A service member of pro-Russian troops in uniform without insignia jumps off a tank with the letters "Z" painted on it outside a residential building which was damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, Ukraine March 11, 2022. (Reuters)Russia Ukraine War Live Updates: In two separate incidents, Russian rocket attacks destroyed an airfield in Vasylkiv in Kyiv region and a mosque housing 80 civilians was shelled in Mariupol, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported Saturday. This comes as British intelligence agencies warned Ukraine of the intensifying Russian offensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war had reached a “strategic turning point” as air raid sirens blared across most Ukrainian cities on Saturday morning urging people to seek shelters.
As Russia called for a Security Council meeting on the issue of biological laboratories in Ukraine, India said any matters relating to obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention should be addressed through consultation and cooperation between the parties concerned.
Meanwhile, three flights carrying 674 people, mostly students, evacuated from the conflict-ridden city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine landed in New Delhi on Friday. Although there was no official word from the government about the completion of the evacuation process from Ukraine, these three flights from Poland’s Rzeszow were considered among the last ones.
People carry their belongings after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine, at the border crossing in Palanca, Moldova, March 11, 2022. (AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russia was sending new forces to Ukraine after suffering what he said were its biggest losses in decades.
Zelenskiy also said he had spoken to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron about pressuring Russia to release the mayor of the city of Melitopol, who Ukraine says was kidnapped on Friday by Russian forces.
In a televised address, Zelenskiy urged Russia to uphold an agreed ceasefire to allow evacuations to proceed from the besieged port city of Mariupol, after blaming Moscow for the failure of previous attempts. (Reuters)
The French presidency said that France's Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz are holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A senior Russian diplomat is warning that Moscow could target Western shipments of military equipment to Ukraine.
Speaking Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow has warned the US it would see the deliveries of Western weapons to Ukraine as targets.
Ryabkov said Russia "warned the US that pumping weapons from a number of countries it orchestrates isn't just a dangerous move, it's an action that makes those convoys legitimate targets". He also denounced the US sanctions against Moscow as an "unprecedented attempt to deal a serious blow to various sectors of the Russian economy," but noted that Moscow will act in a measured way to avoid hurting itself.
Ryabkov said that Russia has no intention to expel Western media and businesses amid the soaring tensions with the West, adding that "we aren't going to escalate the situation". (AP)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he was waiting for a new EU sanctions package against Russia. Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is working with European Commission to fast track Ukraine's EU membership (Reuters)
Ukraine's Donetsk region's governor said the Ukrainian army has retreated from Volnovakha town. (Reuters)
A top Ukrainian adviser and an Israeli official on Saturday pushed back against a media report suggesting Israel tried to nudge Ukraine into caving to Russian demands during talks.
Israel has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
A report carried by Israel's Walla news, the Jerusalem Post and US news site Axios had suggested, citing an unidentified Ukrainian official, that Bennett had urged Ukraine to give in to Russia.
Israel, "just as other conditional intermediary countries, does NOT offer Ukraine to agree to any demands of the Russian Federation," Ukrainian adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. "This is impossible for military & political reasons. On the contrary, Israel urges Russia to assess the events more adequately." (Reuters)
Russian forces have shelled a mosque in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where more than 80 adults and children, including Turkish citizens, have taken refuge, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Saturday.
Ukraine has accused Russia of refusing to allow people out of Mariupol, where a blockade has left hundreds of thousands trapped. Russia blames Ukraine for the failure to evacuate people.
'The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders,' the foreign ministry said in a tweet. 'More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey.'
It did not say if there were any people killed or wounded. (Reuters)
Kazakhstan's national airline and Turkey's airline temporarily suspended their flights to Russia after sanctions imposed on Russia, Moscow Times reported.
Ukraine said that a mosque housing 80 civilians has been shelled in Mariupol, reported news agency AFP. This comes as Russian forces have intensified their attack at cities across Ukraine.
Just in: Russian rocket attacks destroyed airfield in Vasylkiv in Kyiv region, said the city's Mayor, as per news agency IFX. (Reuters)
Several humanitarian corridors out of Ukrainian towns and villages including from the besieged southern port of Mariupol will be open on Saturday so civilians can leave, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, adding she hoped Russia would observe a ceasefire to allow this to take place.
She said Ukraine plans to evacuate residents of several towns and villages in the regions of Kyiv and Sumy and some other areas where there is ongoing combat.
"I hope that the day will go well, all the planned routes will be open and Russia will fulfil its obligations to guarantee the ceasefire regime," Vereshchuk said in a video address. Efforts to provide safe passage for residents of Mariupol have repeatedly failed this week. (Reuters)
➡️ Italian police have seized a superyacht from Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, the prime minister's office said, a few days after the businessman was placed on an EU sanctions list.
➡️ The United States stepped up measures against Russia on Friday. Washington hit Moscow on trade, shut down development funds, banned imports of Russian seafood, vodka and diamonds, and sanctioned billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, three family members of Putin's spokesperson and lawmakers.
➡️ The EU will join Washington in suspending Moscow's 'most-favoured nation' trade status, crackdown on its use of crypto-assets and ban exports to Russia of EU luxury goods and imports of iron and steel goods, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
➡️ Facebook's owner said Friday a temporary change in its content policy, only for Ukraine, was needed to let users voice opposition to Russia's attack. Moscow opened a criminal case after the company said it would allow posts such as 'death to the Russian invaders.
Italian police have seized a superyacht from Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, the prime minister's office said Saturday, a few days after the businessman was placed on an EU sanctions list following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The 143-metre Sailing Yacht A, which has a price tag of 530 million euros ($578 million), has been sequestered at the northern port of Trieste, the government said. Designed by Philippe Starck and built by Nobiskrug in Germany, the vessel is the world's biggest sailing yacht, the government said.Melnichenko owns major fertiliser producer EuroChem Group and coal company SUEK.
Last week Italian police seized villas and yachts worth 143 million euros ($156 million) from five high-profile Russians who have been placed on the sanctions list. The police operations were part of a coordinated drive by Western states to penalise wealthy Russians linked to President Vladimir Putin. (Reuters)
The United States, the European Union, Britain, Canada and Japan were due to move jointly on Friday to revoke Russia’s “most favoured nation” (MFN) status over its invasion of Ukraine, people familiar with the situation told Reuters. But what is MFN status and what does its removal mean?
Revoking Russia’s MFN status sends a strong signal that the United States and its Western allies do not consider Russia a economic partner in any way, but it does not in itself change conditions for trade. It does formally allow the Western allies to increase import tariffs or impose quotas on Russian goods, or even ban them, and to restrict services out of the country. They could also overlook Russian intellectual property rights.
Air raid sirens are being heard across most Ukraine, reports news agency Reuters.
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday announced that her country has deployed an additional 4,700 troops and delivered two Patriot missile defence systems to Poland. Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland, a NATO member, has become a significant territory between the West and Ukraine.
Bordering the war-torn country, Poland acts as a strategic ground for several nations, including the US, to supply military aid to Ukraine. It has also welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing the country.
Russia has warned that the sanctions placed on it for invading Ukraine could cause the International Space Station to crash, reported news agency AFP citing an official.
Ukrainian officials accused Russia of damaging a cancer hospital and several residential buildings in the southern city of Mykolaiv with shelling from heavy artillery.
The hospital's head doctor, Maksim Beznosenko, said several hundred patients were in the hospital during the attack but that no one was killed. The assault damaged the building and blew out windows.
Russian forces have stepped up their attacks on Mykolaiv, located 470 km south of Kyiv, in an attempt to encircle the city. Ukrainian and Western officials earlier accused Russia of shelling a maternity hospital in the southern city of Mariupol on Wednesday. Three people died in that attack. (AP)
President Zelenskyy said Ukraine had reached a "strategic turning point" in the war, and air raid sirens blared across most cities in the early morning. Russian military units were closer to Kyiv, firing artillery toward residential areas, satellite images showed.
➡️ Mariupol's situation was critical, officials said, as Russian forces tightened their noose around the Black Sea port and the death toll from shelling and a 12-day blockade neared 1,600.
➡️ Evacuations from four cities dropped sharply to 7,144 people, Zelenskyy said.
➡️ Russian air and missile forces struck the western Ukrainian cities of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, Britain said.
➡️ Ukraine said neighbour Belarus could be planning to invade, accusing Moscow of trying to drag its ally into the war by staging air attacks on Belarus from Ukrainian air space.
The column of Russian tanks rumbled along a main highway to the east of Kyiv, between two rows of houses in a small town — a vulnerable target.
Soon, Ukrainian forces were sending artillery shells raining down on the Russian convoy, while soldiers ambushed them with anti-tank missiles, leaving a line of charred, burning tanks.
Brovary is just 8 miles from downtown Kyiv, and the skirmish on the M01 Highway on Wednesday illustrated how close Russian forces have come as they continue to tighten a noose on the nation’s capital — the biggest prize of all in the war. The Russians on Friday continued to try to close in on Kyiv, with combat to the northwest and east that consisted mostly of fierce, seesaw battles for control of small towns and roads.