March 1, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has moved here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin likely won’t respond to comments made by US President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address tonight — and Russian media is following suit, said Jill Dougherty, former CNN Moscow bureau chief and expert on Russia affairs.

“I think those personal comments by Joe Biden were probably things that would get under — into the craw of the Russian President. Things like ‘dictator, Putin alone is to blame, more isolated than ever.’ But I don’t think they’re going to engage in that, Dougherty said. “You know, you can’t really defend yourself by saying ‘no, I’m not a dictator.’ But what they can do is try to pick apart the argument.”

State of the Union: Biden started his address by condemning Putin’s invasion, calling him “a Russian dictator invading a foreign country.”

“Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world, thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated,” Biden said. “He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.

Russian media: Russian television did report on Biden’s speech afterward, summing up his main points, including the US closing its airspace to Russian aircraft, the Justice Department’s new investigation into Russian oligarchs, and Biden’s insistence that the US would not deploy troops to Ukraine, she said.

“I think all of this is a good indication that they are not going to engage on a personal basis on President Putin and this war, even though it is obviously his war — that they’re trying to keep it more on a plane of issues for Russia, protecting Russia,” she said.

Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina defeated Russia’s Anastasia Potapova at the Monterrey Open on Tuesday, pledging afterward to donate her prize money to the Ukrainian army.

After her win at the opening-round match in Monterrey, Mexico, Svitolina put her hand on her heart and waved to the crowd.

“I was on a mission for my country,” Svitolina said in an on-court interview of her performance, which drew a roar from the crowd.

She added that this was “a very special match for me and moment here … I’m in a very sad mood, but I’m happy that I’m playing tennis here.”

Svitolina, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, wore blue and yellow – the colors of the Ukrainian flag – on the court.

She had earlier refused to play Russian athletes. On Monday, she wrote in a social media post that she would not play any Russian or Belarusian players, and would forego today’s match unless tennis organizations took action.

On Tuesday, the Association of Tennis Professionals, Women’s Tennis Association and International Tennis Federation released a joint statement announcing players from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to continue competing – but only as neutral athletes, instead of under the flag of either country.

For US resident Alexander Spektor, the birth of his twin boys came with as much fear as it did joy.

The two children were born prematurely to a surrogate in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv last week, with the mother going into labor just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion.

The hospital where they were born was attacked on Tuesday, with hospital staff posting photos of significant damage to the structure.

“Today they were transferred from one hospital where there was no shelter, there was no basement,” Spektor told CNN on Tuesday. Whenever the city’s air raid sirens began sounding, hospital staff and patients had to “run across the street into a church where there was a basement,” he added.

The babies have now been transferred to a safe and properly equipped hospital.

Spektor added he was “incredibly worried … just worried, tired, but also most incredibly hopeful.” He is currently in the US state Georgia, waiting for a chance to see his children.

“We’re hoping every day that this moment will come soon,” he said — but added that each day brings a new critical task. Today it was transferring the babies and surrogate mother to a safer hospital; tomorrow it’s ensuring they receive the supplies they need.

Watch the interview:

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The Russian military appears to have taken central Kherson, screenshots posted to social media and a video obtained by CNN show.

The screenshots from a webcam and the video have been geolocated, and their authenticity verified by CNN.

The video shows Russian military vehicles at a roundabout in northern Kherson on Tuesday. The screenshots from the webcam show Russian military vehicles parked on Svobody Square in central Kherson.

The Kherson Regional Administration building sits on Svobody Square.

Entering the city: On Tuesday, CNN reported that Russian military vehicles had been seen on the eastern side of the city after days of shelling and intense fighting.

The videos provide new evidence that the Russians are moving throughout Kherson, apparently unimpeded. It also shows that the Russian forces from Crimea have advanced and established a crossing across the Dnieper River.

Mayor’s desperate plea: On Tuesday afternoon, Kherson Mayor Igor Kolykhaiev posted a stark message on Facebook, warning the city was under attack. “Residential buildings and urban facilities are burning,” he wrote.

“We are NOT military! But I will hold the city and its functioning as long as I can,” he wrote. “If the Russian soldiers and their leadership hear me. I ask: leave our city, stop shelling the civilians. You have already taken everything you wanted. Including human lives.”

At least 136 people, including 13 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Thursday, February 24, the UN said Tuesday.

Another 400 civilians, including 26 children, have been injured, according to Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“These are only the casualties we were able to cross-check, and the real toll is likely to be much higher,” Throssell said.

She added that most of the casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and airstrikes. 

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported higher figures on Sunday, saying 352 civilians had died and 1,684 had been injured since the Russian invasion.

Japan will temporarily close its embassy operations in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday and move its operations to a temporary liaison office in Lviv, the country’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

The spokesperson added that Japan would ensure the safety of about 120 Japanese residents in Ukraine and support their evacuation from the country at the temporary liaison office in Lviv.

The Japanese Embassy in Poland has also set up a temporary liaison office in the city of Rzeszow, on the other side of the Ukrainian border, to support Japanese nationals evacuating from Ukraine, the spokesman said.

Inside the underground bomb shelters of a Kyiv children’s hospital, the mood is somber and quiet.

“The parents do not smile. Neither do the children. But the parents try to make the best of the situation for their children by playing games, singing songs, playing cartoon videos on mobile phones,” photographer Timothy Fadek said. “When the sirens are heard, the parents gather their children and try to distract them from the outside noise.”

The hospital’s intensive-care unit has been moved to the shelters. Some children are on ventilators. Others require transfusions. A few require surgery. Many are receiving chemotherapy to fight cancer.

There has been recent shelling near the hospital at night, and doctors told Fadek they fear the worst is yet to come.

“Hospital staff is unsure if the hospital will remain off-limits as a target,” Fadek said. “So they try to place as many parents and their children in the bomb shelter as possible, especially when the sirens go off, usually five times a day or more.”

The US Department of Justice is launching a task force to investigate Russian oligarchs, President Biden announced during his first State of the Union address Tuesday evening.

“Tonight I say to the Russian oligarchs and corrupt leaders who have bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime: No more,” the President said, drawing a standing ovation from both Democrats and Republicans. 

Biden said the US would join with European allies to “find and seize their yachts, their luxury apartments, your private jets.” 

Speaking directly to oligarchs, he added, “we’re coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

Closing airspace: He also confirmed that the US will close off American airspace to all Russian flights to further isolate Russia, “adding an additional squeeze on their economy.”

“He has no idea what’s coming,” Biden said, presumably of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“The ruble has lost 30% of its value,” Biden added. “The Russian stock market has lost 40% of its value and trading remains suspended. Russia’s economy is reeling and Putin alone is to blame.”

Follow our live coverage of Biden’s State of the Union address here.

President Joe Biden expressed solidarity with Ukrainian people in his State of the Union address on Tuesday – but reiterated that the US would not deploy troops to Ukraine.

“Let each of us here tonight in this Chamber, if you’re able to stand, stand and send an unmistakable signal to Ukraine and to the world,” he said – receiving a loud standing ovation from the members, many of whom wore blue and yellow in support of Ukraine. Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, stood beside first lady Jill Biden as the chamber applauded, holding her country’s flag.

“We, the United States of America, stand with the Ukrainian people,” Biden said. 

 But he added:

“Let me be clear — our forces are not engaged and will not engage in the conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine,” he told members of Congress gathered for his State of the Union address. American troops were deployed to Europe not to fight in Ukraine, “but to defend our NATO allies in the event that Putin decides to keep moving west,” he said.

“For that purpose, we have mobilized American ground forces, air squadrons, ship deployments to protect NATO countries including Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia,” he added. 

NATO’s Article 5: Previously, Biden has said the US would hold fast to NATO’s Article 5 principle, which says that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all member counties.

In Tuesday’s remarks, he pledged, “As I’ve made crystal clear, the United States and our Allies will defend every inch of territory of NATO countries with the full force of our collective power.” 

He added that the US and its allies were providing “more than $1 billion in direct assistance to Ukraine,” including military, economic, and humanitarian aide.

Follow our live coverage of Biden’s State of the Union address here.

ExxonMobil pledged Tuesday to leave its last remaining oil-and-gas project in Russia, and not to invest in new developments in the oil-rich nation.

By moving to discontinue its Sakhalin-1 project in Russia, Exxon joins a growing list of Western companies including Apple, Ford and General Motors distancing themselves from Moscow. A series of major energy companies, including BP and Shell, have similarly moved to leave Russia.

“ExxonMobil supports the people of Ukraine as they seek to defend their freedom and determine their own future as a nation,” Exxon said in a statement. “We deplore Russia’s military action that violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine and endangers its people.”

The last project: The Sakhalin-1 project is described as one of the largest single international direct investments in Russia, according to the project’s website. Exxon Neftegas Limited, an Exxon subsidiary, has a 30% stake and serves as the operator. Russia’s Rosneft also owns a stake.

An Exxon spokesperson confirmed to CNN that this is the company’s last remaining Russian project. By quitting this project, Exxon would end more than a quarter-century of continuing business presence in Russia.

Exxon, the largest US oil company, was a glaring omission among the big brands cutting ties with Russia. The company operates the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of a consortium that includes Russian, Japanese and Indian companies.

The company did not detail the financial toll of unwinding a project it has sunk considerable resources into over the years. 

Exxon signaled this will not be done overnight, saying it has an obligation to ensure the safety of the people and environment as it quits the project.

“The process to discontinue operations will need to be carefully managed and closely coordinated with the co-venturers in order to ensure it is executed safely,” Exxon said.

Aerospace company Boeing will suspend support for Russian airlines, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNN.

“We have suspended major operations in Moscow and temporarily closed our office in Kyiv. We are also suspending parts, maintenance and technical support services for Russian airlines. As the conflict continues, our teams are focused on ensuring the safety of our teammates in the region,” said the spokesperson in a statement.

Some context: Many countries have closed their airspace to all Russian airlines and aircraft as the invasion of Ukraine continues, and a number of international airlines have suspended flights in and out of the country.

US President Joe Biden announced the US would ban Russian aircraft from US airspace at his State of the Union address tonight.

Almost a week into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s forces have made major advances in border regions in the north, east and south of the country — but faced slower progress than expected toward the capital, Kyiv.

Russian forces attacked key cities from several sides on Tuesday, scaling up their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in the northeast. They also broke through a heavily contested port city in the south, and have likely encircled several others.

Russia has also stepped up its attacks on Kyiv, with rockets hitting a Holocaust memorial site in the city on Tuesday. A missile also hit a private maternity ward near the city, though everybody had evacuated.

Meanwhile, a 40-mile long Russian convoy of tanks, armored vehicles and towed artillery is heading toward the Ukrainian capital, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies.

When Rep. Victoria Spartz was elected to the House in 2020, she became the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress.

Little did she know that after just one year on the job, that distinction would take on even greater significance as Russia brutally invades her home country and the United States debates what to do about it.

As a freshman, the Indiana Republican is using her microphone in Congress to make passionate pleas for a stronger US response to the rapidly escalating crisis in Ukraine, and hoping her personal connection to the conflict will make the message resonate more strongly. All the while, Spartz is dealing with the emotional toll of watching the bloody invasion unfold, knowing she still has friends and family — including her grandmother —who are in Ukraine.

Spartz is calling for stiffer sanctions, immediate aid and more military resources, saying the Ukrainian people want more weapons — not troops — because they want to fight the Russians themselves. She also is advocating for refugees and drawing attention to the horrors of the humanitarian crisis that is quickly unfolding.

“I think we need to understand the situation in Ukraine. It’s not a war. It’s a genocide of the Ukrainian people by a crazy man, who cannot get over that Ukrainian people do not want to be with Soviet Union,” Spartz told CNN, choking back tears as she donned a yellow dress and blue blazer in honor of the Ukrainian flag.
“This is a slaughter,” she said. “It’s a murder of the Ukrainian people. … And the free world is standing and watching. How many he’s going to kill? Well, I’ll tell you: He’s going to kill all of them, and as many as he can if we don’t do something about it.”

Read more:

Rep. Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana and a Ukrainian-born American, speaks out against the Russian invasion during a news conference in Rayburn Building on Tuesday.

Related article 1st Ukrainian-born member of Congress pushes US to do more

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body for many motorsport events including Formula One, said Tuesday it would not bar Russian and Belarusian drivers from competitions amid the invasion of Ukraine.

Drivers from both countries are allowed to continue racing — but under a neutral “FIA flag” and without displaying any Russian or Belarusian national symbols, colors or flags on their uniform, equipment and car, the FIA ruled at a World Motor Sport Council meeting.

This ruling also extends to individual competitors.

“We stand in solidarity with Leonid Kostyuchenko, the President of the Federation Automobile d’Ukraine (FAU) and the wider FIA family in the country,” said FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. “We sincerely hope for a peaceful resolution to their intolerable hardship.”

A Russian military strike in the small Ukrainian town of Borodjanka on Tuesday tore through two apartment blocks, videos on social media show.  

Borodjanka, located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the center of Kyiv, is the latest civilian area facing a hail of Russian munitions as President Vladimir Putin’s forces advance on the capital.

CNN is unable to verify whether there were any injuries or fatalities in the military strike in Borodjanka. CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry for comment but has not yet received a response.

The videos from Borodjanka have been geolocated, and their authenticity verified by CNN. 

“Look what’s happening,” a man yells in a video taken moments after the military strike, with smoke still rising nearby and the bombed-out apartment complexes in view. “They are bombing everything.”

Videos showed a restaurant on the first floor of the complex reduced to rubble. A number of people, bundled in heavy coats, are shown running away. Additional videos show the extent of the destruction, with the ground behind the complex littered with burning cars.

Parts of the apartment buildings have collapsed, with significant portions missing from the facades. A playground nearby is on fire, with the swinging benches and slides strewn with rubble and splintered trees.

“A plane flew by twice dropping three or four bombs here,” another man says in the one of the videos. “Cries can be heard (from inside the rubble). We are trying to find out if anyone’s still alive (in there), based on their sounds. Good Lord!”

Back in front, near the destroyed walls of the restaurant, another video shows the roadway littered with debris and the twisted metal frame of a vehicle.   

President Joe Biden will announce during the State of the Union tonight that the United States will ban Russian aircraft from US airspace, two sources familiar with the decision tell CNN.

The US would join a growing number of countries who are closing their skies to Russia following the invasion into Ukraine. 

When asked if they were considering this move in recent days, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the number of US flights that fly over Russia to go to Asia and other parts of the world played a role in the decision.

Follow our live coverage of Biden’s State of the Union address here.

A Ukrainian diplomat in Brazil has criticized Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s “neutral” stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing the concept of neutrality can’t be applied in a conflict where it’s clear who the aggressor is.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro refused to sanction Moscow and insisted Brazil would “adopt a neutral stance” on the invasion, pointing to his country’s reliance on Russian fertilizer for its agriculture.

Afterward, Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos França clarified that Bolsonaro had meant to use the word “impartiality.”

Speaking during a news conference at Ukraine’s Embassy in Brasilia Tuesday, Ukrainian diplomat Anatoliy Tkach said Kyiv had not received any word of solidarity from Bolsonaro.

Tkach also warned that maintaining ties with Russia at this time could lead to indirect financing of the war against Ukraine.

“We call on everyone to cut all trade ties with Russia. All ties. Doing business with Russia now means funding aggression, war crimes, disinformation, cyber attacks and even Russian leader Vladimir Putin,” he said. 

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain declined to say Tuesday if US President Joe Biden will announce any “concrete military steps” against Russia at tonight’s State of the Union addressing, telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview Biden will highlight, “what he has assembled, which is an unprecedented coalition — NATO plus our EU partners, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan — to do two things: to provide all kinds of aid…and also coming together with unprecedented sanctions against the country as large as Russia.” 

“So, what you’ll hear the President tonight talk about is this coalition he’s helped assemble, he’s led in assembling,” Klain told Wolf, “Along with the next steps further tightening the sanctions on the oligarchs who buck up Putin, who benefit from Putin’s regime, and also the next steps in getting humanitarian and military aid to the Ukrainians.”

Klain also declined to weigh in on Putin’s mental state, only telling CNN Putin “has done something now that he has not done to this extent before, which is launch a completely unprovoked unjustified invasion of a country as large and as significant as Ukraine.” 

Earlier Tuesday, CNN reported the US intelligence community has made evaluating Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state of mind a top priority in recent days as it seeks to establish how that is affecting his handling of the rapidly escalating Ukraine crisis, according to two sources familiar with the effort.

Klain pointed to the sanctions in effect already following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, indicating that the actions have already garnered Biden praise from allies and political opponents alike,

“It’s hard to impose sanctions like that on a country as big as Russia, it’s hard to pull everyone together to do that, and I think that’s why you’re seeing both Democrats and Republicans, including people who have not been big fans of Joe Biden previously, saying that this effort, this global effort to punish Putin and punish his regime is tighter and stronger than they ever expected,” he said.

Follow our live coverage of Biden’s State of the Union address here.

The United States has begun the process of expelling a 13th Russian “intelligence operative” for allegedly abusing “their privileges of residence” in the US, according to a US official.

The individual is a United Nations staff member, the official said. On Monday, Deputy US Ambassador Richard Mills confirmed that they had asked 12 Russian UN diplomats to leave the country due to their alleged engagement in “activities that were not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats.”

UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric also announced the additional expulsion during a news briefing Tuesday.

“I can confirm that the United States Mission informed the Secretariat on 28 February 2022 of its decision to take action under Section 13(b) of the UN-US Headquarters Agreement with respect to a staff member of the Secretariat. We regret that we find ourselves in this situation but are engaging with the host country in line with Section 13(b). In deference to the privacy of the individual concerned and the sensitivity of the matter we will not comment further,” Dujarric said.

More context: Section 13(b) of the UN-US Headquarters Agreement states that if a diplomat or UN staffer abuses their residence privileges outside of their official capacity, they will not be exempt from United States laws and regulations regarding their continued residence.

CNN has also reached out to the US State Department for more information.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood contributed reporting to this post.

A missile hit a private maternity clinic near Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, according to the Adonis maternity clinic chief Vitaliy Gyrin’s Facebook post. 

“A missile hit the maternity clinic. Much damage was done but the building is standing. Everyone has been evacuated,” Gyrin wrote on his Facebook page.

Gyrin also specifically asked people not to come to the clinic, “Most important is do not come now to get anyone from here. Everyone is in a secure place and in safety. This is for sure.”

Gyrin also posted photos on his Facebook page that show the damaged building of the Adonis clinic.

Russian media outlet Russia Today (RT) will no longer be available on Sky in the UK, British Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced Tuesday.

“The French satellite which broadcasts Russia Today (RT) in both the EU and UK will be switched off. This means RT will no longer be available via Sky,” Dorries tweeted.

“Putin’s polluting propaganda machine will now have severely restricted access into British homes via our TV screens,” she added.

You can see Dorries’ tweet here:

Turkey says Russia’s “maximalist” and “unreasonable” demands of Ukraine will not help ceasefire talks at this point.

The comments come from Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin, who spoke with CNN’s Becky Anderson on Tuesday.

Turkey, which has a line of communication open with Russia, said Putin increasing his military assault on Ukraine will not “realistically” help upcoming negotiations, Kalin said.

“The Russian proposals that came up in the ceasefire negotiations are rather maximalist and not reasonable,” said the Turkish spokesperson.

“For today, to reach an agreement for a ceasefire, [Russia’s demands] are rather larger political issues that will no help the ceasefire talks at this point,” Kalin added.

Kalin noted that Turkey remains optimistic for the next round of talks which he said will be over the course of “the next couple of days,” but expressed concern over the continuation of the conflict, which could have ramifications for years to come.

“The first meeting took place yesterday.. and there were some good signs and hopefully, the next meeting will take place within the next couple of days,” Kalin said.

Turkey said the issue will be resolved at some point, but the impact and consequences from the Russian invasion will be “with us in the years to come.”

“We don’t want to exclude anybody and that is why we are keeping lines of communication open with Russia,” he added.

Highlighting the country’s close economic ties with Moscow, Kalin said Turkey has no plans of applying sanctions on Russia.

“We are not planning to apply any sanctions to Russia at this point, because we don’t want our economy to be affected negatively by this,” he said.

US President Biden in his first State of the Union address tonight will blast Russian President Vladimir Putin for a “premeditated and unprovoked” war, according to excerpts released by the White House. 

“He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond,” Biden is expected to say. “And, he thought he could divide us here at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.”

More background: The initial excerpts provided by the White House showed how the speech has evolved in recent days as a result of invasion of Ukraine.

The annual speech also marks an opportunity for him to speak directly to the American people about his vision to build a better country, demonstrating how he’ll lead America out of the Covid-19 pandemic, into an economic recovery and through the ramifications of a war between Ukraine and Russia.

Follow our live coverage of Biden’s State of the Union address here.

CNN’s Maegan Vazquez contributed reporting to this post.

Moshe Reuven Azman, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, has condemned the missile attack close to the Babyn Yar memorial in Kyiv, saying three missiles hit the area. 

“War crimes are taking place here,” he said in a video statement on his Facebook page.

“The Russian army, which fought the fascists in 1941, is bombing the civilians of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa. Just now the Babyn Yar was shelled. Three missiles hit the place.”

“Babyn Yar - this is symbolic. Babyn Yar is a place where 200,000 innocent elderly, women and kids lie,” he added. 

Between 1941 and 1943, the Nazis shot tens of thousands of people at Babyn Yar, including almost the entire Jewish population of Kyiv, according to the memorial’s official website.

“I’m constantly receiving calls from Jews, not just Jews, Ukrainians and Russians from all over Kyiv asking for help,” the Rabbi said. 

“They need humanitarian aid. Every day I’m trying to help. The elderly [are] calling saying they don’t have the necessary medicines, mothers [are] calling saying they don’t have food for kids, they are suffering from the shelling.” 

Azman’s Facebook video continued with the Rabbi pledging to no longer keep quiet amid the violence.

“I’ve kept silent for a long time, I will not anymore. I address you, dear Russians, dear Jews, everybody who’s not indifferent: those, who silently agree with what’s happening or those who stay indifferent - are complicit in this military crime. crime against humanity. I’m only saying what I see. I’m not afraid to die. I could never imagine in my worst nightmare that I could die under Russian shelling.”

Ford is suspending their operations in Russia, effective immediately, the company announced Tuesday. The motor company has a 50% stake in Ford Sollers, a joint venture between the American automaker and Russian company Sollers.

“Given the situation, we have today informed our JV partners that we are suspending our operations in Russia, effective immediately, until further notice,” the company said in their statement.

The announcement comes after Ford said earlier today they were “deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine” but did not go so far as to stop operations in the three Russian cities where the company has plants: St. Petersburg, Elabuga and Naberezhnye Chelny.

“As part of the global community, Ford is deeply concerned about the invasion of Ukraine and the resultant threats to peace and stability. The situation has compelled us to reassess our operations in Russia,” the statement said.

The company notes they have “significantly wound down” their Russian operations in recent years — but the joint venture employs at least 4,000 people. And the three plants together produce the Ford Focus, Ford EcoSport, and Ford Transit, Kuga, Explorer, S-MAX and Galaxy, according to Ford’s website.

Ford says they are making a $100,000 donation to the Global Giving Ukraine Relief Fund, for Ukrainians and their families who have been displaced during the invasion.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague will hold public hearings starting Monday next week over claims of genocide in Ukraine.

In a statement Tuesday, the ICJ said public hearings will be held next Monday and Tuesday regarding “the case concerning Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation).”  

In its application to institute proceedings against Russia, Ukraine said Russia has “falsely claimed that acts of genocide have occurred” in the separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, adding Russia then subsequently declared and implemented a “special military operation” against Ukraine, according to an earlier ICJ news release.

Ukraine denied these claims in its application and accused Russia of “planning acts of genocide” in the country, according to the news release.

The hearings will be held at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court, and will be devoted to Ukraine’s request for the indication of provisional measures, the statement said. 

In a separate statement Tuesday, the ICJ said the President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Joan E. Donoghue, has sent “an urgent communication” to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

The communication said, “I have the honour to refer to the Request for the indication of provisional measures filed in the proceedings instituted by Ukraine against the Russian Federation on 26 February 2022. Acting in conformity with Article 74, paragraph 4, of the Rules of Court, I hereby call the attention of the Russian Federation to the need to act in such a way as will enable any order the Court may make on the request for provisional measures to have its appropriate effects.”

The ICJ said Tuesday that in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the hearings next week will be held in a hybrid format. It said some Members of the Court will attend the oral proceedings in person in the Great Hall of Justice while others will participate remotely by video link. 

The United Kingdom on Tuesday introduced new sanctions against Russia, including a ban on ships with Russian connections from accessing British ports, the government announced in a statement. 

“The ban on Russian ships from UK ports, and new economic sanctions against key Russian financial institutions including its central bank, in close coordination with our allies, will degrade Russia’s economy and help make sure Putin loses,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in the statement. 

Additional economic measures, “including against the Russian Central Bank and the state’s sovereign wealth fund, also mean the majority of Russia’s financial system” is now covered by UK sanctions, the statement read. 

Starting on Tuesday, “I’m instructing all UK ports to turn away any vessel that is flagged, registered, owned, or operated by Russia,” British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in the statement.

“By banning Russian ships from our ports, we are further isolating Russia and crushing its economic capabilities, starving Putin’s war machine,” Shapps added. 

Sizable Ukrainian populations in the US and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are pressuring the Biden administration to act on the growing refugee crisis as a result of Russia’s invasion. 

The recent resettlement of Afghan evacuees has, to a degree, set expectations among Ukrainians in the US, desperate to have their family with them.

While most Ukrainian refugees are headed to other parts of Europe, Biden administration officials are preparing to send money to help with the cause, in the absence of an onslaught of refugees arriving to the US in the immediate future. 

More than half a million people are already spilling into neighboring countries, including Poland, Moldova and Slovakia, in what the United Nations refugee agency said could become “Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century.” Countries in the region have become the first destination for those desperately seeking refuge. 

That stands in contrast to the evacuation out of Afghanistan last summer, when the US took in thousands of Afghans who had worked for or on behalf of the US during the decades-long war. 

The Biden administration made a series of accommodations to relocate more than 76,000 Afghans after the fall of Kabul in August. As of now, it’s unclear whether those authorities, like humanitarian parole and special refugee designations, will be similarly extended to Ukrainians. 

A State Department spokesperson said the administration is working with European allies and partners, as well as international organizations and NGOs, “to support those displaced internally within Ukraine and those who may seek safety in neighboring countries.”

Prior to the conflict in Ukraine, there had already been a steady stream of Ukrainian refugees to the United States in recent years. Dmytro, a Ukrainian national, arrived in the US and resettled in Michigan only weeks ago. The feeling is bittersweet.  

“It’s pretty stressful to understand that the country you left is essentially not the same country and it’s only been three weeks,” he told CNN through an interpreter. CNN agreed to identify him only by his first name over security concerns for family still in Ukraine. 

Read more here.

A new military strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, has hit an apartment complex near a hospital, according to videos that have been geolocated and verified by CNN.

The explosion near the hospital comes hours after a military strike caused significant damage to Kharkiv’s regional administration building.

In one video, a fire rages at a clearly damaged apartment complex, located just across the street from the hospital. 

In another video, which is an edited series of separate videos outside the apartment complex combined, at least two bodies are seen on the ground in the area surrounding the apartment buidling.

“The animals, simply animals,” someone said, appearing to refer to those responsible for the military strikes. 

“A house,” another person said. “Look at what they’ve done.”  

A number of people are seen walking away from the apartment complex in the video.  

“People are carrying out their suitcases,” a voice says in the video.  

Watch here (Warning: This video contains graphic images):

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CNN’s Josh Pennington contributed to this report.

The top general who oversees the US nuclear weapons and nuclear capabilities said Tuesday that he is “satisfied” with the US defensive posture right now, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and President Putin’s recent announcement that he has put his country’s deterrence forces on high alert.

US Strategic Command Admiral Charles Richard made the comments during a House Armed Services committee hearing. 

Richard participated in the hearing virtually from US Strategic Command headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. He told lawmakers he stayed in Nebraska to make sure he can “assess and be satisfied in terms of our defensive posture.” 

Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Sasha Baker said the Defense Department is “comfortable with our strategic defensive posture,” echoing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s previous statements.

There was a series of explosions heard some distance from Kyiv’s city limits at around 10:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday (or about 3:40 p.m. ET), according to CNN teams in the area.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Tuesday calling on the European Union institutions “to work towards granting” Ukraine the status of EU candidate country, it said in a statement.

The resolution, which also demanded the EU to impose “tougher sanctions” on Russia, was voted in favor by 637 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). It condemned “in the strongest possible terms Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and demands that the Kremlin end all military activities in the country.” 

The members also stressed that the EU’s financial sanctions against Russia should go further, stating that “all Russian banks should be blocked from the European financial system and Russia should be banned from the SWIFT system.” 

“While welcoming the swift adoption of EU sanctions, MEPs want to see broader restrictive measures aimed at strategically weakening the Russian economy and industrial base. In particular, imports of the most important Russian export goods, such as oil and gas should be restricted, they say. New EU investment in Russia and new Russian investment in the EU should be banned,” the press release said.  

The lawmakers pushed for the extension of a range of sanctions including the SWIFT ban on Belarus in return for its “direct support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.” 

They also called on EU countries to send Ukraine “defensive weapons more swiftly, in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter, which allows for individual and collective self-defense.” 

Finally, all sanctions aimed at individuals responsible for “high-level corruption” in Russia and Belarus including oligarchs and officials should be adopted “swiftly,” it said.  

EU countries operating residence by investment schemes or golden visas as they are commonly known should “review all beneficiaries of such residence status and revoke those attributed to Russian high-net-worth individuals and their families, in particular those linked to sanctioned individuals and companies.” 

Airstrikes that targeted Kyiv on Tuesday hit the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv, according to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak. The memorial is located near the Kyiv TV Tower, which was also damaged on Tuesday.

CNN’s Matthew Chance was interviewing Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky when Yermak advised Zelensky that the Holocaust memorial was struck. The exchange between Yermak and Zelensky was captured by a CNN camera.  

The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Site has since released a statement confirming the remembrance site was struck by Russian forces.

According to a statement, the memorial’s Advisory Board Chair Natan Sharansky said:

“Putin seeks to distort and manipulate the Holocaust to justify an illegal invasion of a sovereign democratic country is utterly abhorrent. It is symbolic that he starts attacking Kyiv by bombing the site of the Babyn Yar, the biggest of Nazi massacre.”

The statement continues, “We remind the Russian leadership that Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities were last subjected to massive bombing by Nazi Germany during World War II, now they are burning under the blows of Putin’s army, under the false and outrageous narrative of ‘denazifying’ Ukraine and its people.”

The United Kingdom said Tuesday that it had imposed a first package of sanctions against Belarusian people and organizations “in response to the role the country is playing in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including facilitating the invasion from within its borders,” the UK Foreign Office said Tuesday in a statement. 

“Four senior defence officials and two military enterprises have been sanctioned with immediate effect under the UK’s Russia sanctions regime,” it said, adding that those sanctioned include the Belarus Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defense, Major General Viktor Gulevich.  

“We are inflicting economic pain on Putin and those closest to him. We will not rest until Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is restored,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in the statement. 

“The Lukashenko regime actively aids and abets Russia’s illegal invasion and will be made to feel the economic consequences for its support for Putin,” Truss added. 

US oil rocketed past $100 a barrel on Tuesday even after the United States and other nations announced a sizable release of emergency oil stockpiles. 

US crude surged 8% to close at $103.41 a barrel, closing above $100 for the first time since July 2014. It marked the oil market’s biggest one-day gain since November 2020.

At its highs of the day, crude spiked as much as 11.6% to $106.78 a barrel, the highest intraday level since June 2014.

Brent, the world benchmark, gained about 8% to around $105 a barrel.

Energy analysts said the rally reflected the sense that the release of 60 million barrels of oil announced by the White House and International Energy Agency won’t be nearly enough given supply concerns in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

US President Joe Biden told news anchors during a lunch ahead of his State of the Union address on Tuesday that he has one major message he wants to send to the American people: that he will ensure America’s allies are united in the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The off-the-record lunch between news anchors from various networks and the President is traditionally held at the White House each year ahead of the State of the Union address.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, who attended the hour-long lunch, said Biden agreed to relay a message on the record that anchors could share with the American people ahead of the address.

Tapper, paraphrasing the President’s remarks, said Biden relayed that it’s his “determination to see to it that the … European Union, NATO and all our allies are on the same exact page in terms of sanctions against Russia and how we deal with the invasion of Ukraine — and it is an invasion.”

“It’s the one thing that gets us the power, the unity of NATO and the West, and that was what he thought was the most important thing,” Tapper added.

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The US remains in regular contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky through a secure satellite phone that the US gave the Ukrainian government last month before the invasion occurred, according to a US official familiar with the matter.

Previously most secure communications between the Ukrainians and US officials went through the embassy in Kyiv, two US officials said. When the US was preparing to evacuate the embassy, and as fears mounted about the Russian invasion which is now occurring, the US sent the phone that is now being used to their Ukrainian counterparts. 

The secure phone allows Zelensky to remain in contact with the US while he’s mobile, the official added. Zelensky has made clear he intends to remain in the country and he is currently moving around to multiple locations in Kyiv that are protected with a significant security presence, CNN has reported. 

Previously, Zelensky had filmed video messages of himself speaking in front of monuments or other recognizable buildings but his speech to the European Parliament Tuesday was given via video feed from a nondescript room decorated only with a Ukrainian flag. 

The US provided a similar satellite phone to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the official said. The phones requires electricity but can operate off of a generator or energy from a car if needed. 

Initially it took a few days for the Ukrainians to get the satellite phones up and working because the instructions on how to use it were in English, not in Ukrainian.

Zelensky and US President Joe Biden spoke as recently as Tuesday, according to the Ukrainian President and White House.

The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A drive through central Kyiv leaves no room for doubt. This is a city preparing for a major Russian attack.

Rows of concrete panels arranged in maze-like formations. Anti-tank road blocks. Piles of sandbags. Improvised barriers built of random pieces of metal, wood, old tires or anything that was at hand.

And everywhere you look, there are blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.

The city is uncannily quiet. Many people have fled in recent days. Those who have stayed are hunkered down in bomb shelters, basements and subway stations.

The checkpoints dotted along the city’s entry points are manned by ordinary Ukrainians. These are not soldiers. A week ago, many of these men would have been at work, or enjoying time off with their friends and families.

Now, they are ready to defend their country’s capital.

Oleksiy Goncharenko was guarding one of the checkpoints in Kyiv on Tuesday, armed with the rifle he picked up last week after answering the call from Ukrainian authorities to prepare to defend the country.

It was bitterly cold, and Goncharenko was working in shifts, with other volunteers. When not at the checkpoint, he says he is at the base, helping wherever he can: “Humanitarian help, helping people to get [to places], organizing transport, sharing information.”

Goncharenko is not — and has never been — a military man. He is a member of Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament.

“I’m not a professional soldier at all, but I can try and I can do my best and I will do it if Russian forces enter Kyiv,” he told CNN.

Read the full story here.

Former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev has called on Russian diplomats to resign in protest over the war in Ukraine.

“I call on all Russian diplomats to resign in protest,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “Dear Russian diplomats, you are professionals and not cheap propagandists.”

Kozyrev was foreign minister from 1991 to1996 under President Boris Yeltsin.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday that the Chinese are “ready to seek a peaceful solution” in diplomatic talks to end the war Russia has launched on Ukraine. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Kuleba had a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Without calling Russia’s military act in Ukraine an “invasion,” Wang had said that China respects every country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and he urged Ukraine and Russia to solve the crisis through negotiations.

Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour from an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Kuleba said that he “appealed to the Chinese foreign minister to take advantage of their leverage on Putin, of their relations with Russia, and urge Putin to stop this war immediately.” 

When asked by Amanpour as to what sense he has as to whether China would support a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, the Ukrainian top diplomat said that “constructive involvement of China is possible” and pointed to China’s abstention from a UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The United Kingdom said Tuesday that over the past 48 hours, “increased numbers of Russian air and artillery strikes have been conducted against densely populated urban areas across Ukraine.” 

A Russian convoy continues to make slow progress towards Kyiv, the UK Ministry of Defense said Tuesday in its latest intelligence update.  

“Ukrainian forces continue to hold the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariupol however all three cities are now likely encircled by Russian forces,” it concluded. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that the country’s air force is targeting Russian military columns headed toward Ukrainian cities. 

“We are using our air forces to destroy columns headed towards our cities,” he said in a TV interview.  

When asked what further help Ukraine needs from the US and NATO, Kuleba replied “air force and anti-missile defense, and weapons.” 

“The problem is Russia dominates in the sky. Our pilots are fighting fiercely against them, but we also have losses. So the Russians use their fighting jets and bombers to attack our cities and we need to counter this threat. This are the two most urgent requests that we lodged with our partners,” he said. 

“We are fighting in the air, but physically Russia has more planes to deploy to Ukraine than we have. So that’s why we put such an emphasis on air defense and air force, and also missile defense,” he told Amanpour, adding “we need better protection from the sky.” 

Kuleba said he cannot speak specifically about whether Ukraine’s air force is also hitting the 40-mile Russian convoy around Kyiv. 

In their call lasting over 30 minutes, US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed “the United States’ continued backing for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression,” according to a readout from the White House. 

Biden, the White House said, “underscored the United States’ sustained help for Ukraine, including ongoing deliveries of security assistance, economic support, and humanitarian aid.” 

The two leaders discussed US and allied efforts to hold Russia accountable, including sanctions, the readout said. 

They also discussed an escalation in attacks Tuesday, including one near a Holocaust memorial. 

“The leaders discussed Russia’s escalation of attacks on sites used by civilians in Ukraine, including today’s bombing near Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial,” according to the White House. 

The Russian prosecutor general has blocked access to two independent media outlets, Echo of Moscow and TV Rain, because of alleged violations over their reporting on the invasion of Ukraine. 

In a statement, the prosecutor general accused the two outlets of disseminating what it called “information known to be false regarding the actions of Russian servicemen, as part of a special operation to protect the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.” 

It also says Echo of Moscow and TV Rain have been posting information which it says calls “for extremism, violence against citizens of the Russian Federation, mass violations of public order and public security.” Authorities in Russia forbid rallying without a permit and may consider broadcasting or reporting specific information on unauthorized rallies to be considered organizing illegal protests.

On Saturday, Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor warned 10 local news outlets that it would restrict access to their publications unless they stop spreading what it calls false information, including references to the military operation in Ukraine as an “attack, invasion or declaration of war.”

In letters sent letters to these outlets, the regulator said it complained about allegedly “false information” they published on the shelling of Ukrainian cities and the death of civilians caused by the Russian armed forces.

The outlets notified were: Echo of Moscow, InoSMI, Mediazona, New Times, TV Rain, Svobodnaya Pressa, Krym.Realii, Novaya Gazeta, Zhurnalist and Lenizdat. Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace prize in 2021. Some of these outlets have been designated by Russian authorities as foreign agents.

“Unless the above inaccurate information is removed, access to these sources will be restricted,” it said in a statement on Saturday, announcing an investigation into the media outlets.

About 677,000 people have fled Ukraine in “less than a week” during Russia’s ongoing invasion, UN Refugee Agency Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements said Tuesday. 

“677,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in less than a week. 150,000 in the last 24 hrs,” Clements said in a tweet.  

On Tuesday, the United Nations said in a statement that the agency along with its humanitarian partners have launched “emergency appeals” to donors for $1.7 billion to urgently deliver “humanitarian support to people in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries.”

“The UN estimates that 12 million people inside Ukraine will need relief and protection, while more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees may need protection and assistance in neighbouring countries in the coming months,” the agency said in a statement. 

Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian chief, said in the statement that this is the “darkest hour” for the people of Ukraine. 

“Families with small children are hunkered down in basements and subway stations or running for their lives to the terrifying sound of explosions and wailing sirens. Casualty numbers are rising fast. This is the darkest hour for the people of Ukraine,” Griffiths said. 

“We need to ramp up our response now to protect the lives and dignity of ordinary Ukrainians. We must respond with compassion and solidarity,” he added.  

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said it “could become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century” in the statement.  

Mexico will not impose economic sanctions on Russia, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a daily news conference on Tuesday morning.

“We’re not going to take any kind of economic reprisal because we want to have good relations with all the governments in the world, and we want to be able to talk with the parties in conflict,” López Obrador said after he was asked about his stance on the matter. 

“We do not consider that it corresponds to us, and we think that the best thing is to promote dialogue to achieve peace,” he said. 

López Obrador also criticized the “censorship” of Russian state media, after social media companies announced they would take action to limit the reach of Russian-backed news channel RT. 

“I don’t agree that there is censorship in the media; I spoke out against it when President Trump’s account was canceled, as I also do not agree with the fact that the media, from Russia or any other country, are censored,” he said.

Russian state media accounts, as well as content linking to their sites, will now be demoted across Meta’s platforms globally, the company said Tuesday.

“I can confirm we are demoting content from Facebook pages and Instagram accounts from Russian state-controlled media outlets, and we are making them harder to find across our platforms,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s global affairs president, said in a statement.

The move to apply algorithmic restrictions to Russia-backed media outlets follows a similar move by Twitter announced on Monday. And it follows calls by European Union officials for tech platforms to do more to keep those outlets from being recommended to users.

As with Twitter, Meta already labels accounts that it identifies as being operated by state-run media. The additional steps being announced on Tuesday involve the labeling of links and the down-ranking of both the links and the Russian media outlets’ own accounts.

In the coming days, users who attempt to share links to Russian state media websites will also be shown interstitial warnings on Facebook and Instagram, added Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s head of security policy.

Russian forces bombarded a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with rockets on Monday, killing nine civilians, including three children, and wounded 37 others.

Here are some photos from the ground.

The second round of talks between the delegations from Ukraine and Russia about the situation in Ukraine is planned for Wednesday, Russian state media reports. 

Russia’s TASS news agency on Tuesday cited a source on the Russian side saying that Wednesday, March 2, is the date that both sides had originally agreed on.

Russian state news agency RIA added that the second round of talks will happen in Belarus near the Belarus-Poland border, and cited Belarusian politician Yury Voskresensky, who they said is close to the talks. According to Voskresensky, the first members of the delegations are expected to arrive in the Belarus capital of Minsk this evening. 

The first round of talks on Monday lasted for five hours and ended without a breakthrough.

Ukrainian officials have yet to confirm that Wednesday is the date for the second round of talks.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, foreign students attempting to leave the country say they are experiencing racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials.

Rachel Onyegbule, a Nigerian first-year medical student in Lviv, told CNN that she and other foreigners were ordered off the public transit bus at a checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland border. They were told to stand aside as the bus drove off with only Ukrainian nationals on board, she said.

She was left stranded at the border town of Shehyni, some 400 miles from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

“More than 10 buses came and we were watching everyone leave. We thought after they took all the Ukrainians they would take us, but they told us we had to walk, that there were no more buses and told us to walk,” she said. “My body was numb from the cold and we haven’t slept in about four days now. Ukrainians have been prioritized over Africans — men and women — at every point. There’s no need for us to ask why. We know why. I just want to get home.”

Onyegbule said she eventually got her exit document stamped on Monday morning around 4:30 a.m. local time.

Allegations of violence

Saakshi Ijantkar, a fourth-year medical student from India, also shared her ordeal with CNN Monday via a phone call from Lviv, western Ukraine.

“There are three checkposts we need to go through to get to the border. A lot of people are stranded there. They don’t allow Indians to go through,” she said.

CNN has been unable to confirm the identities or affiliations of the people who operated the checkpoints, but Ijantkar said they were all wearing uniforms.

“They allow 30 Indians only after 500 Ukrainians get in. To get to this border you need to walk 4 to 5 kilometers from the first checkpoint to the second one. Ukrainians are given taxis and buses to travel, all other nationalities have to walk. They were very racist to Indians and other nationalities,’” the 22-year-old from Mumbai told CNN.

She added that she witnessed violence from the guards to the students waiting at the Ukrainian side of the Shehyni-Medyka border.

“I saw an Egyptian man standing at the front with his hands on the rails, and because of that one guard pushed him with so much force and the man hit the fence, which is covered in spikes, and he lost consciousness,” she said. “We took him outside to give him CPR. They just didn’t care and they were beating the students, they didn’t give two hoots about us, only the Ukrainians.”

CNN contacted the Ukrainian army in light of the allegations of violence, but did not immediately hear back.

Ukraine attracts many foreign students wanting to study medicine because it has a strong reputation for medical courses and tuition — and other expenses are much lower than in programs in other Western nations.

Read the full report here.

There is widespread support for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union, the European Commission Vice President Margaritas Schinas told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Tuesday. 

The statement comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on European leaders to “prove” their solidarity with Ukraine a day after signing an official request to join the European Union. 

“Nobody forgets that democracy was born in Ukraine after young Ukrainians were shot at for waving EU flags in Maidan (Square). We do not have short memories in Europe. We know that Ukraine is a part of the family and they are absolutely right and legitimate in their request to formally join the European Union,” Schinas said. 

He also said that the EU is set to announce blanket protection status for all those fleeing war in Ukraine that would give them automatic access to the EU’s health, education and housing facilities. That decision, Schinas said, along with the EU using its funds to buy weapons for Ukraine are “unprecedented steps.”

He told CNN he is confident when European leaders next meet, they will decide to set up the process at a pace that will allow for Ukraine to accede to the European Union “soon.”

When pressed by Anderson about how soon, he said “there is no set timetable in pre-accession negotiations.” 

NATO foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Friday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In a statement released Tuesday, NATO said the meeting will take place in person at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The meeting will be chaired by the alliance’s chief, Jens Stoltenberg.  

Norwegian Cruise Line says that it will alter cruise itineraries that include stops in St. Petersburg, Russia, due to the “escalated situation between Russia and Ukraine,” according to a statement from the company. 

A spokesperson for Norwegian said, “the safety and security of our guests, crew and communities we visit is our top priority. We are currently working to confirm replacement ports and will advise all impacted guests and travel advisors as soon as possible.” 

On the cruise line’s earnings call last week, Norwegian CEO Frank Del Rio called the tense situation in Ukraine “regrettable.” 

“Our hopes are that the conflict ends quickly with minimal impact to the safety and welfare of those in the region. We are following the situation carefully as it impacts our voyages in the area. It is disappointing because St. Petersburg is one of the crown jewels of the Scandinavian itineraries, ” Del Rio said. 

He added that Norwegian has no vessels in the region until late May and that it will update guests on its plans and affected itineraries as needed.  

Oil prices surged to fresh seven-year highs on Tuesday as an agreement from countries around the world to release 60 million barrels of emergency oil failed to ease supply fears gripping energy markets.

“The bottom line is this is not enough to cool off the market. It’s a bit of a band-aid solution,” said Michael Tran, managing director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets. 

The International Energy Agency announced Tuesday that member countries have agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to send a “strong message to global oil markets that there will be no shortfall” as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. About half of that total – 30 million barrels – will come from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, sources told CNN.

The oil market was not impressed. US crude spiked about 10% Tuesday morning to an intraday high of $105.14 a barrel. That’s the highest level since 2014. Brent crude, the world benchmark, soared about 8% to $105.40 a barrel.

“You need to super-size the numbers,” said Robert Yawger, vice president of energy futures at Mizuho Securities. 

Still, energy industry executives and analysts conceded the Russia-Ukraine crisis is precisely what the SPR is designed for: to cushion the market against national security-related supply shocks. “It’s better than doing nothing,” Yawger said.

But it’s not a long-term solution. There is a finite amount of oil in emergency reserves. In fact, the SPR holds the least amount of oil since September 2002, according to government statistics. 

Matt Smith, lead Americas oil analyst at Kpler, said emergency releases are arguably bullish from a market sentiment standpoint.

“Every time the US announces a release from the SPR,” Smith said, “it’s one less bullet that it has to be able to use later on.” 

The US has “indications that morale is flagging in some” of the Russian forces’ units, a senior US defense official claimed on Tuesday.

“We have picked up independently on our own, indications that morale is flagging in some of these units. That they again did not expect the resistance that they were going to get, and that their own morale has suffered as a result,” the official said.

A significant number of the Russian military forces being used to invade Ukraine are “conscripts, very young men drafted into service,” the official said. 

“Apparently, again, we’re picking this up as best we can, but not all of them are apparently fully trained and prepared or even aware that they were going to be sent in to a combat operation,” the official added.

Five people were killed and five more injured in strikes near the Kyiv TV Tower, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

The ministry released an operational update reading:

“As of 06:00 p.m. 5 people were killed and 5 were injured in the shelling of the Kyiv TV Tower in the Shevchenkivskyi district. The work continues.”

The update comes as graphic new video from a park close to the Kyiv TV tower showed several bodies and a continuing fire. The video was also released by the ministry.

 CNN’s Nathan Hodge contributed to this report from Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged US counterpart Joe Biden to give a strong and “useful” message about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, in an exclusive interview with CNN and Reuters from the bunker in Kyiv in which he is leading his military’s response.

“It’s very serious … I’m not in a movie,” Zelensky, a former comedy actor, told CNN. “I’m not iconic, I think Ukraine is iconic … Ukraine is the heart of Europe, and now I think Europe sees Ukraine is something special for this world. That’s why [the] world can’t lose this something special.”

Zelensky previously said he is the number-one target for Russian forces, but he has decided to stay in the country’s capital. He discussed the talks undertaken by Ukrainian and Russian officials in Belarus.

“They decided to begin to speak about the situation. And I wanted — I really wanted — and I urged them, you have to, first of all, everybody has to stop fighting and to go to that point from where … it began, five, six — today, six days ago. I think there are principal things you can do it, and that is [a] very important moment. If you’ll do these and if those side is ready, it means that they are ready for the peace. If they don’t ready, it means that you’re just, you know, just … wasting time,” he said.

He was asked by CNN’s Matthew Chance: “Do you think you’re wasting your time or do you think they’re ready?” to which Zelensky responded, “we’ll see.” 

More from Zelensky: The Ukrainian president earlier said the protection of the country’s capital, Kyiv, is the “key priority” for the state. 

“We are fighting just for our land and our freedom,” Zelensky told European Parliament today, causing the EU translator on the English language feed to choke up with emotion. “We desire to see our children alive. I think it’s a fair one.”

“We are fighting for our life … We are fighting for survival. This is the highest of our motivation,” Zelensky said.

“But we are fighting also to be equal members of Europe,” he added. “I believe that today we are showing everybody that’s exactly what we are.”

Zelensky requested for Ukraine to be added to the EU on an expedited process on Monday.

He received a standing ovation across the chamber both before and after his speech.

Jaguar Land Rover is suspending the delivery of vehicles into the Russian market due to the “the current global context.”

In a statement to CNN, the carmaker said “the current global context presents us with trading challenges so we are pausing the delivery of vehicles into the Russian market and continually monitoring the situation on behalf of our global customer base.”

UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tweeted that he welcomed this decision, adding “there is now a rapidly growing number of companies and governments joining the whole international community in isolating Russia, both diplomatically and financially.”

Other car companies’ actions: Jaguar Land Rover follows Volvo, which said it would be stopping shipments to Russia until further notice on Monday, “considering the potential risks associated with trading material with Russia, including the sanctions imposed by the EU and US.”

Renault confirmed to CNN on Tuesday that they had paused production at their plant in Moscow and that they were observing some “logistic impacts” there. The plant produced over 75,000 vehicles in 2020. 

As of now, Ford has not stopped production in Russia or shipments to the country, telling CNN on Tuesday “we’re deeply concerned about the situation in the Ukraine and the safety and well-being of people there and throughout the region but have nothing more to add at this time.”

The White House says the decision by the US and allies to release 60 million barrels from their oil reserves “is another example of partners around the world condemning Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine and working together to address the impact of President Putin’s war of choice.”

“President Biden was clear from the beginning that all tools are on the table to protect American businesses and consumers, including from rising prices at the pump,” the White House said in a statement following the Tuesday decision.

As part of the announcement, the US is committing to releasing 30 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. European and Asian nations are releasing another 30 million barrels.

The US has seen more than 400 missiles fired by Russia in the invasion of Ukraine as of this morning, according to a senior defense official.

The Ukrainians still have air missile defense systems that remain “viable and intact and engaged,” according to the official.

The official also said that while Russia still has not achieved air superiority, “there are areas where they have more control than others.”

The Russian advance on Kyiv remains “basically… where it was yesterday” according to a senior defense official.  

The Russians are not only facing “fuel and sustainment” problems, but are showing signs that they are running out of food, the official claimed.  

The official cited a number of possible reasons for the stall, including Ukrainian resistance.

The official also cited the possibility that the Russians were pausing their advance by choice because they could be “regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating.” CNN reported earlier that the US believes Russia is resorting to heavier firepower and more devastating weapons systems 

“They will regroup, they will adjust, they will change their tactics,” the official said, adding that the Russian defense ministry openly admitted it would target civilian areas in Kyiv. 

But the official also noted that the Russian military appears to be “risk averse” when it comes to its own troops.

“There has been in the last six days evidence of a certain risk averse behavior by the Russian military,” the official said. “You’ve seen it on the ground, where units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight. And they’ve got, a lot of these soldiers are conscripts, never been in combat before, some of whom we believe weren’t even told they were going to be in combat. So we’re just seeing evidence of a bit of risk aversion.”

Here’s a look at Russia’s advance into Ukraine:

The US continues to see “heavy fighting in and around Kharkiv” and the area “remains heavily contested,” a senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday — the sixth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the southern part of the country, the US continues to see Russian forces make “more progress,” and have “more success down there, in terms of moving along their axes,” the official said.

The Russian forces are advancing on two axes in the south. From Crimea, there is one part that goes off to the northwest and one that goes to the northeast, the official said.

The Ukrainian city of Kherson appears “very much to be a contested city at this point,” the official said.

From the northeast, Russian forces are “still outside Mariupol” and “they have not advanced inside the city” yet, the official said.

“They are close enough now that they could attack Mariupol with long-range fires, and again we haven’t seen a whole lot of activity, but we don’t believe that they’re in Mariupol,” the official added.

The US does believe Russian forces are occupying Berdyansk and Melitopol, which is west of Berdyansk and further in from the coast of the Sea of Azov, the official said.

“Again if you draw that line from Mariupol to Kharkiv, we can see a continued desire from the Russians to sort of connect on those two lines, they haven’t made much progress, but we still believe that’s their intent,” the official added.

Here’s a map to help understand where the Russians stand in Ukraine:

The US and its allies have agreed to a release of 60 million barrels from their reserves, according to two sources familiar with the decision. Half of it — 30 million — will come from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the other half will come from allies in Europe and Asia.

This comes as US President Joe Biden seeks to dampen the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on gas prices at home.

Earlier CNN reported: Allies include Germany, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and other major European countries, as well as Japan and South Korea. US officials have spent the last several weeks on calls and in meetings with their counterparts in key energy-supplying countries in an effort to secure commitments to backfill any market disruptions. The effort included an in-person visit to Saudi Arabia from two senior administration officials to discuss the need to address the impact on oil markets. The US informed Saudi Arabia ahead of the oil reserve announcement. 

Biden signaled his intent to release the oil last week.

“We are actively working with countries around the world to evaluate a collective release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves of major energy-consuming countries. And the United States will release additional barrels of oil as conditions warrant,” he said.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency is holding a last-minute meeting Tuesday on oil supply with the goal of “stabilizing markets,” it said earlier this week. The meeting with be chaired by US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

Some background: Tapping the SPR – the stockpile of 600 million barrels of crude oil stored in underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas – generally has only a limited effect on gas prices because of how much oil can be released at a time, but would act as a political sign that Biden is confronting the problem.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told CNN Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will be directly and personally responsible for the difficulties of his own population.”

Speaking to Christiane Amanpour in Paris, Le Maire said that the consequences of economic sanctions that have been implemented on Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were “first of all on Vladimir Putin, first of all on the oligarchs, first of all on the financial and economic Russian system, but also there will be side effects on the Russian population.”

“We don’t want to hurt the Russian population, but by imposing economic and financial sanctions, of course, Vladimir Putin will be directly and personally responsible for the difficulties of his own population,” Le Maire said. 

Earlier Tuesday, Le Maire said that nearly $1 trillion worth of Russian assets have been frozen by western sanctions as the European Union and its allies launch an economic and financial war against Russia. 

The finance minister told Amanpour that the sanctions had been effective in significantly damaging Russia’s economy and sending a message to the Kremlin. 

“When you are looking at the current situation, sanctions prove to be effective,” he told CNN. “There has been a devaluation of the ruble of 30%. Let’s have a look at the Russian market. There has been a decrease on the Russian market by 30%. Let’s have a look at the risk of having bank runs in Russia. We are already inflicting… serious damages to Russian economy, serious damages to the Russian financial system, and we will stick to that line, which is a very strong one for the view of making understandable our determination to say: stop to Vladimir Putin.” 

“I think that we must show our total determination to face the threat by imposing these sanctions and by inflicting this damages on the Russian economy, because that’s the current weapon that we have in our hands,” Le Maire said. 

“I really think that the Russian power has been surprised by the total determination of the European countries,” he added.

The area surrounding a massive TV tower in Kyiv has been hit by military strikes, according to videos and photos posted to social media that have been geolocated and verified by CNN.

On Telegram, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed there was a military strike near the TV tower.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian military warned that it would carry out strikes against Ukraine’s State Security Agency and “the 72nd Main Center for Information and Psychological Operations [PSO] in Kyiv.” 

It’s unclear at this time whether these new strikes were targeting either of those Ukrainian state entities. 

CNN’s Nathan Hodge contributed to this report.

US oil prices jumped 7% on Tuesday and climbed above $102 a barrel for the first time in more than seven years amid growing worries about the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Even as energy officials around the world near a deal to release emergency oil stockpiles, oil prices are rising sharply.

US crude climbed 6% and briefly topped $102 a barrel for the first time since July 2014. 

Brent crude rose about 7% to $104.37 a barrel, closing in on the intraday high set last week of nearly $106 a barrel. Brent, the world benchmark, finished above $100 a barrel on Monday for the first time since 2014.

While a coordinated release of oil reserves could be imminent, the market also received fresh signals that OPEC and its allies are not coming to the rescue. 

Despite pressure to ramp up production, Saudi Arabia’s cabinet reaffirmed its commitment to the OPEC+ agreement – a pact that calls for just a modest increase in output, according to a statement from the Saudi state news agency on Tuesday.

The latest march higher in the oil market will only drive up prices at the gas pump, which move with a lag to oil.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Kremlin leader of Russia’s Chechnya region, made a rare admission about casualties sustained by forces from Chechnya in the invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian government has not released detailed statistics about troops killed and wounded in Ukraine, despite extensive documentation by international media of Russian casualties.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was fully briefed on the situation in Ukraine, but Peskov said he had no specific information on casualties. 

People fleeing the violence in Ukraine have been waiting in line for days to enter Poland, CNN correspondent Arwa Damon reports.

Many students from mainly African and Asian nations have been waiting in Shehyni, Ukraine, a village bordering Poland.

“It’s almost as if it’s the story of two very different flows of people with, to a certain degree, very different stories. Right here, you have this long line of mostly men, many of them students from, really, across the world. You have people from all different countries in Africa, you have people from different countries in Asia, and the thing is … they have been waiting here, most of them, for days,” she reported.

Some have been falling ill in freezing temperatures while waiting in line. One man said he has moved only roughly 100 feet in more than 24 hours.

There is a different line for Ukrainians, mostly women and children, who have had to leave their male family members to potentially fight in the war, Damon reported.

Foreign students have been alleging encountering racism by Ukrainian security forces and border officials at crossings.

Around 660,000 refugees have now fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the past six days, according to the latest data, the United Nations’ refugee agency said in a statement.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday that British troops will not fight Russian forces in Ukraine, adding that recent military reinforcements are “nothing more than defensive measures.”

“As we support the people of Ukraine, we must also shore up our shared resilience to protect our people and our values. These are nothing more than defensive measures, which have been the essence of NATO for more than 70 years,” he added. 

Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas following a visit to Estonia’s Tapa Military Base, Johnson also noted that recent reinforcements were firmly within NATO borders.

“Our reinforcements, like these reinforcements here in Tapa, are firmly within the borders of NATO members, and they are profoundly the right thing to do,” Johnson said. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called out Russia on Tuesday for killing civilians in Ukraine, telling the United Nations Human Rights Council that Russian strikes “are hitting schools, hospitals and residential buildings.”

“They are destroying critical infrastructure, which provides millions of people across Ukraine with drinking water, gas to keep them from freezing to death, and electricity. Civilian buses, cars, and even ambulances have been shelled. Russia is doing this every day – across Ukraine,” Blinken added. 

The remarks by the top US diplomat come after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of war crimes for bombing the city of Kharkiv. 

Over the past two days, Russian attacks have hit civilians, suggesting a shift towards a far-less restrained bombing campaign. Earlier Russian attacks were more focused on military targets.

Zelensky also made an impassioned plea Tuesday for European leaders to “prove” their solidarity with his country.

“We are fighting for our life,” he said in a speech to the European Union Tuesday.

As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Russia’s human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law as it carries out its assault on Ukraine, he floated the idea of kicking Russia off of the UN Human Rights Council during a speech before the council on Tuesday morning.

“One can reasonably ask whether a UN member state that tries to take over another UN member state – while committing horrific human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering – should be allowed to remain on this council,” Blinken said.

There are 47 member states on the council, which are elected by the UN general assembly, with Russia being one of them. 

Blinken also criticized countries such as China who have not clearly stated that Russia is the sole perpetrator of this crisis.  

“Council members should stop using language implying that all sides bear equal responsibility for the unprovoked attack of one side. This isn’t evenhanded – it’s wrong – and fails to place accountability where it belongs. The same goes for members who argue, falsely, that denouncing human rights abuses is ‘politicizing’ the situation. It is failing to speak up about human rights abuses that politicizes the situation,” Blinken said. 

Blinken challenged the UNHRC to come together to try and prevent an even more deadly war. 

“These are the human rights abuses this council was created to stop. If we cannot come together now, when will we come together?” Blinken said. 

Russian troops have crossed into Ukraine and bombardments are taking place in several cities. These attacks have sent people fleeing for safety. 

Concerns grow for civilians and families as a larger humanitarian crisis could unfold. Organizations around the world are on the ground in Ukraine and neighboring countries to help those in need with shelter, food, water and additional aid. 

You can find out how to help here. 

Despite international pressure to increase output, Saudi Arabia’s cabinet, chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, reaffirmed its commitment to the OPEC+ agreement — a pact made by 10 major crude oil producers and Russia to gradually pump more oil in the market to meet demand — a statement by the Saudi state news agency said on Tuesday.   

The cabinet was briefed on a call held between Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, where the kingdom expressed its keenness “on the stability and balance of oil markets,” the state news agency said. 

Oil prices surged above $100 per barrel after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine last week, piling pressure on a global economy already reeling from rampant inflation.

The Russian economy is heavily dependent on revenue from oil and gas, and Moscow wants prices to remain elevated. Saudi Arabia is under intense pressure from developed economies to increase output.  

The Saudi cabinet discussed “the situation in Ukraine and its impact on energy markets, and the Kingdom’s keenness on the stability and balance of oil markets and its commitment to the (OPEC Plus) agreement,” the Saudi Press Agency said. 

The Saudi cabinet also called for “de-escalation” and a “political solution in Ukraine,” according to the state news agency said. This is the first official Saudi reaction to the Russian invasion, which started last week. 

Saudi Arabia — a major US ally — has not presented a pro-Western position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The situation in Ukraine could become “Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century” with more than 600,000 refugees believed to have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries so far, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Tuesday. 

“UNHCR is mobilizing resources to respond as quickly and effectively as possible,” the statement added. 

Earlier on Tuesday, UNHCR issued an appeal for $1.7 billion USD in aid, estimating that 12 million people inside Ukraine could be left in need of relief and protection, with a further four million expected to be in need of assistance in neighboring countries. 

“While we have seen tremendous solidarity and hospitality from neighboring countries in receiving refugees, including from local communities and private citizens, much more support will be needed to assist and protect new arrivals,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Tuesday.

According to UNHCR, its aid program will include “cash assistance for the most vulnerable people, food assistance, water and sanitation, support to health care and education services, and shelter assistance to rebuild damaged homes.”

$1.1 billion of the funding will be used to assist six million people inside Ukraine for an initial three-month period, according to UNHCR.

“Aid groups will need safe and unimpeded access to all conflict-affected areas according to the core humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence,” the statement added.

Italy has moved its embassy from Kyiv to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine in light of the deteriorating “security situation” in the Ukrainian capital.

In an update Tuesday, the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced that it had moved the embassy so it could “continue carrying out its duties.”

On Monday, France had also announced that it would move its embassy from Kyiv to Lviv.

France has allocated a further 100 million euros ($111 million) worth of financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the French foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday. 

“Faced with the humanitarian situation in Ukraine caused by Russia’s invasion of the country and in response to the request of the Ukrainian authorities, France has decided to mobilize a financial package of 100 million euros to provide a response for the population affected by the conflict,” read the statement.

“In addition to financial support to NGOs and multilateral organizations, our assistance takes the form of emergency humanitarian aid.”

A further eight tons worth of aid left France on Tuesday for Ukraine, with the statement adding that “other humanitarian aid operations for Ukraine are under consideration.”

France will also provide aid to Ukrainian refugees in Poland, the statement said.

France has already sent 33 tons of emergency aid, which includes tents, blankets and sleeping bags, to Ukraine via Poland. They were delivered to the Ukrainian authorities on Monday, according to the statement.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth expressed support on Tuesday for governments to release emergency stockpiles of oil to offset supply fears triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I do think a coordinated response by multiple countries could help in the near-term,” Wirth said in response to a question from CNN during a briefing with reporters. “Certainly, we’ve seen markets on edge with concern about supply and supply reliability.”

Brent oil prices closed above $100 a barrel on Monday for the first time since 2014. US crude and Brent jumped another 5% on Tuesday even as the International Energy Agency meets to discuss a response to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

US President Joe Biden indicated last week the United States stands ready to release more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation’s stockpile of oil that was tapped in November in response to high prices.

“The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was intended to be used in times of actual supply disruptions or high risk of supply disruption,” Wirth said. “Unlike some other times when we’ve seen it used perhaps more because of anxiety about prices but no real supply concern, in this instance use of the reserve would be consistent with what it was established for.”

However, the Chevron CEO urged the federal government to take broader steps to encourage the long-term development of oil and natural gas. 

The invasion of Ukraine has driven concerns about a supply disruption from Russia, the world’s No. 2 oil producer. Wirth expressed confidence that won’t happen.

“I’ve seen nothing to indicate that either Russia’s intentions or the intentions of governments involved in sanctions would be to restrict oil supply,” Wirth said. “In fact, quite the opposite. It would appear to me that people have been very careful to signal their intention is to try to maintain energy supply to a world that needs it.”

Chevron said its only real exposure to Russia is through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, a pipeline system that brings crude oil from West Kazakhstan and Russian oil producers. The Russian government and Chevron own stakes in the venture, according to its website.

“We’ve had no indications from any government that operations of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium are likely to be interrupted,” Wirth said, adding that this is an important source of supply, carrying more than one million barrels per day out of landlocked Kazakhstan.

High oil prices have lifted prices at the gas pump to seven-year highs. The national average for regular gasoline rose to $3.62 on Tuesday, up about 9 cents in a week and 24 cents in a month, according to AAA.

At some point, energy prices could get so expensive that it erodes demand from consumers and slows the broader economy. 

“We have a strong economic recovery underway globally. To this point, economies have been able to accommodate high energy prices and still deliver growth,” Wirth said. “I think there probably is a limit to that.”

The Russian military said Tuesday it will carry out strikes against the facilities in Kyiv, warning civilians living near the areas to leave.

The Russians will target the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the 72nd Main Center for Information and Psychological Operations (PSO) in Kyiv, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday via Russian state news agency TASS. 

“In order to suppress information attacks against Russia, the technological facilities of the SBU and the 72nd main PSO center in Kyiv will be hit with high-precision weapons,” the statement said, according to TASS. “We call on Ukrainian citizens attracted by Ukrainian nationalists to carry out provocations against Russia, as well as residents of Kyiv living near relay nodes leave their homes.”

Speaking about the “relay nodes,” CNN’s Clarissa Ward said, “we understand that to mean communications towers. So large antennas, things of that nature.” 

“This is not a surprise in a sense that people here have been bracing themselves for an uptick in the Russian onslaught. Up until now, most attacks have really been targeting the outskirts of the city. But now it appears that things will move to the center of the capital as so many had feared,” Ward said.

More background: A massive 40-mile-long Russian military convoy — made up of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles — has reached the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies. 

Russia has repeatedly claimed it is not hitting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. But social media videos, photos and satellite images analyzed and geolocated by CNN confirm that on several occasions densely populated areas have been hit by Russian forces.

In the past two days, accelerated strikes on the second-largest city of Kharkiv that have struck civilians suggest Russia is shifting toward a far less-restrained bombing campaign, in contrast with its earlier attacks that were more focused on military targets.

The UN says that at least 102 civilians have been killed across the country and 304 injured, though those figures are likely to underestimate the true toll.

There are now more than half a million refugees from Ukraine in neighboring countries, the UN said Monday, with people desperately heading west towards central Europe after Russia’s invasion last week.

Here’s a snapshot of the situation at Ukraine’s borders:

Poland: More than 100,000 people crossed from Ukraine into Poland on Monday, according to Poland’s border guard, the highest figure received by Ukraine’s EU neighbors since the invasion began.

Since February 24, border authorities have cleared the entry of at least 377,400 people at its border crossings with Ukraine, according to a tweet Tuesday.

The longest line is at the Medyka crossing, border guard spokesperson Anna Michalska said.

On the Ukrainian side of that frontier, a 20-kilometer (12-mile) line of vehicles stretches through nearby villages. Residents told CNN the amount of people moving to the border has dropped in the past day.

The first few days of evacuations were chaotic, with many people walking vast distances to the border in cold conditions, they said. But now many volunteers from local villages have set up temporary shelter and are offering food.

A CNN team at the border has spoken to many non-Ukrainian citizens who say officials are still giving preferential treatment to Ukrainians crossing the border.

Refugees from many diffrent countries - from Africa, Middle East and India - mostly students of Ukrainian universities are seen at the Medyka pedestrian border crossing fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, in eastern Poland on February 27, 2022.

Related article Foreign students fleeing Ukraine say they face racism at border

CNN has also met Ukrainian nationals who were waiting in line in their cars, but decided to abandon their vehicles and walk to the border instead, because they thought it would be faster.

Many men are escorting their families to the border, knowing they will likely be turned away and not be able to leave. Ukraine has banned military-aged men from leaving the country as it seeks to boost its armed forces.

Slovakia: Waiting times at Ukraine’s borders with Slovakia stretch up to 35 hours in Ubla, towards the northeast of Slovakia, and 12 hours in Vysne Nemecke, towards the southeast. Another crossing in Velke Slemence is seeing less congestion.

A total of 54,304 people had entered the country by Tuesday morning, according to the Slovak border police.

According to the agency’s spokesperson, guards have not turned around a single person since the beginning of the conflict, meaning any such incidents happened on the Ukrainian side. Roughly 15,000 people crossed through three crossings from Sunday morning to Monday morning, around a third of whom were non-Ukrainians, they said.

Romania: A total of 89,000 Ukrainian citizens have come through the Romanian border since the Russian invasion, with 50,000 then exiting to other countries, according to official border records.

Congestion has been seen at the border with Hungary, but police confirmed to CNN that the crossings are less busy today and people clearing the crossings faster.

Two of the world’s biggest container shipping companies are halting cargo bookings to and from Russia.

“As the stability and safety of our operations is already being directly and indirectly impacted by sanctions, new Maersk bookings to and from Russia will be temporarily suspended, with exception of foodstuffs, medical and humanitarian supplies,” shipping giant Maersk said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We are deeply concerned by how the crisis keeps escalating in Ukraine,” the company added noting that it starts “seeing the effect on global supply chain flows such as delays, detention of cargo by customs authorities across various transshipment hubs, unpredictable operational impacts.”

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) will also stop all cargo bookings to and from Russia starting today, “covering all access areas including Baltics, Black Sea and Far East Russia,” the company said in a statement.

MSC will continue to accept and screen bookings for delivery of essential goods such as food, medical equipment and humanitarian goods.

Russia is preparing to launch a “large-scale information and psychological operation” against Ukraine, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Tuesday.

“Its goal is to break the resistance of Ukrainians and the Ukrainian army with lies,” Reznikov said in a statement.

According to the defense minister, Russia has planned to create “communication problems” and to fabricate reports that Ukraine’s military and political leadership have “agreed to surrender” to the Russian Forces.

“As a ‘confirmation’ of this, fake — supposedly signed — documents as well as edited fake videos will be spread,” Reznikov said.

“This is a lie. This won’t happen. There will be no surrender! Only victory,” he added. 

The leaders of Germany and Luxembourg expressed their support for the people of Ukraine during a joint news conference in Berlin Tuesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “immediately stop all combat operations, withdraw all Russian troops and return to dialogue.”

“The bloodshed has to come to an end. Vladimir Putin is offending the Ukrainian people,” Scholz added. “These will be very dramatic times. The pictures with the many dead and injured, the destroyed buildings and infrastructure that we have had to bemoan are only a beginning of what is likely to come.”

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel echoed similar sentiments, “It is our damned duty to stand for the Ukrainian people.” 

“You are not forgotten. You are not alone,” Bettel added. “We must continue our diplomatic efforts. We must achieve a ceasefire, and without talks this will not be possible.”

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, warned Tuesday in a video message that “the enemy is on the outskirts of the capital,” adding that the Ukrainian military is “preparing to defend Kyiv.”

“Our armed forces, Territorial Defense Forces, are fighting heroically for our land,” Klitschko said. 

“Fortifications and checkpoints have been built at the entrances to the city. I ask everyone to keep calm. Do not go outside unnecessarily and stay in shelters in case of alarm,” he added. 

A massive 40-mile-long Russian military convoy — made up of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles — has reached the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies. 

In an earlier video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said defending Kyiv is the government’s “key priority.” 

“Kyiv is special. If we protect Kyiv, we will protect the state. This is the heart of our country, and it must keep beating,” Zelensky said. 

Echoing the president’s remarks, Klitschko said that Russian Forces want to “take the heart of our country.” 

“We will fight and we will not give Kyiv up,” he asserted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on European leaders to “prove” their solidarity with his country, just a day after signing an official request to join the European Union. 

“We have proven our strength. We have proven that, at a minimum, we are exactly the same as you. So prove that you are with us. Prove that you will not let us go. Prove that you are, indeed, Europeans,” Zelensky said in a video address to the European Parliament on Tuesday. 

Zelensky said his country is “fighting for survival” amid the Russian invasion.

“Then, life will win over death and light will win over darkness,” he continued. “We are fighting for survival — this is the highest of our motivations — but we are also fighting to be equal members of Europe.” 

Tweeting on Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the “best decision the EU can make now is to accept Ukraine as a new full-fledged member” of the organization.

“Historic times require big and historic decisions which can change the flow of events,” he added, urging EU leaders to admit Ukraine to the bloc “without delay.” 

Addressing the European Parliament via video link, Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian people are fighting for their lives, urging EU leaders to stand by Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. 

“Nobody is going to break us. We are strong. We are Ukrainians,” he added.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has lashed out against remarks by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who earlier said that France was waging an economic war against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. 

“Watch your tongue, gentlemen,” Medvedev, who is the current deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council tweeted on Tuesday. “Don’t forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones.”

Earlier on Monday, Le Maire said in an interview with French broadcaster FranceInfo that his country and the EU would “launch total economic and financial war against Russia.”

A Russian-language Change.org petition against the war in Ukraine has gathered more than a million signatures, and members of Russian professional organizations have signed similar petitions, according to a CNN review.

Veteran human-rights activist Lev Ponomarev launched a “No to war” petition that has over 1 million signatures as of early afternoon Moscow time Tuesday.

A Russian website — https://we-are-not-alone.ru/ — has aggregated petitions of over three dozen Russian professional organizations representing academics, artists, journalists, musicians, economists and other professions. By their count, nearly 100,000 individuals have signed these petitions.

Prominent Russian media figures, including author and journalist Mikhail Zygar and documentary filmmaker Yury Dud — who has over 5 million Instagram followers — have posted on social media against the war. 

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced capital control measures to stop an exodus of foreign businesses from the country, Russian state news agencies TASS and RIA reported on Tuesday.

Mishustin said the sanctions imposed on Russia were making foreign investors decide not for economic reasons but because of “political pressure.”

“To enable businesses to make informed decisions, a draft presidential decree has been prepared to introduce temporary restrictions on exiting Russian assets,” he said. “We expect that those who have invested in our country will be able to continue working here.” 

“I am sure that the sanctions pressure will eventually subside, and those who will not curtail their projects in our country, succumbing to the slogans of foreign politicians, will win,” the Russian prime minister said.

Mishustin said there would be daily meetings to try and tackle the economic impact of the sanctions.

“It is important to monitor the current situation in real time and promptly work out all the necessary measures,” he said. 

Some background: On Monday, the ruble crashed to a record low against the US dollar, the Russian central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20% and the Moscow stock exchange was shuttered for the day. It will stay closed Tuesday, the central bank announced.

The European subsidiary of Russia’s biggest bank was on the brink of collapse as savers rushed to withdraw their deposits. Economists warned that the Russian economy could shrink by 5%

At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured in rocket strikes by Russian forces on the center of Kharkiv Tuesday, according to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko. 

“Freedom Square was hit by a cruise missile. There was a second hit by a similar rocket that hit the building after the rescuers arrived (in 5-7 minutes). One third of the administration building fell,” Herashchenko said in a post on Telegram. 

Ukrainian State Emergency Services also confirmed the death toll in a social media post Tuesday. 

“Rescuers are working on the scene. The stairs and partial corridors on all floors are completely destroyed,” the post read. 

Indian student killed: An Indian student was among the dead after Russia’s shelling of the city, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Tuesday. 

“With profound sorrow we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted Tuesday.

Bagchi also said India’s Foreign Secretary would be calling Russia and Ukraine’s ambassadors to “reiterate our demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals.”

A senior official in India’s Ministry of External Affairs told CNN the “deteriorating situation in Kharkiv is a matter of grave concern” and that the safety and security of Indian nationals there “is of utmost priority.”  

So far more than 9,000 Indian nationals have been evacuated while a “considerable number” are now in safer areas, the official said.

China said it “regrets” the casualties in Ukraine and called the current situation “undesirable” while continuing to refuse to acknowledge Russia’s military action as “an invasion.”

“The safety of civilians’ lives and property should be effectively guaranteed, and in particular, large-scale humanitarian crises should be prevented,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a briefing Tuesday. 

“The present situation is undesirable to us,” Wang said, adding that it is “imperative” for all parties to exercise the “necessary restraint” to prevent an exacerbation of the situation in Ukraine.

However, China continued to dodge questions about calling Russia’s activity in Ukraine an “invasion,” instead reiterating that the conflict has a “complicated history and reality” and that it supports “all diplomatic efforts” to resolve the conflict. 

China “always advocates a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” Wang said, repeating that Russia’s “legitimate demands for security” should be “taken seriously and properly addressed.”

When asked whether China would provide supplies to Ukraine, Wang said China is willing to “play a constructive role” in easing the situation in Ukraine and would release relevant information “in due course.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was met with a standing ovation from diplomats as he addressed the European Parliament, telling those in attendance that his country is “fighting for survival.”

“We are fighting just for our land and our freedom,” Zelensky said, causing the EU translator on the English language feed to choke up with emotion. “We desire to see our children alive. I think it’s a fair one.”

“We are fighting for our life … We are fighting for survival. This is the highest of our motivation,” Zelensky said.

“But we are fighting also to be equal members of Europe,” he added. “I believe that today we are showing everybody that’s exactly what we are.”

Zelensky requested for Ukraine to be added to the EU on an expedited process on Monday.

He received a standing ovation across the chamber both before and after his speech.

Representatives from Europe and other allies walked out during a video link address by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Tuesday.

A video posted by the French delegation showed dozens of officials leaving the chamber while Lavrov started his address via video link.

“Walk out from the EU and its partners during the statement from Minister Lavrov at the Conference on Disarmament this morning to show our support to Ukraine,” the tweet said. 

During his speech to the UN Human Rights Council, Lavrov said he did not attend in person because of what he called “outrageous” measures by European Union in applying sanctions on Russia following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

When Viktoriya and her family returned to their Kyiv home Tuesday morning after spending the night in a bomb shelter, they realized that the decision to leave yesterday may have saved their lives.

Overnight, bullets have pierced two windows in their apartment. One of them shattered an electrical socket nearby, leaving a hole where the plug would normally go.

But there is no relief when it all quietens down.

“It becomes even more anxious in the moments of silence, because you know they are not going to last,” she said.

Viktoriya and her family have been spending most of their time in the shelter. They have a small son and worry about being able to keep him safe in their apartment.

In the shelter, at least there are many other families with children, so they can keep each other company.

The adults are finding it comforting too, being around each other and sharing the burden of worry and the feeling of utter hopelessness.

“Life changed completely in just a moment, and you can’t influence the situation in any way. Now it’s no longer you who controls your life, but someone else. And whatever you decide: whether to stay in Kyiv living in the basement or to go somewhere where it’s calmer, it means the same, you have to leave home,” Viktoriya said.

“The war has only lasted four days so far, but it seems like it has been with us for an infinitely long time. It’s a terrible ‘Groundhog Day’ feeling,” she added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the protection of the country’s capital, Kyiv, is the “key priority” for the state. 

“Kharkiv and Kyiv are currently the most important targets for Russia. Terror is meant to break us. To break our resistance. They are heading to our capital, as well as to Kharkiv,” he said in a Facebook message Tuesday.

“Therefore, the defense of the capital today is the key priority for the state,” Zelensky said.

In his message to Ukrainians, Zelensky also described Tuesday’s attack on the central square in Kharkiv as an act of terror.

“This is terror against the city, this is terror against Kharkiv, terror against Ukraine. There was no military target on the square,” Zelensky said.
“The rocket to the central square is outright, undisguised terror. No one will forgive. Nobody will forget. This strike on Kharkiv is a war crime.”

“We call on all countries of the world to respond immediately and effectively to this criminal tactic of the aggressor and to declare that Russia is committing state terrorism. We demand full responsibility for terrorists in international courts,” Zelensky said.

Lithuania President Gitanas Nausėda warned that no country in Europe “can feel safe” when it comes to President Putin, as the Russian invasion in Ukraine entered its sixth day. 

“No country in the European Union [EU], in Europe can feel safe right now. Yes, Ukraine is target number one, but if we cannot support Ukraine, if Ukraine will fall – be sure that we’ll be next, that Russia will stay at our doors,” Nausėda told CNN when asked if Putin could turn his attention to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia at some point. 

On Monday, Lithuania along with Estonia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia published an open letter urging the EU to immediately grant Ukraine candidate country status and to begin negotiations on its formal acceptance into the bloc. 

When asked about his support for Ukraine’s EU membership bid, Nausėda told CNN Europe had a “moral duty” to include the country in the bloc. 

Becoming a member of the bloc is a complex procedure and Ukraine is currently not an official candidate for EU accession.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is worse than he expected it to be, adding that Europe is now witnessing an “unfolding disaster.”

“I’m afraid to say that the tragedy that we predicted has come to pass and, if anything, it is worse than our predictions. We are seeing an unfolding disaster in the European continent,” Johnson said. 

“It is clear that Vladimir Putin is prepared to use barbaric and indiscriminate tactics against innocent civilians to bomb tower blocks, to send missiles into tower blocks, to kill children, as we’re seeing in increasing numbers,” he added. 

Speaking alongside his Polish counterpart in Warsaw, the British Prime Minister paid tribute to the “leadership and courage” shown by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who he said has “inspired and mobilized” the world. 

Johnson also said that Russian President Putin had underestimated the “passionate desire of the Ukrainian people to defend and protect their own country.” 

“I am absolutely convinced – I am more convinced than ever – as this hideous conflict progresses, that Putin will fail. I believe that Putin must fail, and that we will succeed in protecting and preserving a sovereign, independent and democratic Ukraine,” he added. 

On the topic of economic sanctions imposed on Russia by Europe, Johnson said this marks “one of the most powerful packet of sanctions ever advanced against any country in the last few decades.” 

“It is plainly already having a dramatic effect. We are ready to intensify and to keep going for as long as it takes,” he added. 

More than 20 people have been injured in an explosion in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a video posted on its official Facebook account Tuesday.

“As a result of artillery shelling, a state administration building and adjacent building were damaged. People are trapped under the rubble. The head of rescue operations has learned that over 20 people have been wounded,” a service member said in the video.

“There are eight emergency rescue squads on site working, with 80 staff and volunteers sorting the debris, dragging it away to find the injured and the dead. Work continues,” he said.

The leader of the self-declared separatist region in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, says he expects his forces to surround the port city of Mariupol on Tuesday, adding in a television interview that the town of Volnovakha – which is half-way between Mariupol and Donetsk – was almost completely surrounded. 

“Our task for today is encircle Mariupol,” he said. 

Pushilin claimed without offering any evidence that nationalist elements in Mariupol were terrorizing the civilian population and were using them as a human shield. The city has a population of some 400,000. 

Separately, the deputy head of the Donetsk People’s Militia, Eduard Basurin, said the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), along with Russian forces, would organize humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave Mariupol.

The corridors would be open through Wednesday, he said. 

Basurin said several towns in the region had already fallen to the militia of the DPR. 

Vadym Boichenko, the mayor of Mariupol, said on Ukrainian television that residential areas had been shelled for five days – with heavy artillery, rockets and aircraft. 

“There are many wounded, dead local residents, women, children.”

“But today, the best sons of their fatherland on the borders of our city are doing everything, not to give Mariupol away,” Boichenko said.

“They have destroyed important infrastructure, there is no electricity in the city, there is no heat. We are fighting to [the] last bullet.”

Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, has been battered by Russian attacks.

More than 20 people were injured, including a child, in an explosion at a government building in the city, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a Telegram post Tuesday. 

The blast destroyed the building, according to videos of the incident posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Ukrainian government officials. The clips were posted on social media early Tuesday local time and have been verified by CNN. 

These images show the scenes in Kharkiv:

Residential and administrative areas in Kharkiv were bombarded on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova described the situation in Kharkiv as “hellish” and shared a video on Facebook of a missile that hit a kitchen window and tore off the leg of a woman, who she said later died in hospital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of war crimes over the attacks. He said that in five days, 56 missile strikes and 113 cruise missiles were launched in Ukraine by Russian forces. On Monday, he said Russian forces “brutally fired on Kharkiv from jet artillery. It was clearly a war crime.”

On Monday, the International Criminal Court said it would open an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Russia maintains that it isn’t targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and that there is no evidence of civilian deaths caused by the Russia military.

Video shows the aftermath of the explosion. Watch CNN’s report:

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02:38 - Source: cnn

It’s just gone midday in Kyiv, where icy temperatures have added to Ukrainians’ woes as the city braces for a huge Russian attack.

Here’s what you need to know.

In any other circumstances, it would be a beautiful sight: pristine white snow blanketing the roofs of old Kyiv.

But right now, the snow just adds to a long list of worries for the residents of the Ukrainian capital.

With thousands of people sheltering in unheated basements, underground carparks and subway stations across the city, the sudden cold snap is concerning. Temperatures have been hovering above 0 degrees Celsius for the past two weeks in Kyiv.

In the days before the invasion started, the skies were blue and the city sunny. On some days, sitting outside in the sun, winter jackets started to become obsolete. Spring appeared to be in the air.

But the temperatures started to drop over the weekend and it is now freezing in Kyiv. People have spent hours waiting in long lines at grocery stores and pharmacies in the city after they opened for the first time following a 36-hour curfew.

For now, the city’s key infrastructure is holding up. Electricity, heat and water are available as normal, but fears of potential disruptions to supplies have ratcheted up, as a long Russian military convoy closes in on the city.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kubela said that “Russian missile strikes” caused an explosion in the nation’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, Tuesday. 

“Barbaric Russian missile strikes on the central Freedom Square and residential districts of Kharkiv. Putin is unable to break Ukraine down. He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians. The world can and must do more. INCREASE PRESSURE, ISOLATE RUSSIA FULLY!,” Kubela said in a post on Twitter. 

At least six people were injured, including a child, in the explosion, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. 

The search for casualties remains ongoing, the state service said.

Ukraine has accused Russia of committing war crimes by targeting civilians, and on Monday, the International Criminal Court said it would open an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a move that was welcomed by Kyiv.

ICC Prosecutor, Karim A.A. Khan said in a statement that, following a preliminary examination into the situation, there is a reasonable basis to “believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine.”

Russia maintains that it isn’t targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and that there is no evidence of civilian deaths caused by the Russia military. Russia’s outgoing President of the UN Security Council Vassily Nebenzia repeated these claims on Monday, stating the “tide of dirty lies replicated in Western mass media unfortunately have become a dangerous mark of our time.”

But there is a growing body of evidence to show that civilians are being targeted, and the UN said Monday that 406 civilian casualties in Ukraine have been reported.

Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion has shown strength that has surprised many observers, but one international expert pointed out how historical precedent bodes poorly for Moscow should its forces be unable to subdue Ukraine quickly under current Russian troop levels.

“The Russian army is overextended and in a precarious position if Ukraine becomes a protracted war,” Seth Jones, vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a social media post.
“Assuming 150,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine and a population of 44 million, that is a force ratio of 3.4 soldiers per 1,000 people. You can’t hold territory with those numbers,” Jones said.

Jones compared the current Russian force ratio to occupations after previous wars around the world, saying successful occupations had force ratios that were “astronomically higher.”

For example, he said:

“High numbers of troops and police are critical to establish basic law and order,” Jones said.
“In fact, the number of Russian soldiers in Ukraine aren’t even enough to hold any major cities for long.”

And if Russian occupiers face a guerrilla war in the event the Ukrainian government falls, the odds won’t be in Russia’s favor, he said.

“They will be in serious danger of being picked apart by Ukrainian insurgents.”

The International Skating Union (ISU) on Tuesday suspended Russian and Belarusian skaters from participating in all international ice skating competitions, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Skaters will be banned from participating in ISU championships and other events, the ISU said in a statement.

“The ISU Council reaffirms its full solidarity with the ISU Members in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Speed Skating Federation and the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation,” the statement said. “The ISU Council will evaluate possibilities for swift humanitarian assistance to its Ukrainian ISU Members.”

The same rules will apply to “officials listed in the respective ISU Communications and/or regulations under Russia and Belarus,” according to the statement.

The governing body said the suspension will come into immediate effect and will remain in place until further notice.

At least six people were injured, including a child, in an explosion in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a Telegram post Tuesday. 

The blast destroyed a government building, according to videos of the incident posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Ukrainian government officials. The clips were posted on social media early Tuesday local time and have been verified by CNN. 

“Russia is waging war in violation of international humanitarian law. Kills civilians, destroys civilian infrastructure. Russiaʼs main target is large cities that are now fired at by its missiles,” the Ukrainian MOFA tweeted Tuesday, sharing a video showing what appears to be a missile attack on the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building. 

A separate video posted by Kostiantyn Nemichev, the Head of Defense Staff of Kharkiv, showed the aftermath of the purported strike, including the inside of the building which had been reduced to rubble. 

The Regional State Administration building houses local government offices. It is located in “Freedom Square” — the main square of Kharkiv and an architectural landmark.

Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, also shared a video on his official Telegram account taken from street level at Freedom Square. The video shows the site of the explosion, and the debris on the ground where the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building once stood. 

The Indian Embassy in Kyiv has asked its citizens to “urgently” leave the Ukrainian capital, as Russia’s military convoy closes in on the city. 

“All Indian nationals including students are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available,” the embassy wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Less than 24 hours earlier, the embassy had advised Indian citizens to “remain calm, peaceful and united,” asking them to remain patient as large crowds were expected at railway stations.

Tuesday’s announcement comes after reports of Indian students allegedly being harassed while trying to cross Ukraine’s border into neighboring countries.

In response to a question about the alleged harassment, Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said during a news conference Monday they continue to speak to the ambassadors of both Russia and Ukraine to ensure the safety of Indians.

India’s announcement comes as a Russian military convoy made up of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles reached the capital’s outskirts Tuesday, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies. 

Russia has banned aircraft registered in Switzerland from entering its airspace, the country’s federal aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The move was in retaliation for a similar move by Switzerland, the statement said.

Swiss sanctions: Switzerland would forego its commitment to “Swiss neutrality” in favor of adopting sanctions against Russia, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said Monday, adding that Bern’s measures would be in line with those already adopted by the European Union.

The sanctions include closing Swiss airspace to all flights from Russia, including private jets, with the exception of humanitarian flights, search flights and emergency situations.

China has started evacuating its citizens from Ukraine, state media said.

Some 400 students based in the Black Sea Port city of Odessa, and another 200 from the capital, Kyiv, left the country on Monday, according to state-run tabloid Global Times, which cited the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine. Another 1,000 citizens are expected to be evacuated into neighboring countries on Tuesday, it added.

Plans for charter flights to get Chinese citizens out were put hold over the weekend as fighting intensified, with the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine citing security risks.

Unlike nationals from many other countries, Chinese nationals in Ukraine did not receive instructions to leave the country before Russia’s invasion began. Prior to Russia’s attack, Chinese officials pushed back on warnings from the United States and its allies that an aggressive move from Moscow was imminent.

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Monday defended Beijing’s approach, saying the ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine “issued relevant safety warnings in a timely manner.”

There are about 6,000 Chinese nationals in Ukraine, according to state media.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin rattles the West with nuclear threats, President Joe Biden faces an even tougher-than-expected task in Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

He must recognize the fatigue, suffering and pessimism in a nation exhausted by the Covid-19 pandemic, rocked by rising inflation and high gas prices and now suddenly thrown by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine into the worst geopolitical crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Then he must somehow conjure optimism about better times to come ahead of this year’s midterms as he faces ebbing confidence among Americans that he has the plans, skills and endurance to end the crises.

At the same time, the President needs to send a message of US resolve amid fears the Ukraine crisis could spin out of control and trigger a direct clash with Russia, which has the world’s most nuclear warheads. But any further escalation with Putin, who on Sunday ordered his nuclear deterrent to higher alert, carries significant risks.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine shattered 30 years of relative peace in Europe after the end of the Cold War. The battle for Ukraine is the first real fight in the new war for dominance between autocracy and democracy, which the President has long predicted.

Biden faces a rhetorical balancing act. He needs to avoid the impression that his role as the leader of the free world is distracting him from economic pain, rising crime, and the cascade of domestic crises that he inherited and promised to fix but has not yet done so.

The unpromising political environment for Democrats — partly bequeathed by a President whose approval rating has dipped to 40% in CNN’s average of the most recent national polls — is already playing out in nascent 2022 election campaigns around the country, where Democrats are finding out that strong job growth and an economic bounce-back despite the Omicron wave are being disguised by rising prices of basic goods. The Ukraine crisis is only driving gas prices higher.

Read the full analysis:

President Joe Biden speaks at an event to celebrate Black History Month in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Related article Analysis: Biden addresses an anxious world as Putin makes nuclear threats

Taiwan will join moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system “in lockstep” with Western countries, Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters Tuesday.

“Taiwan has condemned Russia for its invasion in conjunction with our global democratic partners … we will cooperate on decisions made against the [Russian] banks simultaneously,” Su said, ahead of a parliamentary session.  

In addition, Taiwan will “scrutinize” products exported to Russia in accordance with the Wassenaar Arrangement — which regulates export controls for weapons and dual-use goods and technologies, economic affairs minister Wang Mei-hua told lawmakers.

Such exports won’t be permitted “unless there are legitimate reasons,” he said.

Wang acknowledged that Taiwan’s trade with Russia is minimal, but said major Taiwanese chipmakers have all pledged to comply with government policies and relevant regulations. “We will announce specific measures in due course,” she said.  

Taiwan accounts for more than half of the world’s output of semiconductor chips.

Separately, Taiwan sent 27 tons of medical supplies to Ukraine on Monday.  

Read more about the SWIFT sanctions here.

Just hours after their wedding on the first day of Russia’s invasion, Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin joined the fight to protect their country.

The couple were due to get married in May but rushed to tie the knot in Kyiv last week when Russia invaded, before joining the Ukrainian resistance.

Wearing camouflage jackets and holding a rifle, the couple told CNN’s Don Lemon about spending their honeymoon living in a city under siege and taking up arms to fight against Russian troops invading their homeland.

She said it’s the first day of spring and usually people would be sowing sunflowers — Ukraine’s national flower — instead, they will be resisting Russia’s attack. 

“No one here is saying that we will lose, or is crying. Everyone here believes we will win. It’s all just a question of time. So, I am very happy to see this great amount of people, really being ready to fight. Being ready to kill for their land. Having no doubt about our win in this war,” she said.

Her husband, Fursin, was born in the western city of Lviv and said his “people always want to be free. These people are ready to fight for their freedom.”

Going on combat missions, he is worried for the safety of his family — his wife, parents and sister — but said he “will do everything to protect them.”

Arieva said she is working every day and though it’s “hard waiting for my husband to come back from combat missions,” everyone is helping each other.

“Life here is different, but it is life. People joke and laugh. That is very interesting to see. It is another kind of life that has changed with the beginning of war but it is life,” she said.

The couple called on the international community to help Ukraine with money, food, weapons, and medical assistance and to place more sanctions on Russia.

Fursin said he hopes the time will come soon when he can gather his family and friends “all in one place and drink a good glass of wine. And say to everybody, ‘Hurray, war is ended, we won.’”

Before that time, though, he said he wants “everybody in this world, including Russia and the Russian people, to remember” that they are fighting “for the freedom of the world.”

The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has called for a “complete ban on international sport participation” for Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

USOPC said the ban should be effective immediately and be inclusive of the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, which begin on March 4.

“As the world watches in horror while Russia brazenly attacks the innocent people and athletes of Ukraine, this is the only acceptable action to be taken until peace has been restored,” USOPC said.

South Korea will provide $10 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine as the Russian invasion continues, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said the support will be made through consultations with the governments of Ukraine, neighboring countries and international organizations.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday ordered the government to rapidly come up with humanitarian support for Ukraine.

“We hope our government’s support effectively helps the Ukrainian people and refugees, and we will continue active contribution to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine,” the ministry said.

Sheikh Abrar attempts to sleep amid the sounds of sirens and blasts. He dare not switch on his phone, or keep a light on. Every night, he prays for safety.

“We don’t know how many people will die,” the 22-year-old Indian medical student told CNN by phone from the eastern city of Sumy on Monday, about 330 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and close to the Russian border.

Abrar is one of about 13,000 Indians stranded in Ukraine, as Indian authorities ramp up efforts to evacuate their citizens.

“They will evacuate us when there will be no one (left). Everyone will die,” Abrar said.

Abrar has been taking refuge in a hostel. But as Ukraine enters its sixth day of Russia’s unprovoked invasion, supplies — including food and water — are running low, leaving him and about 400 others with him desperate for help.

“Every second, every minute we are tweeting… we are trying to reach the Indian Embassy but what are they doing?” he said.

Indians evacuated: Since Ukraine’s airspace shut last week, India has evacuated about 2,000 nationals — mostly medical students like Abrar— from the country.

According to the medical student, India was late in issuing advisories to leave the country, and when they did on Feb. 15, it wasn’t possible for most to return. Flight costs increased and many middle-class families were unable to afford the journey home, he said.

On Monday, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine reiterated that all students should make the journey west to be evacuated. Several Indian ministers will travel to neighboring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission, a senior government official told CNN Monday.

But for Abrar, the decision to stay or leave comes with serious risks.

“All the ways are blocked … if we travel by bus we will not be able to cross into the west because Russian troops are everywhere,” he said. “We are stuck here. We need help.”

North Korea blamed the “hegemony policy of the US and the West” for the Ukrainian crisis in a statement issued by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday.

“The root cause of the Ukraine crisis totally lies in the hegemonic policy of the US and the West which indulge themselves in high-handedness and arbitrariness towards other countries,” the spokesperson said.

The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions against Russia and is applying pressure by blocking some Russian banks from the SWIFT global payment system.

The North Korean spokesperson said the US and the West have “systematically undermined the security environment of Europe by becoming more blatant in their attempts to deploy attack weapon systems while defiantly pursuing NATO’s eastward expansion.”

The spokesperson also denounced the “unilateral and double-dealing policy of the US” for threatening peace and security of sovereign states.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, foreign students attempting to leave the country say they are experiencing racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials.

One African medical student told CNN that she and other foreigners were ordered off the public transit bus at a checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland border.

They were told to stand aside as the bus drove off with only Ukrainian nationals on board, she says.

Rachel Onyegbule, a Nigerian first-year medical student in Lviv was left stranded at the border town of Shehyni, some 400 miles from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

She told CNN: “More than 10 buses came and we were watching everyone leave. We thought after they took all the Ukrainians they would take us, but they told us we had to walk, that there were no more buses.

“My body was numb from the cold and we haven’t slept in about 4 days now. Ukrainians have been prioritized over Africans — men and women — at every point. There’s no need for us to ask why. We know why. I just want to get home,” Onyegbule told CNN in a telephone call Sunday as she waited in line at the border to cross into Poland.

Onyegbule says she eventually got her exit document stamped on Monday morning around 4.30 a.m. local time.

Read more:

Refugees from many diffrent countries - from Africa, Middle East and India - mostly students of Ukrainian universities are seen at the Medyka pedestrian border crossing fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, in eastern Poland on February 27, 2022.

Related article Foreign students fleeing Ukraine say they face racism at border

The presidents of Estonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia published an open letter on Monday urging the European Union (EU) to immediately grant Ukraine candidate country status and begin negotiations on its formal acceptance into the bloc. 

“We call on the EU Member States to consolidate highest political support to Ukraine and enable the EU institutions to conduct steps to immediately grant Ukraine a EU candidate country status and open the process of negotiations.” the letter read.
“In this critical moment, we reiterate our full solidarity with Ukraine and its People.”

On Monday, following a phone conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the bloc to grant his country immediate EU membership, as it fights off Russia’s invasion. 

Becoming a member of the bloc is a complex procedure and Ukraine is currently not an official candidate for EU accession. 

Russian forces bombarded a residential area in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, with rockets on Monday — killing at least nine people. Russia also intensified its assault on the capital, Kyiv.

As Ukraine wakes to a sixth day of Russia’s invasion, here’s what you need to know if you’re just joining us:

Dramatic satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on Monday evening showed a massive 40+ mile long convoy of Russian military vehicles snaking along roadways northwest of Kyiv. 

It’s easy to trace where those hundreds of tanks, towed artillery, armored and logistical vehicles came from. Just follow the roads.

In Ukraine, northwest of Kyiv, all roads lead to Belarus. The roadway and bridge at Chernobyl — the town, not the failed nuclear reactor — ends in Belarus. Every other major road northwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, ends in Belarus, which borders northern Ukraine.

Russian buildup of troops: For weeks prior to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia amassed its forces in Belarus.

Hundreds of Russian military vehicles, aircraft and helicopters were moved to the former Soviet state in order to participate in what the two allies described as joint exercises. But after the maneuvers ended, the Russian forces didn’t go home.

In fact, additional satellite imagery from Maxar showed that Russia continued to increase the amount of military vehicles, air power and weaponry in Belarus. From the city of Brest in the country’s east, to Gomel in the west, Russian forces kept popping up at air bases, in towns and in even in fields on satellite images and social media.

Pontoon bridge: Satellite images even showed that Russia constructed a pontoon bridge across the Pripyat River in the greater Chernobyl exclusion zone, which spans Ukraine and Belarus. The day the invasion into Ukraine began, additional satellite images from Capella Space showed Russia began moving dozens of military vehicles across that bridge.

Military power: The sheer length of the convoy is massive and speaks to the amount of the military power the Russians have amassed to try and take Kyiv.

It also speaks to Belarus’ activity in supporting and carrying the invasion — and responsibility for it.

That military power could not have been amassed by the Russians without the permission, and assistance, of Belarus.

Russian forces bombarded a residential area in Ukraine’s second-largest city with rockets on Monday, killing at least nine people, and several large detonations were heard in the center of the capital, Kyiv, as talks between delegates on both sides in Belarus came to a close.

The attack and explosions were launched as Russia becomes increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, particularly Western nations, which have been imposing a rash of sanctions on the country since it launched its invasion of Ukraine last week.

The bombardment in the city of Kharkiv on Monday killed nine civilians, including three children, and wounded 37 others, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. CNN is reaching out to Russian authorities for comment on the attack.

According to social media videos geolocated by CNN, multiple rockets were seen exploding closely together in a residential part of the Saltivka neighborhood, near a supermarket in the northeast of the city, which the Russian military has frequently targeted.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova described the situation in Kharkiv as “hellish” and shared a video on Facebook of a missile that hit a kitchen window and tore off the leg of a woman, who she said later died in hospital.

As talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials ended early Monday evening, CNN reporters in Kyiv heard several large detonations, followed by sirens going off across the city.

Both sides discussed a potential “ceasefire and the end of combat actions on the territory of Ukraine,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak told reporters.

Without going into detail, Podolyak said that both sides would return to their capitals for consultations over whether to implement a number of “decisions.”

“The parties discussed holding another round of negotiations where these decisions can develop,” he said.

Ukraine had earlier demanded an “immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops,” President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said earlier Monday.

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Ukrainian forces have so far managed to stave off Russian ground forces massed less than 20 miles north of the embattled capital Kyiv — but though they’ve defied US intelligence predictions that the city would likely fall within one to four days of a full-scale Russian assault, US officials warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin could imminently increase the intensity of the attack.

Stiffer than expected Ukrainian resistance and Russia’s own logistical missteps have bogged down Russia’s advance, US and Western officials say, sparking a fragile optimism. The US has also continued sharing downgraded intelligence with the Ukrainians, including about Russian military moves, in an attempt to help Ukraine on the battlefield, two of the sources told CNN.

But intelligence and defense officials closely tracking the Russian campaign say Putin still holds a number of moves in reserve that could devastate the Ukrainian resistance.

“From a purely military/tactical standpoint, Russia has the manpower and firepower to take Kyiv. No question,” said an American source familiar with the intelligence. “And no matter how much resistance the Ukrainians put up.”

Roughly a quarter of Russia’s amassed troops have yet to enter Ukraine, a senior defense official told reporters on Monday — a potential “second wave,” according to two sources familiar with the intelligence — and defense officials say Putin could yet order a far less restrained bombing campaign, including airstrikes, long-range missiles and artillery.

“They have been slowed and they have been frustrated by their lack of progress on Kyiv, and one of the things that could result is a reevaluation of their tactics and the potential for them to be more aggressive and more overt in both the size and the scale of their targeting of Kyiv,” a senior defense official told reporters on Monday.

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Ukrainian service members collect unexploded shells after a fighting with Russian raiding group in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the morning of February 26, 2022, according to Ukrainian service personnel at the scene.

Related article US officials fear the worst is yet to come for Kyiv | CNN Politics

Twitter will now label all content that contains links to Russian state media and will demote that content algorithmically, the company said, as tech platforms have come under greater pressure to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The move goes beyond previous steps that Twitter has taken in years past to label Russian state media accounts on the platform.

Since the invasion began, the “overwhelming majority” of Russian state media content appearing on Twitter has been shared by individuals, not the state media organizations’ own accounts, the company said. Over the past week, individuals have shared more than 45,000 tweets per day containing media from Russian state outlets. 

Monday’s change will mean that any link shared by a user to a Russian state media organization’s website will automatically receive a label, warning viewers that the tweet “links to a Russia state-affiliated media website.”

“In addition to the label, we will reduce the visibility and amplification of this content site-wide, no matter who it comes from,” said Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy. “This means that Tweets sharing state media content won’t be amplified — they won’t appear in Top Search and won’t be recommended by Twitter.”

Content from state media outlets of other countries will also receive the same treatment “in the coming weeks,” Kennedy added.

More context: Twitter has not permitted advertising by state-run media outlets since 2019, and the company suspended all ads in Ukraine and Russia last week amid the unfolding crisis to prioritize public safety information. 

The move follows requests by government leaders for tech giants to clamp down on pro-Russian propaganda, including by applying algorithmic controls that limit the amplification and recommendation of Russian-backed media.

See how other social media companies are responding to Russia’s invasion:

Commuters look at their phones as they travel in a local train in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.

Related article Here's how social media platforms are responding to Russia's invasion of Ukraine

On Sunday, Russia’s close ally Belarus held a referendum, the result of which — in theory — opens the door for the former Soviet republic to host nuclear weaponry. 

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, newly independent states in addition to Russia appeared on the map with nuclear weapons stationed on their territory: Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The prospect of three new countries armed with nuclear weapons alarmed world leaders, and with the signing of the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, the three agreed to give up their nuclear arsenals in exchange for security guarantees.

The vote in a referendum to approve a new constitution allows Belarus to shed its non-nuclear status. But does that mean it can acquire nuclear weapons? After all, the country does not have a weapons complex for designing, building or testing nuclear weaponry. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko seems to be hinting at something else: stationing Russian warheads on Belarusian soil. 

Addressing journalists at a polling station in Minsk on Sunday, Lukashenko said he could ask his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to “return the nuclear weapons” Belarus formally gave up when his country signed up to the Budapest Memorandum.

“If America, or you France, two nuclear powers, start transferring nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania, on our borders… I will go to Putin so that he will return to me the nuclear weapons that I, without any special conditions, gave to them,” Lukashenko said. 

Poland and Lithuania do not possess nuclear weapons.

It’s unclear what plans Russia may have, in practice. But it’s worth noting that, days before Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenko sat in the Kremlin situation center with Putin to observe nuclear drills, watching the launch of a series of missiles at different test ranges. 

There are several layers of irony in the nuclear rhetoric over Belarus: In stating his case for the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has made a baseless claim about supposed Ukrainian aspirations to acquire nuclear weaponry, something the Kremlin leader cast as an existential threat. 

And it’s worth remembering that Ukraine gave up its own nuclear stockpile in exchange for security guarantees to its territorial integrity from several countries — including Russia — that Putin has now broken.

Russian national football teams and club teams have been suspended from competition until further notice by global football governing body FIFA and European football governing body UEFA. 

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” the joint statement said on Monday. “Both (FIFA and UEFA) Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”

Shortly after this joint announcement, UEFA said it has ended its partnership with the Russian state-owned energy company, Gazprom, across all competitions, effective immediately.

UEFA made the announcement on Monday, saying, “The decision covers all existing agreements including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA national team competitions and UEFA EURO 2024.”

Battered by intense shelling, peppered with gunfire and then … everything goes quiet.

Along Ukraine’s strategic Black Sea coast, Russian forces are playing a strange game, testing defenses, spilling blood and raising tensions but failing to drive home any significant gains.

The small city of Mykolaiv, located on an inlet that would be a useful access point for Russians to bring in troops and supplies, was on Monday picking up the pieces from a weekend of heavy fighting that saw Ukrainian hardware destroyed and civilians targeted.

Broken glass and burnt-out tanks littered the streets. The skyline was dominated by the unusual site of a raised road bridge, the structure elevated for the first time in years to hamper any further ground incursions.

And in the air, as well as the sound of intermittent air raid sirens, the mystery of what Russia’s probing attacks in Mykolaiv and other Black Sea towns are trying to achieve.

They’ve clearly managed to instill fear. Ukrainian troops were on edge in the wake of the fighting, wary of the threat of saboteurs. As CNN toured the city, we saw people pulled from cars and thrown to the ground, suspected to be infiltrators.

Ukrainian troops were trying to put on a brave face. Guarding the wreckage of military vehicles, clearly hit by a ballistic missile with significant firepower, one soldier initially claimed they were Russian before admitting they belonged to Ukrainian forces.

The fighting along this region of the Black Sea has been some of the most intense in Ukraine in the past few days, with unconfirmed reports of Russian paratroopers on the ground, as well as very visible blasts lighting up the skyline.

Yet, in similar strikes on other towns, it’s been almost the same picture. Intense Russian bombardment followed by a pause that has allowed the Ukrainian side to claim victory.

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Related article Across Ukraine's Black Sea coast, Russia's strategy is hard to see