Russian Ukraine war

2022 - 3 - 19

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (March 18) (MTPR)

As Friday draws to a close in Kyiv, Ukraine, and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day: Russian missiles hit a plant on Lviv's outskirts in ...

Also, listen and subscribe to NPR's State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day. The United Nations says nearly a quarter of Ukraine's population is now displaced by the war. Russian missiles hit a plant on Lviv's outskirts in western Ukraine, an area that has served as a relative safe haven. Ukrainian officials said missiles were launched from the Black Sea. On Lviv's historic square, 109 empty strollers were lined up in a visual installation, representing children killed in the war. On top of the 3.2 million Ukrainians who have fled the country, another 6.5 million people have been displaced within Ukraine, according to the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration. As Friday draws to a close in Kyiv, Ukraine, and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day:

Biden warned Xi of 'consequences' of helping Putin (The Australian Financial Review)

President Joe Biden warned Chinese President Xi Jinping of “implications and consequences” should China support Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Xi assured the US leader that his country didn't want the war. The highly anticipated videoconference call was ...

“This is an attack on the city of Lviv, on a humanitarian hub where there are currently at least 200,000 displaced people,” Kozytskyi said in a video. Those fleeing spoke of weeks spent trapped in their basements with little to eat and no electricity or water. The Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations northwest or northeast of Kyiv on March 18. “It has used them itself in the UK and on its own territory in targeted assassination attempts. Some families drove cars with their windshields smashed out or shattered from the force of explosions near their homes. “That was sort of Plan A, and as near as we can tell, they didn’t really have a Plan B.” Japan has imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian individuals and organisations since the Ukraine invasion that began on February 24 and has been receiving Ukrainian refugees. Even if he fails to take control of the country, Putin can keep up the punishing attacks on its cities and people. On Friday, they called again for the US to provide transparent answers to ease concerns. The US share of the Indian market will rise to 8 per cent this year, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. Yet more than three weeks into the war, with Putin’s initial aim of an easy regime change in Ukraine long gone, Russia’s military still has a strong hand. India has urged an end to the violence in Ukraine but abstained from voting against Russia.

Ukraine-Russia war updates: UN says 847 Ukrainian civilians have ... (ABC News)

Despite Russia saying it is not targeting civilians, the UN human rights office says at least 847 civilians have been killed and 1399 wounded in Ukraine.

It was really the question: 'what do you think when can go home?' We cannot answer this question. "So one out of eight Ukrainians is now a displaced person in the country or outside the country. Time will prove that China's claims are on the right side of history." Instead, thousands of ordinary citizens are filling sandbags to barricade their city against a potential Russian attack." The more Russia uses terror against Ukraine, the worse the consequences will be for it." Ukrainian troops have been resisting Russian forces in Kyiv's suburbs as they attempt to encircle the city. The environment is devastated," tweeted Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko. "One of the biggest metallurgic plants in #Europe destroyed. The convoy then quickly retreated back up the road it came in on. Drone footage recently showed how one such artillery ambush managed to drop shells on dozens of Russian tanks that had clustered together in the town of Skybyn. This means Russian armor has to stay on roads, and can’t risk maneuvering over open ground. We're going to wrap up the blog there.

Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 24 of the invasion (The Guardian)

Zelenskiy calls for meaningful talks with Moscow; Biden warns Xi on 'consequences' of backing Moscow; fighting reaches centre of Mariupol.

“The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see,” Xi was quoted by Chinese mediaas saying to Biden. Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis,also expressed concernabout the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol. The Kyiv city administration said on Saturday that 222 people had been killed in Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children. The Russian defence ministry said its forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, and that “fighting against nationalists” was taking place in the city centre. It said in a statement that a further 889 people had been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital. The European Union is considering creating a solidarity fund forUkraine. The plan was announced on Friday and is meant to be used for people’s basic necessities. “The time has come for a meeting – it is time to talk.” Zelenskiy said Russian forces were deliberately blocking humanitarian supplies to cities under attack. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister,praised Fox News for its coverage of the warin Ukraineduring an in-studio interview with the Russian state-controlled RT network. The defence ministry said it had destroyed a large underground depot for missiles and aircraft ammunition in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. They remain under the rubble and pose a real threat. Denys Monastyrsky said: “A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraineand a large part haven’t exploded. About 350,000 civilians are stranded in the city with little food or water.

Ukraine's leader warns war will cost Russia 'for generations' (Aljazeera.com)

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Russians to imagine '14000 dead and tens of thousands maimed'.

“President Putin thinks the positions on the Donbas and Crimea are not close enough to meet President Zelenskyy. What we need is a strategic-level meeting between the two leaders. Britain’s foreign minister accused Putin of using the talks as a “smokescreen” while his forces regroup. “Those are the Russian costs throughout the invasion.” “We will never give up. The northwest Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel, Irpin and Moshchun were under fire on Saturday, the Kyiv regional administration reported. But he warned Russia would pay the ultimate price.

'The city is destroyed': Fighting reaches Mariupol centre as rocket attack hits barracks (The Age)

Vereshchuk said planned humanitarian aid for the southern city of Kherson, which Russia seized early in the war, could not be delivered because the trucks were stopped along the way by Russian troops. Ukraine and Russia have held several rounds of ...

A satellite image from Maxar Technologies released on Saturday confirmed earlier reports that much of the theatre was destroyed. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss accused Putin of using the talks as a “smokescreen” while his forces regroup. It said Slavutich, 165 kilometres north of the capital, was “completely isolated”. Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. “Can you imagine the fear I had, not for me but for my child?” said Irina, who didn’t provide her last name. Estimates of Russian deaths vary widely, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands. It would really be good to strip them of this privilege,” he said in an audio address. Russian forces have already cut Mariupol off from the Sea of Azov, and its fall would link Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, to eastern territories controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. It isn’t clear how many marines were inside at the time, and rescuers were still searching the rubble for survivors the following day. In the capital, Kyiv, at least 20 babies carried by Ukrainian surrogate mothers are stuck in a makeshift bomb shelter, waiting for parents to travel into the war zone to pick them up. The UN says more than 3.3 million people have fled Ukraine as refugees. There was no immediate word on casualties.