Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Ukrainian military strengthens defenses around Kyiv

Ukraine's negotiator at talks with Russia on Friday saidUkraine's position was unchanged and it wanted peace negotiations to lead to a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees.

"The statements of the Russian side are only their requesting positions. All statements are intended, inter alia, to provoke tension in the media. Our positions are unchanged. Ceasefire, withdrawal of troops & strong security guarantees with concrete formulas," Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

. "Russia is once again attempting to use this council to launder its disinformation, spread its propaganda, and justify its unprovoked and brutal attack on Ukraine," the six countries with seats on the council said in a statement read out by US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

. US President Joe Biden's campaign to unite the globe against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is being challenged not only by adversaries such as China but also by the world's most populous democracy, India.

An Indian government official said on Friday that the country will increase its imports of Russian oil, allowing it to boost energy supplies at a discount as its economy struggles to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The official, who was not authorised to talk to reporters and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the latest purchase was 3 million barrels.

Although India isn't alone in buying Russian energy — several European allies such as Germany have continued to do so — the decision conflicts with Biden's efforts to isolate Russia's economy with sanctions. The increased flow of oil could further strain the relationship between Washington and New Delhi, which has already been tested by India's recent procurement of advanced Russian air defence systems. The White House is still considering whether to enact sanctions on India for that purchase.

. A portion of ticket revenue from the Billie Jean King Cup matches between Ukraine and the United States next month will go to a relief fund to help those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The USTennis Association announced Friday it will donate 10% of ticket revenue, and local sponsors also will make contributions.

. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Friday that countries should provide free Covid-19 testing for refugees from Ukraine to avoid outbreaks as more than three million people flee their war-stricken homeland.

Infectious diseases and conflict often go hand-in-hand, and the risk of infections spreading could be further exacerbated as Covid vaccination rates in Ukraine have been low overall at 35% versus the EU average of 71.7%.

. Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a Moscow stadium and praised his country's troops in biblical terms Friday as they pressed their lethal attacks on Ukrainian cities with shelling and missiles.

“Shoulder to shoulder, they help and support each other,” Putin said of Moscow's forces in a rare public appearance since the invasion three weeks ago that madeRussiaan outcast among nations and triggered antiwar protests at home.

“We have not had unity like this for a long time,” he added to cheers from the crowd.

Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki stadium for the celebration marking the eighth anniversary ofRussia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula, seized from Ukraine.

. According to Oleksandr Gruzevich, deputy chief of staff of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, the military is working on the third defense line around Kyiv. “The city is preparing like a fortress,” he added: The Kyiv Independent

. Carlo Vittorio Ferrari, who runs a farm holding 2,000 pigs with his brother near the town of Cremona in northern Italy, fears his fourth generation family business could be lost due to conflict in Ukraine.

The country is a major global supplier of animal feed, stocks of which are falling fast across import-reliant southern Europe.

With Hungary, Serbia and Moldova also banning exports as they safeguard their own supplies, costs for farms like Ferrari's have spiked, threatening their future. Many face culling animals if the situation doesn't improve quickly.

. (Input from the KyivPost)

. Some 18,100 Ukrainians were granted citizenship of European Union countries in 2020, largely by Poland and Germany, as the bloc naturalised 3% more people overall than in the previous year, the EU statistics office said on Friday.

. Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine before a packed soccer stadium on Friday but coverage of his speech on state television was unexpectedly interrupted by what the Kremlin said was a technical problem with a server.

. Chinese President Xi Jinping told his UScounterpart Joe Biden on Friday that conflicts and confrontations such as the events unfolding in Ukraine are in the interests of no-one, according to Chinese state media.

. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday 130 people had been saved after the bombing of a theatre in the port city of Mariupol under Russian siege, but "hundreds" were still trapped in rubble.

"More than 130 people have been saved. But hundreds of Mariupol residents are still beneath the rubble," Zelenskyy said in a video address on Facebook.

He promised to continue rescue operations in Mariupol "despite shelling" in the southern city that has suffered vast destruction.

. Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that Beijing and Washington should "shoulder our due international responsibilities" during a call with his US counterpart Joe Biden, Chinese state TV reported.

Relations between the world's top two economies should "move forward along the right track" as part of efforts for "world peace and tranquillity", state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying, in the first call between the leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine.

. RIA Novosti Host Photo Agency/Vladimir Astapkovich via Reuters

. The UN warned Friday that humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent across war-ravaged eastern Ukraine, with a potentially fatal lack of food, water and medicines in besieged cities.

"The humanitarian situation in cities such as Mariupol and Sumy is extremely dire," Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, told reporters via video link from Poland.

Residents in those two cities, he warned, are "facing critical and potentially fatal shortages of food, water and medicines." - AFP.

. The mortal remains of Naveen Gyanagoudar, the Haveri student who was killed by Russian shelling in the war-hit Ukraine will arrive in Bengaluru on Sunday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

. China has dismissed as fake news rumours about sending troops to Russia, including a “cropped” picture showing a fully-loaded Chinese military truck convoy at the border with Russia, according to a media report on Friday.

A photo circulating on Twitter is a cropped version of a picture first published in 2021, China’s internet watchdog said.

China had earlier denied reports that Russia had asked it for military support in its Ukraine military offensive. - PTI.

.UN RIGHTS OFFICE SAYS AT LEAST 816 CIVILIANS KILLED IN UKRAINE THROUGH TO MARCH 17. After fleeing the war in Ukraine and reaching Warsaw by car and on foot, 22-year-old Khrystyna Trach had no idea how she would make it to Spain where her sister lives.

. RUSSIAN EMBASSY TO BULGARIA SEES EXPULSION OF RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS AS "HOSTILE DEMARCHE", SAYS RUSSIA WILL RESPOND

. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to deliver an online speech to Japan's parliament at around 6 pm Japan time (0900 GMT) on March 23, public broadcaster NHK said on Friday. - Reuters.

. President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping are set to speak on Friday as the White House warns Beijing that providing military or economic assistance for Russia's invasion of Ukraine will trigger severe consequences from Washington and beyond.

Planning for the call has been in the works since Biden and Xi held a virtual summit in November, but differences between Washington and Beijing over Russian President Vladimir Putin's prosecution of his three-week-old war against Ukraine are expected to be at the center of the call. - AP.

. The EU said Friday it was not applying a double standard towards refugees from Ukraine compared to Syria, as it grapples with the biggest migration crisis in Europe since World War II.

The bloc has come under fire for allegedly welcoming refugees from Ukraine more openly, compared to their non-white counterparts fleeing conflict in the Middle East. - AFP.

. Indian government officials on Friday defended the continued buying of Russian oil, saying European countries were still purchasing hydrocarbons from Moscow and that high crude prices left New Delhi with little choice.

Indian oil refiners have in recent days reportedly purchased several million barrels of discounted Russian oil even as the West seeks to isolate Moscow economically over its invasion of Ukraine.

. Italy's data privacy watchdog said Friday it was investigating the "potential risks" that Russian antivirus software Kaspersky could be used to launch cyberattacks.

It followed what it called "alarms sounded by many Italian and European organisations specialised in computer security" over the potential use of Kaspersky software for hacking assaults in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The watchdog has asked the company to provide details on the number and profile of its Italian customers, and whether users' personal data is "transferred outside the European Union" to Russia or elsewhere. - AFP.

. Arkady Dvorkovich, deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2018, became one ofRussia's most senior establishment figures to question the war when he told USmedia this week that his thoughts were with Ukrainian civilians.

. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has indicated that her country should consider imposing an oil embargo on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

In a security policy speech Friday, she said it was important to take a stance and not remain silent due to economic or energy dependency.

“Even if it's difficult, including on questions now with regard to oil or other embargoes,” said Baerbock. - AP.

. Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova on Friday said 130 people had been rescued so far from the rubble of a theatre hit by an air strike on Wednesday in the besieged eastern city of Mariupol.

In a televised address, Denisova said rescue work was ongoing at the site, where many people were sheltering underground before the building was hit, according to the Ukrainian authorities. - Reuters.

. The International Energy Agency on Friday urged governments to implement immediate measures to cut global oil consumption within months following supply fears stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

. UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom on Friday revoked the licence of Russia's state-funded television channel RT, in the latest international repercussion for Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

The move follows a similar ban imposed by the European Union and RT's operations in the United States shutting down earlier this month, as Western nations seek to punish and isolate Russia for its actions.

The pro-Kremlin channel has been off the air in the UK in recent weeks following the EU's action, because satellite companies based in Europe provide the RT feed to UK platforms. - AFP.

. Pope Francis on Friday called the war in Ukraine a "perverse abuse of power" waged for partisan interests which has condemned defenceless people to brutal violence.

Since the war began, the pope has not used the word "Russia" in his condemnations but has used phrases such as "unacceptable armed aggression" to get his point across.

His latest condemnation came in a message to a Catholic Church conference in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. - Reuters.

. The Kremlin on Friday accused Ukraine of trying to drag out peace talks, saying that Russia's delegation was showing readiness to work faster than the Ukrainian side.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also criticised US President Joe Biden's characterisations of President Vladimir Putin as "personal insults." He said Biden's comments were fuelled by irritation, fatigue and forgetfulness. - Reuters.

. "The United States wants the world to look like an American saloon where the Americans call all the shots. We have lost any illusion that we can ever rely on the West. We will adjust our economy to the sanctions," Russia's Lavrov said.

. Britain on Friday revoked the UK broadcasting license of Russian state-funded television channel RT in the latest repercussion for Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

"Ofcom has today revoked RT's licence to broadcast in the UK, with immediate effect," Britain's media regulator said in a statement, adding it did not consider it "fit and proper" for RT to operate in the country.

. Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians on Friday through nine humanitarian corridors from cities and towns on the front line of fighting with Russian forces, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

. India's legitimate energy transactions shouldn't be politicised, say government sources on India's crude oil imports, energy ties with Russia.

. Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that separatists in eastern Ukraine with help from Russia's armed forces were "tightening the noose" around the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported.

. One person was killed and 4 wounded after parts of a Russian missile fell on a residential building in the northern part of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday morning, emergencies services said.

The services said in a statement that 12 people were rescued and 98 were evacuated from the 5-storey building.

. Stock markets took a breather on Friday after several days of sizeable gains, as geo-political tensions arising from the Ukraine conflict kept investors on guard going into the weekend.

After a fourth straight day of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators without tangible progress, earlier hopes for a peace deal have begun to wane and oil prices have begun climbing again.

Adding to the mix, USPresident Joe Biden is expected to deliver a warning that Beijing will pay a price if it supports Russia's war effort when he speaks to China's President Xi Jinping in a call scheduled for 1300 GMT.

. An explosion was heard and smoke was seen in the northern part of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday morning, a Reuters witness said.

There is no official information about the attack.

. Several missiles have hit an aircraft repair plant in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Friday morning, destroying its building, city mayor Andriy Sadovy said.

The plant had been stopped and there were no casualties from the strike, he said.

. Russia has established a no-fly zone over Ukraine's Donbass region, according to a separatist official from the Donetsk People's Republic, the Interfax news agency said on Friday.

. JUST IN | Russian forces have struck Lviv airport area in west Ukraine, themayor of the city has said.

. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his visiting Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu during their talks on Thursday agreed to focus on organising a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

"We understand that all key issues related to ending this war must be resolved with President Putin," Kuleba said after the talks, Xinhua news agency reported.

. India, which ensured the safe return of about 22,500 of its citizens from Ukraine, also assisted in the evacuation of nationals from 18 other countries, India’s top envoy at the UN has said, as he voiced concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.

Speaking at the UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine on Thursday, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said there was an "urgent need” to address the humanitarian needs of the affected population.

He underscored that it is important that humanitarian action is always guided by the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

"These measures should not be politicised,” he asserted.

. Ukraine’s government is “openly neo-Nazi” and “pro-Nazi,” controlled by “little Nazis,” President Vladimir Putin of Russia says.

US officials led by President Joe Biden are responsible for the “nazification” of Ukraine, one of Russia’s top lawmakers says, and should be tried before a court. In fact, another lawmaker says, it is time to create a “modern analogy to the Nuremberg tribunal” as Russia prepares to “denazify” Ukraine.

. At least three blasts were heard in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Friday morning, Ukraine 24 television station reported through the Telegram messenger.

It published a short video in which a mushroom-shaped plume of smoke could be seen rising on the horizon.

. Ukrainian authorities struggled to determine the fate of hundreds of civilians who had been sheltering in a theatre smashed by a Russian airstrike in the besieged city of Mariupol as officials said Russian artillery Thursday destroyed more civilian buildings in another frontline city.

Some hope emerged, as an official said some people had managed to survive the Mariupol theatre strike.

A photo released by Mariupol's city council showed an entire section of the large, 3-story theater had collapsed after the strike Wednesday evening. Several hundred people had taken refuge in the building's basement, seeking safety amid Russia's 3-week, strangulating siege of the strategic Azov Sea port city.

. Ukraine's leader on Thursday accused Moscow of building a new Cold War wall across Europe "between freedom and bondage", as his government said Russian shelling had killed 21 more civilians.

Three weeks into their devastating invasion, Russian forces also stood accused of bombing a theatre sheltering many civilians and marked with the word "children".

Kyiv emerged from a 35-hour curfew to its own fresh scenes of destruction, as Russian troops strive to encircle the Ukrainian capital as part of their slow-moving offensive.

. Russian forces shelled a school and cultural centre, killing at least 21 people and wounding 25 in the town of Merefa outside Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, local prosecutors say.

Authorities in Ukraine's Mariupol say they are clarifying information on possible victims of the Russian shelling of a theatre sheltering civilians a day earlier.

Ukrainian officials said more than 1,000 civilians had been sheltering in a basement bomb shelter beneath the theatre, and that Russian shelling was continuing.

. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he held a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss France's support for Ukraine.

"Discussed the support for Ukrainians in the fight against Russian aggression, especially in the defense sphere," Zelensky tweeted.

. Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak has said that it would take between a few days and a week and a half for Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace agreement, the Ukrainian online media outlet Liga.net reported.

Kiev wants to fix in detail a specific plan for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine in the peace deal, said Podolyak on Thursday, who is also a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the peace talks with Russia.

. Economy and markets

* The OECD estimates the war could knock more than 1 percentage point off global growth this year.

* Some creditors have received payment of Russian bond coupons which fell due this week, market sources said, meaning Russia may for now have averted a debt default.

* Germany-based Scope Ratings has become the first EU rating agency to withdraw its Russian sovereign credit score after a move by the bloc to ban their provision. S&P, meanwhile, lowered Russia's rating.

. Stalled invasion

*Russia's invasion has largely stalled on all fronts in recent days amid heavy losses, British military intelligence and the Ukrainian armed forces said.

Diplomacy

* A "very, very big gap" remains between Ukraine and Russia, Western officials said after another day of peace talks.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin shows little desire to compromise, they said, while Ukraine wants to retain sovereignty over areas occupied since 2014 by Russia and pro-Russian forces.

*Russia accused the United States of stoking "Russophobia" and said it had the power to put its "brash enemies into place".

. Civilian toll

*Over 350,000 people are sheltering in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, officials said.

*Rescuers are combing the rubble of a theatre in Mariupol bombed on Wednesday for survivors. Russia denies striking it. Italy said it will rebuild it.

*The governor of the northern Chernihiv region said 53 civilians had been in killed in the past 24 hours. The dead included a UScitizen as he waited in a bread line, his family said. Russia denies targeting civilians.

*The UNsaid it had recorded 780 confirmed civilian deaths since the invasion began, and 3.2 million have fled.

. "This is part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication between the United States and the (People's Republic of China)," according to the statement. "The two leaders will discuss managing the competition between the two countries as well as Russia's war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern."

. The UNSecurity Council will no longer vote on Friday on a Russian-drafted call for aid access and civilian protection in Ukraine as Russia's UNenvoy accused Western countries of a campaign of "unprecedented pressure" against the measure.

Diplomats said the Russian move would have failed with most of the 15-member council likely to abstain from a vote on the draft resolution because it did not address accountability or acknowledge Russia's invasion of its neighbor nor did it push for an end to the fighting or a withdrawal of Russian troops.

. Ottawa announced Thursday it is establishing a new immigration program that will offer Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion a temporary Canadian residence permit for up to three years.

Canada, which has a large Ukrainian diaspora, especially in the center and west of the country, said in a statement that "Ukrainians and their immediate family members of anynationalitymay stay in Canada as temporary residents for up to three years."

. France's president said on Thursday Russia's invasion of Ukraine had delivered an "electric shock" to the NATO alliance and given it a new strategic clarity that it was lacking.

. The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to suspend Russia's "most favored nation" trade status, tightening the Western chokehold on Moscow's economy over its deadly invasion of Ukraine.

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Ukrainian military strengthens defenses around Kyiv

A Ukrainian service member stands at an infantry fighting vehicle at a position on the front line in the north Kyiv region

UN migration agency estimates nearly 6.5 million people displaced inside Ukraine because of Russia's invasion

Putin accuses Ukraine of 'war crimes' in Macron call

Ukrainian negotiator says Ukraine's position at talks with Russia is unchanged

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