Russia-Ukraine Crisis Highlights | Russia hypersonic missile 'not a game changer' in Ukraine, says US

A woman walks past a mural in support of Ukraine by French street artist Emyart following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Paris, France, March 14. (Image: Reuters)

Highlights:

-- Russia hypersonic missile 'not a game changer' in Ukraine, says US

-- 'Time for Israel to make its choice' and back Ukraine, says Zelensky

-- Orphans moved from Mariupol clinic to Russia-held territory

-- France freezes 850 million euros of Russian assets

-- Strike on Kyiv apartment block wounds five

-- Bangladesh launches food subsidies after Ukraine war price spike

-- Negotiation is only way out of war, Ukraine's Zelensky says

-- Ten million have fled their homes in Ukraine, says UN

-- UK PM under fire for Ukraine, Brexit comparisons

-- Ukrainian Parliament says 115 children killed since Russian invasion began

-- At least 5 dead in Russian shelling of Kharkiv

-- Russia says it has again fired hypersonic missiles in Ukraine

-- Condemn 'Russian barbarism': Ukraine tells China
-- Art school in Mariupol used as shelter by 400 people bombed by Russian forces

-- Turkey says Russia and Ukraine getting closer to agreement on 'critical' issues

-- Ukraine says seven humanitarian corridors will open today

-- Ukrainian President Zelensky suspends 11 political parties with Russian links

-- Some Syrian veterans ready for Ukraine fight, commanders say

-- Ukraine conflict opens diplomatic and energy opportunities for Qatar
-- What Russia is doing to Mariupol "will be remembered for centuries," says Ukrainian President Zelensky 

-- Russia ridicules idea that cosmonauts wore yellow in support of Ukraine

-- Air raid alerts go off in almost every region of Ukraine

-- Australia bans alumina exports to Russia

-- China on the right side of history over Ukraine war: Foreign minister

-- Zelensky urges Swiss to target oligarchs

-- Russian troops halt convoy of buses travelling to evacuate residents of Mariupol

-- Ukraine's Mariupol says Russia forcefully deported thousands of its people

-- Pope visits Ukrainian children war refugees in Rome hospital

-- Russian diplomat: "We have plans against NATO"

-- 71 children evacuated abroad from orphanage in Sumy

-- Thousands flee Mariupol as Russians advance

-- U.S. suggested Turkey transfer Russian-made missile system to Ukraine

-- Mariupol police officer pleads for help from Biden, Macron

-- Refugees get IDs for new lives in Poland

-- Ukraine to receive more U.S. Javelin and Stinger missiles within days, Ukraine official says

-- China calls sanctions on Russia increasingly 'outrageous'

-- 847 civilians killed in Ukraine since conflict began, U.N. says

-- Ukrainian refugees find shelter in Polish theatre

Russia hypersonic missile 'not a game changer' in Ukraine, says US

Russia's claim it used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine was a way to reclaim war momentum, but the next-generation weaponry has not proved to be a "game changer," the Pentagon's chief said Sunday.

Moscow has said it has fired two hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, and while US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would not "confirm or dispute" whether Russia used such weapons, he warned that President Vladimir Putin's invasion was undergoing a change in tactics including the targeting of civilians.

Russia's use of the hard-to-intercept hypersonics would mark a dramatic escalation of its campaign to force Ukraine to abandon hopes of closer ties with the West.

But "I would not see it as a game changer," Austin told CBS talk show "Face the Nation." (AFP)

Karnataka CM thanks PM Modi for bringing back mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai thanks PM Narendra Modi for efforts on bringing back the mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, who was killed in a shelling attack in Ukraine️. As per reports, the mortal remains will reach Bengaluru at 2:45 am on March 21.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai thanks PM Narendra Modi for efforts on bringing back the mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, who was killed in a shelling attack in #Ukraine️

The mortal remains of Naveen will reach Bengaluru at 2:45am on March 21. pic.twitter.com/5zWhQROUo8

— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022

'Time for Israel to make its choice' and back Ukraine, says Zelensky

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday urged Israel to abandon its effort to maintain neutrality following Russia's invasion, saying the time had come for the Jewish state to firmly back his country.

Zelensky, who is Jewish, made the appeal during an address to Israeli lawmakers, the latest in a series of speeches by videoconference to foreign legislatures.

In remarks that at several points compared Russian aggression to the Holocaust, Zelensky said that "Ukraine made the choice to save Jews 80 years ago."

"Now it's time for Israel to make its choice."

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has walked a careful diplomatic line since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.

Stressing Israel's strong ties to Moscow and Kyiv, Bennett has sought to preserve delicate security cooperation with Russia, which has troops in Syria, across Israel's northern border.

Bennett has held regular phone calls with Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including a three-hour meeting with Putin at the Kremlin on March 5.

While Ukrainian officials have voiced appreciation for Bennett's mediation efforts, Zelensky on Sunday implied that this too had proven to be a misstep.

"We can mediate between states but not between good and evil," the Ukrainian leader said. (AFP)

Orphans moved from Mariupol clinic to Russia-held territory

A group of children stuck in a clinic in Ukraine's besieged Mariupol for weeks have been taken to Russian-controlled territory, a carer and a relative of the clinic's worker told AFP Sunday.

The 19 children, aged between four and 17 and mostly orphans, have been living in freezing cellars hiding from shelling in harrowing conditions.

From nearby towns in the Donetsk region, they were sent to a Mariupol sanatorium that specialises in pulmonary conditions before President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Their carers have been unable to get to them since due to heavy fighting in the strategic port city that has been destroyed by Russian forces. (AFP)

France freezes 850 million euros of Russian assets

France has seized around 850 million euros ($920 million) of Russian oligarchs' assets on its soil, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday.

"We have immobilised ... 150 million euros in individual's accounts, credit lines in France and in French establishments, " Le Maire told French television as Paris hits Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Furthermore, "we have immobilised 539 million euros in real estate on French territory, corresponding to some 390 properties or apartments and we have sequestered two yachts (with a value of) 150 million euros," said Le Maire.

"In total that is (almost) 850 millions euros in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs which have been immobilised on French soil," he added.

The French crackdown means the owners are unable to, sell on or monetise their assets.

Notwithstanding, "they are not seized in the sense that the state becomes the owner and could then sell them on. For there to be seizure there has to be a penal offence", Le Maire stipulated.

"The sanctions are hitting Russia, the state, Vladimir Putin hard," Le Maire went on. (AFP)

Strike on Kyiv apartment block wounds five

A shell exploded outside an apartment block in Kyiv, wounding five people, the mayor said Sunday, the latest bombardment as Russian forces try to encircle the Ukranian capital.

The ten-storey building in northwestern Sviatoshyn district was badly damaged, with all the windows blown out and scorch marks from a fire that broke out, AFP journalists at the scene said.

Firefighters led an elderly woman and a disorientated man with facial injuries to an ambulance. Two burned-out cars lay in the debris-covered courtyard, which also houses a playground.

Bangladesh launches food subsidies after Ukraine war price spike

Bangladesh launched a nationwide food subsidy programme on Sunday after prices for cooking oil, lentils and other staples shot up in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Rising produce costs, which officials blame on wild price fluctuations in the global oil market since the conflict began, have sparked murmurings of discontent around the South Asian nation of 170 million people in recent weeks.

Opposition activists have accused traders of profiteering and staged several protest rallies, with a nationwide strike against soaring prices planned for the end of the month. (AFP)

Negotiation is only way out of war, Ukraine's Zelensky says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday renewed his plea for talks with his Russian counterpart, taking to US television to say negotiations were the only way to "end this war."

"I'm ready for negotiations with him," Zelensky told CNN show "Fareed Zakaria GPS," referring to Russia's Vladimir Putin, whose deadly invasion of Ukraine is in its fourth week.

"I think without negotiations we cannot end this war," the Ukrainian leader said through a translator.

The reiteration of Zelensky's call for peace talks came as he and other Ukrainians accused Russia of committing war crimes after authorities said the invading forces had bombed a school sheltering some 400 people in the besieged city of Mariupol.

"Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us," said Zelensky.

The leader, who has emerged as a national hero for his very public stance against Putin and his forces, has spoken of Ukrainians' fierce resistance to the invasion and told Russia that several thousand of its soldiers have died in battle so far.

"If there is just one percent chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance... to have the possibility of negotiating, the possibility of talking to Putin," he said.

"If these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third world war."

Zelensky repeatedly has warned of the potential for the Russia-Ukraine conflict to mushroom into an all-out global war.

The crisis in Ukraine, in which Putin has sought to eradicate pro-Western leanings in the ex-Soviet state, has already triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

Ten million have fled their homes in Ukraine, says UN

Ten million people -- more than a quarter of the population -- have now fled their homes in Ukraine due to Russia's "devastating" war, the United Nations refugees chief said Sunday.

"Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, everywhere in the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes," said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.

"The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million have fled either displaced inside the country, or as refugees abroad."

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said Sunday that 3,389,044 Ukrainians had left since the Russian invasion began on February 24, with another 60,352 joining the exodus since Saturday's update -- a flow roughly the same as the day before.

Some 90 percent of those who have fled are women and children. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military call-up and cannot leave.

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, said more than 1.5 million children are among those who have fled abroad, warning that the risks they face of human trafficking and exploitation are "real, and growing".

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) also said that as of Wednesday, 162,000 third-country nationals had fled Ukraine to neighbouring states.

Millions more have fled their homes but remain within Ukraine's borders.

Some 6.48 million people were estimated to be internally displaced within Ukraine as of Wednesday, according to UN and related agencies, following an IOM representative survey.

UNHCR initially estimated that up to four million people could leave Ukraine.

Before the conflict, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east. (AFP)

UK PM under fire for Ukraine, Brexit comparisons

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson found himself under fire on Sunday, including from his own MPs, after saying that Brexit showed that Britons shared the same "instinct" for freedom as Ukrainians.

In a speech to his Conservative Party conference in Blackpool, northern England, on Saturday, Johnson said it was "the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom every time."

He cited the Brexit referendum in June 2016 as a "famous recent example".

"When the British people voted for Brexit in such large, large numbers, I don't believe it was because they were remotely hostile to foreigners. It's because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself," he said.

He also cited Britain's vaccine rollout as an example of people's desire to get their freedoms back. (AFP)

Ukrainian Parliament says 115 children killed since Russian invasion began

The Ukrainian Parliament said that 115 Ukrainian children have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion unleashed by Vladimir Putin. It has said more than 140 young Ukrainians were injured. It has also stated these numbers are not figures but the scale of grief and the broken destinies of hundreds of Ukrainian families.

At least 5 dead in Russian shelling of Kharkiv

Authorities in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv say at least five civilians have been killed in the latest Russian shelling. Regional police in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said the victims of the Russian artillery attack early Sunday included a 9-year-old boy. (AP)
Russia says it has again fired hypersonic missiles in Ukraine

Russia struck Ukraine with cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and launched hypersonic missiles from Crimean airspace, the Russian defence ministry said today.

"Kalibr cruise missiles were launched from the waters of the Black Sea against the Nizhyn plant that repairs Ukrainian armoured vehicles damaged in fighting," Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Igor Konashenkov said Russia fired Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea and hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles from airspace of Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to destroy a fuel storage facility used by the Ukrainian military.

Condemn 'Russian barbarism': Ukraine tells China

“China can be the global security system’s important element if it makes a right decision to support the civilised countries’ coalition & condemn Russian barbarism. It is a chance to sit at the table as equals. ....,” tweeted Mikhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine.

Turkey says Russia and Ukraine getting closer to agreement on 'critical' issues

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Hurriyet daily on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine were getting closer to an agreement on "critical" issues and have nearly agreed on some subjects.

Cavusoglu also said that he was hopeful for a ceasefire if the sides don't take a step back from the progress they have made towards an agreement. (Reuters)

Art school in Mariupol used as shelter by 400 people bombed by Russian forces

Authorities in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol say that the Russian military has bombed an art school where about 400 people had taken refuge. Local authorities said Sunday that the school building was destroyed and people could remain under the rubble. There was no immediate word on casualties. (AP)

Ukraine says seven humanitarian corridors will open today

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said seven humanitarian corridors would open on Sunday to enable civilians to leave frontline areas.

Ukraine has evacuated a total of 190,000 people from such areas since the Russian invasion began on February 24, Vereshchuk said.

Ukranian President Zelensky suspends 11 political parties with Russian links

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered to suspend activities of 11 political parties with links to Russia.

The largest of them is the Opposition Platform for Life, which has 44 out of 450 seats in the country’s parliament. The party is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who has friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter. (AP)

Some Syrian veterans ready for Ukraine fight, commanders say

Some Syrian paramilitary fighters say they are ready to deploy to Ukraine to fight in support of their ally Russia but have not yet received instructions to go, two of their commanders told Reuters.

Ukraine conflict opens diplomatic and energy opportunities for Qatar

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has opened up diplomatic and commercial opportunities for gas exporter Qatar to expand energy sales to the West and bolster its alliance with Washington amid U.S. tensions with other Gulf Arab states. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia wages 'terror'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's siege of the port city of Mariupol was "a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come".

In a late night broadcast, Zelenskiy said the siege of Mariupol would "go down in history of responsibility for war crimes".

"To do this to a peaceful city... is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come." He also said, peace talks with Russia were needed although they were "not easy and pleasant". (Reuters)

Russia ridicules idea that cosmonauts wore yellow in support of Ukraine

Russia's space agency on Saturday dismissed Western media reports suggesting Russian cosmonauts joining the International Space Station (ISS) had chosen to wear yellow suits with a blue trim in support of Ukraine.

"Sometimes yellow is just yellow," Roscosmos's press service said on its Telegram channel.

"The flight suits of the new crew are made in the colours of the emblem of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which all three cosmonauts graduated from ... To see the Ukrainian flag everywhere and in everything is crazy," Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin. (Reuters)

Air raid alerts go off in almost every region of Ukraine

Sirens have been activated in the Sumy, Mykolaiv, Ternopil, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Rivne, Volyn, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Odesa oblasts.(The Kyiv Independent)

Australia bans alumina exports to Russia

Australia has imposed an immediate ban on exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, the government said on Sunday as part of its ongoing sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia relies on Australia for nearly 20 percent of its alumina needs," the Australian government said in a joint statement from several ministries, including the prime minister's office. It added that the move will limit Russia's capacity to produce aluminium, which is a critical export for Russia. (Reuters)

China on the right side of history over Ukraine war: Foreign minister

China stands on the right side of history over the Ukraine crisis as time will tell, and its position is in line with the wishes of most countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

"China will never accept any external coercion or pressure, and opposes any unfounded accusations and suspicious against China," Wang told reporters on Saturday evening, according to a statement published by his ministry. (Reuters)

Zelensky urges Swiss to target oligarchs

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Switzerland to do more to crack down on Russian oligarchs who he said were helping wage war on his country with their money.

"Ukrainian cities are being destroyed on the orders of people who live in European, in beautiful Swiss towns, who enjoy property in your cities. It would really be good to strip them of this privilege," he said in an audio address. (Reuters)

Russian troops halt convoy of buses travelling to evacuate residents of Mariupol

According to the Berdyansk city council, the convoy was heading to Berdyansk from Zaporizhzhia to pick up fleeing Mariupol residents but was stopped by Russian occupying forces near the village Azovske, three kilometers from Berdyansk. The convoy was not allowed to enter the city limits and the drivers were not permitted to spend the night. (The Kyiv Independent)

Ukraine's Mariupol says Russia forcefully deported thousands of its people

The city council of Ukraine's Mariupol said Russian forces forcefully deported several thousand people from the besieged city last week, after Russia had spoken of "refugees" arriving from the strategic port.

"Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents were deported onto the Russian territory," the council said in a statement on its Telegram channel late on Saturday.

"The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing." (Reuters could not independently verify the claims)

Pope visits Ukrainian children war refugees in Rome hospital

Pope Francis on March 19 made a surprise visit to young Ukrainian war refugees being treated in a paediatric hospital in Rome.

Nineteen Ukrainian children are currently being treated at the two branches of the Bambino Gesu hospital for cancer, neurological conditions or serious war injuries caused by explosions, the Vatican said. About 50 children from Ukraine have been treated at the hospital since the war began.
 Russian diplomat: "We have plans against NATO"

Igor Kalabukhov, Russian ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, said in an interview with Bosnia's Face TV that Moscow is “assessing the geo-strategic situation", has plans against NATO, and will respond to threats. (The Kyiv Independent)

71 children evacuated abroad from orphanage in Sumy

Sumy Governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi wrote on Facebook that the infants had been sheltering in basements for 2 weeks before they could be evacuated abroad to a safe location. Many of the infants also have health problems. (The Kyiv Independent)

Thousands flee Mariupol as Russians advance

Evacuations from Ukraine’s besieged cities proceeded Saturday along eight of 10 humanitarian corridors, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, with a total of 6,623 people evacuated, including 4,128 from Mariupol who were taken northwest to Zaporizhzhia. (AP)US suggests Turkey transfer Russia-made missile system to Ukraine

The United States has informally raised with Turkey the unlikely possibility of sending its Russia-made S-400 missile defence systems to Ukraine to help it fight invading Russian forces, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

US officials have floated the suggestion over the past month with their Turkish counterparts but no specific or formal request was made, the sources told Reuters. They said it also came up briefly during Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's visit to Turkey earlier this month. (Reuters)

Mariupol police officer pleads for help from Biden, Macron
A Ukrainian police officer in Mariupol has warned that the besieged port city has been “wiped off the face of the earth” and pleaded with the presidents of the United States and France to provide his country with a modern air defence system.

“Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it has been wiped off the face of the earth,” he said speaking in Russian in the video filmed Friday that was authenticated by The Associated Press. (AP)

Refugees get IDs for new lives in Poland

Hoping to restore some normalcy after fleeing the war in Ukraine, thousands of refugees waited in long lines Saturday in the Polish capital of Warsaw to get identification cards that will allow them to get on with their lives — at least for now.

Refugees started queuing by Warsaw’s National Stadium overnight to get the coveted PESEL identity cards that will allow them to work, live, go to school and get medical care or social benefits for the next 18 months. Still, by mid-morning, many were told to come back another day, the demand was too high even though Polish authorities had simplified the process. (AP)

Ukraine to receive more U.S. Javelin and Stinger missiles within days, Ukraine official says

Ukraine will receive a new shipment of U.S. weapons within days, including Javelin and Stinger missiles, Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said in a televised interview on Saturday.

“The (weapons) will be on the territory of our country in the nearest future. We are talking about days,” Danilov said. (Reuters)

China calls sanctions on Russia increasingly 'outrageous'

A senior Chinese government official said on Saturday that sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia over Ukraine are increasingly "outrageous".  Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng also acknowledged Moscow's point of view on NATO, saying the alliance should not further expand eastwards, forcing a nuclear power like Russia "into a corner".

"The sanctions against Russia are getting more and more outrageous," Le said at security forum in Beijing, adding that Russian citizens were being deprived of overseas assets "for no reason". (Reuters)

847 civilians killed in Ukraine since conflict began, U.N. says

The U.N. human rights office (OHCHR) said on March 19 that at least 847 civilians had been killed and 1,399 wounded in Ukraine as of March 18.

Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, OHCHR said. (Reuters)

Ukrainian refugees find shelter in Polish theatre

Ukrainian mothers and their young children found shelter in an ornate theatre in the Polish border town of Przemysl on Saturday, where they were able to get some rest after their harrowing journey. (Reuters)