The explosion hit the capital, Kyiv, with an apparent rocket destroying an administrative building in the second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing civilians.
Russia accelerated its occupation of a major Ukrainian city on Wednesday, with the Russian military claiming its forces had full control of the port of Kherson near the Black Sea, and the mayor said the city was “waiting for a miracle” to collect bodies and restore basic services.
Ukrainian officials disputed the Russian claims, saying that despite the siege of the city of about 300,000 people, the city government remained in place and fighting continued.But the head of the regional security office, Gennady Laguta, wrote on the Telegram app that the situation in the city was dire, with food and medicine running out and “many civilians injured”.
If captured, Kherson would become the first major Ukrainian city to fall into Russian hands since President Vladimir V. Putin launched an invasion last Thursday.Russian troops are also attacking several other cities, including the capital, Kyiv, where explosions were reported overnight, and Russian troops appear to be close to encircling the city.Here are the latest developments:
Russian troops are steadily advancing to encircle major cities in southern and eastern Ukraine, with reports of attacks on hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure.They continued their siege of central Kharkiv, where a government building was apparently hit by rockets on Wednesday morning, leaving the city of 1.5 million people short of food and water.
More than 2,000 Ukrainian civilians have died in the first 160 hours of the war, the country’s emergency services said in a statement, but the number could not be independently verified.
Overnight, Russian troops surrounded the southeastern port city of Mariupol.The mayor said more than 120 civilians were being treated in hospitals for their injuries.According to the mayor, residents baked 26 tons of bread to help weather the coming shock.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Biden predicted that an invasion of Ukraine would “make Russia weaker and the world stronger.”He said the U.S. plan to ban Russian planes from U.S. airspace and that the Justice Department would try to seize the assets of Putin-aligned oligarchs and government officials was part of a global isolation of Russia.
A second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine was scheduled for Wednesday after Monday’s meeting failed to make progress towards ending the fighting.
ISTANBUL – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presents Turkey with a dire dilemma: how to balance its status as a NATO member and Washington ally with strong economic and military ties to Moscow.
Geographical difficulties are even more pronounced: Russia and Ukraine both have naval forces stationed in the Black Sea basin, but a 1936 treaty gave Turkey the right to restrict ships from warring parties from going to sea unless those ships were stationed there.
Turkey has asked Russia in recent days not to send three warships to the Black Sea.Russia’s top diplomat said late on Tuesday that Russia had now withdrawn its request to do so.
“We told Russia in a friendly way not to send these ships,” Foreign Minister Mevrut Cavusoglu told broadcaster Haber Turk.”Russia told us that these ships will not pass through the strait.”
Mr Cavusoglu said Russia’s request was made on Sunday and Monday and involved four warships.According to the information Turkey has, only one is registered at the Black Sea base and therefore eligible to pass.
But Russia withdrew its demands for all four ships, and Turkey formally notified all parties to the 1936 Montreux Convention – under which Turkey provided access from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea through two straits – that Russia already did Done.. Cavusoglu.
He stressed that Turkey will apply the treaty rules to both parties to the conflict in Ukraine as required by the agreement.
“There are now two warring parties, Ukraine and Russia,” he said.”Neither Russia nor other countries should be offended here. We will apply for Montreux today, tomorrow, as long as it remains.”
The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also trying to assess the potential damage to its own economy from Western sanctions against Russia.The country has urged Moscow to stop its aggression against Ukraine, but has yet to issue its own sanctions.
Aleksei A. Navalny, the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, called on Russians to take to the streets to protest “our clearly crazy The Tsar’s War of Aggression against Ukraine”.Navalny said in a statement from the prison that the Russians “must grit their teeth, overcome their fears, and come forward and demand an end to the war.”
NEW DELHI – The death of an Indian student in fighting in Ukraine on Tuesday brought into focus India’s challenge to evacuate nearly 20,000 citizens trapped in the country as the Russian invasion began.
Naveen Shekharappa, a fourth-year medical student in Kharkiv, was killed Tuesday as he left a bunker to get food, Indian officials and his family said.
About 8,000 Indian citizens, mostly students, were still trying to flee Ukraine as of late Tuesday, according to India’s foreign ministry.The evacuation process was complicated by the intense fighting, making it difficult for students to reach the crowded crossing.
“Many of my friends left Ukraine on the train last night. It’s horrible because the Russian border is only 50 kilometers from where we are and the Russians are firing on the territory,” said a second-year medicine doctor who returned to India on February 21 Study Kashyap said.
As the conflict has intensified in recent days, Indian students have walked for miles in frigid temperatures, crossing into neighboring countries.Many people posted videos from their underground bunkers and hotel rooms pleading for help.Other students accused security forces at the border of racism, saying they were forced to wait longer simply because they were Indian.
India has a large young population and an increasingly competitive job market.Professional colleges run by the Indian government have limited places and private university degrees are expensive.Thousands of students from poorer parts of India are studying for professional degrees, especially medical degrees, in places like Ukraine, where it can cost half or less than what they would pay in India.
A Kremlin spokesman said Russia would send a delegation late Wednesday afternoon for a second round of talks with Ukrainian representatives.Spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov did not disclose the location of the meeting.
Russia’s military said on Wednesday it had full control of Kherson, Ukraine’s regional center of strategic importance at the mouth of the Dnieper River in northwest Crimea.
The claim could not be immediately confirmed, and Ukrainian officials said that while the city was besieged, the battle for it continued.
If Russia does capture Kherson, it will be the first major Ukrainian city to be captured by Russia during the war.
“There is no shortage of food and necessities in the city,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “Negotiations are ongoing between the Russian command, the city administration and the region to resolve the issues of maintaining the functioning of social infrastructure, ensuring legal and order and the safety of the people.”
Russia has sought to describe its military attack as one welcomed by most Ukrainians, even as the invasion caused enormous human suffering.
Oleksiy Arestovich, a military adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the fighting continued in Kherson, which provided a strategic access to the Black Sea, close to the Soviet-era waterways in Crimea.
Mr. Arestovich also said Russian troops were attacking the city of Kriverich, about 100 miles northeast of Kherson.The city is Mr Zelensky’s hometown.
The Ukrainian navy has accused Russia’s Black Sea Fleet of using civilian ships for cover – a tactic allegedly also used by Russian ground forces.The Ukrainians accuse the Russians of forcing a civilian ship called the Helt into dangerous areas of the Black Sea “so that the occupiers can use a civilian ship as a human shield to cover themselves”.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has already had “significant” economic spillovers on other countries, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank said, warning that soaring prices for oil, wheat and other commodities could fuel already high inflation. Possibly the greatest impact on the poor.Disruption in financial markets could get worse if the conflict persists, while Western sanctions on Russia and the influx of refugees from Ukraine could also have a major economic impact, the agencies said in a statement.The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank added that they are working on a financial aid package totaling more than $5 billion to support Ukraine.
China’s top financial regulator, Guo Shuqing, told a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday that China would not join financial sanctions on Russia and would maintain normal trade and financial relations with all parties to the conflict in Ukraine.He reiterated China’s stance against sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tried to unite the country on Wednesday after another sleepless night was interrupted by bombings and violence.
“Another night of Russia’s total war against us, against the people, has passed,” he said in a message posted on Facebook.”Tough night. Someone was in the subway that night — in a shelter. Someone spent it in the basement. Someone was luckier and slept at home. Others were sheltered by friends and relatives. We barely slept seven nights .”
The Russian military says it now controls the strategic city of Kherson at the mouth of the Dnieper River, which will be the first major Ukrainian city to be captured by Russia.The claim could not be immediately confirmed, and Ukrainian officials said that while Russian troops had surrounded the city, the battle for control continued.
Poland’s border guard said on Wednesday that more than 453,000 people had fled Ukraine into its territory since February 24, including 98,000 who entered on Tuesday.The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that 677,000 people had fled Ukraine and more than 4 million could eventually be forced out.
Kyiv, Ukraine — For days, Natalia Novak sat alone in her empty apartment, watching news of the war unfolding outside her window.
“Now there will be a fight in Kyiv,” Novak reflected on Tuesday afternoon after learning of President Vladimir V. Putin’s plans for a further attack on the capital.
Half a mile away, her son Hlib Bondarenko and her husband Oleg Bondarenko were stationed at a makeshift civilian checkpoint, inspecting vehicles and looking for possible Russian vandals.
Khlib and Oleg are part of the newly created Territorial Defense Forces, a special unit under the Ministry of Defense that is tasked with arming civilians to help defend cities across Ukraine.
“I can’t decide whether Putin is going to invade or launch a nuclear weapon,” Khlib said.”What I’m going to decide is how I’m going to deal with the situation around me.”
Given the Russian invasion, people across the country were forced to make split-second decisions: stay, flee, or take up arms to defend their country.
“If I sit at home and just watch the situation develop, the price is that the enemy may win,” Khlib said.
At home, Ms. Novak is bracing for a possible long fight.She had taped the windows, closed the curtains and filled the bathtub with emergency water.The silence around her was often broken by sirens or explosions.
“I’m the mother of my son,” she said.”And I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again. I can cry or feel sorry for myself, or be shocked — all of that.”
An Australian Air Force transport plane flew to Europe on Wednesday carrying military equipment and medical supplies, the Australian military’s Joint Operations Command said on Twitter.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday that his country would supply Ukraine with weapons through NATO to supplement the non-lethal equipment and supplies it already provided.
Post time: Aug-02-2022