Russia-Ukraine War News Live: Civilians’ evacuation in Mariupol postponed

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday said that Ukraine will prevail in this war. “Survey says that 90% of Ukrainians are confident of their victory.” 

He also informed that he had talks with United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. “We had discussions on our future steps and on imposing future sanctions on Russia. The US will also coordinate their efforts with the European allies.”

“Russians go home,” he said, referring to Russian forces.

Not longer after winding down 20 years of war,  President Joe Biden now finds the United States entrenched in a conflict in Ukraine, even without sending in U.S. troops, that could have a more far-reaching effect on a larger cross section of Americans than Afghanistan or Iraq ever did.

Fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq cost the lives of more than 6,900 U.S. troops and more than 7,500 U.S. contractors, and American spending topped USD2.3 trillion. But those wars had little impact on how the vast majority of Americans lived their daily lives. It was a 20-year period where people experienced both the Great Recession and the longest U.S. economic expansion, touchstones that were little influenced by the two grinding conflicts.

Now, five months after the end of the war in Afghanistan, the longest in U.S. history, Americans are entering complicated terrain with the Russian invasion in Ukraine. While Biden promises there will be no American forces on the ground there, he acknowledged the war waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin could have real impact on Americans’ pocketbooks.

A Russian dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world, Biden told Americans in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

The financial tumult of the most significant military campaign in Europe since World War II is already being felt.

This past week saw U.S. crude oil prices surge about 13per cent to roughly USD113 per barrel and the cost of natural gas reached a record in Europe as the war stoked market fears about a supply shock.

Key stock market indices, volatile for weeks, saw further losses as French President Emmanuel Macron warned the worst is yet to come after a lengthy phone call on Thursday with Putin.

Yet, in Washington — as well as in European capitals — there are signs of growing resolve to confront Putin and of a willingness to take on some economic pain in the process.

It’s a markedly different tone than in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that spurred the Afghanistan War. Then-President George W. Bush implored Americans then to stand against terror by going back to work and suggested Americans get down to Disney World as his administration tried to restore faith in the U.S. airline industry. Over the next 20 years, U.S. servicemembers, including more than 52,000 wounded in action, and their families would largely carry the burden.

In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, got ahead of the White House in recent days in pushing for sanctions directly targeting Russia’s energy sector, the lifeblood of Putin’s economy. The administration has been hesitant to target Russian oil out of concern such a move would also imperil the economies of the U.S. and Western allies.

Ban it, Pelosi said of Russian oil imports.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a bipartisan bill to do just that. The legislation would halt Russian oil imports to the U.S. by declaring a national emergency, something Biden could also do on his own.

If there was a poll being taken and they say, Joe, would you support 10 cents more a gallon for the people of Ukraine?’ … I would gladly, Manchin said.

Whether that view is widely held in the United States could go a long way to determine if Biden’s popularity will rebound after sinking to dismal levels.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said the sanctions on Russia could raise interest rates, slow the economy and drive up inflation and gas prices. He suggested Americans were prepared to sacrifice.

This comes at cost, Romney said. Nowhere near the cost of blood that would be involved if we let (Putin) run amok but it is not without sacrifice.

Public polling suggests Americans increasingly believe that the U.S. may have to do more to help Ukraine. Forty-five percent of Americans said in the days after Russia invaded that the U.S. was doing too little to help Ukraine. Another 37per cent said the U.S. was doing the right amount; just 7per cent said efforts were too much, according to a Quinnipiac poll this past week.

American politicians have shown greater resolve about what lies ahead as Ukrainians have demonstrated, in Biden’s words, pure courage in intense fighting against Russian forces. There’s also been a substantial change in European attitudes as the Russian military has pummeled Ukraine’s biggest cities.

In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was quick to put Nord Stream 2, a recently completed USD11 billion Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline, on indefinite hold once Russia invaded, a reversal of Germany’s previous position.

The German government also reversed its long-held policy of not sending weaponry to a conflict zone and announced it would send anti-tank and stinger weapons to Ukraine. The German government  one of several European nations that have been laggard in meeting NATO countries’ pledge to spend 2per cent of GDP on defense by 2024  said it would about triple its defense budget in 2022.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck even called on his country to take on Putin in another way.

If you want to hurt Putin a bit, then save energy, he said

Even Hungary, whose pro-Russian strongman President Viktor Orban resisted speaking out against Russia in the leadup to the war, has condemned Russian military action, expressed support for sanctions, and agreed to give temporary protection to Ukrainian refugees entering Hungary.

At the White House, officials say the stiffening of European allies’ resolve came after many had showed some wariness about confronting the Russians. U.S. national security officials released a steady drip of intelligence for more than two months before the war that suggested Putin was intent on a full-scale invasion.

But even so, in talks with Biden’s national security team, some European allies seemed convinced  until right before Putin acted  that he would do something less than a full invasion.

Talk of reacting with half measures quickly melted away  even among some of the most reluctant European allies  once it became clear Putin had put his sights went far beyond disputed territories in eastern Ukraine.

Now, as the costs to Western economies mount, Biden and allied leaders’ pain threshold will be tested further. Asked about the administration’s confidence in unity as the costs of the war rise, White House press secretary sought to turn the focus back on Putin.

We are taking steps to stand up for democracy, stand up for democracy versus autocracy stand up to the actions of a brutal dictator, Psaki said. It is because of his actions that we are in this circumstance.

Edward Frantz, a historian at the University of Indianapolis, said Biden appeared to be headed toward a foreign policy sweet spot after the chaotic ending of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. In the final days of that war, 13 U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bomb attack as they assisted evacuation efforts at the Kabul airport.

As tangled and heart-wrenching as the withdrawal was, Biden had completed a campaign promise of ending the war, something his three predecessors failed to do. It also allowed him to more fully turn Washington’s attention to what Biden sees as America’s central foreign policy challenge: confronting the rise of economic and military adversary China.

Now, instead, we’re back to the Cold War, Frantz said. If this is a long project and it certainly seems it will be the president now faces the challenge of selling to Americans why enduring some impact to our economy for Ukraine matters. That is not going to be easy.

(AP) 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy had attempted to use provocations at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in order to convince Western countries to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, Ukrainian Former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has told Sputnik.

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian authorities attempted a provocation overnight by accusing Russia of creating a source of radioactive contamination at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. While patrolling the area adjacent to the station, a group of the Russian National Guard was attacked by a Ukrainian sabotage unit who opened fire on them from the windows of several floors of an educational and training complex located outside the NPP. The firing points of the Ukrainian sabotage group were suppressed by return fire.

“Of course, it was a deliberate provocation because, first of all, no sane Russian or Ukrainian soldier would ever dare to carry out this sort of provocation on the territory of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which has six nuclear power units,” Azarov said.

He noted that “even a minor fire at the training and retraining centre was still an emergency situation at such a supercategory nuclear facility.”

“So, firstly, it is absolutely obvious that this was a well-considered provocation. Secondly, Zelenskyy’s instant reaction which was at night and his instant message to the Americans and to the United Kingdom with absolutely false information itself show that this was a prepared provocation, which he was aware of, because he used this provocation to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine,” Azarov concluded.

(ANI/Sputnik)

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said that getting the mortal remains of a student back from war-affected Ukraine and evacuation of the other students were the priority of the government.

The Chief Minister, who met the bereaved family of the medical student Naveen here, handed over a cheque for Rs 25 lakh as compensation and assured his brother of a job. The brother was pursuing Phd.

“Our first duty is to bring back his (Naveen) body back home, we are putting efforts for it. I’m in constant touch with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, officers and the Ukraine Ambassador,” Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Naveen’s parents, he quoted the External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and said the body has been secured and embalmed, kept at a mortuary and that it cannot be brought back now as there has been constant bombing.

“He (Jaishankar) said, once the bombing in the region reduces, transportation arrangements will be made. As there is a ceasefire in some parts there might be an opportunity. I will speak to him as soon as I reach Bengaluru, and make all the efforts to insist on getting the body back at the earliest. It will also depend on the situation there,” he added.

Naveen, the 21-year-old medical student, was killed in the Russian shelling of Kharkiv city last week.

Hoping for a quick end to the war, the Chief Minister said many students have walked to a safe place about 30 km from Kharkiv and transport arrangements have been made. However, there were a few stranded in bunkers in the besieged city and efforts to evacuate them were on.

According to the nodal officer and commissioner of Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority Manoj Rajan, 366 people have returned home so far from war-torn Ukraine. PTI 

As the uncertain situation in Ukraine has become a major concern for the students doing medical education, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has recommended accommodating these students after the situation improves or in medical colleges in India.

“We have requested Centre to adjust them either in same medical colleges after situation improves or in private medical colleges in India because it is a matter of their career. We believe that the government of India will find out some way,” said Dr Sahajanand Singh, President, IMA

Dr Jayesh M Lele, General Secretary, IMA said, “We understand that there are 18,0000 to 20,000 doctors in different years of medical education. So, we are requesting government as a member of the medical education a lot of parents are doctors, that they should be given a chance to rehabilitate themselves.”

Dr Lele said that the students are already in mental agony and not giving them the opportunity is going to cause a lot of mental problems for them.

“Getting a place into the medical college we know will be difficult whether it’s a private or a government. We don’t want to lose those 20,000 to-be-doctors who have faced so many difficulties on their way back to India and already they are in mental agony and kind of nervousness. Not giving them the opportunity, these students will lose their two years, resulting in their bleak future because they will have to start all over again which is going to cause a lot of mental problems for them. So that is what we have requested the government to take into account,” he further explained.

“We have requested to give us the appointment so that we can discuss our ways there are a lot of ways and means that the regulatory body National Medical Commission, Supreme Court can do about it and help the students to acclimatise themselves regularise into the government system,” Dr Lele said.

The IMA on Friday also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya about the fate and future of all MBBS students admitted to Medical schools or colleges in Ukraine and now returning to India from the war-hit country after the situation turned out to be hapless following Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

(ANI)


 

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday met six students, who recently returned from war-torn Ukraine.

The students belonged to the state’s Naraingarh and Ambala.  

Khattar met Abhishek Verma, Harsh, Abhinav, Nidhi, Aman and Ashish, along with their family members, according to an official release here.  

The students expressed their gratitude towards the Centre and the state government for helping them return safely from Ukraine.  

Khattar said the government will extend all possible support in this matter.

He added that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making all possible efforts to bring back students to the country safely.

To help stranded people, the state government has set up help desks at Delhi and Mumbai airports and a control room has also been set up at the state-level by appointing nodal officers.

The deputy commissioners have also been directed to keep in touch with the families whose children are still in Ukraine.

(PTI)

A residential building caught fire in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv after shelling by Russian forces.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting on the Ukraine issue. The Prime Minister has held regular high-level meetings over the Ukraine crisis since the war broke out.  

In a message to Indian nationals, especially students, in Ukraine, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv said that the last two weeks have been harrowing and challenging. However, Partha Satpathy, Ambassador of India to Ukraine, said he is proud of the maturity and fortitude displayed by Indians in continuing to stay brave during these difficult times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow would consider any third-party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as participation in the armed conflict.

Speaking at a meeting with female pilots on Saturday, Putin said Russia would view any move in this direction as an intervention that “will pose a threat to our service members.

That very second, we will view them as participants of the military conflict, and it would not matter what members they are, the Russian president said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed NATO to impose a no-fly zone over his country, warning that all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you as Russian forces were battering strategic locations in Ukraine.

NATO has said a no-fly zone, which would bar all unauthorised aircraft from flying over Ukraine, could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia.

(AP)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair another high-level meeting on the Ukraine crisis shortly. 

“Violating the agreements reached, Russia continues to launch missile and bomb strikes on Mariupol, Volnovakha, and other 🇺🇦 cities. The ongoing shelling makes it impossible to open humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians, the delivery of medicines, food,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted.

In a press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, ” The neutral status of Ukraine is needed so that the country does not join NATO. The consequences of a conflict between Russia and NATO, if it happened, ‘are clear to everyone’.”

He added, “Russia immediately responded to Kyiv’s request for a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol, but the neo-Nazis are not letting anyone out.”

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, said that the current situation in the Ukrainian city of Sumy is a matter of concern. He informed that almost all Indians have been evacuated from Kharkiv. 

“From Pisochyn and Kharkiv, we should be able to clear out everyone in the next few hours, so far I know no one left in Kharkiv. The main focus is on Sumy now, the challenge remains ongoing violence & lack of transportation; the best option would be a ceasefire,” he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a press conference, on Saturday said that India is trying to contact all nationals still in Ukraine. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi informed that also all Indians have been evacuated from Kharkiv. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds press conference as the war enters day 10.

Eleven flights with more than 2,200 Indian evacuees will operate from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries to India on Sunday, the Civil Aviation Ministry said.

About 3,000 Indians were airlifted on 15 flights to India on Saturday, the ministry’s statement noted.

“These included 12 special civilian and 3 Indian Air Force (IAF) flights,” it added.

The Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive against it. Indian citizens who were stuck in Ukraine are being airlifted via its neighbouring countries such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.

(PTI)

Western countries have increased the dispatch of mercenaries to the combat zones in Ukraine. The UK, Denmark, Latvia, Poland, and Croatia have officially allowed their citizens to participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine: the Russian Embassy in India.

It added, “In total, according to Ukrainian President Zelensky, around 16,000 foreign fighters are expected in Ukraine. About 200 of mercenaries from Croatia have already entered the country through Poland and joined uncontrollable nationalist units in the South East of Ukraine.”

In a massive development, Russian media has reported that one of the Ukrainian negotiators has been shot dead by Ukraine’s SBU (Security Service of Ukraine).

South Korean tech company, Samsung has suspended product shipments to Russia “due to current geopolitical developments,” joining other global giants like Apple and Microsoft who have stopped sales and services in the country after it attacked Ukraine.

“Samsung Electronics said on March 5 that shipments to Russia have been suspended “due to current geopolitical developments”, The Kyiv independent, a Ukraine media outlet reported.