A tank destroyed in fighting during Ukraine-Russia conflict is seen in front of a residential building, in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine. (Reuters)Russia-Ukraine War Crisis Live: US President Joe Biden said he thinks Russia should be removed from the Group of Twenty (G20) major economies and the topic was raised during his meetings with world leaders in Brussels earlier on Thursday. Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly Thursday approved a resolution blaming Russia for humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and urged immediate ceasefire. India once again abstained from voting on the resolution by Ukraine and its allies. The 193-member General Assembly resumed its 11th Emergency Special Session on Ukraine and voted Thursday on a draft resolution ‘Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine’ by Ukraine and its western allies. The resolution was adopted with 140 votes in favour, 38 abstentions and five against. Earlier in the day, India, along with 12 other UN Security Council members, had abstained on a resolution by Russia on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. It failed to get adopted in the Council on Wednesday as it did not get the required nine yes votes to pass.
The United States and its allies on Thursday imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, targeting dozens of Russian defense companies, hundreds of members of its parliament and the chief executive of the country’s largest bank as Washington ramps up pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The US Treasury Department also issued guidance on its website warning that gold-related transactions involving Russia may be sanctionable by US authorities, a move aimed at stopping Russia from evading existing sanctions. The United States and its allies have imposed several rounds of sanctions, including targeting the country’s largest lenders and President Vladimir Putin, since Russian forces invaded Ukraine a month ago in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “military assistance without limitations” as he addressed an emergency NATO summit on Thursday, the first of three urgent meetings US President Joe Biden and world leaders are holding in response to the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy pleaded for anti-air and anti-ship weapons, asking “is it possible to survive in such a war without this?” “It feels like we’re in a gray area, between the West and Russia, defending our common values,” Zelenskyy said in his video address to the summit.
A Ukrainian firefighter sprays water inside a house destroyed by shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine (AP photo)
Russia's space director said on Thursday that Europe had wrecked cooperation by imposing sanctions against his agency, and rockets that were meant to launch European satellites would now be used for Russian companies or countries friendly to Moscow.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said in a Chinese television interview that this would apply to about 10 rockets."At this moment, after the European Space Agency and the whole European Union have taken a frenzied position on the conduct of (Russia's) special military operation in Ukraine and introduced sanctions against Roscosmos, we consider further cooperation impossible," Rogozin said.
The space rift has had a tangible impact since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and was hit with a wave of international sanctions. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that if Russia were to use chemical weapons in its invasion of Ukraine, the United States would respond.
'We would respond, we would respond if he uses it. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use,' Biden said at a news conference in Brussels. (Reuters)
Germany and Italy were among countries which said any effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin to charge in rubles for gas would be a violation of their contracts. President Joe Biden called for removing Russia from the G-20.
Group of Seven leaders warned Putin against deploying biological, chemical or nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Earlier Thursday, NATO agreed to double the number of battle groups protecting its eastern border and prepare for Russia to potentially use such weapons in Ukraine. (Bloomberg)
“It’s dangerous just going for a walk. No one can guarantee that you won’t get shot,” says Rita*, a 22-year-old who lives in central Kyiv.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, she has stocked up on food, but the stress of the war means she hardly ever has an appetite.
“During the first nights of the war, I was afraid to even fall asleep,” she says. “Then I got used to the sirens day and night telling us to head down into the air-raid shelter. Sometimes I didn’t because I was sound asleep.” Read More
India on Thursday abstained in the UN General Assembly on a resolution by Ukraine and its allies on the humanitarian crisis in war-torn eastern European country.
The 193-member General Assembly resumed its 11th Emergency Special Session on Ukraine and voted Thursday on a draft resolution ‘Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine’ by Ukraine and its western allies.
The resolution was adopted with 140 votes in favour, 38 abstentions and five against. Read More
Swedish-Danish mail and parcel service Postnord will stop all letters to and from Russia and Belarus in order to comply with EU sanctions imposed following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Postnord said in a statement on Thursday. "The stop will be in force until a screening system is in place that makes it possible to resume mail flows to and from these countries at the same time as the sanctions are complied with, or until the sanctions expire," the firm said in a statement.
Postnord has already stopped all parcel deliveries to and from the two countries. Postnord is joint-owned by the Swedish and Danish states. (Reuters)
The United States Thursday announced that it is prepared to provide more than $1 billion in new funding towards humanitarian assistance for those affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine and its severe impacts around the world.
Marlboro maker Philip Morris International Inc (PM.N) is working on options to exit the Russian market, citing a complex and rapidly changing regulatory and operating environment in the country following its invasion of Ukraine.
The company, which garnered around 6% its net revenue from Russia in 2021, said on Thursday it has discontinued sale of several cigarette products and canceled all product launches for the year in Russia.
It has also canceled plans to make over 20 billion TEREA sticks, heated tobacco units intended for use with its IQOS ILUMA devices, as well as related investment of $150 million. (Reuters)
Group of Seven leaders have announced they are restricting the Russian Central Bank's use of gold in transactions, while the US announced a new round of sanctions targeting more than 400 elites and members of the Russian State Duma.
Previously, sanctions against Russian elites, the country's Central Bank and President Vladimir Putin did not impact Russia's gold stockpile, which Putin has been accumulating for several years. Russia holds roughly $130 billion in gold reserves, and the Bank of Russia announced Feb 28 that it would resume the purchase of gold on the domestic precious metals market.
White House officials said Thursday the move will further blunt Russia's ability to use its international reserves to prop up Russia's economy and fund its war against Ukraine. (AP)
NATO leaders, who met on Thursday to address Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and called upon President Vladimir Putin to immediately stop the war and withdraw military forces from Ukraine.
In a statement, they urged Russia to comply with the 16 March ruling by the UN International Court of Justice and immediately suspend military operations. 'Russia’s attack on Ukraine threatens global security. Its assault on international norms makes the world less safe. President Putin’s escalatory rhetoric is irresponsible and destabilizing,' it said.
The NATO heads also agreed to give further support to Ukraine and continue to impose costs on Russia.
NATO leaders are extending the mandate of Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for an extra year to help steer the 30-nation military organisation through the security crisis sparked by Russia's war on Ukraine.
Stoltenberg tweeted Thursday that he is “honoured” by the decision of NATO leaders “to extend my term as Secretary General until 30 September 2023. “As we face the biggest security crisis in a generation, we stand united to keep our alliance strong and our people safe,” he said.
The former Norwegian prime minister was named to NATO's top civilian post in October 2014. It's the second time that his term of office has been extended. His mandate was due to expire in September. (AP)
The props were simple, the message was clear. In a video address to the nation this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held up his smartphone to the camera and started a timer app while an air raid siren blared.
“It lasted 20 seconds,” Zelenskiy said, after the wailing subsided. “And we hear it for hours, days, weeks. Our people… instantly take their children, help the elderly, and go to the shelters… to survive, from Russian missiles, bombs.” Sitting at his desk, unshaven and in his now trademark green shirt, Zelenskiy had in a few short sentences reminded 44 million Ukrainians that he was going through what they were, while renewing pressure on NATO to impose a no-fly zone. Read More
NATO leaders are refusing to rule out retaliation against Russia should it launch a chemical weapons attack on Ukraine — but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thinks Moscow has already gone too far.
“The reality is that (President) Vladimir Putin has already crossed the red line into barbarism,” Johnson told reporters Thursday as he arrived for summit of NATO leaders. Johnson says that “it's now up to NATO to consider together the appalling crisis in Ukraine, the appalling suffering of the people of Ukraine, and to see what more we can do to help the people of Ukraine to protect themselves.”
As an organization, NATO is not providing weapons to Ukraine. The 30-nation alliance refuses to send troops to Ukraine, either for combat or peacekeeping, and has said it will not deploy aircraft to protect civilians or police any no-fly zone.
But member countries are providing weapons and other assistance, individually or in groups. (AP)
India’s foreign policy decisions are made in “national interest” and guided by the belief that the international order “must respect territorial integrity and sovereignty of states”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday. He also said that India calls “for immediate cessation of violence” and “stands for peace”.
“We are very clear on our principles. Our policy is very much guided by our belief that the international order must respect territorial integrity and sovereignty of states…” Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha while responding to a question on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
He said India’s position is not that the situation involving Russia and Ukraine “is not our problem. Our position is that we are for peace”. In a written statement laid on the table of the Upper House, Jaishankar said the government has been able to safely bring home 22,500 Indian citizens and 147 foreign nationals belonging to 18 countries from Ukraine since February 2022. Read More
French carmaker Renault has announced it will suspend operations at its Moscow factory over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The company was one of the few international businesses to have restarted operations at its Russia factory this week.
That drew the ire of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called on Renault and other French companies operating in the country to "stop being sponsors of Russia's war machine" during his address to French lawmakers on Wednesday. (Deutsche Welle)
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko has submitted his resignation, an aide told Reuters Thursday, without stating a reason.
The aide, who declined to be named, said Ukrainian parliament would vote on whether to accept the resignation, possibly as soon as Thursday. (Reuters)
Russian gas deliveries to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline across the Baltic Sea rose slightly Thursday, while the Yamal-Europe pipeline continued to flow eastwards from Germany into Poland.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia will seek payment in roubles for gas sold to "unfriendly" countries, raising concerns the move would exacerbate the region's energy crunch.
Flows to Germany through Nord Stream 1 stood at 67,690,040 kilowatt hours per hour (kWh/h) by 0733 GMT, up slightly 65,258,213 kWh/h at midnight, the Nord Stream website showed. (Reuters)
A veteran envoy of President Vladimir Putin has resigned over the Ukraine war and left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said on Wednesday, the first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion a month ago.
The Kremlin confirmed that Anatoly Chubais had resigned of his own accord. Chubais was one of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin’s economic reforms of the 1990s and was Putin’s boss in the future president’s first Kremlin job.
It is not just the fear of death. Many are leaving because they don’t want to continue without education for their children, jobs for them.
Turkish telecoms operator Turkcell, one of three main operators in Ukraine, said around 10% of its infrastructure in the country had been disabled by Russia's invasion, but added there was no damage to its central network.
Turkcell, which operates under the name "lifecell" in Ukraine, said in a stock exchange statement on Wednesday that around 10% of its 9,000 base stations in Ukraine were disabled, adding there had been no casualties among its employees.
The company said it had provided the necessary equipment to maintain operations and established backup data centres in Lviv in western Ukraine and some neighbouring nations, adding 45% of its retail stores in the country remained open. (Reuters)