At least two people were killed and 12 wounded when a shell hit a residential building in Kyiv on Monday, according to emergency services.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday urged NATO to impose a no-fly zone over his country or see its member states attacked by Russia, in a new video address.

Russia and Ukraine are set for a fourth round of talks on Monday.

Moscow has asked Beijing for military supplies and economic aid, US officials told media outlets. The US has warned that China will face “severe consequences” if it helps Russia dodge sanctions.

Russian naval forces had established a blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea Coast, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Sunday, isolating Ukraine from international maritime trade.

A Russian missile attack struck a Ukrainian military facility in Yavoriv near the Polish border on Sunday, killing 35 people, according to Lviv’s regional governor. Ukraine held most of its drills with NATO countries at the base, one of Ukraine’s largest, before the invasion.

The American journalist Brent Renaud was shot and killed and a colleague was wounded in Irpin northwest of Kyiv on Sunday. Media reports said that a third Ukrainian colleague was also wounded in the incident.

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner Lyudmila Denisova accused Russia of using banned phosphorus weapons in an attack in the Luhansk region. Her claims could not be independently verified. Asked about the allegations on Sunday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated that if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, “they will pay a severe price”.

The human toll of the Russian invasion is rising: Kyiv on Saturday said “around 1,300” Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. Moscow’s official death toll has not changed since the March 2 figure of 498 Russian troops killed. On the civilian side, at least 596 people have died, according to a verified UN count. The real figure is likely to be much higher.

The UN said the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 has surged past 2.6 million.

Source: France 24

Here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Russia moves on Kyiv

Fears are mounting th Ukraine capital will soon be encircled, with armoured vehicles rolling up to the northeastern edge.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko says half the Kyiv population has already fled.

But he warns the city is now “a fortress. Every street, every building, every checkpoint has been fortified”.

‘No progress’ in talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba make “no progress” in their talks in Turkey, their first face-to-face meet since Moscow launched its invasion.

Fury at children’s hospital attack

Ukraine accuses Russia of a “war crime” over an attack on a children’s hospital in the besieged port of Mariupol that killed three including a child.

The Russian army claims the attack was a “staged provocation” by Ukraine.

71 children killed

At least 71 children have been killed and more than 100 wounded since the Russian invasion began, Ukraine says.

Mariupol under new attack

Mariupol comes under fresh attack, with the city council reporting Russian air strikes on residential buildings.

More than 1,200 civilians have been killed in the 10-day siege of the port, its mayor says.

The Red Cross calls the situation there “apocalyptic” after more than a week without water, power or heat. Safe routes out have repeatedly come under attack.

80,000 evacuated

More than 80,000 people have been evacuated from areas surrounding Kyiv and Sumy over the past two days, the Ukrainian government says,

Another 3,000 were taken “with difficulty” from Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine, it says.

US threatens more sanctions

The United States and its European allies could impose additional penalties on Moscow because “the atrocities that they’re committing against civilians seem to be intensifying”, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says.

EU douses Ukraine’s hopes

European Union leaders tell Ukraine there is no fast way to join the bloc, with Dutch Prime Minster Mark Rutte saying membership is “something for the long term, if at all”.

Abramovich assets frozen

Britain freezes the assets of Roman Abramovich and six other Russian oligarchs, including what London describes as President Vladimir Putin’s “right-hand man”, Rosneft chief Igor Sechin.

Abramovich will now not be able to sell Chelsea Football Club, nor the club sign new players.

Invasion damage bill hits $100 bln

The Russian invasion has so far done around $100 billion worth of damage to roads, bridges and businesses in Ukraine, dealing a huge hit to its economy, Kyiv says.

Putin: Sanctions will hike food prices

The Russian president says oil and gas exports will not stop but warns food prices will soar because of sanctions since Moscow is one of the world’s top fertiliser producers.

Britain urges G7 oil ban

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss calls on the G7 to ban Russian oil imports after the US and Britain said they were “cutting the artery” of the Russian economy.

But fellow G7 members France, Germany, Italy and Japan are wary of such a move.

US warns on biological weapons

Washington rejects Russian claims it is involved in bio-weapons research in Ukraine and warns Russia could be preparing to use chemical or biological weapons.

2.3 million flee

The UN says more than 2.3 million people have fled Ukraine — more than half to Poland.

Source: AFP

At a deserted service station on the motorway northeast of Kyiv, a Ukrainian officer warns: “Don’t go any further. The Russians are over there.”

Over the last five days, the Russians have advanced more than 80 kilometres (62 miles) on the northeastern front and are getting close to the Ukrainian capital.

The Ukrainian officer in camouflage points towards the north, where the motorway stretches empty to the horizon between snow-covered fields.

“The Russian tanks are just over there, two kilometres away,” he said, ordering a civilian vehicle to turn round and go back, due to the danger from Russian forces.

“Drive in a zig-zag to avoid their shots,” he advises the driver.

Then he returns to his watch, in charge of around a dozen soldiers whose task it is to pass on information on Russian tanks so that the Ukrainian army can bomb them as soon as they move to break through the lines.

The Russian tanks are stationed just a few kilometres away from Kyiv’s city limits.

Last Saturday, the Russians were about 80 kilometres further up this road, on a level with the city of Chernihiv.

This advance along the motorway from the north brings Russian tanks just to the east of Kyiv, heightening fears that they could soon encircle the capital.

Russian tanks are also just a few kilometres from the city to its northwest.

In the surrounding villages, there are few cars on the road and they drive with utmost caution in what is now frontline territory.

Source: AFP

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed on a day-long ceasefire around a series of evacuation corridors to allow civilians to escape the fighting. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow vowed to respect the truce from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm around six areas, including regions near Kyiv, in Zaporizhzhia in the south, and some parts of Ukraine’s northeast.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer transmitting data to the UN’s atomic watchdog, the agency said Tuesday. More than 200 technical staff and guards remain trapped at the site, working 13 days straight since the Russian takeover.

US President Joe Biden announced a ban on US imports of oil from Russia in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The UK also said they would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

The UN said the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 surged past 2 million.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to “fight to the end” in a virtual speech to UK lawmakers that earned him a standing ovation. “We will not give up and we will not lose,” he said.

Source: France 24

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, invoking the wartime defiance of British prime minister Winston Churchill, vowed Tuesday (March 8) to “fight to the end” in a historic virtual speech to UK lawmakers.

“We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight to the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost, in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets,” he said.

Here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Evacuations begin

Ukraine begins evacuating civilians from the northeastern city of Sumy under a deal with Moscow to set up humanitarian corridors out of cities besieged by Russian forces.

Dozens of buses ferry the evacuees to the city of Lokhvytsya, around 150 kilometres to the southwest in Ukrainian-held territory.

Kyiv had rejected a previous proposal to evacuate Ukrainians to Russia as a publicity stunt.

Ceasefire

Moscow announces a ceasefire in the five cities worst-hit by the fighting: Chernihiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Sumy.

Previous such cessations of fire collapsed at the weekend, with both sides trading blame.

21 killed in Sumy

At least 21 people, including two children, were killed in air strikes on Sumy on Monday night, hours before the evacuations began.

Thousands attempt to board packed trains out of Odessa, Ukraine’s main port which is also bracing for attack.

People to rush to board trains out of the Ukrainian port of Odessa, which is bracing for attack

People to rush to board trains out of the Ukrainian port of Odessa, which is bracing for attack BULENT KILIC AFP

Two million refugees

The UN says the number of people fleeing the war now tops two million.

Poland alone has received 1.2 million people.

Zelensky slams unkept ‘promises’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounces what he calls unkept “promises” by the West to help protect Ukraine.

“It’s been 13 days we’ve been hearing promises, 13 days we’ve been told we’ll be helped in the air, that there will be planes, that they will be delivered to us,” he complains.

China’s Xi urges restraint

Chinese President Xi Jinping urges “maximum restraint” over Ukraine but stops short of condemning the Russian invasion in a video summit with the leaders of France and Germany.

‘Call Russia’

A group of Lithuanians launch a bid to get Russians abroad to call 40 million of their compatriots and tell them what is happening in Ukraine.

Russia has severely restricted reporting of the war on its territory.

Shell quits Russia

Energy giant Shell says it will stop purchasing Russian crude oil and shut down its operations in the country.

 Russian designer cancelled

Russian designer Valentin Yudashkin, who designed the Russian army’s uniforms, has his show at Paris Fashion Week cancelled for his failure to condemn the war.

World Bank cash for Ukraine

The World Bank approves an additional $489-million package for Ukraine, to be made available immediately.

Foreign footballers can leave Russia

Foreign footballers and coaches working in Russia and Ukraine will be allowed to temporarily suspend their contracts and move elsewhere, FIFA announces.

Source: AFP

The Russian army announced Monday that it would open several humanitarian corridors in Ukraine. Russian forces pummelled Ukrainian cities from the air, land and sea, with warnings they were preparing for an assault on the capital Kyiv, as terrified civilians failed for a second day to escape besieged Mariupol.

A civilian disaster is growing in Ukraine as attempts to evacuate residents of besieged port city Mariupol failed for a second consecutive day.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Sunday that Russian forces are preparing to bombard Odessa, the historic port city on the Black Sea coast.

More than a million refugees have crossed the border from Ukraine into Poland since Russian troops invaded on February 24, Polish border guards said on Sunday. The UN said earlier on Sunday that more than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries since the Russian invasion.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday to declare a ceasefire in Ukraine, open humanitarian corridors and sign a peace agreement, his office said.

The United States is considering sending planes to Poland if Warsaw decided to send fighter jets to Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Zelensky said on Sunday he spoke by phone with his US counterpart Joe Biden to discuss financial support and sanctions against Russia.

Delegations from Kyiv and Moscow are set to hold a third round of negotiations on Monday.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday on the humanitarian crisis triggered in Ukraine by the Russian invasion and discuss a possible draft resolution.

Washington has seen “very credible reports” that Russia has committed war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine, particularly in attacking civilians, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday.

Reported by France 24

Here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Fierce battles

Ukraine’s military says it is fighting “fierce battles” with Russian forces on the edge of the southern city of Mykolaiv, which controls the road to the country’s biggest port Odessa in the west.

President Volodymyr Zelensky warns that Russia is preparing to bombard the historic city near the Romanian and Moldovan borders.

Chernihiv pummelled

Dozens of civilians are being killed in the battle for Chernihiv in the north, with those who remain in the city living in craters or among the ruins. AFP has witnessed scenes of devastation.

Mariupol evacuation fails again

Attempts to evacuate civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol — which has neither power nor water — fail for a second day.

The Red Cross describes “devastating scenes of human suffering” in the battered Sea of Azov port.

Deadly and indiscriminate

The Russian push on Kyiv is becoming more deadly and indiscriminate despite Moscow’s denials that it is targeting civilian areas. People are fleeing the towns of Bucha and Irpin as they are pounded by air strikes.

Airport destroyed

A barrage of Russian missiles destroy Vinnytsia airport in central Ukraine, Zelensky says.

Refugee crisis: fastest since WWII

Ukraine is the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, says the UN. More than 1.5 million people have fled into neighbouring countries since Russia invaded on February 24.

Polish jets deal

The United States says it is working on a deal with Poland to supply Ukraine with fighter jets that its pilots are trained to fly.

Zelensky had pleaded with former Warsaw Pact countries in eastern Europe to give Ukraine Russian-made warplanes.

Russia limits essential food sales

Russian shops are told to limit sales of essential foodstuffs to counter black market speculation as Western sanctions bite.

1,100 held at Russia protests

More than 1,000 people are held across Russia after new protests against the war in Ukraine, bringing to 10,000 the number arrested since the invasion began, according to a monitor.

Zelensky’s plea to US

Zelensky phones President Joe Biden after pressing US lawmakers for an embargo on Russian oil imports. The White House is against a ban for fear of driving up prices.

Putin: Ukraine could cease to exist

Russian President Vladimir Putin warns Ukraine it may cease to exist as a state if leaders “continue to do what they are doing”.

He also says countries imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine will be considered combatants, while equating sanctions with a declaration of a war.

Visa and Mastercard ban

Credit card giants Visa and Mastercard refuse to do business with Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine but Russian banks say they will use China’s UnionPay system.

Macron, Erdogan call Putin

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan hold separate telephone talks with Putin, with Turkey calling for an “urgent general ceasefire”.

Peace prospects ‘not great’

Israel’s premier Naftali Bennett says the chances of stopping fighting were “not great”, after Kyiv had asked Israel to launch a dialogue with Moscow.

Media blackout

A host of international broadcasters, including the BBC and CNN, say they will stop reporting from Russia because of a new law threatening up to 15 years in jail for “fake news” about its invasion.

Independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta says it will also have to stop its reporting of the war.

No ticket out

Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot says it is suspending all its international flights except to Belarus.

Culled from AFP

Russia’s defense ministry announced a temporary ceasefire Saturday to allow residents of two besieged cities, including the strategic port city of Mariupol, to evacuate. Mariupol’s mayor says invading Russian troops have blockaded the city, as Moscow and Kyiv are set to hold new talks over the weekend. Follow our live updates for the latest developments.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday on the humanitarian crisis triggered in Ukraine by the Russian invasion and discuss a possible draft resolution.

Invading Russian troops have blockaded the strategic Ukrainian port city Mariupol, its mayor announced Saturday.

Russia and Ukraine are set to hold a third round of talks over the weekend as an attack on a nuclear plant in Ukraine triggered widespread condemnations.

The mayor of Mariupol issued a plea for help as water, heating and electricity remained cut in the southern Ukrainian port city. “We are simply being destroyed,” he said.

More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion, the United Nations said, amounting to the swiftest refugee exodus this century.

Source: France 24

Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe Friday after a building at the complex was set ablaze during intense fighting.

Fears of a potential nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia plant spread alarm across world capitals, before authorities said the fire in a building identified as a training center, had been extinguished.

Ukraine’s president accused Russia of resorting to “nuclear terror” and seeking to repeat the Chernobyl disaster after saying that Russian forces attacked a nuclear power plant.

Russia’s defense ministry, however, blamed the attack at the site on Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a monstrous provocation.

Earlier, in a video message, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged world leaders to prevent Europe from “dying from a nuclear disaster”.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said there was no indication of elevated radiation levels at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which provides more than a fifth of the total electricity generated in Ukraine.

Local officials also said that essential equipment at the station was unaffected and radiation levels were normal.

An official at the state enterprise that runs Ukraine’s four nuclear plants said there was no further fighting, the fire was out and Zaporizhzhia was operating normally.

“(Nuclear power plant) personnel are on their working places providing normal operation of the station.”

A video from the plant showed one building aflame, and a volley of incoming shells. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukrainian authorities had assured the IAEA that “essential” equipment were unaffected.

Russia has already taken control of the Chernobyl plant, about 100 km north of Kiev, which has been one of the most radioactive locations on earth since it saw an explosion in its fourth reactor in April 1986.

Financial markets in Asia spiraled out of control as early reports of the incident emerged, with stocks falling and oil prices soaring further.

“Markets are worried about nuclear fallout. The risk is that there is a miscalculation or over-reaction and the war prolongs,” said Vasu Menon, executive director of investment strategy at OCBC Bank.

Culled from Presstv