A view shows houses destroyed by shelling, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Sumy, Ukraine March 8, 2022 in this picture obtained from social media. (Andrey Mozgovoy/via Reuters)Ukraine-Russia war live updates: The United States rejected a surprise offer by NATO ally Poland Tuesday to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a US base in Germany as a way to replenish Ukraine’s air force in its defense against invading Russian forces. The ground situation in Ukrainian cities continued to deteriorate with an effort to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol failing due to violation of a ceasefire. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Russian forces violated the ceasefire and shelled it.
US President Joe Biden banned Russian oil and other energy imports to the United States, piling pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin to halt the assault on Ukraine, and more global brands including McDonald’s, Starbucks and Coca-Cola stopped sales in Russia.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs said Tuesday that all Indian students stranded in Sumy have been moved out and flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them back home. MEA spokesperson said the Indian students moved out of Sumy were being taken to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine.
People cook outdoors for the Ukrainian servicemen and civil defense members serving in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 7, 2022. (AP)
“While shelling and bombing haunted us throughout our journey from Kharkiv to the Romanian border, we comforted our parents by lying to them about our situation,” said Shwetha Thirumalai Kumaraswamy, a first-year medical student in Ukraine who returned to India Tuesday morning.
The death of Naveen S G on March 1 caused panic among the students in Ukraine as well as their parents in India. While the students started to march towards the border, putting their lives at stake, many said they lied to their parents that they were safe although the ground situation was different.
➡️ US President Joe Biden banned Russian oil and other energy imports to the United States. He, however, acknowledged the ban on Russian energy imports, which has bipartisan support, would drive up US energy prices.
➡️ Britain said it aimed to phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022.
➡️ The EU plans to cut dependency on Russian gas this year by two-thirds.
While the exact numbers are unknown, Ukraine and the United Nations have estimated that thousands of Russian troops and civilians have been killed and many more injured in the fighting.
➡️ The United Nations human rights office said it had verified 1,335 civilian casualties so far in Ukraine, including 474 killed and 861 injured, but the true toll was likely to be higher
➡️ Ukraine says its forces have killed more than 11,000 Russian troops. Russia has confirmed about 500 losses. Neither side has disclosed Ukrainian casualties.
A US aid package for Ukraine and its Eastern European allies grew to around $14 billion Tuesday as lawmakers put finishing touches on a $1.5 trillion government-wide spending bill that leaders hope Congress will enact by week's end.
Negotiators said the package of military, humanitarian and economic aid to the region had grown close to $14 billion, up from $12 billion just Monday and President Joe Biden's $10 billion request last week.
"We're going to support them against tyranny, oppression, violent acts of subjugation," Biden said at the White House. (AP)
When McDonald’s opened its doors in Moscow’s Pushkin Square in 1990, it was welcomed by more than 30,000 Russians who happily waited hours in line, eager to spend a sizable chunk of their daily wages for a taste of America.
Through burgers and fries, a food diplomacy was forged, one that flourished over the past three decades as corporations like McDonald’s and PepsiCo, private investment firms, and individuals plunged billions of dollars into building factories and restaurants to bring food, culture and good-old American capitalism to Russia. It was perestroika and glasnost sandwiched between two buns.
But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed everything, and food companies and restaurant chains have struggled with how to respond. Amid mounting pressure to act, McDonald’s announced Tuesday that it was temporarily closing its nearly 850 locations in Russia and halting operations in the country.
The United Nations' tourism body said Tuesday it would vote in the coming days to temporarily suspend Russia's membership in the organisation due to the country's invasion of Ukraine.
The executive council of the Madrid-based World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) met on Tuesday to make the unprecedented decision to call for a vote on a country's membership, it said in a statement.
During the meeting, held in Madrid at the request of several members such as Colombia, Lithuania and Poland, most agreed to hold the vote amid concerns and global condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine. The first-ever extraordinary UNWTO General Assembly will be convened in the coming days. (Reuters)
Government-led spending plans, leveraging infrastructure and capital expenditure to revive growth in the Budget for next fiscal, runs the risk from the uncertainties emanating from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. There are multiple red flags: Rising price pressures are expected to strain government finances, both of the Centre and the states, thereby limiting their capacity to undertake expenditure projects.
Oil prices-led inflation is expected to lead to second order effects, even as surging bond yields may force the Reserve Bank of India to reverse its accommodative stance sooner than later and make the central bank’s debt management task even tougher. These factors, combined, are anticipated to have a negative bearing on GDP growth next year.
The United States rejected a surprise offer by NATO ally Poland Tuesday to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a US base in Germany as a way to replenish Ukraine's air force in its defense against invading Russian forces.
The United States has sought to speed weapons deliveries to Ukraine. But the prospect of flying combat aircraft from NATO territory into the war zone "raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance," the Pentagon said.
NATO has said it does not want direct conflict with Russia, a fellow nuclear-armed power, and President Joe Biden has ruled out sending US troops into Ukraine to fight, something the Pentagon has said would apply to troops on the ground or in the air, flying missions.
"It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said of Poland's proposal."We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one." (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tuesday called on British MPs to recognise Russia as a "terrorist country" following President Vladimir Putin's attack on his nation and called for tougher sanctions to "make sure our skies are safe".
The 44-year-old Ukrainian leader, who made a "historic" address to the House of Commons via videolink, received a standing ovation by members of Parliament. "We are looking for your help, for the help of Western counties. We are thankful for this help and I am grateful to you, Boris," said Zelenskyy, addressing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Biden's move to ban oil imports from Russia will further increase crude oil prices, which in turn will stoke inflation across the world — particularly in the US and its allied nations in Europe, which are already reeling from inflation rates that are at their highest in decades. That is because Russia is the world’s second-largest producer of oil as well as the second-largest exporter.
The key question is: Can that gap be met? If so, to what extent and how soon? Moreover, unlike the US, Europe is heavily dependent on oil and natural gas imports from Russia. Can a US ban drive a wedge between its own foreign policy goals and those of its allies in Europe?
According to the Ukrainian State Center for International Education, there were 80,470 foreign students pursuing higher education in Ukraine in 2019, the most recent year for which official numbers are available. At the turn of the millennium, 18,000 foreign students were studying in Ukraine, which rose to 53,664 by 2011.
A break-up of the nationalities of those enrolled in 2019 show that around 23% — a little over 18,000 students —were from India, followed by 10.2% from Morocco, 6.8% from Azerbaijan, 6.6% from Turkmenistan and 5.4% from Nigeria.
Ukrainian troops repulsed efforts by Russian forces to enter the eastern city of Kharkiv Tuesday and foiled a planned operation by 120 Russian paratroopers near the border, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.
The paratroopers landed by the Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk, around 50 kilometres northeast of Kharkiv, but were routed by Ukrainian forces, he said in televised comments. (Reuters)
All Indian students stranded in the war-torn Ukrainian city of Sumy have been moved out and flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them back home, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Tuesday.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Indian students moved out of Sumy were being taken to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine. Poltava is at a distance of about 175 km from Sumy.
McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and General Electric — ubiquitous global brands and symbols of US corporate might — all have announced they were temporarily suspending their business in Russia in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.
McDonald's is among those to take the biggest financial hit. Unlike Starbucks and other fast food companies like KFC and Pizza Hut, whose Russian locations are owned by franchisees, McDonald's owns 84 per cent of its Russian stores. McDonald's has also temporarily closed 108 restaurants it owns in Ukraine and continues to pay those employees. (AP)
Russia's war against Ukraine has hurt American families with gas prices shooting up and it is going to rise further, US President Joe Biden said after announcing a ban on the import of Russian oil and gas.
Biden, however, promised of doing everything he can to minimise "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's price hike here at home".