Russia-Ukraine crisis: EU bans exports of champagne, luxury cars, apparel to Russia in new sanctions

A Russian court fined a woman 30,000 roubles ($280) on Tuesday after finding her guilty of flouting protest legislation when she interrupted a live news bulletin on state TV and denounced the war in Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported.

Marina Ovsyannikova, a Channel One employee, held up a sign behind a studio presenter reading the news on Channel One on Monday night and shouted slogans condemningRussia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

. Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe. "Russia will be forced to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights because of its withdrawal from the Council of Europe", said MP Slutsky.

(NEXTA)

. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday stepped up criticism of NATO followingRussia's invasion of his country, questioning the alliance's commitment to its Article 5 collective defence clause.

Zelenskyy said in a video address that Article 5 had never looked "as weak as it is today."

. Kyiv mayor Klitschko said, "Curfew in Kyiv extended due to risk of potential escalation. Thecurfew in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast will last from 8 pm on March 15 until 7 am on March 17.Overnight, four people in Kyiv were killed due to Russian shelling."

(The Kyiv Independent)

. The United States on Tuesday imposed freshRussiaand Belarus-related sanctions, including on a Russian judge and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, according to the US Treasury Department website.

. NATO is concernedRussiamight use chemical weapons in a "false flag" attack as part of its invasion of Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. "We are concerned Moscow could stage a false flag operation in Ukraine, possibly with chemical weapons," Stoltenberg told a press conference.

. Russiahas drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from Syrian army and allied militias to be put on standby for deployment in Ukraine, a war monitor said Tuesday.

The Kremlin said last week that volunteers, including from Syria, were welcome to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.

. The Ukrainian negotiator said that talks with Russia over ceasefire and withdrawal of troops have resumed, amid continued reports of shelling and deaths.

. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an interaction on Tuesday with embassy officials and community organisations involved in the evacuation of Indians from war-hit Ukraine, sources said, according to a PTI report. Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh, who as "special envoys" of India had been sent to countries neighbouring Ukraine to facilitate the evacuation of Indians smoothly followingRussia's attack, also participated in the meeting.

. As many as 97 children have been killed and over 100 children injured since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported. At least five children die under shelling every day.

(The Kyiv Independent)

. Nine other countries have joined the G7 nations in stripping Moscow of its privileged trade treatment followingRussia's invasion of Ukraine, EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday.

. Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov says that US' accusations that Russia is blocking Iranian nuclear deal are untrue. He said that Russia has received written assurances from the US that sanctions will not hinder cooperation within the framework of the Iran nuclear deal.

. As many as 19 people have died from the strike on the TV tower near Rivne in Ukraine. Dismantlement of the destroyed building continues, authorities said.

(KyivPost)

. The UK government on Tuesday imposed an additional 35 per cent import tariff on a swathe of Russian goods, including vodka, and banned exports of luxury products because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.Iron, steel, wood, copper, aluminium, silver, lead, iron ore and beverages are among the Russian imports that will face the higher tariffs, the government said.

. China on Tuesday said its stance on the Ukraine conflict is “completely objective, impartial and constructive,” and repeated accusations the US is spreading misinformation over reports Beijing has responded positively to a Russian request for military supplies.

Beijing has refused to criticiseRussiaover its invasion of Ukraine, or even to refer to the conflict as a “war”.

. A view of a destroyed shoe factory in the aftermath of a missile attack, amid Russia's invasion, inDnipro, Ukraine. (Reuters Photo)

. Ukrainian authorities said that evacuation corridors will operate from four cities in the Sumy region, where heavy fighting has continued since Russia's war started on February 24. ( IANS )

. New Zealand will offer 4,000 special visas to refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine if they have family in the southern hemisphere nation, its government said Tuesday.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said it was New Zealand's largest special visa category in decades in support of an international aid effort.

Over 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, according to UN estimates. ( AFP )

. A strike on a housing block in Kyiv killed at least two people on Tuesday, the emergency service said as several areas of the capital came under attack.

"The bodies of two people were recovered, 27 people were rescued," Ukraine's emergency service said on Facebook, adding that the 16-storey building was located in the Sviatoshynsky district in western Kyiv. ( AFP )

. Strikes on residential areas in Kyiv killed at least two people early on March 15, emergency services said, as Russian troops intensified their attacks on the Ukrainian capital. ( AFP Photo)

. A series of Russian strikes hit a residential neighbourhood of Ukraine's capital on Tuesday, igniting a huge fire and frantic rescue effort in a 15-story Kyiv apartment building.

At least one person was killed and others remain trapped inside.

The Ukrainian military said in a statement that the strikes were artillery strikes. They hit the Svyatoshynskyi district of western Kyiv, adjacent to the suburb of Irpin that has seen some of the worst battles of the war. ( AP )

. A series of powerful explosions rocked Kyiv early Tuesday even as talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume.

At least three large blasts were heard in the centre of the capital early Tuesday, and an AFP journalist saw a column of smoke rising.

The cause was not immediately clear but Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko tweeted a photograph of smoke coming from a damaged block of flats, with firefighters in attendance.

. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyhas submitted a draft bill in Parliament calling for the extension of a martial law for another 30 days in the country as Russia continues its military onslaught against Kiev.

According to the Verkhovna Rada, or Parliament, the bill presented on Monday suggests the extension of the law from 5:30 amon March 26, Ukrayinska Pravda reported.

Zelenskyy first declared the martial law February after Russia launched its military invasion of Ukraine.

In a televised address to the nation, the President announced that all able-bodied men from 18-60 years old were not allowed to leave Ukraine as the country began a general mobilisation of all reserve forces. ( IANS )

Two days later, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared a daily curfew from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The curfew was however, lifted on February 28.

. Women and girls pay the highest price in all crises and conflicts from Myanmar and Afghanistan to the Sahel and Haiti, and “the horrifying war in Ukraine now joins that list,” the head of the U.N. women's agency said Monday.

Undersecretary-General Sima Bahous told the opening session of the Commission on the Status of Women's annual meeting that with every passing day the war is damaging the lives, hopes and futures of Ukrainian women and girls.

And, she added, the fact that it is between “two wheat and oil producing nations threatens food security and access to essential services the world over” and “this, too, will impact women and girls the hardest. ( AP )

. The war in Ukraine is likely to be over by early May when Russia runs out of resources to attack its neighbour, Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said late on Monday.

Talks between Kyiv and Moscow - in which Arestovich is not personally involved - have so far produced very few results other than several humanitarian corridors out of besieged Ukrainian cities.

Russia-Ukraine crisis: EU bans exports of champagne, luxury cars, apparel to Russia in new sanctions

EU bans exports of champagne, luxury cars, apparel to Russia in new sanctions

Russian court fines woman for anti-war protest on state TV

After Biden, Russia bans Canadian PM Justin Trudeau from entering country

Russia withdraws from Council of Europe

Ukrainian president questions NATO's commitment to mutual defence article

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