Where is fighting happening and how did we get here?
Frontlines have shifted as Russia makes advances in the fiercely contested eastern Donbas region, and Ukraine’s forces waged a successful counteroffensive near the strategic Russian-held city of Izium.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Russian journalists deal would have to be subject to referendum; with in-person talks between negotiating teams to resume this week
Russian artists and performers must not stay silent about the war, according to one of the world’s leading ballet choreographers, Alexei Ratmansky.
The Russian-born former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, who left a new production in Moscow on news of the invasion, was responding to Mikhail Baryshnikov’s call not to punish cultural and sporting figures for failing to stand up to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Continue reading...President seeks to re-establish US as a leader in global affairs after years of Trump-led disengagement
In a speech in Poland on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Joe Biden indicated his intent to re-position the US as a leader in global affairs after four years of disengagement during the Trump administration.
It is not a task many thought Biden would so firmly take on when he took office in 2021. Initially, Biden focused on healing domestic wounds following four chaotic years of the Trump administration and the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Continue reading...US president casts Ukraine war as continuation of long struggle for democracy against Russian brute force
Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”, US president Joe Biden said in Warsaw on Saturday in a speech addressing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, a White House official said soon after the speech that Biden was not calling for regime change in Russia.
Continue reading...The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the new sanctions on members of the Russian Duma would punish lawmakers who have “supported the Kremlin’s violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
“President Putin’s war continues to inflict horror and widespread suffering on the people of Ukraine,” Blinken said in a statement.
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The port of Berdyansk, a city in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of south-east Ukraine, is reportedly on fire, according to local Ukrainian media outlets and a senior advisor to Ukraine’s interior ministry.
The city is located about 75km north-west of Mariupol.
Continue reading...US president will take part in an emergency Nato summit, G7 summit and European Council meeting
Joe Biden has arrived in Europe for a four-day trip with the aim of keeping up pressure on Russia in the face of sanctions fatigue and splits over energy sanctions among US allies.
It will also, to some extent, be a lap of honour for the US president’s success so far in keeping allies and partners together in confronting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Joe Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations warned on Sunday there was little immediate hope of a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, as pressure continued to build on the US president ahead of a crucial Nato summit in Europe this week.
Biden, who faces growing dissatisfaction over his approach to the war, will travel to Brussels on Thursday and then on to Poland, it was announced on Sunday night. He will hear a proposal from Poland for Nato to send a peacekeeping force into Ukraine, something Linda Thomas-Greenfield said was unlikely.
Continue reading...Three European leaders visit Kyiv amid reports Russian forces have taken patients and staff hostage in a Mariupol hospital
Continue reading...No-fly zones are used to protect populations but implementing one over Ukraine risks sparking a wider, more dangerous conflict
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy again urged Nato on Monday to impose a no-fly zone over his country, saying it would protect not only Ukraine but the countries of the Atlantic alliance from Russian air attacks.
But the United States and Nato allies refused for the same reasons they have been citing since Moscow invaded Ukraine on 24 February: that any attempt to establish a no-fly zone would place them in direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia and spark a wider, more dangerous conflict.
Continue reading...Analysis: proximity to Nato border may appear unnerving but steps have been taken to reinforce air defences
Russia’s deadly multiple missile strike on Ukraine’s military base in Yavoriv, less than 15 miles from the border with Poland, was clearly designed to send a message.
Not only can Russian forces strike the western limits of Ukraine, killing at least 35 people near where western arms will be crossing into the country, but the Kremlin does not care if US or other volunteer fighters were training there.
Continue reading...Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina urge western leaders to ‘engage more actively and strongly’ in the region
Russia is likely to expand its confrontation with the west by pressuring Serbia into undermining the independence of Kosovo and other western Balkan states, regional leaders have warned in interviews with the Guardian.
They also called for the EU and Nato to speed up their approach to applications for membership from Balkans countries, and bolster defences against Russian interference.
Continue reading...US secretary of state says Russian leader’s ‘clear plan to brutalise Ukraine’ will end in failure
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said Vladimir Putin will fail in his effort to subjugate Ukraine, and will instead lead Russia into a “strategic defeat” that is already unfolding.
Blinken was talking at a press conference with the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, at which both pledged to keep up security and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Continue reading...Hopes of establishing a humanitarian corridor out of besieged city of Mariupol dashed for second day running
The Ukrainian military is reporting that Russia has suffered losses of more than 11,000 military personnel since the invasion began.
A total of 285 Russian tanks and 985 armoured combat vehicles were also reported to have been destroyed as well as 109 artillery systems, 44 aircraft and 48 helicopters, according to a report by the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine and published to the website of the Ukrainian ministry of defence.
The scale and strength of Ukrainian resistance continue to surprise Russia.
[Russia] has responded by targeting populated areas in multiple locations, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.
Continue reading...Deputy PM says Nato will need ‘strategic stamina’ as Starmer accuses ministers of moving too slowly on sanctions
It may take years for Vladimir Putin to be defeated in his conquest of Ukraine, Britain’s deputy prime minister has admitted, as Labour accused the government of moving too slowly over sanctions.
Dominic Raab said people who thought the crisis could be resolved in days were “deluding themselves” and that Nato would need to “show some strategic stamina” in its bid to force the Russian army to retreat.
Continue reading...Ukraine told: your statehood is in doubt as Russian bombs end ceasefire in Mariupol
Vladimir Putin delivered a chilling warning to the west over the imposition of sanctions on Russia on Saturday, warning that measures designed to cripple his country’s economy were “akin to an act of war”.
In comments that were both defiant and threatening, the Russian president also told Ukraine’s leaders that their nation risked being dismantled as an independent sovereign state if they continued to resist Russia’s invasion.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin criticises economic sanctions imposed on Russia, and warns western countries against implementing a no-fly zone over Ukraine
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said 66,224 Ukrainian men had returned from abroad to help fight against Russia’s invasion.
That’s how many men returned from abroad at this moment to defend their country from the horde. These are 12 more combat and motivated brigades! Ukrainians, we are invincible,” Reznikov said in statement posted online.
Continue reading...Local authorities in Ukrainian city ask residents to return to shelters and wait for further information
Authorities in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have said an evacuation of civilians has been postponed because Russian forces encircling the city were not respecting an agreed ceasefire.
In a statement, the city council asked residents to return to shelters in the city and wait for further information on evacuation.
Continue reading...The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has criticised Nato for refusing to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying the decision gave 'the green light for further bombing' of the country.
In an emotional nighttime address, he said: 'All the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you, because of your weakness, because of your lack of unity.'
Nato warned on Friday that imposing a no-fly zone could provoke full-fledged war in Europe with Russia.
Zelenskiy said Nato countries had created a narrative that a no-fly zone would provoke Russian aggression against Nato
Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticises Nato for refusing to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine; UN security council condemns Russia nuclear power plant attack
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