An aerial view shows destroyed houses in the village of Yakovlivka after it was hit by an aerial bombardment outside Kharkiv (Reuters)Russia Ukraine War Crisis Live: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow will not pause its military operation in Ukraine before the next round of peace talks. He said he saw no reason not to continue talks with Ukraine, he added.
Meanwhile, Russia has destroyed S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems which had been supplied to Ukraine by a European country, Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday. The ministry said that Russian sea-launched Kalibr missiles on Sunday destroyed four S-300 launchers which were concealed in a hangar on the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, news agency Reuters reported. Russia said 25 Ukrainian troops were hit in the attack. Russia did not say which European country had supplied the S-300 systems.
Earlier, Ukraine’s President warned his nation that the coming week would be as crucial as any in the war. “Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. He accused Russia of trying to evade responsibility for war crimes.
Debris covers the yard of a maternity hospital damaged in a shelling attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Russia will take legal action if the West tries to force it to default on its sovereign debt, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper on Monday, sharpening Moscow's tone in its financial wrestle with the West.Russia faces its first external sovereign default in more than a century after it made arrangements to make an international bond repayment in roubles last week, even though the payment was due in U.S. dollars.’
It had been due on April 4 to make a payment of $649 million to holders of two of its sovereign bonds, but the U.S. Treasury blocked the transfer, preventing Russia from using any of its frozen foreign currency reserves to service its debt."Of course we will sue, because we have taken all the necessary steps to ensure that investors receive their payments," Siluanov told the newspaper in an interview.
"We will present in court our bills confirming our efforts to pay both in foreign currency and in roubles. It will not be an easy process. We will have to very actively prove our case, despite all the difficulties." (Reuters)
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer had tough face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Nehammer said after the first meeting between Putin and a European Union leader since the invasion of Ukraine." This is not a friendly meeting," Nehammer was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office, reiterating that he had hoped to help bring an end to the war or improve conditions for civilians." The conversation with President Putin was very direct, open and tough." (Reuters)
The United States believes that Russia has started reinforcing and resupplying its troops in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.
The United States did not however believe this was the start of a new offensive in the region, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the United States did not have evidence that any S-300 missile defense system had been destroyed by Russia. (Reuters)
Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Monday became the first European Union leader to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine, as various Austrian media including newspaper Kronen Zeitung said the meeting had started.
As news of Nehammer's visit aimed at helping end the war emerged on Sunday, reactions ranged from surprise to dismay. Nehammer's own coalition partner the Greens condemned the trip as a public relations coup for Putin, although German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he welcomed it. (Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow will not pause its military operation in Ukraine before the next round of peace talks. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday asked Seoul for any military aid it could provide as he said Russia could only be forced to make peace. Speaking in a video address to South Korean lawmakers, Zelenskyy said his country needed more help, including weapons, if it is to survive the war. "You have something that can be indispensable for us ... armoured vehicles, anti-aircraft, anti-tank, anti-ship weapons," he said.
Zelenskyy said South Korea had many weapons that could not only help save the lives of ordinary Ukrainians but help prevent Russia from attacking other nations. "There is and cannot be a hope that Russia will stop on its own," Zelenskyy said. "Russia can only be forced to do this, can only be forced to seek peace."
He said tens of thousands of people had likely been killed in Russia's assault on the southeastern city of Mariupol alone. Reuters could not verify the accuracy of his estimate. Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation,” invaded Ukraine in late February. (Reuters)
Croatia on Monday told 24 Russian embassy staff to leave over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and "brutal aggression", the foreign ministry said in a statement, following similar moves by other EU countries.
The 24 included 18 diplomats, it said. The ministry said that the Russian ambassador was summoned in a protest over the "brutal aggression on Ukraine and numerous crimes committed (there)"."The Russian party was informed about the reduction of administrative-technical staff of the Russian Federation's embassy in Zagreb," the statement said. (Reuters)
Ukrainian forces say they are getting ready for a “last battle” to control Mariupol, AFP reports.
In a statement on Facebook, the 36th marine brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces said: Today will probably be the last battle, as the ammunition is running out. It’s death for some of us, and captivity for the rest. The mountain of wounded makes up almost half of the brigade. Those whose limbs are not torn off return to battle. The infantry was all killed and the shooting battles are now conducted by artillerymen, anti-aircraft gunners, radio operators, drivers and cooks. Even the orchestra.”
Russia has destroyed S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems which had been supplied to Ukraine by a European country, Russia's defence ministry said on Monday.
The ministry said that Russian sea-launched Kalibr missiles on Sunday destroyed four S-300 launchers which were concealed in a hangar on the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Russia said 25 Ukrainian troops were hit in the attack. Russia did not say which European country had supplied the S-300 systems.
Slovakia, which had donated such a missile system to Ukraine, denied on Sunday that the one it supplied had been hit. It said such reports were Russian lies.Russian forces also shot down two Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft near the city of Izium and destroyed two ammunition depots, one of which was near the southern city of Mykolaiv, the Russian defence ministry said. (Reuters)
Beneath the ancient beech forests of the Carpathian Mountains, a quiet monastery in the western Ukrainian village of Hoshiv has transformed itself into a giant playground for a dozen children who have been displaced by the war with their families.
Nuns at the Greek Catholic Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, 100 kilometres from Lviv, have granted refuge to some 40 people fleeing fighting with Russian forces in eastern and central Ukraine.
The monastery is in itself a symbol of resilience, built after Ukraine's independence in the early 1990s. The previous monastery in the village had been closed by communist authorities while the area was part of the Soviet Union, and the nuns sent to Siberia. "All our prayers are now focused on peace in Ukraine, for our soldiers, for those innocent people who died, who were murdered," said Sister Dominica, the head nun. (AP)
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the foreign media and politicians to not fall for Russia’s disinformation campaign intended to undermine arms supplies for Ukraine.
UK military intelligence said Russian shelling has continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The use of phosphorous munitions in Donetsk Oblast by Russian forces raises the possibility of its future use in Mariupol, intelligence further suggested.
Ukraine's armed forces braced on Monday for a new Russian offensive as powerful explosions rocked cities in the south and east, while Austria's leader planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and call for an end to the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy kept up his tireless campaign to generate international support and rally his countrymen, warning the coming week would be important and tense. "Russia will be even more afraid. It will be afraid to lose. It will fear that the truth will have to be acknowledged," Zelenskiy said in a late night video address.
"Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state. They may use even more missiles against us, even more air bombs. But we are preparing for their actions. We will answer."
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he would meet Putin on Monday in Moscow for the Russian leader's first face-to-face meeting with a European Union counterpart since Russia's invasion began on Feb. 24. (Reuters)
Ramzan Kadyrov, the powerful head of Russia's republic of Chechnya, said that there will be an offensive by Russian forces not only on the besieged port of Mariupol, but also on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. "There will be an offensive ... not only on Mariupol, but also on other places, cities and villages," Kadyrov said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
"Luhansk and Donetsk - we will fully liberate in the first place ... and then take Kyiv and all other cities. "Kadyrov, who has often described himself as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "foot soldier," said there should be no doubt about Kyiv.
"I assure you: not one step will be taken back," Kadyrov said.Kadyrov has been repeatedly accused by the United States and European Union of rights abuses, which he denies. (Reuters)
Ukraine's economic output will likely contract by a staggering 45.1% this year as Russia's invasion has shuttered businesses, slashed exports and rendered economic activity impossible in large swaths of the country, the World Bank said in a new report.
The World Bank also forecast Russia's 2022 GDP output to fall 11.2% due to punishing financial sanctions imposed by the United States and its Western allies on Russia's banks, state-owned enterprises and other institutions.
The World Bank's "War in the Region" economic update said the Eastern Europe region, comprising Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, is forecast to show a GDP contraction of 30.7% this year, due to shocks from the war and disruption of trade. (Reuters)
It's almost Easter in Ukraine, where a trio of churches on the far edges of the capital considered faith, hope and charity on Sunday.
In Bucha, shocked into silence by atrocities that left bodies in the streets, about two dozen of the faithful gathered for the service while the exhumation of bodies continued from a mass grave in the churchyard.
In Makarov, a handful of members visited a badly damaged riverside church, at times moved to tears. Small golden crosses for rosaries lay scattered on the floor with the shattered glass.
And in Borodyanka, where Russian attacks ripped a blackened hole in a high-rise apartment building, volunteers and donations filled an almost untouched church a short walk away, while residents lined up at the door for food and other assistance. Many were elderly people who stayed behind while others fled. (AP)
Russia has tapped a new Ukraine war commander to take centralized control of the next phase of battle after its costly failures in the opening campaign and carnage for Ukrainian civilians. US officials don't see one man making a difference in Moscow's prospects.
Russia turned to Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia's most experienced military officers and - according to US officials - a general with a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other war theaters. Up to now, Russia had no central war commander on the ground.
But the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said, "No appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine." (AP)
Ukraine's president warned his nation that the coming week would be as crucial as any in the war. "Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.
He accused Russia of trying to evade responsibility for war crimes. "When people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologize, adapt to reality and learn, they turn into monsters. And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide that it is the world that has to adapt to them. Ukraine will stop all this," Zelenskyy said.
"The day will come when they will have to admit everything. Accept the truth," he said. (AP)
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, news agency AFP repoted quoting United Nations.
The UN nuclear watchdog said Ukraine said the staff at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant has been rotated for the first time in three weeks after Russian troops left the area. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has expressed concern about the well-being of the workers since the Russian military took control of the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster at the beginning of the war.
The agency said Ukraine informed it on Sunday that it has now rotated the staff, but the situation remains far from normal. They had to be transported to and from the site by water, with the Pripyat River being the only way for people living in the city of Slavutych to currently reach the plant.
The IAEA said Ukraine has informed it that analytical laboratories for radiation monitoring at the site were destroyed, with analytical instruments “stolen, broken or otherwise disabled.” The automated transmission of radiation monitoring data has been disabled. (AP)