US defence official says it is ‘noteworthy that Putin believes he needs foreign fighters’
Russia has been trying to recruit Syrians to fight in Ukraine to bolster Moscow’s flagging invasion, according to the Pentagon.
A senior US defence official said it is unclear how many Syrians Vladimir Putin is seeking to recruit, but said “we find it noteworthy that he believes he needs to rely on foreign fighters”.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president is expected to plead for more arms and repeat call for no-fly zone over Ukraine
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will address UK MPs via video link from Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon, when he is expected to plead for more arms and to repeat a call for a no-fly zone even though it has been rejected by Nato.
In a first, the leader’s speech will be broadcast direct into the Commons chamber with formal business suspended so that MPs can listen in with the help of simultaneous translation provided over headsets at 5pm.
Continue reading...Ukraine president dismisses Moscow’s proposed routes for civilian evacuation as ‘completely immoral’
Kyiv has rejected an offer from Moscow to create “humanitarian corridors” allowing civilians to flee six heavily bombed Ukrainian cities after it emerged that most of the supposedly safe routes led directly to Russia or its ally, Belarus.
The Russian offer came before a third round of peace talks. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in advance of the discussions that Moscow was ready to halt operations “in a moment” if Kyiv met a list of conditions. These included ceasing military action, changing its constitution to ensure neutrality, acknowledging Crimea as Russian territory and recognising the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
Continue reading...Footage shows people lining up outside Kharkiv train station – and later clambering over the tracks in darkness – in a desperate attempt to flee Ukraine. As of Sunday night more than 1.5 million people have fled abroad, with 1 million crossing into Poland, according to the UN
Continue reading...Home Office sources contradict earlier government denials that third way to enter Britain may be introduced
Priti Patel has been accused of presiding over chaos after Ukrainian refugees arriving in Calais were greeted by posters telling them to get their UK visas in Paris or Brussels, while her pledge to expand the visa scheme was contradicted by Downing Street.
On a day of confusion and uncertainty for Ukrainian refugees making the 1,400-mile journey to Britain, the home secretary admitted that she has not yet set up a visa application centre (VAC) near the French port of Calais where refugees have gathered.
Continue reading...They claim to be honest brokers, but is that just a fig leaf to cover their moral bankruptcy?
How blessed are the peacemakers? After the first wave of intermediaries led by Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, a new group have beaten their way to Vladimir Putin’s long table since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or at least sought to intervene by phone.
The current crop includes Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE and now the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the international community on Monday to boycott Russian exports and to stop supplying products to Russia. Ukraine's president said: 'If they do not want to comply with civilised rules, they should not receive goods and services from civilisation either. Let the war feed them.' He also called on western allies to send aircraft for his air force
Continue reading...Violinist and teacher Vera Lytovchenko has traded a theatre for a basement and played her violin for fellow Kharkiv residents taking cover from Russian bombing.
Lytovchenko said she was inspired in seeing one of her students play in a makeshift bomb shelter at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
‘It was very difficult to play and think about something that wasn’t war. But I decided I must do something,’ Lytovchenko said. ‘We have become a family in this cellar and when I played they cried. They forget about the war for some moments and think about something else.’
Video of Lytovchenko playing Ніч яка місячна (The Night is So Moonlit) has gone viral on Twitter, but Lytovchenko said she is mainly interested about her friends’ and colleagues’ reactions on Facebook because that is how she knows they are still alive.
Lytovchenko said she would stay in Kharkiv to rebuild the city. ‘I won’t just play,’ she said. ‘This is my land. I want to help rebuild the city with my own hands.
‘I don’t need pity. I don’t need to complain. I just need the bombing to stop then we will rebuild. I need the war to end’
Continue reading...Aid agencies warn of ‘ripple effect’ as soaring wheat prices hit countries already facing inflation, food insecurity and conflict
Concerns are growing across the Middle East and north Africa that the war in Ukraine will send prices of staple foods soaring as wheat supplies are hit, potentially fuelling unrest. Russia and Ukraine supply a quarter of the world’s wheat exports, while Egypt is the world’s biggest importer of wheat.
In Tunisia, like many people queueing for bread in Tunis’s sprawling medina, or old town, Khmaes Ammani, a day labourer, said the rising cost of living was leaving him squeezed. “There’s never any money at the end of the month,” he said. “I even have to borrow some. Everything is getting more expensive.”
Continue reading...Move comes amid public alarm over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Moldova also applies to join bloc
In a surprise U-turn, the government of Georgia has applied for EU membership just days after declaring it would not accelerate its application, as fears grow among the Georgian public that the Russian invasion might not stop with Ukraine.
A day after Ukraine made its formal application for EU membership on Wednesday, Georgia responded to the pressure of overwhelming public protests and made its own request, along with Moldova.
Continue reading...The Ukrainian president has vowed to punish 'every bastard' who committed atrocities during the invasion of Ukraine amid outrage at Russia’s shelling of civilians as they tried to flee Irpin, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, after several people were killed.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on the 24 February, has triggered the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war, according to the head of the UN’s refugee agency
Critics compare Israeli military actions of Palestinian territories with Russian invasion of Ukraine but pro-Israel groups dismiss allegations as false parallels
The US and some of its European allies are facing accusations of double standards for supporting sanctions and international war crimes investigations against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while blocking them over Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
But pro-Israel groups in the US have dismissed the allegations by accusing critics of exploiting Ukrainian suffering to draw false parallels.
Continue reading...Russian shelling preventing evacuation of civilians from Kyiv, Mariupol, Sumy, Kharkiv, Volnovakha and Mykolayiv, Ukraine foreign ministry says
Reports are filtering in of a Russian attack on the city of Mykolaiv near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.
Russian forces reportedly bombarded the city with artillery fire on Monday morning, just one day after Ukrainian troops pushed them from the city limits.
The Russian armed forces, following a request from French President Emmanuel Macron to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, declare a ceasefire regime from 10:00 and open humanitarian corridors, the Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine said in a statement. Thus, civilians will be able to leave Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkov and Sumy.
At the same time, during the opening of humanitarian corridors, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will carry out continuous objective monitoring of the evacuation, including with the use of UAVs. Therefore, we warn that all attempts by the Ukrainian side to once again deceive Russia and the entire civilised world in disrupting the humanitarian operation, allegedly through the fault of the Russian Federations this time around are useless and pointless.”
Continue reading...Bill would allow government to freeze assets and also prevent Russian yachts and aircraft from entering New Zealand
New Zealand will rush a bill through parliament this week that will significantly ramp up its sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs, in line with its western allies.
The Russia Sanctions Bill is the “first of its kind” in New Zealand, which has no legal framework for passing broader, unilateral sanctions and usually only does so when called on by the UN security council. As a permanent member of the body, Moscow has vetoed any action against it.
Continue reading...War has sharpened the split between Ukraine and Russia’s Orthodox churches, with some historic sites in Ukraine still loyal to Moscow
As war kicked off in Ukraine, soldiers at a military airstrip in the west of the country went hunting for the origin of a laser pointer they feared was marking out targets on their base.
They found it in a nearby church. Behind the thick walls of the building in Kolomyia, run by monks loyal to Moscow, they also discovered a large stockpile of food and alcohol, and three guns.
Continue reading...On day 11 of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, long-term partners Lesia Ivashchenko and Valerii Filimonov married at a checkpoint in Kyiv on 6 March. The couple, both members of Ukraine's territorial defence unit, decided to forgo formal wear and don their uniforms instead
Continue reading...A family has been killed while trying to flee the town of Irpin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to punish Russian forces for the attack
Continue reading...Attack on civilians in town on the outskirts of Kyiv comes as vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians attempt to flee cities under bombardment
Volodymr Zelenskiy has vowed to punish “every bastard’” who committed atrocities during the invasion of Ukraine amid outrage at Russia’s shelling of civilians as they tried to flee a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, killing a young family.
The president of Ukraine said in a video address on Sunday night: “They were just trying to get out of town. To escape. The whole family. How many such families have died in Ukraine. We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war.”
Continue reading...In his latest address Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the west to do more as he spoke of the destruction across Ukraine and the suffering faced by his people. 'We will not forgive. We will not forget,' he said. 'We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war on our land.'
In Irpin, a town about 25km (16 miles) north-west of the capital of Kyiv, men, women and children trying to escape heavy fighting in the area were forced to take cover when missiles struck nearby, according to witnesses
Gymnastics’ governing body has condemned the “shocking behaviour” of the Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who now faces a lengthy ban for wearing a symbol in support of the invasion of Ukraine on the medal podium of a World Cup event.
After winning bronze in the parallel bars final at the Apparatus World Cup in Doha, Kuliak taped the letter “Z” to the front of his outfit before standing next to the gold medallist, Illia Kovtun of Ukraine, for the national anthems.
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