Canada to boost oil exports to displace Russian energy: Minister
Russia Ukraine News Highlights | Speaking on the eve of the NATO summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the alliance to provide “effective and unrestricted” support to Ukraine, including any weapons the country needs to fend off the Russian invasion.
“We ask that the alliance declare that it will fully assist Ukraine to win this war, clear our territory of the invaders and restore peace in Ukraine,” he said late Wednesday during his nightly video address to the nation.
Zelenskyy will speak to the NATO summit by video, the president’s office said.
He appealed to Western countries to stay united in the face what he says are Russia’s efforts to “lobby its interests” with “some partners” to bring them over to its side.
“We will see who is a friend, who is a partner and who has sold out and betrayed us,” he said in an emotional speech. “Together we should not allow Russia to break anyone in NATO, the EU or G-7, to break them and drag them to the side of war.”
Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainian skies are still not closed to Russian aircraft and missiles and that Ukraine hasn't received the fighter jets or modern air-defense systems it requested. He said Ukraine also needs tanks and anti-ship systems.
“It has been a month of defending ourselves from attempts to destroy us, wipe us off the face of the earth,” he said. “We have lasted six times longer than the enemy had planned … but the Russian troops are destroying our cities, killing civilians indiscriminately, raping women, kidnapping children, shooting refugees, capturing aid columns and looting.”
Switching to Russian, Zelenskyy appealed to Russians “to leave Russia so as not to give your tax money to the war.” Tens of thousands of Russians already have fled Russia since the war began, fearing the intensifying crackdown at home.
Canada to boost oil exports to displace Russian energy: Minister
Washington would like to have a more direct communication channel with Russia's defence ministry in order to deal with unforeseen events in the conflict in Ukraine, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow has said.
John Sullivan told the independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta that an emergency hotline between Washington and Moscow, set up in the Cold War to pre-empt an accidental nuclear conflict, was still in existence.
"But we hope that we will have a direct line for more direct interaction on issues related to Ukraine, especially with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense," he added, according to Novaya Gazeta's Russian transcript of his remarks, published on Thursday.
Russia’s invasion has displaced half of Ukraine’s children. On a hospital bed in a town close to the border with Poland, a little girl with a long blonde braid and dressed in pink is one of them.
The United Nations children’s agency says half of the country’s children, or 4.3 million of an estimated 7.5 million, have now fled their homes, including about 1.8 million refugees who have left the country.
The children are everywhere, curled up amid suitcases in train stations, humanitarian aid tents, evacuation convoys. It is one of the largest such displacements since World War II.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Thursday that in many areas Russian troops did not have enough resources to push ahead with their offensive in Ukraine, leading to a slowdown in hostilities. "The front line is practically frozen," he said in a televised address. "The enemy in very many areas does not have the resources to continue the offensive."
Russia contradicted the governing body of swimming on Thursday by asserting that it has not withdrawn from all events on this year's calendar in response to being banned from the world championships because of the war in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russian and Belarusian swimmers were banned from competing at the world championships in Hungary. FINA, as the sports governing body is known, had also said that Russia responded to the ban by withdrawing from all events on this year's calendar.
But the Russian swimming federation said Thursday that FINA published an incorrect press release and that it has only decided to skip the worlds in Budapest.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday there is a "real" threat that Moscow will use chemical weapons in Ukraine, accusing Russia of having already used phosphorus bombs against civilians in the country
The 193-member United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly demanded aid access and civilian protection in Ukraine on Thursday and criticized Russia for creating a "dire" humanitarian situation after Moscow invaded its neighbor one month ago.
The resolution, drafted by Ukraine and allies, received 140 votes in favor and 5 votes against - Russia, Syria, North Korean, Eritrea and Belarus - while 38 countries abstained.
Ukraine said on Thursday it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, at the Russian-occupied port of Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov.
Video footage, which Reuters was able to confirm was filmed from inside Berdiansk, showed a column of smoke rising from a blaze at a dock, and the flash of an explosion.
Two vessels, one of which appeared to have been damaged, were seen in the footage sailing out of the dock as a third ship burned.
NATO is stepping up chemical and nuclear defences for its forces in eastern Europe in the face of fears over Russia's war on Ukraine, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg says
Dozens of people fled a surge in fighting on Thursday in a flashpoint area where Ukraine said it had pushed back Russian forces around Kyiv, AFP journalists reported.
Russia's Union of Journalists on Thursday accused YouTube of "censorship" and called for punitive measures, as fears mount that the US company maybe next in line for a ban in Russia."Biased moderation and open censorship by digital platforms must have consequences in accordance with the norms of the Russian law," the Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russia's Union of Journalists Vladimir Solovyev as saying."We urge Russian authorities to react to the situation and to take appropriate measures against Google and the video hosting service YouTube," he said.
Russia may be trying to create a pretext for the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine by accusing the United States and its allies of preparing such an attack, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. "We are concerned partly because we see the rhetoric and we see that Russia is trying to create some kind of pretext accusing Ukraine, the United States and NATO allies of preparing to use chemical and biological weapons," he told reporters after a NATO summit in Brussels, adding any use of chemical weapons would have widespread consequences. "There is also a risk that it (a chemical weapons attack) will have a direct effect on people living in NATO countries because we can see contamination, we can see the spread of chemical agents or biological weapons into our countries," Stoltenberg said.
Group of Seven leaders have announced they are restricting the Russian Central Bank's use of gold in transactions, while the US announced a new round of sanctions targeting more than 400 elites and members of the Russian State Duma. Russia holds roughly $130 billion in gold reserves, and the Bank of Russia announced Feb 28 that it would resume the purchase of gold on the domestic precious metals market. Previously, sanctions against Russian elites, the country's Central Bank and President Vladimir Putin did not impact Russia's gold stockpile, which Putin has been accumulating for several years.White House officials said Thursday the move will further blunt Russia's ability to use its international reserves to prop up Russia's economy and fund its war against Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced more sanctions targeting 48 state-owned defense companies, 328 members of the Duma, Russia's lower parliament, and dozens of Russian elites. The Duma as an entity was also named in the new sanctions. Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced more sanctions targeting 48 state-owned defense companies, 328 members of the Duma, Russia's lower parliament, and dozens of Russian elites.The G-7 and the European Union also announced a new effort to share information and coordinate responses to prevent Russia from evading the impact of sanctions that western nations have levied since the Feb 24 invasion.
