Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Kremlin says Russia will 'defend its interests' after suspension from UNHRC

Russia on Thursday voiced regret at its suspension from the UN Human Rights Council over its invasion of Ukraine, but vowed to defend its interests.

"We're sorry about that," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Britain's Sky News. "And we'll continue to defend our interests using every possible legal means." - Reuters.

. Ukraine on Thursday accused its neighbour, Kremlin-ally Hungary, of appeasing Russian aggression and disrupting EU unity following a telephone call between the Hungarian and Russian leaders.

"Apparently, after the elections, Budapest moved on to the next step -- helping (Russian President Vladimir) Putin continue his aggression against Ukraine," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement. - AFP.

. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said Washington will not let anything stand in the way of sending Ukraine the weapons it needs in its fight against Russia.

Speaking to reporters at NATO following a meeting of foreign ministers, Blinken said the United States is looking at what new weapons it can send Ukraine. - Reuters.

. Ukraine has received about 25,000 anti-aircraft weapons systems from the United States and its allies, helping Kyiv prevent Russia from establishing air superiority that would have aided Moscow's ground invasion, the top US general said on Thursday.

Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States and its allies had also supplied Ukraine with 60,000 anti-tank systems.

"The Ukrainians ... are very, very thankful, extraordinarily thankful," Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee. - Reuters.

. Ukraine is effectively using landmines in the conflict with Russia, forcing Russian armored vehicles into engagement areas where they are vulnerable to US-supplied anti-tank weaponry, the top US general told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

"That's one of the reasons why you see column after column of Russian vehicles that are destroyed. So anti-tank or anti-personnel mines are very effective," Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. - Reuters.

. NATO members have agreed to strengthen support to Ukraine and are providing a wide range of weapon systems to the country, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday following a meeting of foreign ministers.

Stoltenberg told reporters that NATO members also agreed to do more to help other partners and shore up their ability to defend themselves, including Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. - Reuters,

. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday he expected NATO members to send Kyiv the weapons it needs but insisted they had to act quickly before Russia launches another major offensive.

"Either you help us now and I'm speaking about days, not weeks, or your help will come too late. And many people will die, many civilians will lose their homes, many villages will be destroyed. Exactly because this help came too late," Kuleba said after meeting NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. - AFP.

. UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Thursday during a visit to the town of Bucha outside the Ukraine capital Kyiv that investigators would probe civilian deaths uncovered after Russian troops withdrew.

"The world is already deeply shocked," Griffiths said in the town that was strewn with bodies after Moscow's forces pulled out, adding that, "the next step is conducting investigations". - AFP.

. India on Thursday asserted that it has established economic relations with Russia and political colouring should not be attributed to the engagement.

The comments by External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi came in response to questions on growing criticism of New Delhi by several Western powers on its trade ties with Moscow notwithstanding the crisis in Ukraine.

At a media briefing, Bagchi said India has been very open about its engagement with Russia and even cited continuing procurement of crude oil from Russia by Europe.

We have established economic relations with Russia and our focus is on stabilising this established economic relations in current circumstances, he said.

Bagchi said discussions are underway to see what kind of payment mechanism can work between India and Russia in the current circumstances. - PTI.

. Switzerland has so far frozen some 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($8.03 billion) in funds and assets under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, government official Erwin Bollinger told a news conference on Thursday.

"Currently around 7.5 billion Swiss francs are blocked on the basis of the sanctions against Russia," Bollinger said. - Reuters.

. Ukrainian officials reported shelling around the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv on Wednesday, despite a promise by Moscow to scale down military operations there.

Kyiv's deputy mayor, Mykola Povoroznyk, told national television the capital itself had not been shelled overnight.

"The night passed relatively calmly, to the sounds of sirens and the sound of gunfire from battles around the city, but there was no shelling in the city itself" he said. The Chernihiv region's governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said he saw no let-up in Russian attacks. - Reuters.

. Facebook's parent company Meta on Thursday said Russian state actors and others are relentlessly trying to use the social network against the Ukraine with deception, hacking and coordinated bullying campaigns.

"Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our teams have been on high alert to detect and disrupt threats and platform abuse, including attempts to come back by networks we removed before," Meta said in its latest threat report.

A spike in activity aimed at Ukraine shortly before it was invaded by Russia in February has become an entrenched battle, according to Meta influence operations threat intelligence team leader Ben Nimmo. - AFP.

. Indonesia called Thursday for an "independent" probe into the alleged massacre of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops in the town of Bucha.

The call follows an international outcry after Ukrainian officials said hundreds of civilians were found executed in areas where Russian soldiers have withdrawn around the capital Kyiv.

The Southeast Asian country, which will chair the G20 summit on the resort island of Bali in November, declared its support for a United Nations initiative to set up an independent team to investigate the killings. - AFP.

. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Kyiv had presented Moscow with a draft peace deal that contained "unacceptable" elements, but that Russia would nonetheless continue talks and press to secure its own requirements.

Lavrov also accused Ukraine of drawing out and undermining peace talks, in comments published by Interfax news agency. - Reuters.

. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he met foreign ministers from G7 countries on Thursday and discussed how they could take military, economic and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine to the next level.

"Ukraine proposes a fair deal: the world provides us with all the support we require; we fight and defeat (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in Ukraine," he said on Twitter. - Reuters.

. The Group of Seven industrialised nations on Thursday called for Russia to be suspended from the UN's human rights body, over "atrocities" in Ukraine amid Russia's invasion.

"We are convinced that now is the time to suspend Russian membership of the Human Rights Council," G7 foreign ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States said in a statement. - Reuters.

. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called reported attacks by Russian armed forces on civilians in Ukraine a "systematic slaughter" of innocent people on Thursday.

"I think people looking at what has been happening in Ukraine can see that this is sort of systematic slaughter of innocent people," Johnson said. - Reuters.

. The World Health Organization's European head said on Thursday that the body was preparing for possible "chemical assaults" in Ukraine.

"Given the uncertainties of the current situation, there are no assurances that the war will not get worse," Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said in a statement sent to journalists from Lviv, Ukraine. "WHO is considering all scenarios and making contingencies for different situations that could afflict the people of Ukraine, from the continued treatment of mass casualties, to chemical assaults," he said, without providing further details. - Reuters.

. G7 foreign ministers condemned what they said were atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine, adding that those responsible would be held to account.

"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers ... and the High Representative of the European Union, condemn in the strongest terms the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in Bucha and a number of other Ukrainian towns," they said a joint statement published by Britain. - Reuters.

. State-owned Russian Railways said on Thursday it would restrict rail shipments towards Poland starting on April 10.

The company did not provide a reason for its decision. - Reuters.

. Ukraine's finance ministry on Thursday said it had signed a loan deal worth €150 million ($163 million) with Germany's state-owned KfW bank.

In a statement, the ministry said the money would be go to the state budget to refinance affordable loans programmes. - Reuters.

. Russia's state communications watchdog said Thursday it would ban US internet giant Google from advertising its services in the country, accusing YouTube of spreading "fake news" about its military campaign in Ukraine.

Russia has moved to block access to non-state media and information resources and fears are mounting that Google could be next in line for a ban.

The watchdog said Google-owned YouTube had committed "numerous violations" of Russian legislation and was "one of the key platforms, distributing fake news about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, discrediting the armed forces of Russia". - AFP.

. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday called on the West to "bring Russia to justice", saying Moscow's actions were directed not only against Ukraine but also Europe.

"Once and for all, we can teach Russia and any other potential aggressors that those who choose war always lose... those who blackmail Europe with economic and energy crisis always lose," Zelenskyy said in an address to Greek lawmakers, speaking through an interpreter. - Reuters.

. Ukraine's deputy prime minister says Russian forces have agreed on 10 humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians in three eastern regions of Ukraine on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said civilians from the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions will be able to evacuate to the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut. - AP.

. Austria said on Thursday it would expel four Russian diplomats following expulsions by other EU members this week amid increasing outrage over the war in Ukraine.

The foreign ministry said it "had to revoke the diplomatic status" of three Russians at the embassy in Vienna and one at the consulate general in the western city of Salzburg.

"The individuals have committed acts inconsistent with their diplomatic status and are therefore declared personae non gratae," the ministry said in a statement.

The four diplomats have until April 12 to leave the country, it added. - AFP.

. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says those who choose war always lose; those who blackmail Europe with energy prices always lose. [Reuters Reported]

. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on April 7, 2022, called on NATO members to provide Kyiv with all the heavy weaponry it needs to fight Russia's invading forces. NATO has refused to send troops to intervene in the fighting in non-memberUkraine, but has been sending crucial weaponry including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

. Pentagon officials reportedly said on April 6 that the soldiers are on a pre-scheduled educational assignment in the U.S. and are being trained on how to use Switchblade drones.

(The Kyiv Independent)

. According to USofficials on April 6, the Federal Bureau of Investigation hijacked thousands of routers and firewalls from Russian military hackers.

(The Kyiv Independent)

. The mayor of the besieged port city of Mariupol put the number of civilians killed there at more than 5,000 Wednesday, as Ukraine collected evidence of Russian atrocities on the ruined outskirts of Kyiv and braced for what could become a climactic battle for control of the country's industrial east.

. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hailed the discussion on the situation in Ukraine in Lok Sabha, saying the rich level of debate illustrates there is bipartisanship on the matters of foreign policy which augurs well for India on the world stage.

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Kremlin says Russia will 'defend its interests' after suspension from UNHRC

Kremlin says Russia will 'defend its interests' after suspension from UNHRC

Kyiv accuses Hungary of 'helping Putin' in Ukraine war

Blinken says US will not let anything stand in way of sending Ukraine arms

Ukraine supplied 25,000 anti-aircraft weapons by US, allies

We believe that no solution can be arrived at the cost of innocent lives, says India at UNGA

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