A woman holds a baby basket as people gather on a platform to evacuate Odessa. /AFP/Bulent Kilic
A woman holds a baby basket as people gather on a platform to evacuate Odessa. /AFP/Bulent Kilic
TOP HEADLINES
• Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said half the population had fled, adding: "Kyiv has been transformed into a fortress. Every street, every building, every checkpoint has been fortified."
• The International Red Cross said hundreds of thousands of people in besieged Mariupol have been without food, water, heat, electricity, or medical care for over a week.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said sanctions on Moscow could send global food prices soaring, as Russia was one of the world's main producers of fertilizer, which is essential to global supply chains.
• Russia is deliberately preventing the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol because it has failed to seize the strategic Black Sea port city, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said.
• The airstrike that ripped through a hospital in Mariupol yesterday killed three people, including a child, the city council said.
• Russia insisted the hospital was being used by the Ukrainian far-right volunteer force the Azov Battalion and was a legitimate target. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "This maternity hospital has long been occupied by the Azov Battalion and other radicals. They drove out the women in labor, nurses and general staff."
• Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron demanded an immediate ceasefire in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a German government official said.
• Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Foreign Minister said no progress was made on achieving a ceasefire, following the first ministerial bilateral talks between the countries in Turkey.
• The UK will streamline a system to allow Ukrainians to enter the country, its interior minister said, after an outcry over a requirement for people fleeing the invasion to get biometric tests before being allowed in.
• European soccer champions Chelsea are now effectively under the control of the UK government after the assets of Russian owner Roman Abramovich were frozen. The club has been given special dispensation to pay players and staff and fulfill fixtures until the end of the season in May. Russian oligarchs Igor Sechin, Oleg Deripaska, and Dmitri Lebedev have also been added to the sanction list.
Failing talks
Russia and Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough in their first top-level talks since Moscow's invasion two weeks ago on Thursday.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said there was "no progress" even on a 24-hour ceasefire after talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Turkey, although the latter said Moscow was still open to negotiating.
Russian forces rolled their armored vehicles up to the northeastern edge of Kyiv, AFP reported, edging closer in their attempts to encircle the Ukrainian capital.
Arms shipments from the West
The U.S. is pushing for tough international sanctions and sending weapons and other aid but it has ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone and rejected a Polish plan to transfer fighter jets via a U.S. airbase for fear of being drawn into the conflict directly.
However, Washington has beefed up defenses in Poland, where it said Wednesday it was sending two new surface-to-air missile batteries.
And Britain said it was preparing to send more portable missile systems to help Ukraine, in addition to more than 3,000 anti-tank weapons sent so far, while Canada pledged an additional $50 million of military equipment.
In Turkey on Thursday, Lavrov said the supply by EU and other countries of deadly weapons to Ukraine was "creating a colossal danger for themselves."
The U.S. House of Representatives green-lit a spending package including nearly $14 billion for Ukraine and allies in eastern Europe, which must be rubber-stamped by the Senate.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at their meeting in Antalya, Turkey March 10, 2022. /Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at their meeting in Antalya, Turkey March 10, 2022. /Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters
Maternity hospital attacked
Zelenskyy accused Russia of carrying out a "war crime" and genocide after officials said Russian aircraft had bombed the maternity hospitals in Mariupol, burying patients in rubble despite a local ceasefire deal.
The Ukrainian leader shared footage on Wednesday of massive destruction at the hospital, saying the "direct strike by Russian troops" had left children under the wreckage.
Three people were killed, including a child, the city council confirmed.
Video shared from the site by rescue workers showed a scene of complete devastation, with the wounded being evacuated, some on stretchers, past charred and burning carcasses of cars, and a massive crater by the building.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian forces "do not fire on civilian targets," adding on Thursday that Moscow would look into the incident.
Russia's foreign ministry did not deny the attack but accused Ukrainian "nationalist battalions" of using the hospital to set up firing positions after moving out staff and patients.
Lavrov reiterated the claim on Thursday, saying it was a military base for the far-right extremist Azov Battalion members.
Overall, at least 71 children have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and more than 100 have been wounded, said Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ukraine parliament's point person on human rights.
Mariupol under seige
Ukrainian officials said the Russian shelling of Mariupol prevented a humanitarian convoy from reaching the besieged city and dented hopes of evacuating trapped civilians who are increasingly desperate for supplies.
Residents have been under fire, and without power or water, in the Black Sea port city of over 400,000 people for more than a week. Attempts to arrange a local ceasefire and safe passage out have failed repeatedly.
"Bombs are hitting houses," the Mariupol city council said in an online post. The council said a university and a theatre had also been hit but gave no casualty figures.
Moscow calls its military actions in Ukraine a "special operation," stressing that they do not intend to occupy the nation but rather to destroy its neighbor's military capabilities and "denazify" the country.
Ukrainian Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Russia was deliberately preventing the evacuation of civilians because it had failed to seize the strategically important city.
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01:23
UK sanction Chelsea owner
Britain imposed sanctions on Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich and Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft, hitting them with asset freezes and travel bans because of their links to Putin.
The two billionaires plus Oleg Deripaska and four other Russian oligarchs are the most high-profile businessmen to be added to the British sanctions list since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The move follows criticism that Britain has been acting too slowly.
The action puts on ice Abramovich's plans to sell the Premier League club, effectively placing the current European champions under government control. The team can carry on playing until May 31 under a temporary license, but the club cannot buy any new players, sell matchday tickets, merchandise or hospitality, while the lucrative revenue from broadcast rights is to be frozen, raising the question of how the club will pay wages to staff.
The government said it was open to allowing the sale of the club so long as Abramovich himself did not benefit.
"There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin's vicious assault on Ukraine," UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
"We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals, and illegal occupation of sovereign allies."
There had been loud calls from British lawmakers for action against Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs, with criticism that Johnson's government was not moving fast enough compared to the U.S. and the European Union.
The soccer club has been given a special license to continue to operate but nevertheless faces tough restrictions.
Source(s): Reuters
,AFP