of the largest ports on the Azov Sea, is under heavy fire with reports of explosions, Kyiv Post reported. "Taking Mariupol would help Russia secure a direct land route to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014," the report said.
Amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for an “immediate cessation of violence” in his phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and called for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue.
He expressed his “long-standing conviction that the differences between Russia and the NATO group can only be resolved through honest and sincere dialogue”, the PMO said. Shubhajit Roy Explains
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia after its invasion of Ukraine charging that Russian leader Vladimir Putin chose this war and that his country will bear the consequences of his action.
The sanctions target Russian banks, oligarchs, and hightech sectors Biden said. The United States and its allies will block assets of four large Russian banks, impose export controls and sanction oligarchs. Read More
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that a set of sanctions on Russia do not include banning the country from the SWIFT banking system for now. (Reuters)
US president Joe Biden said Russian president Vladimir Putin's aggression will cost Russia dearly. He said that Russia's military attack on Russia is taking place as the US predicted. Describing the attack as 'unprovoked' he said, "for weeks, we have been warning that this would happen, and now it's unfolding largely as we predicted."
US president Joe Biden, in his address on the Ukraine crisis, said that oil and gas companies shouldn't exploit the situation to hike prices. Adding that the situation is a dangerous time for Europe, he said, the US is working to secure oil energy supplies.
Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Ukraine developments.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been captured by Russian forces, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Thursday.
"It is impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe after a totally pointless attack by the Russians," he said.
"This is one of the most serious threats in Europe today," Podolyak said.Russian troops took over the power plant while Ukrainian forces battled them on three sides on Thursday after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Some Russian military massed in the Chernobyl "exclusion zone" before crossing into Ukraine early on Thursday, a Russian security source said.Russia wants to control the Chernobyl nuclear reactor to signal NATO not to interfere militarily, the same source said.
The Chernobyl disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine sent clouds of nuclear material across much of Europe in 1986 after a botched safety test in the fourth reactor of the atomic plant. (Reuters)
The Russian military said the first day of its military attack on Ukraine was successful, AFP reported.
The UK will ban Russian airline Aeroflot, AFP reported quoting PM Boris Johnson. In addition to this, UK will impose sanctions on Russian banks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the recent developments in Ukraine. The PM reiterated his long-standing conviction that the differences between Russia and NATO can only be resolved through honest and sincere dialogue. Modi also appealed to the Russian president for an immediate cessation of violence, and called for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue.
A newly discovered piece of destructive software found circulating in Ukraine has hit hundreds of computers, according to researchers at the cybersecurity firm ESET, part of what Ukrainian officials said was an intensifying wave of hacks aimed at the country. The company said on Twitter that the data wiping program had been installed on hundreds of machines in the country, an attack it said had likely been in the works for the past couple of months. --Reuters
The United States believes Russia's invasion of Ukraine is designed to decapitate Ukraine's government and one of the three main axes of assault is directed at the capital Kyiv, a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday. After President Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn televised address, explosions and gunfire were heard throughout the morning in Kyiv, a city of 3 million people. --Reuters