A Ukrainian serviceman walks next to a fighting vehicle, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP, file)Russia Ukraine War Crisis Live: The British Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Russian forces have taken the Ukrainian city of Kreminna. There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government. Russia claimed days earlier to have taken the city. Kreminna is some 575 km southeast of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Monday that Ukraine risks provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict “should not be underestimated.” Lavrov said Nato’s supply of weapons to Ukraine “in essence” meant that the Western alliance was engaged in a proxy war with Russia.
In other news, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday held talks with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau and shared assessments and views on Ukraine. Jaishankar also thanked him for facilitating the evacuation of Indian students during Operation Ganga. News agency Reuters, quoting a trade source and an Indian government source, reported that Russian and Indian officials met last week in an effort to resolve an impasse over the shipping of coking coal to Indian steelmakers, which has dried up since March over payment methods.
A boy stands next to a wrecked vehicle in front of an apartment building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 24, 2022. (Reuters)
The British Defense Ministry says Russian forces have taken the Ukrainian city of Kreminna.
In a tweet early Tuesday, the British military said: "The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east."
There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government. Russia claimed days earlier to have taken the city. (AP)
Russia is probably attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the country's east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday.
Reports say the city of Kreminna has fallen, with heavy fighting in the south of the city of Izium, as Russian forces try to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Britain's defence ministry said on Twitter.
"Ukrainian forces have been preparing defences in Zaporizhzhia in preparation for a potential Russian attack from the south," it added in the regular bulletin. (Reuters)
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi listening, visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday described the killings in Bucha as “severe violations of international law” and said what is happening in Ukraine will impact the Indo-Pacific region.
She said the outcome of the war will not only determine the future of Europe, but also “deeply affect the Indo-Pacific region and the rest of the world”.
“For the Indo-Pacific region, it is as important as for Europe, that borders are respected, and that spheres of influence are rejected,” she said, while addressing the Raisina Dialogue. The core principles that underpin peace and security across the world, she said, are at stake in Asia as well as in Europe.
Russia unleashed a string of attacks Monday against rail and fuel installations deep inside Ukraine, far from the front lines of Moscow's new eastern offensive, in a bid to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies for the fight.
Fires were reported at two oil facilities in western Russia, not far from the Ukrainian border. Their cause was not immediately known. (AP)
Several buildings were damaged in the Golovchino village in Russia's Belgorod province which came under fire from Ukraine on Tuesday morning, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on messaging app Telegram without citing evidence.
Hours earlier, Gladkov said at least two people had been hurt in an attack on another village, Zhuravlyovka.
He did not specify whether the two attacks were cases of artillery or mortar shelling or missile strikes. (Reuters)
"In Europe, we see Russia's aggression as direct threat to our security. We'll make sure that unprovoked-unjustified aggression against Ukraine will be a strategic failure. Doing all we can to help Ukraine fight for its freedom. We imposed effective sanctions," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said the core principles that unerline peace and security across the world are at stake. 'We all see rising challenges to our open & free societies. This is true for the technological&the economic domain. But it's also true for security. The reality is that the core principles that underpin peace & security across the world are at stake,' ANI quoted her as saying.
Russia on Monday struck Ukraine’s Kremenchuk oil refinery with long-range missiles and also hit military installations there, the Russian defence ministry reported. “The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine,” Reuters quoted the ministry as saying.
Russia has warned the United States against sending more arms to Ukraine, Moscow's ambassador to Washington was quoted as saying by Reuters. "We stressed the unacceptability of this situation when the United States of America pours weapons into Ukraine, and we demanded an end to this practice," Anatoly Antonov told a state-media TV channel, Rossiya 24.
Antonov said an official diplomatic note had been sent to Washington expressing Russia's concerns. This came a day after the visit of top US officials to Kyiv, where they announced enhanced military aid to Ukraine.
Russia fired rockets at two towns in Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region on Monday, causing an unspecified number of deaths and injuries, regional Governor Serhiy Borzov reported.
"Today, Vinnytsia region is once again under rocket fire (in) the towns of Zhmerynka and Kozyatyn. The enemy is attempting to hit critical infrastructure," Borzov said in a video released on the Telegram messaging app. Russia did not immediately comment on his remarks. (Reuters)
Military spending in Europe and Russia surged in the run-up to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine despite the subduing effects of the pandemic on economic growth, data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed on Monday.
Russia saw an increase in its military expenditure for the third consecutive year. Despite a decline in military expenditure between 2016 and 2019 due to sanctions imposed by the West in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, high oil and gas revenues helped Moscow to boost its spending in 2021, the report noted. In Ukraine, though military spending fell in 2021 to $5.9 billion, it still accounted for 3.2 per cent of its GDP. Read the report here
Russia's armed forces have struck Ukrainian military installations and the Kremenchug oil refinery, the Russian defence ministry reported on Monday. (Reuters)
A large fire broke out early on Monday at an oil storage facility in the Russian city of Bryansk, the emergencies ministry said, adding that no one was injured.
There was no immediate indication the fire was related to the war in Ukraine, although Russian officials said last week that Ukrainian helicopters hit residential buildings and injured seven people in the area. Read more
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Monday told reporters that he had spoken to the United Nations chief António Guterres on Friday. He stated that Guterres will deliver a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, and the need for a ceasefire and corridors for aid and evacuation of people.
Guterres is set to visit Moscow on Tuesday to meet Putin. He will later visit Zelenskyy in Ukraine.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday said that on their way to Kyiv, it looked like things were beginning to get back to normal, Reuters reported.
He added that the nature of the fight in Ukraine has evolved and the Ukrainians are now in need of long-range fires. The country has also expressed a need for tanks, he said. Austin also stated that they have asked Ukrainian authorities to track weapons as best as possible, as the US doesn't have forces on the ground to track on its own.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Monday stated that Russia was failing in its war aims, Reuters reported. He added that while Russia was continuing to brutalise parts of Ukraine, the country was standing strong.
Speaking to reporters, Blinken said that a sovereign, independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Russia's Putin.
This came after top US officials, including Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his advisors Sunday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Sunday told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that US President Joe Biden will announce his nomination of veteran diplomat Bridget Brink to be the next US ambassador to Ukraine — a decision yet to be confirmed by the Senate. Brink has held various diplomatic positions and was serving as an ambassador to Slovakia since 2019.
The Secretary of State also added that American diplomats who left Ukraine before the war would start returning to the country this coming week.
In a meeting shrouded in secrecy, top officials of the United States visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his advisors Sunday, news agency AP reported. The US will proved a total of $713 million in foreign military financing for Ukraine and 15 other partner countries, of which some $322 million is earmarked for Kyiv, the officials announced.
Russia has made minor advances in some areas since shifting its focus to fully occupying the Donbas, the UK's Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin on Monday.
"Without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough," it said.
Ukraine's defence of Mariupol has also exhausted many Russian units and reduced their combat effectiveness, British military intelligence
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said that the war in Ukraine has been a “stark reminder for Europe” that “dependency on Russian fuel is not sustainable”, emphasising on the transition toward home-grown renewable energy.
In her speech at the International Solar Alliance in New Delhi on Sunday, the EU chief said, “I am thinking about the war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine. For us, Europeans, it is a stark reminder that our dependency on Russian fossil fuels is not sustainable… So, our transition to homegrown renewable energy is not only good for the environment but also becomes a strategic investment in security. Energy policy is also security policy…”
“This is why the European Commission will present next month a new solar strategy of the European Union, as part of REPowerEU,’’ she said. Read more