Russian invasion of Ukraine – Latest News

 

This major incident page is created to record in summarized format the Russian attack on Ukraine, which began on 24th February following the announcement of a Military Operation earlier in the day. The page highlights those issues and actions relevant to, and undertaken by Portugal in response. The information comes from multiple sources both in Portugal, overseas including directly from in Ukraine itself.

This page is for situation reports wef  15th March at 1800 hrs.

Reports to 28th February can be read here.

Reports from 28th February to 5th March can be read here

Reports from 6th to 8th March can be read here

Reports from the 9th to 14th March can be read here

 

SITUATION REPORT 0800 HRS MONDAY 21ST MARCH 2022

 

RUSSIA’S 5AM DEADLINE FOR MARIPUL SURRENDER REJECTED

Russia says it has set a 5am Moscow time (2am GMT / 10pm ET) deadline for Mariupol to surrender. From Reuters: “Lay down your arms,” Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defence Management, said in a briefing distributed by the defence ministry.

“A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed,” Mizintsev said. “All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol.”Mizintsev said at a briefing today that humanitarian corridors would be opened tomorrow in both the eastern and western directions from Mariupol from 10am Moscow time. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said there could be “no talk of any surrenders” and that Russia had been informed of the response.

 

EVACUATIONS

Ten million people – more than a quarter of the population – have now fled their homes in Ukraine due to Russia’s “devastating” war, the head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said today. (UNHCR)

A total of 7,295 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, with four out of seven planned routes working. Of the total, 3,985 people were evacuated from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia city. The Ukrainian government planned to send nearly 50 buses to Mariupol on Monday for further evacuations, Vereshchuk said.

Flow of Ukrainian refugees testing limits of central Europe’s capacity, Polish capital’s population spikes by 17% Officials in Central Europe voiced concern on Sunday that they were reaching capacity to comfortably house some of the nearly 3.5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion and are now camped in temporary accommodation. (NDTV)

 

SLOVAKIA

– Slovakia starts deploying Patriot air defence system. The Patriot air defence system has started arriving in Slovakia from NATO with continue over the next few days.

 

DAVID BECKHAM

– David Beckham has handed over control of his Instagram account to a Ukrainian doctor working in the city of Kharkiv. Throughout Sunday, the former footballer’s Instagram Stories were inundated with videos and photographs following child anaesthesiologist and head of the regional perinatal centre, Iryna, through a day at work in the midst of the conflict. Iryna showed Beckham’s 71.5 million followers the cramped basement where all pregnant women and new mothers were evacuated to during the first day of the Russian invasion. Iryna said she now works “24/7” and that: “We are probably risking our lives, but we don’t think about it at all. We love our work.” Beckham, an ambassador for UNICEF since 2005, urged his followers to donate to the charity.

 

POPE FRANCIS

Pope Francis on Sunday called the conflict in Ukraine an unjustified “senseless massacre” and asked leaders to stop “this repugnant war”. “The violent aggression against Ukraine is unfortunately not slowing down,” he told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Sunday address and blessing. “It is a senseless massacre where every day slaughters and atrocities are being repeated,” he said.

 

ANTI-WAR CONCERT BERLIN

Berlin anti-war concert draws 20,000. Some 20,000 people attended an anti-war concert in central Berlin on Sunday, police said, with listeners waving Ukrainian flags or holding banners with slogans opposing the Russian invasion. Gathering near the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of a divided Germany during the Cold War, many performers wore shades of blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine. Jamala, a Ukrainian singer who won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song “1944” in 2016, was broadcast on a big screen telling attendees that “music is a peaceful force”.

 

US PRESIDENT

President Joe Biden will travel to Poland this week to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and “impose severe and unprecedented costs on Russia” for its invasion, the White House has said. The discussions will follow Biden’s meetings in Brussels with Nato allies, G7 leaders, and EU leaders.

Biden will host a call on Monday at 3pmGMT (11am ET) with president Emmanuel Macron of France, german chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and British prime minister Boris Johnson. (Guardian)

 

TALKS

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that he believes a failure to negotiate the end of Russia’s invasion will mean “a third world war”. He told CNN that he is “ready for negotiations” with Russian president Vladimir Putin and that “we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating”.

 

 

SITUATION REPORT 1800HRS SUNDAY 20TH MARCH 2022

 

CASUALTIES

As of 12.00 hrs on March 20, Ukraine’s military have also reported taking out 1,487 armoured personnel carriers, 947 vehicles, 476 tanks, 230 artillery systems, 60 fuel tanks, 74 multiple launch rocket systems, 118 helicopters, 96 aircraft, 44 anti-aircraft warfare systems, 21 unmanned aerial vehicles, and 3 boats. A total of 14,700 Russian troops killed.(KI)

Russia’s deputy Black Sea fleet commander, Andrey Paly, has been killed in Ukraine, Russia has confirmed. He is said to have died during the fighting in the Mariupol region. Paly was about to be promoted to rear admiral. (Guardian)

 

MILITARY ATTACKS

Ukrainian authorities have said that Russian forces have bombed a Mariupol art school sheltering about 400 people. Here’s a satellite view of the damage. Petro Andrushenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor, shared on social media that there is no exact information on the number of casualaties. “The situation is difficult and there is nowhere to get the data from,” he posted.

Having almost no progress in capturing these cities, Russia has increased indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, according to the latest report by the UK Ministry of Defence. Russia is likely to continue the shelling of urban areas “to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties.” (MOD)

The ten-storey building in north western Sviatoshyn district was badly damaged, with all the windows blown out and scorch marks from a fire that broke out, AFP journalists at the scene said. Firefighters led an elderly woman and a disorientated man with facial injuries to an ambulance. Two burned-out cars lay in the debris-covered courtyard, which also houses a playground.

 

WEAPONS

Russia’s claim it used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine was a way to reclaim war momentum, but the next-generation weaponry has not proved to be a “game changer,” the Pentagon’s chief has said, AFP reports. Moscow said it has fired two hypersonic missiles in Ukraine. While US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin would not “confirm or dispute” whether Russia used such weapons, he warned that Putin’s invasion was undergoing a change in tactics including the targeting of civilians. (Guardian)

 

INSA PORTUGAL

INSA prepared to respond to possible biological threat. The high security laboratory of the Ricardo Jorge National Institute of Health (INSA) reinforced stocks, optimized techniques and acquired new equipment in order to respond to possible increased needs resulting from the conflict in Ukraine. The hypothesis of the use of chemical and biological weapons, prohibited by the Convention on Chemical and Biological Weapons of 1972, has now been raised by Russia when accusing the United States of having this type of weapon in preparation. The accusation was refuted by the Americans who claim that the Russians are considering its use in the invasion of Ukraine.

For Sofia Núncio, if countries comply with what is in the United Nations (UN) convention, this is unlikely to happen, but “there is always that chance”.

The objective, he said, “is to detect as quickly [possible] the use of these biological agents, prevent them from spreading through the population, be able to isolate the affected populations, diagnose the case and eliminate the sources of contamination”.

 

SURVEY

According to a survey conducted by the Rating Sociological Group on Marc, half (47%) of respondents hope that Ukraine will be able to win the war with Russia in the next few weeks. A quarter (23%) believe that the war will last several months. Only 12% think that the war will end in six months or more. There are almost no people who do not believe in victory at all. 17% have not yet been able to answer this question. According to Ukrainians, the friendliest countries to Ukraine today are Poland, Lithuania, Great Britain and the United States. The Czech Republic, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Turkey, France and Slovenia are also considered friendly. About half of those polled are friendly to Hungary, Georgia and Germany, and another third are neutral.

74% support Zelensky’s direct talks with Putin on ending the war, a quarter do not. Slightly more supporters of direct talks in the South and East, but in other regions as well, the majority. At the same time, signing a temporary truce with Russia without withdrawing its troops from Ukraine is unacceptable (89%). (Sample population: 1000 respondents. Survey method: CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews).

 

PEACE TALKS

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who is mediating peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, has said the two sides are close to an agreement. Cavusoglu told the AFP news agency “it is not an easy thing to come to terms with while the war is going on, while civilians are killed” but he added “we see that the parties are close to an agreement”. The two sides are negotiating on six key points: Ukraine’s neutrality; disarmament and security guarantees; the so-called “de-Nazification” of Ukraine; the removal of obstacles on the use of the Russian language in Ukraine; the status of the breakaway Donbass region and the status of Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014

 

UNITED STATES

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there are “no plans,” for US President Joe Biden to travel to Ukraine this week as he heads to Europe for snap emergency summits. “The trip will be focused on continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but there are no plans to travel into Ukraine,” she said in a tweet. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield cast major doubt on the possibility for President Joe Biden to visit Ukraine this week when he heads to Europe, saying “as far as I know, it’s not on the table.”

 

DISPLACED PERSONS

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, at least 10 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes. “The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million have fled — either displaced inside the country, or as refugees abroad,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi posted on Twitter. Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, everywhere in the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes, Grandi stressed. (UNHCR)

 

HUMMANITARIAN AID

A Chicago-based artist has raised $145,000 (£110,000) so far for the aid effort in Ukraine by making a Lego-style figurine of the country’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky. The mini figure – by custom Lego creators Citizen Brick – went on sale with a price tag of $100 and quickly sold out. Money raised is being donated to the charity Direct Relief, who have sent medical aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

 

RED CROSS

Steve McAndrew from the Red Cross in Lviv told the BBC that the organisation was doing all it could to reach people in the besieged city of Mariupol. Earlier today, Mariupol’s city council reported that an art school in the city, where about 400 people were sheltering, was attacked. McAndrew said the reports out of Mariupol “are troubling” and the latest he had heard was that around 350,000 people are trapped in the city. He added that his colleagues are trying to get into Mariupol, but “it’s very, very difficult” to gain access. (BBC)

 

TULIPS IN SQUARE

What can you do with two million tulips left over from International Women’s Day when the mall housing your warehouse in Kyiv is hit by a Russian missile? The task was set for designer Kateryna Mamonova, her twin sister Olena, and their friends across Kyiv. By the next day volunteers of all ages were laying down tulips of all colours to form a three-pronged spear, Ukraine’s symbol, in cobbled St Sophia’s square. “The trident is an ancient symbol of the unity of Ukraine and we want to send a message of the beauty of peace to the world,” Kateryna explains while young and old go back and forth, arms full of flowers. (BBC)

 

 

 

SITUATION REPORT 0800 HRS SATURDAY 19TH MARCH 2022 

 

MILITARY ATTACKS

The U.S. Department of Defence has said that according to intelligence, it can confirm the launch of more than 1,000 Russian missiles at various targets and peaceful cities in Ukraine. A senior U.S. defence official said this on Friday, Ukrinform reports, citing CNN. Reports of missile strikes in the western part of Ukraine “in the vicinity of the Lviv International Airport appear to be accurate,” the official said. At the same time, the official did not have additional information on where the origin of the missile strikes in the western part of Ukraine were from or how much damage they caused at this time.

Russia’s defence ministry says it has destroyed a large underground depot for missiles and aircraft ammunition in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region using hypersonic missiles, the Interfax news agency reported.The ministry said it has also destroyed Ukrainian military radio and reconnaissance centres near the port city of Odessa using a coastal missile system, Interfax reported.

Fighting has reached the centre of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water. The Russian defence ministry said its forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, and that “fighting against nationalists” was taking place in the city centre. Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, appeared to confirm the claim. (Guardian)

Russia’s bombardment in the east of Ukraine continued on Friday. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s state emergency service said a multi-storey teaching building had been shelled on Friday morning, killing one person, wounding 11 and trapping one other in the rubble.

Shells were also said to have struck the eastern city of Kramatorsk, killing two people and wounding six. In the northern part of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, one person was killed and four others wounded after parts of a Russian missile fell on a residential building. (Guardian)

The Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence units have destroyed several enemy drones over the city of Odesa. The relevant statement was made by Serhii Bratchuk, the Operational Headquarters Spokesman at Odesa Regional Military Administration, and an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

 

CAUSALTIES – RUSSIAN COMBAT LOSSES

The total Russian combat losses from February 24 to March 18 are approximately: 14,200 people, 450 tanks, 1,448 armoured combat vehicles, 205 artillery systems, 72 MLRS, 43 air defence units, 93 aircraft, 112 helicopters, 879 vehicles, 3 ships/boats, 60 fuel tanks, 12 UAVs of operational and tactical level, 11 units of special equipment. Data are being updated. The calculation is complicated by the high intensity of hostilities. (Source Ukrinform)

Kyiv city administration said today that 222 people have been killed in the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children. In a statement, it said a further 889 people have been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital. The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures. (Guardian)

Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”. Francis’s comments were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

At least 40 Ukrainian soldiers died this Friday, following a bombing of a military base in the city of Mykolaiv, according to the local press, quoted by AFP. According to CNN International, at least two buildings were hit. Local journalists say the bombing took place late yesterday afternoon. The attack was carried out by two Russian fighter jets.

 

UNITED NATIONS

The UN warned Friday that humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent across war-ravaged eastern Ukraine, with a potentially fatal lack of food, water and medicines in besieged cities. “The humanitarian situation in cities such as Mariupol and Sumy is extremely dire,” Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, told reporters via video link from Poland. Residents in those two cities, he warned, are “facing critical and potentially fatal shortages of food and water.

 

FOOD SUPPLY

A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty. Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, also expressed concern about the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol, saying supplies were running out and its convoys had not yet been able to enter the city. (Guardian)

 

AID

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, has announced the arrival of the first aid convoy in the city of Sumy in war-stricken eastern Ukraine. “The UN hopes this is the first of many shipments delivered to the people trapped by fighting,” OCHA said in a statement. “The 130 metric tons of essential aid includes medical supplies, bottled water, ready-to-eat meals and canned food that will directly help some 35,000 people. In addition to these items, the convoy brought equipment to repair water systems to help 50,000 people.”

 

FORMER BRITISH PM DELIVERING GOODS TO UKRAINE/BORDER

The former UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, is driving a small lorry full of supplies for Ukrainian refugees to the country’s border with Poland.  Cameron announced the trip on Twitter, where he said he had been volunteering for two years at a food project in west Oxfordshire called the Chippy Larder.

 

MARIPUL

In a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “grave concern” over the situation in Mariupol, where over 300,000 people are cut off from the world, and called for a lifting of Russia’s blockade, according to French president’s office.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the Russian military will spare all Ukrainian soldiers that lay down their arms. Azov Battalion Captain Svyatoslav Palamar refused, responding, “Mariupol will remain a Ukrainian city.”

Over 1,300 civilians still stuck under Mariupol’s destroyed theater. According to Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova, 130 people were rescued from the Mariupol theater destroyed by a Russian strike on March 16. However, the vast majority of civilians are still stuck under the rubble in the basement of the now destroyed theatre.(KI)

 

SANCTIONS

Norway joins EU sanctions against Russia. The sanctions are the strongest in the country’s history, according to a press release from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They include restrictions on Russian and Belarusian officials, and a ban on the exports of technology, goods, and services.

 

UNHCR – DISPLACE PERSONS

Russia’s war displaces nearly 10 million Ukrainians. The United Nations Migration Agency now estimates that 6.5 million Ukrainians have become internally displaced by the war. An additional 3.2 million have fled abroad, over 2 million of them to Poland.

Russian delegation claims Ukraine, Russia close to compromise on NATO membership, Kyiv says no. Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian peace talks delegation, said that Ukraine and Russia’s position over Kyiv’s neutral status and the non-accession to NATO was “as close as possible.” Member of Ukraine’s delegation Mykhailo Podolyak later said that this was what Russia wants, not what the two sides agreed on. (KI)

 

PRO-RUSSIAN RALLY

Pro-war rally held in Moscow, tens of thousands attend. At least 81,000 people attend a pro-war rally in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium. Russian authorities claim over 200,000 people attend the event celebrating Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Images of Russian troops invading Ukraine were shown on the screen accompanied by cheers of the gathered crowd.

Reports are emerging that the crowd which witnessed Vladimir Putin’s speech in Moscow earlier today may not have been there entirely voluntarily. Russian TV footage showed a boisterous crowd at the Luzhniki stadium, attendees waving flags and cheering ahead of a speech where Putin hailed Russian “unity”. But BBC journalist Will Vernon reported that at least some of the crowd had been “forced” to attend. (BBC)

 

US PRESIDENT – CHINESE LEADER DISCUSSION –

Beijing: Chinese leader Xi Jinping said war is “in no one’s interest” during a phone call Friday with Joe Biden in which the US president aimed to pressure Beijing into joining Western condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 1:50 hour-long phone call ended at 10:53 am in Washington (1453 GMT), the White House said.  State broadcaster CCTV reported Xi saying during the call that “state-to-state relations cannot go to the stage of military hostilities.”  China and the United States should “shoulder international responsibilities,” Xi was quoted as saying, as well as declaring that “peace and security are the most valued treasures of the international community.” It was not immediately clear if Xi made any direct criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s onslaught against Ukraine or expressed willingness to assist the US-led pressure campaign on the Kremlin. (KDTV)

 

UKRAINE GRAIN EXPORTS

The United Nations has warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could trigger global famine, as Moscow’s Black Sea blockade delays crucial grain exports, and stoked fears of a deepening hunger crisis in countries such as Yemen and Ethiopia. The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, warned on Friday of a global famine as the result of Russia’s invasion.

“For the last three years, global rates of hunger and famine have been on the rise. With the Russian invasion, we are now facing the risk of imminent famine and starvation in more places around the world,” said Fakhri. He warned of long-term disruptions because of the ongoing fighting during planting season in Ukraine and Russia.

SITUATION REPORT 0600 HRS FRIDAY 18TH MARCH 2022

 

MILITARY ATTACKS

 

Overnight Russian missiles have struck an area near the airport of Lviv, its mayor Andriy Sadovy has said, though he added that the airport itself had not been attacked. At least three explosions have been heard in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, according to the Ukraine 24 television station.

“Reluctance to manoeuvre cross-country, lack of control of the air and limited bridging capabilities are preventing Russia from effectively resupplying their forward troops with even basic essentials such as food and fuel,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update. (MOD 2300 hrs 17th March).  “Incessant Ukrainian counterattacks are forcing Russia to divert large number of troops to defend their own supply lines. This is severely limiting Russia’s offensive potential,” it added.

According to Luhansk Oblast Governor Sergiy Haidai, the Russian military hit SOS Children’s Villages shelter in Severodonetsk. No fatalities were reported. The shelter, which is part of the world’s largest non-governmental organization focused on helping families at risk, was opened late last year.

Twenty one people were killed and 25 injured in a Russian attack on Merefa.  In Kharkiv  ten people are in critical condition, Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported. Merefa, home to 21,500 residents, was shelled at 3:30 a.m. on March 17. A local school and community centre were destroyed. (KI)

During the past 24 hours, Russian invaders have fired on Kharkiv 49 times, while no Russian aircraft were observed above the city. “Over the past day, the Russian occupation forces have shelled the districts of Kharkiv 49 times. At the same time, the number of shellings from multiple rocket launchers (BM-21) increased roughly tenfold. No enemy aircraft were detected over Kharkiv.” Source: Head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Synegubov.

Official says 80-90% of Mariupol destroyed or damaged by Russian shelling, airstrikes. Serhiy Orlov, a deputy mayor of Mariupol, said in a March 16 interview with Forbes Ukraine that more than 2,300 people had been killed in Mariupol by Russian troops.

On Thursday, the Odessa Defence Forces shot down an Orlan 10 drone of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. (Odessa Defence Force)

 

CASUALTIES

The World Health Organization has verified 43 attacks on health care in Ukraine, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the UN Security Council. The attacks have resulted in the deaths of 12 people and injured dozens more. “In any conflict, attacks on health care are a violation of international humanitarian law,” Tedros told the 15-member council, without specifying who was to blame for the attacks. (WHO)

So far there are 130 confirmed survivors from the Russians attack of the Mariupol Drama Theater, which was known to house hundreds of women and children, with a massive air bomb on March 16. Two sources, lawmaker Olga Stefanyshyna and businessman Serhiy Taruta, said that the theatre’s bomb shelter survived the attack. The rescue efforts continue.

 

EVACUATIONS

A total of 3,810 people have been evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Thursday, Interfax Ukraine cited a senior official as saying, a far smaller number than on Wednesday. (Aljazeera)

Some 470 cars, with 1,865 people, including 479 children, escaped the city surrounded by Russian forces. According to Deputy Mayor of Zaporizhzhia Anatolii Kurtev, the city welcomed over 11,500 refugees from Mariupol within the last two days. Over the last several days, more than 20,000 people were able to flee Mariupol.

Turkey’s Anadolu Agency is reporting that at least 65 Turkish citizens and their relatives have managed to evacuate Mariupol.

According to Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, over 270,000 Ukrainians arrived in the country since Feb. 24. More than half of refugees are children, and 80% of adults are women. “The wave of refugees is unprecedented in its speed and size,” Fiala said.

 

ARMS SUPPLY

Ukraine Russia War Live Updates: Britain To Deploy Missile Defence System In Poland – Britain will deploy its latest medium-range missile defence system in Poland, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced Thursday in Warsaw. Poland, which borders Ukraine, risks becoming a future target of Russian attacks after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24.  The Sky Sabre system will help Poland defend its airspace from Russian weapons. (AFP)

 

FOOD AID

At least 3 million Ukrainians still in the country need food aid. There are reports of people spending a month’s salary for a week’s worth of food. As the war in Ukraine drags on, access to food is increasingly difficult. Pedro Matos, Emergency Coordinator of the World Food Program, says that in border countries it is possible to guarantee a person 3 meals a day for just 16 euros a month, a value that is more than double, reaching 35 for those still in Ukraine.

According to UN accounts, in the next 4 months, almost 600 million euros will be needed to feed at least the 3 million Ukrainians who are already in a situation of food insecurity.

 

INFRASTRUCTURE – ELECTRICITY AND GAS SUPPLY

At least 928,000 Ukrainians are without electricity due to the war triggered by the Russian invasion, according to UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. The figure was communicated by Ukraine’s own Ministry of Energy to humanitarian agencies still working in the country, Dujarric said at his daily press conference. In addition, 259,000 people do not have a supply of natural gas, which is essential for heating. The situation is especially critical in the cities of Chernihiv, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhya and Kabatsa, the spokesman said.

 

US PRESIDENT

Speaking at an event dedicated to Saint Patrick’s Day, U.S. President Joe Biden called Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin a “pure thug.” Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, shelling residential areas and killing thousands of people. Speaking at the annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon on St. Patrick’s Day at Capitol Hill, Biden said Putin is “a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.” And earlier Thursday, in a meeting with Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach of Ireland, the President also zeroed in on the Russian leader, saying, “Putin’s brutality and what he’s doing and his troops are doing in Ukraine is just inhumane.” (CNN)

 

SANCTIONS

Air Serbia cancels flights to Russia. It was the last European airline that operated in Russia. The Centre for Transport Strategies said on March 16 that flights to Russia cannot be booked on the airline’s site. Most Western countries had previously shut their airspace for Russia.

U.S. Republican Senators on Thursday introduced a bill to ban U.S. imports of Russian uranium to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. The bill comes as the Biden administration has been weighing sanctions on Russian nuclear power company Rosatom, a major supplier of fuel and technology to power plants around the world. (NDTV)

The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to suspend Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status, tightening the Western chokehold on Moscow’s economy over its deadly invasion of Ukraine. The Senate is expected quickly to rubber-stamp the legislation — which also applies to Russian ally Belarus — allowing President Joe Biden to raise tariffs on imports from both nations. (NDTV)

ITALY

Italy is ready to rebuild the theatre destroyed by Russian bombing – “Theatres of all countries belong to the whole humanity,” said Italian Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini. The theatre, used as a shelter for Mariupol residents, was destroyed by a Russian bomb on March 16. (KI)

 

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY

The ESA announced the suspension of its ExoMars mission that aimed to send a rover to Mars in cooperation with Russian space agency Roscosmos. “While recognizing the impact on scientific exploration of space, ESA is fully aligned with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its Member States.”

 

THREAT TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The Pentagon’s secret defence services consider it to be expected that Vladimir Putin will threaten to use nuclear weapons as the war progresses. According to Bloomberg, which quotes the director of US intelligence, Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, “the prolonged occupation of parts of Ukrainian territory threatens to deplete Russian military manpower and reduce its modern weapons arsenal, while the resulting Economic sanctions are likely to plunge Russia into prolonged economic depression and diplomatic isolation.” (Expresso)

 

UK INQUIRY

Ukraine War Live: UK Minister Orders Inquiry into a Fake Call From “Ukraine PM”.  British defence minister Ben Wallace ordered an inquiry today after an imposter claiming to be the Ukrainian prime minister contacted him and asked several “misleading questions”. “Today an attempt was made by an imposter claiming to be Ukrainian PM to speak with me. He posed several misleading questions and after becoming suspicious I terminated the call,” Wallace said on Twitter. (Reuters)

 

PAYPAL – PayPal issued has statement saying that MasterCard and Visa cards issued by Ukrainian banks can now be linked to a PayPal account. It will allow people to shop online, send money, and withdraw funds through Ukrainian bank cards. Previously, Ukrainian users were only able to send money out of the country. (PAYPAL)

 

UNICEF

5,000 children born into Ukraine conflict: UNICEF official – A spokesperson for the UN’s child agency, UNICEF, has said at least 5,000 children have been born into the conflict raging in Ukraine. “Each one of these [children] is an individual story, it’s a child who’s had their life turned upside down. It’s a family who have had their family torn apart,” Joe English told Al Jazeera from the western city of Lviv. “The children of Ukraine need peace urgently and they need it now,” English added.

 

UN SECURITY COUNCIL

The UN Security Council meeting that discussed the situation in Ukraine has adjourned last night. Representatives of Ukraine, the US and the UK, amongst others, accused Russia of targeting civilian areas and medical facilities in Ukrainian towns and cities. Moscow’s envoy dismissed reports of Russian atrocities as “propaganda”.

 

CHINA

US pushing China to pressure Russia to end war: AJE correspondent. Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan has said the Biden administration is ramping up its public pressure campaign on China, urging the country to exert influence on Putin to end the invasion.  So far, China has taken what it describes as a neutral stance on the war, as it largely shies away from intervening on the affairs of other nations, Jordan reported from Washington. “They have this ‘don’t meddle’ policy,” she said. “But the US is trying to pressure Beijing into actually taking a stand – not just a legal stand, but a moral stand, as well.”

 

CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB

Aethel Partners, a London-based financial company owned by Portuguese Ricardo Santos Silva, presented this Wednesday a proposal to buy Chelsea, a club previously owned by Russian oligarch Romam Abramovich.

According to Sky Sports, the proposal presented by the European champion club amounts to 2 billion pounds (about 2.37 billion euros), of which 50 million (about 59 million euros) immediately, to face the difficulties arising from the freezing of the owner’s assets as a result of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

 

 

SITUATION REPORT 0600 HRS THURSDAY 17TH MARCH 2022

 

US MILITARY AID

US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday a new security aid worth 1 billion dollars (about 909 million euros) and the sending of long-range weapons to Ukraine – assuring the ally America’s “unprecedented” support in the war with Russia.

The money, approved as Russian forces approach Ukraine’s beleaguered capital Kiev, includes $200 million allocated over the weekend and $800 million in new funds from an aid package passed last week by Congress. “These are direct transfers of equipment from our Department of Defence to the Ukrainian military to help fight this invasion,” explained Biden, who also announced US assistance so Ukraine can acquire “additional long-range anti-aircraft systems.”

 

MILITARY ATTACKS

A theatre in Mariupol where 1,000 and 1,200 people may have been sheltering has been bombed by Russian forces, local officials have said. The city council said the number of casualties was not yet known, but Sky News has verified footage from the attack as showing the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre. The number of casualties is currently unknown. The bomb strike demolished the central part of the theatre building, causing large numbers of people to be buried under the debris. According to the RIA news agency, Russia’s Defence Ministry has denied it carried out the attack. (BBC)

According to Kyiv’s emergency services, a building in Kyiv’s southeastern Darnytskiy district was damaged early on March 17 after shrapnel hit the 16th floor and set it on fire. One person was killed and three injured as of 6:50 a.m. local time. (KI)

In an update, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops “continued to shell peaceful Ukrainian cities and towns” on Tuesday night, including Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast province. They also shelled the coast outside the southern port of Odesa, he added. And in Bucha, in Kyiv province, six people from the town council were taken hostage, he said.

In a separate incident, according to Ukraine’s armed forces, a convoy of civilians evacuated from the besieged city was hit by rockets fired by Russian forces.  In a Facebook post, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the civilians were fleeing to the city of Zaporizhzhya more than 200 km to the north-east of Mariupol. At about 13:30 GMT they were fired on by a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system and initial reports suggest some civilians were killed, the Ukrainian military said. The Zaporizhzhya local government said that at least five people were injured, including a child who is in a serious condition. (BBC)

Panama’s Maritime Authority said on March 16 that Russian missiles had struck the three Panamanian ships; one was sunk and two remain afloat, but with damages. There have been no casualties.

 

BOMBING OF HEALTH FACILITIES

Healthcare facilities are becoming a target of war, the World Health Organization has warned, as it says Ukraine’s health system is “teetering on the brink”. The WHO has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and medical facilities in Ukraine and 46 elsewhere in the world in other conflicts – the highest ever rate of attacks on healthcare, which are illegal under international law. Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, says “unaccpetable” attacks on healthcare are “becoming part of the strategy and tactics of war”. (WHO)

 

CYBERATTACK

A Ukrainian TV channel said it was the target of a cyberattack after a false statement by President Volodymyr Zelensky was broadcast live, in which he called on the people to surrender to Russia and announced that he would hand over weapons. In reaction, Zelensky recorded a video, from Kiev, where he considered the provocation “childish” and repeated that “the only ones who should hand over their weapons are Russian soldiers”.

 

PUTIN

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country would achieve its goals in Ukraine and would not submit to what he called a Western attempt to achieve global dominance and dismember Russia. Putin said Russia was ready to discuss neutral status for Ukraine, three weeks into a war that has killed thousands of people and forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes. Putin went further than before in acknowledging the pain that Western sanctions were inflicting on the economy, but insisted that Russia could withstand the blow.

 

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

In a significant order, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday directed that Russia must immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation, pending the final decision in the case, must immediately suspend the military operations it commenced in the territory of Ukraine it stated. The Russian Federation shall ensure that any military or irregular armed units which may be directed or supported by it, as well as any organization or persons subject to its control and direction, shall take no steps in furtherance of the above military operations. Both these orders were passed by a majority of 13 votes against 2, with Indian judge at ICJ Justice Dalveer Bhandari voting in favour of the majority.

 

PEACE TALKS

Russia reaffirmed this Wednesday that it is ready to accept a summit between its President, Vladimir Putin, and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, if the objective is to reach an agreement and not to “meet by meeting”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was speaking after a meeting held today with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Moscow, accused the Ukrainian authorities of asking for negotiations and meetings without being willing to reach an agreement. “Our President has repeatedly stated that he does not reject such a meeting to take place. However, these meetings should not be just for meetings, an agreement must be reached”, underlined the Russian minister. (SIC)

Russia has said that some parts of a possible peace deal with Ukraine are close to being agreed after Kyiv hinted at a possible route for a compromise, raising hopes of an end to the three-week war. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the talks were becoming “more realistic”, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there was “some hope for compromise”, with neutral status for Ukraine – a major Russian demand – now on the table. (SIC)

 

RELEASE OF MAYOR

Mayor Ivan Fedorov was released following a Ukrainian “special operation,” according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zelensky. He will shortly return to his duties as mayor of Melitopol. Fedorov was abducted on March 11.

 

PORTUGUESE IN UKRAINE

At least seven Portuguese are in Ukraine with military objectives, confirmed this Wednesday the Minister of Foreign Affairs, stressing that Portugal does not agree with the procedure of these people, which he referred to as “fighters in quotation marks”. Some of these Portuguese were at the Yavoriv military base, which was attacked on Sunday by Russian troops, and they are doing well, said minister Augusto Santos Silva, quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE  at a meeting with foreign journalists in Portugal. “We understand that this is not the most effective way to support Ukrainians in their right to self-defence and is not part of the Portuguese tradition or way of being, nor is it the way Portugal contributes to international security”, explained the minister.

 

NATO

As Moscow expands its offensive to western Ukraine towards NATO territory, the 30-member alliance has tried to connect with Russia via a de-confliction hotline and written letters but it turned out unsuccessful, the bloc’s senior military officials said. (IT)

 

SANCTIONS

Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country will revoke Russia’s special trade status to punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. The measure will mean higher tariffs on Russian products. Japan will also bring in more asset freeze sanctions targeting elites and oligarchs close to Putin.

 

SITUATION REPORT 0800 HRS WEDNESDAY 16TH MARCH 2022

 

ATTACKS

Early this morning sirens were activated in Cherkasy, Dnipro, Lviv, Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, and Khmelnytskyi Oblasts, as well as in the cities of Kyiv, Izyum, Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Nikopol, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Izmail, Odesa, Poltava, and the Kryve Ozero area. (KI).  CNN reports that according to their team on the ground, loud explosions were heard in Kyiv’s suburbs.

Bombardment of the capital city continued overnight, with plumes of smoke seen rising above a large residential building in western Kyiv this morning.  Shrapnel from an artillery shell hit the 12-story building, obliterating the top floor and igniting a fire. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said two people were injured and work is ongoing to search for any victims.

Russian troops seize hospital and take 500 hostage in southern port city of Mariupol;

According to a senior US Defence official, Russian forces have fired more than 950 missiles since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. The United States “continues to assess the limited or no progress of Russian ground forces towards achieving their objectives,” the same official said, noting that invading troops have not advanced further into Kiev and estimating that they are still around 15 to 30 kms away from the capital.

Two people have been injured, according to Odesa authorities. Satellite images showed 14 ships of the Russian fleet sailing towards the city of Odesa on March 15, among them a 120-meter landing ship Pyotr Morgunov of Russia’s northern fleet. (See map)

As of the morning of March 16, the Armed Forces of Ukraine delivered a devastating blow to groups of invading Russian forces in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and launched a counter-attack in some areas. “The state, situation and nature of the actions of defence forces have not changed significantly over the past 24 hours. The Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to deliver a devastating blow to groups of occupiers’ troops in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and launched a counter-attack in some areas,” the statement reads. (Ukrinform)

 

PEACE TALKS

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said peace talks with Russia were beginning to sound “more realistic” but that more time was needed to ensure the outcome of the negotiations were in Kyiv’s interests. Zelenskyy’s comments early on Wednesday came as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine neared the three-week mark and Russian forces continued their bombardment of Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and the southern port city of Mariupol. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy and member of the Ukrainian delegation, has described the negotiations as “very difficult and viscous”. The two sides are expected to speak again on Wednesday. (Aljazeera)

 

REFUGEES TO PORTUGAL

Portugal has already granted more than 10,000 requests for temporary protection to people coming from Ukraine as a result of the war situation, according to an updated balance sheet to Lusa by a source from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF). According to the latest update, the SEF has accepted 10,068 requests for temporary protection since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th.

 

EVACUATIONS

Nearly 30,000 people managed to flee from several Ukrainian cities on Tuesday through humanitarian corridors, according to Ukrainian authorities. In the northeast of the city of Sumy, the Red Cross managed to evacuate thousands of civilians in 100 buses, after Russia gave the green light to a humanitarian corridor.

 

SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azulay condemned the deaths of two journalists that took place today in the Ukrainian war and called for respect for the physical safety of media professionals during the fighting. Oleksandra Kuvshynova, 24, and Irish image reporter Pierre Zakrzewski, 52. Both worked for the US television channel Fox News and died when the vehicle they were traveling in was shot while reporting near Kiev, while a third member of the team, Britain’s Benjamin Hall, was seriously injured.

 

RUSSIAN BAN ON CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER

Russia has banned Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie and Defence Minister Anita Anand from entering the country. The list includes a total of 313 people, including the majority of Canadian MPs.

 

IMF -GLOBAL ECONOMY

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will affect the global economy by slowing growth and increasing inflation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.  The IMF said the invasion could fundamentally alter the shape of the global economic order in the longer term.

As well as the human suffering and historic flows of refugees, the war is hiking up prices for food and energy, fuelling inflation and hitting the value of incomes, while also disrupting trade and supply chains in countries neighbouring Ukraine, it said on a post on its website. “The conflict is a major blow to the global economy that will hurt growth and raise prices,” the IMF said.

 

NATO – will tell its military commanders on Wednesday to draw up new plans to deter Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Such plans would include more troops and missile defences in eastern Europe, Reuters reported. “We need to reset our military posture for this new reality,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. “Ministers will start an important discussion on concrete measures to reinforce our security for the longer term, in all domains,” he said.

 

 

 

 

SITUATION REPORT 1800 HRS TUESDAY 15TH MARCH

ATTACK

Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko says Russian troops entered a hospital on the outskirts of Mariupol taking staff and patients hostage. “Russians drove 400 people from neighbouring houses to the hospital and they can’t leave,” he said.

A Russian airstrike hit a 16-story residential building in Kyiv’s western Sviatoshynskyi district. As a result of shelling, a fire broke out in the premises. Russian shells also hit a residential building in the Podilskyi district, a house in Osokorki, and the Lukyanivska metro station. (KI)

Fighting has intensified on Kyiv’s outskirts in recent days, and air raid sirens wailed inside the capital. Tuesday’s artillery strikes hit the Svyatoshynskyi district of western Kyiv, adjacent to the suburb of Irpin, which has seen some of the worst fighting of the war. Flames shot out of the 15-story apartment building and smoke choked the air as firefighters climbed ladders to rescue people. The assault blackened several floors of the building, ripped a hole in the ground outside and blew out windows in neighbouring apartment blocks. Rescue workers said at least one person was killed.

Most Russian military advances remain stalled despite heavy bombing, says a senior US defence official. (BBC)

 

CURFEW

The curfew in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast will last from 8 p.m. on March 15 until 7 a.m. on March 17. Overnight, four people in Kyiv were killed due to Russian shelling.

 

CASUALTIES

Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova and Fox news cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski were killed while reporting in Horenka, a few kilometres outside of Kyiv. Reporter Benjamin Hall was injured and has been hospitalized.

Major Dmitry Bezborodov, a Russian National Guard battalion commander from Saratov Oblast, was killed in Ukraine on March 12. (IT)

Hundreds of people are crammed into the basement of a large public building in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, but are running out of food, with many also in need of urgent medical help. “Some have developed sepsis from shrapnel in the body,” said Anastasiya Ponomareva, a 39-year-old teacher who fled the city at the start of the war but was still in contact with friends there. “Things are very serious.” The city is encircled by Russian troops and remains under constant bombardment with almost 400,000 people still trapped without running water, and food and medical supplies quickly running out. (BBC)

 

BIDEN TO TRAVEL TO BRUSSELS FOR NATO AND EU SUMMITS

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said US President Joe Biden will travel to Brussels to join an extraordinary NATO Summit on March 24 aimed at discussing deterrence and defence efforts in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Biden will also join the scheduled European Council summit to discuss “our shared concerns about Ukraine, including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence and address other challenges related to the conflict,” Psaki said in a statement.

 

NATO

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned that an attack or an accidental strike on a member state will trigger the “response of the whole alliance.” Speaking at a press conference ahead of a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg said “NATO’s core task is to protect and defend all allies.” “There is always a risk for incidents and accidents – if they happen we have to make sure that they don’t spiral out of control,” he said.

 

COVID-19

The European Union (EU) is planning to purchase and distribute vaccines against infectious diseases – including measles, polio, tuberculosis and Covid-19 – to immunize Ukrainian children and unvaccinated refugees. The announcement was made by European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides following an extraordinary videoconference of EU Health Ministers. (EU)

 

PEACE TALKS

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are continuing today. “Pretty good” was how President Zelenskyy described the talks’ progress overnight, and today he suggested Ukraine could drop its ambitions to join NATO – a key Russian demand;

 

EVACUATIONS

The Mariupol city council reported that 2,000 civilian cars had managed to leave along a humanitarian corridor that runs for more than 260 kilometers (160 miles) west to the city of Zaporizhzhia. Another 2,000 cars were waiting to leave along the route, the council said. (AP)

 

REFUGEES

According to the UN International Organization for Migration the number of refugees has now reached 3 million. This includes over 1.4 million children and about 157,000 foreign nationals living in Ukraine.

 

SANCTIONS

The European Union has blacklisted Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and more oligarchs in a fresh round of sanctions against Russia. The sanctions also ban transactions with Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft, excluding those involving fossil fuels and other raw materials, the EU’s Official Journal said. (Sky News)

 

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Russia has formally left the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog based in Strasbourg, pre-empting the country’s possible expulsion over its attack on its neighbour Ukraine. A letter initiating the exit procedure was forwarded to the general secretary of the organisation by foreign minister Sergiy Lavrov. While the measure will not come into effect for some time, it will mean that Russia may will no longer have to observe the European Convention on Human Rights – which, among other things, had prompted the country to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty.

 

DEMONSTRATOR

Russian editor Marina Ovsyannikova, who protested Moscow’s military action in Ukraine during a prime-time news broadcast on state TV, was fined $280 (£213). and released following a court hearing. Journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who on Monday spoke out against the war in Ukraine in a live broadcast on Russian television where she worked, appeared this Tuesday in court with lawyer Anton Gashinsky. She was tried as an administrative case.

 

INVITATION TO POPE FRANCES

The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, wrote to Pope Francis inviting him to visit the city, which has been hit by the Russian military offensive, or, if that is not possible, to participate in a videoconference to send a message to the population. “We believe that the presence of world religious leaders in person in Kiev is essential to save lives and pave the way for peace in our city, in our country and everywhere,” the mayor of the Ukrainian capital wrote in a letter sent to the Pope, which was confirmed by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Visvaldas Kulbokas, to some international media.

 

SANCTIONS ON US PRESIDENT

Moscow: Russia’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that US President Joe Biden and a dozen other top officials had been banned from entering the country in a reciprocal response to US sanctions. The measure, which also applies to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “is the consequence of the extremely Russophobic policy pursued by the current US administration”, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. Russia also put on its stop list Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

 

SITUATION REPORT MONDAY 14TH MARCH 2022

 

MILITARY ATTACKS

Russia continues its bombardment of many Ukrainian cities, with one person killed in a strike on a block of flats in the capital Kyiv

A missile strike on a transmission tower in northern Ukraine has killed at least nine people and left nine more injured, a local official has said. Vitaliy Koval, the governor of the Rivne region, said the tower and a nearby administrative building were hit by two separate missiles in the attack which took place in the village of Antopi.

Russia’s defence ministry said that at least 20 people had been killed and 28 wounded when what it said was a Ukrainian missile with a cluster charge exploded in the capital of the Donetsk region, without providing evidence. Ukrainian officials denied the Russian reports. Reuters was unable to independently verify it.

The Russian defence ministry has said it is planning to attack Ukrainian arms factories in retaliation for what it said was a Ukrainian strike on the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, and urged workers and local residents to stay away. The defence ministry noted in a statement that Russia believed Ukraine had used cluster charges on a densely populated area of Donetsk. (Aljazeera)

 

CASUALTIES

In its daily report on civilian casualties, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) counts 46 children dead and 62 injured. The data refer to the period between February 24, when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, and Sunday 24:00 (local time), corresponding to 18 days of fighting. According to the UN agency for human rights, it believes that the real numbers of civilian casualties “are considerably higher, especially in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government”, which is more subject to the Russian offensive, “especially in recent days”.

Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall, who has been deployed in recent weeks to cover the war in Ukraine, was hospitalized after being injured while reporting near Kiev. “We have few details at this time, but Ben is hospitalized and our teams are working to gather additional information as the situation develops,” Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott said in a statement. (Fox News0

 

RED CROSS

The ongoing Russian war on Ukraine has become ‘nothing short of a nightmare’ for those living in besieged cities, a top Red Cross official said, calling for safe passage out for civilians and humanitarian aid to be allowed through the front lines. Robert Mardini, the director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, also called the war catastrophic for civilians affected by the fighting as people run out of drinking water, food, medical supplies and fuel for heating — particularly in the surrounded Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Medical facilities also continue to be targeted in attacks.

 

RUSSIAN PRISONERS

Five captured Russian conscripts apologize to Ukrainians and say they were deceived. The captives made a corresponding statement at a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

 

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE 

 

BOMB THREAT ON AIR SERBIA FLIGHT

A plane belonging to Air Serbia, the only company in Europe that maintains air links with Russia, interrupted its flight to Moscow on Monday and returned to Belgrade after a bomb threat. The threat, in the second such incident in a few days, was sent by email to Belgrade airport and forced the aircraft, with 125 passengers and five crew, to return to Serbia’s capital, Serbian agency Tanjug said, without providing further information. The Interior Ministry announced that counterterrorism units will inspect the aircraft.

 

HUMMANITARIAN AID

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has announced the UN will allocate a further $40m to ramp up humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Speaking in New York, he says the funds will help get critical supplies of food, water, medicines and other vital supplies into the country, as well as providing cash assistance to those in need. He warns a further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine – whether accidental or deliberate – threatens “all of humanity”.

 

EVACUATIONS

An evacuation convoy of about 160 cars has managed to leave the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, authorities there say.  Previous attempts to allow civilians to flee the southern city along humanitarian corridors have failed as Russian attacks continued. (BBC)

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Nick Clegg, the president of Facebook’s parent company Meta, has said in internal corporate correspondence that Facebook would ban calls for violence against Russians in general, Reuters reported. Russia had previously opened a criminal case against Facebook after it allowed calls for violence against Russian troops in Ukraine.

 

PORTUGAL

About a hundred children and young people fleeing the war in Ukraine enrolled in Portuguese schools in the last week, announced the Minister of Education, stressing that the number is expected to increase in the near future.

“This last week we had about 100 children and young people formally enrolling in Portuguese schools,” said Minister Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, adding that many more school-age refugees are in Portugal, but families need time to organize themselves. .

 

EXPULSION OF DIPLOMATS

The Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today that it had decided to expel three Russian diplomats after an assessment of intelligence data on alleged espionage and bribery.

Slovak diplomacy explained that the decision was taken today and that diplomats at the Russian embassy in the capital, Bratislava, have 72 hours to leave the country, claiming that their activities violate the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. (DN)