March 3, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been put out, according to a statement from the Ukrainian State Emergency Service on Friday. 

“At 06:20 the fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP training building in Enerhodar was extinguished. There are no dead or injured,” the statement said.

Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus, the company’s CEO Brian Chesky said in a tweet on Friday.

Airbnb joins a growing number of international companies dialing back operations in Russia, including Apple, Disney and Ford.

Read more here.

In a Facebook post early Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of intentionally firing at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, after a fire broke out at the facility following heavy shelling from Russian forces.

Ukrainian authorities say the power plant has not sustained any critical damage, and that radiation levels are currently normal, though the situation remains fluid and firefighters continue to battle the blaze.

“Russian tanks are shooting at the atomic blocks equipped with thermal imagers. They know what they are shooting at. They’ve been preparing for this (attack),” he said in the post.

Zelensky also referred to the Chernobyl tragedy and its victims in the post. “For all Ukrainians, for all Europeans, for all people who know the word ‘Chernobyl,’ how many victims there were.”

The 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which took place in Soviet Ukraine, is considered the worst nuclear accident in history. It was a “global catastrophe that affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” and had a lasting impact on the country, Zelensky said.

What’s happening now: Ukrainian authorities say fighting has stopped in the area and about 40 firefighters are working to put out the blaze.

But the very fact Russia launched an attack at the plant is itself an extremely dangerous act and could cause a potential catastrophe, he said. “There are 15 nuclear reactors in Ukraine. If one of them blows, that’s the end for everyone, that’s the end of Europe,” he added.

“No country besides Russia has ever fired upon an atomic power plant’s reactors. The first time, the first time in history,” he said, urging European leaders to “wake up now” and stop Russian forces “before this becomes a nuclear disaster.” 

The mayor of Kharkiv, the northeastern city under siege by Russian forces, told CNN on Friday the Russian military is “intentionally trying to eliminate Ukrainian people” as it targets civilian spaces.

“The situation is extremely difficult,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. “To date, Kharkiv has been hard impacted by continuous bombardment. Planes are flying constantly, (rockets) are being launched, grenades are launched, and residential houses are being hit.”

There are no Ukrainian troops stationed in the residential blocks, according to Terekhov. “That means that they are purposefully hitting the residential buildings,” he said.

While many residents are taking shelter, “a great number” have been killed, Terekhov said, adding that many are wounded and in hospital. 

The state emergency services in Ukraine on Thursday morning said 34 civilians in the Kharkiv region had been killed in just 24 hours, and another 285 injured.

The fire that broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday started in a training building outside the main reactor complex, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Services (SES). 

“As of 05:20am (local time), the State Emergency Service Units responded to the fire at the training building of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant,” SES said in a statement on Telegram.

Some 40 firefighters and 10 units are now working to tackle the blaze, SES said. 

“The occupiers will face severe punishment for this cynical attack on the largest nuclear power plant in EUROPE!” the statement read. 

A spokesperson for the nuclear power plant, Andrii Tuz, told CNN on Friday, “I have no idea how far Putin will go. Nobody believed that they could start shooting at a nuclear power plant. We need to stop the war now! And not wait for the onset of a nuclear catastrophe!”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the “gravely concerning situation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, he said in a tweet Friday.

“Russia must immediately cease its attack on the power station and allow unfettered access for emergency services to the plant,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s office released a statement after the two leaders’ call, saying the United Kingdom “would do everything it could to ensure the situation did not deteriorate further.”

Emergency UN meeting: The statement added that Johnson will seek an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting in the coming hours, where the UK plans to raise this issue with Russia and its partners.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has put its Incident and Emergency Centre in “full 24/7 response mode” due to the “serious situation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the agency said on Twitter.

The agency is in contact with Ukrainian authorities about the ongoing fire at the power plant.

Read the tweet:

New videos posted to social media show the horrific aftermath of Russian military strikes that hit an apartment complex in the northern city of Chernihiv on Thursday. 

CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of this and other videos that show the moment of the strikes and the aftermath.

One video shows the strike as it happens, with residential buildings torn apart in a split second. Sirens echo as the camera shows parts of the building’s walls torn open, exposing entire apartment rooms. The walls of one apartment complex were reduced to rubble.

A fire is seen on the ground, with smoke elsewhere still rising from the explosion. 

The person filming the video moves out into the street, which is littered with debris and damaged cars. The video shows an injured woman on the ground, beside two people who appear burned and unmoving. “Kids … little kids,” she can be heard saying.

CNN does not know the condition of the woman seen in the video.

A second before the military strikes, the roar of a projectile is heard on a surveillance video from a nearby house in Chernihiv, which shows at least five explosions. 

Deaths reported: The Ukrainian Emergency Services said on Twitter that as of 6:20 p.m. local time, they had pulled 33 bodies from the rubble of the complex in addition to 18 injured people.

There are no military facilities nearby, only civilian structures like residential buildings and schools, the Chernihiv Regional State Administration told CNN.

All eyes are on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, where officials reported a fire breaking out amid heavy shelling by Russian forces. Here’s what we know:

What happened? Ukrainian authorities said about 2:30 a.m. local time Friday that a fire had broken out at the nuclear power complex, located in Enerhodar, southeastern Ukraine.

The plant is the largest of its kind in Ukraine and contains six of the country’s 15 nuclear energy reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Fighting has since stopped in the area, a spokesperson for the power plant, Andrii Tuz, told CNN.

How serious is the situation? It’s hard to say since there is still a lot we don’t know — such as where the fire is located within the complex, whether the reactors have been impacted, whether there are secondary and tertiary cooling systems in place, and more.

But the plant has not sustained any “critical” damage, Tuz said. The fire has not affected any “essential” equipment, and staff are taking action to mitigate any damage, said the IAEA, citing Ukrainian authorities.

Are we seeing any radiation spikes? No — nuclear regulators and government bodies in the US and Ukraine say radiation levels appear normal at the moment.

What are the risks and how likely are they? The worst-case scenario would be if a fire or attack reached the reactors, disrupted their cooling system and caused a meltdown, which would release large amounts of radioactivity.

Graham Allison, professor at the Belfer Center, Harvard University, told CNN early Friday that plants have systems to automatically fight fires, but not “all fires” — so the situation depends on where the blaze is happening. And “not all fires in a power plant, have catastrophic consequences,” he said.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm tweeted Thursday night that she spoke with Ukraine’s energy minister about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The US has activated its Nuclear Incident Response Team, and is monitoring the situation along with the Department of Defense, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the White House, she said.

Radiation levels normal: “We have seen no elevated radiation readings near the facility. The plant’s reactors are protected by robust containment structures and reactors are being safely shut down,” she said.

Early Friday, Ukrainian officials reported a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Here’s what we know about the facility:

Where is the plant? It’s located in the city of Enerhodar, southeastern Ukraine, some 70 miles (112 kilometers) from the city of Zaporizhzhia. Six power units are in operation at the facility, with the first coming online in 1984, according to Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power operator.  

How much power does it generate? The plant generates 40-42 billion kWh, which accounts for one-fifth of the average annual electricity production in Ukraine and almost 47% of electricity generated by Ukrainian nuclear power plants.  

The plant has capabilities “for continuous radiation monitoring of the nuclear power plant industrial site, the sanitary protection and 30-kilometers radiation control zones,” according to Energoatom. There is also a dry storage facility onsite for spent fuel. 

What’s the biggest concern? National security analyst Joe Cirincione told CNN he was “very concerned” about the blaze.” There are multiple ways this could get very terrible very quick,” he said.

He warned the plant could see a nuclear meltdown if the electricity or plumbing to the facility get cut off. Cirincione added that if the Russian military wants to take the plant offline, they should capture the facility rather than physically attack due to the dangers involved. 

“If those fuel rods are still in the reactor and you cut off the electricity, then you’re cutting off the cooling system that controls the reaction and you’ll be unleashing an uncontrollable nuclear chain reaction in that facility. You will have a meltdown,” he said. 

But we don’t know enough yet: Nuclear policy expert Graham Allison told CNN that “not all fires at a power plant have catastrophic consequences.” A disaster would depend on where the fire is located, whether staff are able to take the appropriate measures, and several other factors — including how many reactors were impacted, he said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a tweet on Friday that “essential” equipment at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant site has not been affected by the fire, according to Ukrainian authorities.

It added that the “plant personnel (are) taking mitigatory actions.”

Earlier on Friday, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant spokesperson Andrii Tuz also told CNN that the plant has not sustained any critical damage.

Two White House officials said their latest information shows “no indications of elevated levels of radiation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex in Ukraine. 

The White House is continuing to monitor the situation closely. 

US President Joe Biden received an update from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky late Thursday night about the reported fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders’ phone call.

Biden joined Zelensky “in urging Russia to cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site,” according to the statement. 

Biden also received an update on the situation from the under secretary for Nuclear Security of the US Department of Energy and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). 

Fighting has stopped near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and background radiation levels are currently normal as a fire continued at the facility, a spokesperson at the plant said on Friday.

Spokesperson Andrii Tuz said the plant has not sustained any critical damage, although only one power generation unit out of six is operational.

In an earlier Facebook post, Tuz said at least one power generating unit at the nuclear plant was struck in the fighting. “A lot of technical equipment was hit,” he told CNN.

Firefighters met with guns: Earlier Friday, Ukrainian officials said firefighters were unable to access the nuclear plant. Tuz said when firefighters initially arrived, they were met with guns and turned around. 

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the biggest in Europe according to the plant’s website. It supports one fifth of total electric power generated in Ukraine.

The nuclear plant has six units in total, with the first one connected to the power grid in 1984, and the sixth one connected in 1995.

Leaders of the American Nuclear Society have urged all armed forces in Ukraine to “refrain from military actions near nuclear facilities,” saying staff at nuclear power plants must be able to do their jobs without interruption or “the fear of being killed or injured.”

“We also urge the securing of off-site power supplies for every nuclear facility, uninterrupted transportation to and from sites for plant workers and supply chains; and unfettered communications with regulators and inspectors,” said the organization’s president, Steven Nesbit, and CEO Craig Piercy in the statement.

They urged an end to the war to “prevent further loss of life and prevent any risk to Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.”

As a fire reported by Ukrainian officials continues at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, nuclear experts answered some of the most urgent questions:

Are there systems in the plant that can automatically fight the fire? Yes, but they don’t fight all fires, said nuclear policy expert and Harvard professor Graham Allison. And not all fires at a power plant can have “catastrophic consequences.” It depends on where the fire is — the biggest concern is if the blaze reaches a reactor’s cooling pits, which could cause a meltdown of the reactor.

What could happen if a reactor melts down? If a fire, missile strike or other type of attack disrupts the nuclear reactor’s cooling structure, it won’t be able to cool itself — causing the fuel inside to overheat and melt down, releasing large amounts of radioactivity, said James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The most recent and severe examples include the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Soviet Ukraine.

How likely is this? It’s hard to say because there’s still much we don’t know, several experts agreed — most importantly, where the fire is located, whether it’s even near the reactors or in a different part of the nuclear power complex, whether all the reactors are working — all things that could influence the severity of a disaster, if one occurs.

Why is the power plant coming under attack? Russian troops appear to be trying to seal off a nearby river and encircle Ukrainian forces, a classic maneuver, said retired US Army Gen. Wesley Clark — and the power plant is “right in the way.” The plant is also a “key strategic asset,” providing much of Ukraine’s power, he added: “Take that offline, the grid is at least temporarily destabilized. You’re cutting the ability of Ukrainians to be able to handle communications to a lot of other things.”

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire following an attack by the Russian military, according to Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the nearby city of Enerhodar.

The plant is located in Enerhodar, southeastern Ukraine, some 70 miles (112 kilometers) from the city of Zaporizhzhia.

Zaporizhzhia is located about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of the city of Donetsk within one of the two pro-Moscow territories recognized as an independent state last month by Russia.

The plant is the largest of its kind in Ukraine and contains six of the country’s 15 nuclear energy reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Ukraine’s nuclear regulator told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) there is “no change reported in radiation levels at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant site,” the IAEA tweeted on Friday.

Ukrainian officials said early Friday a fire had broken out at the nuclear plant as Russian forces attacked “from all sides,” with firefighters unable to reach the site.

Though reports of a fire at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are alarming, there’s still a lot we don’t know, nuclear weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis said Friday.

So far, radiation monitoring conditions — which were updated just a few minutes ago — look “normal,” according to Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

There are radiation detectors “all over the place,” that would be able to pick up on any spikes in radiation, he said. “Reactors are big, sealed and concrete structures. They should not catch on fire. We don’t know what caused the fire.”

Biggest fear: If a potential fire breaches the containment structure of the reactor, that’s when it could get dangerous, Lewis said.

But there should be workers at the site 24/7, who could stop the reactor before the fire reached it, he added.

James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the biggest concern was if the fire disrupted the reactors’ cooling systems. If they can’t cool themselves, the fuel inside could overheat and melt down.

“I’m sure the reactor has been shut off, but the fuel inside is still radioactive and still requires cooling. You have to keep the reactor cool for as long as the fuel is in. The reactor has to be kept continuously cool,” he said.

If the cooling stopped, a meltdown could range from taking place in a few hours or days, depending on how radioactive the reactor is.

US President Joe Biden has just spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the White House continues to monitor the reported fire at the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant.

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, has spoken with Ukraine’s Prime Minister and the country’s nuclear regulator about the reported fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the IAEA said on Twitter early Friday.

IAEA’s warning: Earlier on Friday — before the fire broke out — the IAEA released a statement warning that Russian troops were approaching the area and any fighting near the plant could be disastrous.

Ukraine told the IAEA “a large number of Russian tanks and infantry ‘broke through the block-post’ to the town of Enerhodar, a few kilometres from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP),” the IAEA said in a statement.

It added that Ukraine’s regulatory authority had sent them an “urgent letter,” warning that Russian troops were moving directly toward the nuclear plant and the situation was “critical.”

In the statement, Grossi had “appealed for an immediate halt to the use of force at Enerhodar and called on the military forces operating there to refrain from violence near the nuclear power plant.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a tweet it is “aware of reports of shelling at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” and that it was in contact with Ukrainian authorities about the situation.

Some context: Earlier, the mayor of a nearby town said the nuclear plant was on fire amid intense fighting in the area, with firefighters unable to reach the site. Ukraine’s foreign minister said Russian troops were “firing from all sides” at the plant.

A White House official says they are monitoring the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where Ukrainian officials say a fire has broken out as Russian troops attack “from all sides.”

The Russian army is “firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on Friday.

The mayor of the town of Enerhodar said earlier that firefighters are unable to reach the fire, which is ongoing.

Firefighters are unable to reach the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to the mayor of the nearby town of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, in a Facebook post.

“The Zaporizhzhia Power Plant is notifying of a threat at the first block of the power plant! The fire at the plant is continuing. The firefighters cannot reach the location of the fire,” he posted.

Earlier, the mayor posted to Facebook saying: “Intense fighting is ongoing on approach routes to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Our National Guard fighters are defending. There are victims, but the exact number and condition so far cannot be determined under the circumstances.”

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is on fire, according to Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the nearby town of Enerhodar.

“A threat to world security!!! As a result of relentless shelling by the enemy of the buildings and blocks of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire!!!” Orlov posted to Facebook. 

“I demand, stop! Immediately stop shelling the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant point blank,” the mayor said in a video message.

In an earlier post he wrote, “stop shelling the Zaporizhzhia power plant”.

Russia has ramped up its assaults in key Ukrainian cities as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky pleads for more international assistance and called on NATO to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

It’s just past 3 a.m. ET in the Ukrainian capital. If you’re just reading in now, here’s where things stand:

Nuclear plant on fire: Moments ago, an official reported that Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire.

So far, Firefighters are unable to reach the fire according to Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the nearby town of Enerhodar.

Talks between Ukraine and Russia end with no breakthrough: A Ukrainian negotiator on Thursday said that a second round of talks with Russia didn’t deliver any results that Ukraine needed.

“Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved. There is a solution only for the organization of humanitarian corridors,” senior Ukrainian official  Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet after the talks ended.

However, humanitarian corridors for civilians were agreed on during talks.

Key cities under assault: Russia is laying siege to the key Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Mariupol’s deputy mayor Sergei Orlov told CNN the southeastern city was “surrounded” by Russian forces and was in desperate need of military and humanitarian aid.

“Our Ukrainian army and National Guard is very brave, they stand and fight for Ukraine, for Mariupol. But the situation is quite critical,” Orlov said Thursday.

In northeast of Ukraine, 34 civilians were killed by Russian attacks on the Kharkiv region within a 24 hour period, emergency services announced Thursday morning.

Russian troops are advancing toward Odessa, the strategically significant city on the country’s southern coast.

Growing humanitarian crisis: The Russian invasion has sparked a need for humanitarian aid. Food and supplies inside the country are becoming increasingly scarce. Organizations are on the ground in Ukraine and neighboring countries to help with shelter, food, water, and additional aid.

The United Nations estimates that more than 10 million people may end up fleeing their homes in Ukraine, including four million who may cross the border into neighboring countries, according to a statement.

International response: US President Joe Biden announced additional sanctions against Russian oligarchs on Thursday.

The new list of individuals described as “Putin’s cronies and their family members” will be cut off from the US financial system, their assets in the US will be frozen, and their property will be blocked from use, according to a fact sheet from the White House.

There will be full blocking sanctions on eight Russian elites, plus their family members and associates.

The European Union will grant temporary protection to all refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, according to the bloc’s Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.  

Germany must freeze assets of Russian oligarchs immediately as part of sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine,German Economy Minister Robert Habeck urged on Thursday.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby commended the effort Ukrainian forces are putting forth as the Russian invasion continues.

“They are fighting bravely in the streets, and outside their cities, and they are fighting very creatively,” Kirby said while speaking live with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

As for the Russian convoy that has seemingly stalled outside of Kyiv, Kirby said he feels that Russia remains focused on completing a siege of the capital city.

“As of this morning, we still assessed that the advance of the Russian forces was still about 25 kilometers from the city center, but they are trying to close in,” he said. “They are still outside the city, but we still believe that their intent is to try to encircle Kyiv, and ultimately occupy it.”

Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin saying the invasion is “going according to plan,” Kirby offered a different assessment.

“The Russians have been flummoxed, they’ve been frustrated, they have been set back, they have been slowed by a stiff and determined Ukrainian resistance. We also believe that they have stumbled themselves,” he said. “They’re having logistic and sustainment problems. They’re running out of fuel, they’re running out of food for some of their soldiers. They have been surprised by the manner in which, and the effectiveness, with which the Ukrainians have been defending their cities, and their people.”

Senior Biden administration officials have done at least seven interviews with Russian-language news outlets in recent days as part of an effort to counter the Kremlin’s disinformation about the Ukraine crisis and speak directly to a Russian audience, US officials explained.

State Department under secretary for political affairs Victoria Nuland did an interview with Echo of Moscow Radio today, the day after the Kremlin took the radio station off the airwaves. The State Department reached out to the outlet to propose the interview, according to a US official, and it was aired on the radio’s YouTube channel. And the day before the outlet was shut down, State Department spokesperson Ned Price did an interview with the outlet.  

The department will continue to support these outlets even after the Kremlin bans them, as an effort to keep their work relevant, US officials said. Top Biden administration officials are also aggressively calling out the Kremlin for cracking down on the media. 

“The Kremlin right now is engaged in a full assault on media freedom and the truth,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, saying the White House is “deeply concerned” about those steps.

She cited restricted access to independent news networks Echo of Moscow and TV Rain, as well as threats to block online platforms including VOA Russia. 

Price said on Wednesday night that the “Kremlin is engaged in a full assault on media freedom and the truth, and Moscow’s efforts to mislead and suppress the truth of the brutal invasion are intensifying.”

The Department of Homeland Security will allow Ukrainians who are in the United States to remain in the country under a form of humanitarian relief.

The relief – known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS – applies to people who would face extreme hardship if they were forced to return to homelands devastated by armed conflict or natural disasters. As such, these protections are limited to people already in the United States. DHS secretary has the discretion to designate a country for TPS.

“Russia’s premeditated and unprovoked attack on Ukraine has resulted in an ongoing war, senseless violence, and Ukrainians forced to seek refuge in other countries,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement announcing the move. “In these extraordinary times, we will continue to offer our support and protection to Ukrainian nationals in the United States.”

Some 30,000 Ukrainians on visas could benefit from this protected status, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank. Extending TPS to Ukrainians who have been issued temporary visas would shield them from deportation when those visas expire. Individuals must have continuously resided in the US since March 1 to be eligible. The TPS designation will be in place for 18 months. 

US President Joe Biden’s administration has been under pressure from Democratic and Republican lawmakers, along with immigrant advocates, to provide protections to Ukrainians in the US who can’t return to war-torn Ukraine.

In a letter to President Biden this week, a bipartisan group of senators urged the administration to extend the relief, writing: “Forcing Ukrainian nationals to return to Ukraine in the midst of a war would be inconsistent with America’s values and our national security interests.”

Ukraine joins a list of 12 countries — including South Sudan and Venezuela — that have also been designated for TPS.

In a live CNN interview on Wednesday, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez detailed the importance of granting TPS to Ukraine, telling Jake Tapper:

Before today’s announcement, Menendez closed by telling Tapper he “would expect the administration to ultimately grant TPS. I don’t see how they do not.”

The President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili told CNN’s Jake Tapper that she doesn’t believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is only aiming to take select regions of Ukraine, but that he’s “destroying the whole country.”

She added, ” I heard his declarations today that all of that is moving according to plans, I’m not so sure that it’s according to plans…  He was not planning on the way Ukraine is resisting. He had a mass assault that was very psychological with his forces that were used from all sides. And it has not worked. Of course militarily, he has superiority, which one day or the other will manifest itself. But the determination and the resistance of the Ukrainian people and leadership is really very admirable.”

Georgia is a former Soviet Republic and has recently formally signed an application for membership into the European Union.

Watch whole interview here:

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06:51 - Source: cnn

Russian bombardments are increasing and fighting continues throughout Ukraine, sending people fleeing for safety.

Residential areas around the country have been hit by Russian forces sending more than a million refugees from Ukraine into neighboring countries. The rush of people trying to leave has led to hours-long lines at some of these borders.

The Russian invasion has sparked a need for humanitarian aid. Food and supplies inside the country are becoming increasingly scarce. Organizations are on the ground in Ukraine and neighboring countries to help with shelter, food, water, and additional aid.

You can find out how to help here.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it destroyed a total of 20 Russian military vehicles near the Hostomel Air Base on Thursday.

Videos posted to social media show Ukrainian soldiers walking by damaged and burning vehicles marked with the V sign that suggests they were among Russian forces that came from Belarus. 

The start of the 40+ mile convoy, identified on satellite images, was just north of the Hostomel Air Base.

CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of the videos to an area about five miles away from the Hostomel airfield, which was reported captured by Russian forces on Feb. 24.

The Defense Ministry’s Twitter account says: “In total, during the day, special forces destroyed 20 enemy combat vehicles in Hostomel.”

“The battle is being waged by a combined group of special forces led by the GUR of the Ukrainian defense ministry and local resistance groups,” the tweet said.

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev called on people to stop looting and stealing food supplies Thursday.

The “city needs food and industrial products. This is especially for the most unprotected layers of the population. I appeal to all supermarket owners, big stores, warehouses, food stores, and anyone who finds this message useful. The city is ready to take control of the distribution of your remaining products. We guarantee that it will reach where it is now most expected — hospitals, orphanages, pensioners, needy, families with many children, social categories, etc,” Kolykhaiev said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Yaroslav Kontsevyi, a Kherson resident, tells CNN that Russian occupants have placed checkpoints and sniper points in key places of the city.

Kontsevyi says the Russian occupants are stopping civilian Ukrainian men and asking them if they are going to fight on the Russian or Ukrainian side in case of mobilization.

Former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev has called the war in Ukraine “barbaric” in an interview with CNN on Thursday.  

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Kozyrev said, “It’s a barbaric act. Whether I could imagine it when I was the foreign minister, it was completely out of question.”

“But later on, I started to understand that they are going down the hill, so to say, and they feel impunity, both at home and abroad. And that’s kind of increased the appetite unfortunately, not for building Russia. Now they are destroying the future of all brotherly people with this fratricidal war,” he added.

Kozyrev also said sanctions from the West against Russia “should start to target the decision-makers or executers of those decision-makers in the government. 

He cautioned that sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are “like doing almost nothing — because nothing, I think, is in their names … You can’t find their assets. It’s all [with] other people.”

On Tuesday, Kozyrev took to Twitter calling on all Russian diplomats to resign from their posts in protest of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

Kozyrev was the first foreign minister of Russia under Boris Yeltsin after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The US and Russia have established communications channel where the two sides can notify each other of any potential operations that may be in close proximity to avoid any possible miscalculations near Ukraine.

“The Department of the Defense recently established a deconfliction line with the Russian Ministry of Defense on March 1 for the purposes of preventing miscalculation, military incidents, and escalation,” a senior US defense official said in a statement. “The United States retains a number of channels to discuss critical security issues with the Russians during a contingency or emergency.” 

The communications line is basically an exchange of phone numbers between both sides for quick access. The US side will be run out of the US European Command’s operations center in Stuttgart, Germany, while the Russian side is expected to be coordinated out of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, a second senior defense official said. 

The US had wanted a communications channel because US and Russian troops are now operating on the so-called eastern flank close to Ukraine and Belarus airspace where Russian forces are staging and attacking.

The second official did not know what events would specifically trigger a phone call on either side, but the overall idea is to ensure “we can reduce the risk of miscalculation and potential misunderstanding” given the potential proximity of forces. It was also not immediately clear to what extent NATO aircraft would be included in the agreement. It is also unclear if US and Russian ships are included.               

Air operations are particularly concerned because of the high speed and relatively short distances at which encounters could occur given Russian aircraft are operating close to the areas where US troops are in Poland, Romania and the Baltic nations.    

The establishment of the agreement is particularly noteworthy because until now Pentagon officials have said they have not had any direct communications with Russian counterparts since the invasion. 

There had been an effort to establish the communications line since late last month. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last spoke with Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu on Feb.18. The two also spoke one week earlier. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley last spoke to the Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov on Feb. 11.

The US has specifically rejected a no-fly zone over Ukraine saying it would put US pilots into a combat scenario in order to enforce such a plan. But the door is not shut on a potential future air humanitarian corridor to guarantee safe flight of relief supplies hostilities cease, officials say.

More back ground: A deconfliction protocol has existed for several years between US and Russian forces in Syria. For the most part it has worked, although US officials have complained on several occasions the Russians have not given enough advance warning of their operations. The US does not give Russia detailed information but did notify them recently when US aircraft would be operating in a broad area northeast Syria. 

NBC News first reported the establishment of the deconfliction channel. 

The coronavirus pandemic drove global supply chains to the breaking point, causing shortages and sending prices skyrocketing. Just as the pandemic has calmed down, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to further scramble fragile supply chains. 

Russia is a major producer of commodities, everything from oil and natural gas to palladium and wheat. Ukraine is also a major exporter of wheat as well as neon. The crisis is casting doubt on at least a chunk of those vital supplies.

“The greatest risk facing global supply chains has shifted from the pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine military conflict and the geopolitical and economic uncertainties it has created,” Moody’s Analytics economist Tim Uy wrote in a report on Thursday.

Moody’s warned that the Russia-Ukraine crisis will “only exacerbate the situation for companies in many industries,” especially those reliant on energy resources. 

Europe, in particular, will feel the most pain from the energy price spike because it is dependent on Russia for natural gas. Oil prices have surged worldwide, driving up prices for gasoline and raising the cost outlook for airlines and industries like plastics that use petroleum. 

The Russia-Ukraine crisis could pile further pressure on the worldwide computer chip shortage, which began during Covid and has been at the heart of the spike in new and used car prices.

Moody’s pointed out that Russia supplies 40% of the world’s supply of palladium, a key resource used in the production of semiconductors. Moreover, Moody’s said Ukraine produces 70% of the world’s supply of neon, a gas used in making computer chips. 

“We can expect the global chip shortage to worsen should the military conflict persist,” Uy wrote. 

Neon prices skyrocketed during the 2014-2015 conflict in Ukraine. Even though chip-makers have stockpiled resources, Uy said that inventories can only last for so long.

“If a deal is not brokered in the coming months, expect the chip shortage to get worse,” Uy said, adding that this will pose significant risks to automakers, electronics companies, phone makers and other companies. 

The combination of high energy prices and more pressure on computer chip supply will complicate the inflation picture. Consumer prices soared in January at the fastest pace in nearly 40 years. Although many economists anticipated inflation would cool off significantly later this year, that is now in doubt.

“The near-term effects on the U.S. economy of the invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing war, the sanctions, and of events to come, remain highly uncertain,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress on Wednesday. 

Beyond computer chips, Moody’s pointed out that the Russia-Ukraine crisis has the potential to raise costs in the transportation industry, the most energy-intense of all industries.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent a truckload of Starlink antennas — which can be used to connect to the company’s satellite-based internet service — to Ukraine this week, responding to a plea from the country’s vice prime minister amid fears that Ukrainians could lose internet access if Russia continues its attacks on communication infrastructure.

But using satellite services can be dangerous in wartime, as evidenced by a history of states using satellite signals to geolocate and target enemies, cybersecurity experts told CNN Business.

“If an adversary has a specialized plane aloft, it can detect [a satellite] signal and home in on it,” Nicholas Weaver, a security researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, said via email. “It isn’t necessarily easy, but the Russians have a lot of practice on tracking various signal emitters in Syria and responding. Starlink may work for the moment, but anyone setting a [Starlink] dish up in Ukraine needs to consider it as a potential giant target.”

In short: “It may be useful, but for safety’s sake you don’t want to set it (or really any distinctive emitter) up in Ukraine anywhere close to where you would not want a Russian bomb dropping,” Weaver said.

It’s not clear how many Starlink terminals SpaceX sent to Ukraine, nor is it clear how the Ukrainian government plans to use or distribute them.

SpaceX’s foray into aiding Ukraine began when the country’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, issued a public plea to Musk on Twitter last weekend, saying, “while you try to colonize Mars – Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space – Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.” It was one in a string of tweets Fedorov directed at various US-based tech figureheads, imploring them to take action on Ukraine’s behalf.

Musk responded with offers to help, announced that the Starlink network was now activated in Ukraine, and, this week, a truckload of user terminals — which are required to give users access to the satellite-based internet service — arrived.

On Wednesday, he shared a photo of what appeared to be an active Starlink antenna at work.

The majority of the country still has access to their normal, Earth-based internet connections, despite attacks on other communications infrastructure, such as a TV tower in the capitol of Kyiv, by Russians, according to Alp Toker, who heads the internet monitoring firm NetBlocks.

But certain areas have experienced outages, Toker said.

Read the full story:

Starlink satellites will be delivered to orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. (SpaceX/Flicker)

Related article SpaceX sent Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine. Users should be cautious, experts say | CNN Business

A resident from the Ukrainian city of Kherson told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Russian soldiers are in Kherson but insisted that the city is a “Ukrainian city and we want to stay a Ukrainian city.” 

“Our city is… flooded with Russian occupants, but the flag is still Ukrainian and we hope it will stay Ukrainian,” 27-year-old Kherson resident Svetlana Zorina said. “We trust our mayor. We trust our government. We trust our army. We believe in our victory. We are a Ukrainian city, and we want to stay a Ukrainian city,” Zorina said.

Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev said Wednesday in a statement shared on his Facebook page that the Ukrainian military is no longer in the city and that its inhabitants must now carry out the instructions of “armed people who came to the city’s administration” —indicating that the city has now fallen under Russian control. 

British military intelligence released early Thursday noted that “some Russian forces have entered the city of Kherson,” but cautioned that the military situation on the ground “remains unclear.”

In a statement on Thursday, Hennadii Lahuta — the head of the Kherson Regional State Administration — said Russian forces have “completely occupied” the regional state administration building. 

Kherson resident Zorina described to Amanpour the situation on the ground in the city. “We try not to go outside because it’s dangerous. Today, for the first time, I realized to check near a store like a hundred meters from me, if they have some food, but there was nothing because we are surrounded by Russians, and it’s impossible to deliver here food or medicine.”

“So we basically trying to save what we can and we have food supplies, but it will be enough for a couple of weeks,” she said. 

Zorina said that the city’s administration is carrying out tasks despite Russian disinformation. “Our mayor is in contact with us, and city administration is in contact with us. There are Telegram channels. There is a web site of our mayor’s office, and they share information, spread information with us,” she told CNN.

“There is a huge propaganda that Russians tried to spread among Kherson and Ukrainian people, it’s like we want to become a part of Crimea. It’s not true. We don’t want to. The mayor just tells us how the city will function during the next couple of days, that transport will work for people who work in, you know, electric station, water station, et cetera.”

When asked by Amanpour about the Russian presence in the city, Zorina said that Russian soldiers are “not aware why did they come here, what is their goal, and they treat —Russian army treat the soldiers very badly. They are crying… our people are feeding them.” 

Zorina described a grave humanitarian situation in the city as a result of Russian aggression and said that there were a “lot of civilian buildings that were struck… people are sitting in the apartments or basements, and woman — women who are pregnant gave birth to their children in basements.” 

“I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to become a refugee. I want to live in my country. I was born in Kherson. I lived here almost all my life, and I don’t want to change it, and I hope it’s going to be over soon, and Russian army going to leave, occupants are going to leave,” she said.

“I want to live in Ukraine. I’m Ukrainian,” she added.

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, will no longer deliver Russian-made rocket engines to the United States, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on state television, ending a decades-long relationship between US and Russian rocket makers.

“Today we have made a decision to halt the deliveries of rocket engines produced by NPO Energomash to the United States,” Rogozin said, according to the Russian news site TASS. “Let me remind you that these deliveries had been quite intensive somewhere since the mid-1990s.”

TASS reported that the ban will apply to RD-180 engines that power US-based United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V rockets.

But ULA’s CEO Tory Bruno said via Twitter that ULA has already taken delivery of the RD-180s it needs in the near-term, and he does not foresee the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine having any impact on ULA’s operations.

ULA, a private space transport company, is in the process of abandoning its line of Atlas rockets in favor of a new line of rockets, called Vulcan, that will use engines made by Jeff Bezos’ US-based rocket company Blue Origin. It’s not clear when that rocket will be ready to fly.

The ban also applies to RD-181 engines that are used on Northrop Grumman’s Antares rockets, according to Russian state media. Those rockets are used to power uncrewed resupply missions to the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“As of today, there were plans to deliver an additional 12 RD-181 engines in 2022-2024 and talks were also held with the United States on the delivery of RD-181M engines with improved operational characteristics, but we believe that in this situation we can no longer supply the United States with our best engines,” Rogozin said.

The US does have other means of getting cargo to and from the space station. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft are frequently used for that purpose.

All six crew members of an Estonian-owned ship called “HELT” were rescued after the vessel sank off the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa on Thursday.

The ship was hit by “occupier artillery,” the Ukrainian parliament said on its official Twitter account, citing the country’s seaports administration. 

“All 6 crew members are in satisfactory condition,” it added.

The White House announced new sanctions on Russian oligarchs Thursday, in US President Joe Biden’s latest attempt to squeeze Russian President Vladimir Putin as the invasion of Ukraine advances.

The new list of individuals described as “Putin’s cronies and their family members” will be cut off from the US financial system, their assets in the US will be frozen, and their property will be blocked from use, according to a fact sheet from the White House.

There will be full blocking sanctions on eight Russian elites, plus their family members and associates.

It includes a move to target Putin ally Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, “one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals,” according to the White House, and will include his super-yacht and private jet.

The US is also sanctioning Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, whom the White House describes as “a top purveyor of Putin’s propaganda.”

“The United States and governments all over the world will work to identify and freeze the assets Russian elites and their family members hold in our respective jurisdictions – their yachts, luxury apartments, money, and other ill-gotten gains,” the fact sheet said.

The individuals who will be subject to full blocking sanctions are:

The US will also impose visa restrictions on 19 oligarchs and 47 of their family members and close associates, the fact sheet from the White House said.

That will target oligarchs “known to direct, authorize, fund, significantly support, or carry out malign activities in support of Russia’s destabilizing foreign policy.”

And the Department of Treasury will also issue sanctions on disinformation targets. That includes SDN Strategic Culture Foundation and associated outlets Odna Rodyna, Rhythm of Eurasia, and Journal Kamerton; SouthFront; SDN InfoRos; New Eastern Outlook; Oriental Review; United World International; and Geopolitical.

It will also designate “26 Russia and Ukraine-based individuals who play central roles in these organizations, enabling the Government of the Russian Federation’s efforts to spread disinformation and influence perceptions as a part of their invasion of Ukraine.”

Read more about the latest sanctions here.

The Kremlin called the humanitarian agreements reached in Ukraine/Russia second round of talks very important, Russian state news agency RIA reports on Thursday, quoting Kremlin’s pool.

During the talks, delegations from Russia and Ukraine agreed on providing humanitarian corridors for civilians and on a possible temporary ceasefire in areas where evacuation is happening.

But remember: Earlier today, a Ukrainian negotiator said that the second round of talks with Russia didn’t deliver any results that Ukraine needed.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a phone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and he offered to make efforts to mediate talks between Moscow and Kyiv as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine.

Bin Salman said his country supports “efforts that lead to a political solution that leads to its end and achieves security and stability, and that the Kingdom is ready to make efforts to mediate between all parties,” he said in a statement posted on state-run Saudi Press Agency Thursday.

He also addressed energy concerns over the situation in Ukraine, reaffirming his country’s 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.

Saudi Arabia, which counts Russia as its main partner in the OPEC+ alliance, said Tuesday it “supports international de-escalation efforts in Ukraine.” 

According to a Kremlin readout of the call:

“It was stated with satisfaction that the OPEC Plus member countries are consistently fulfilling their obligations, contributing to ensuring stability in the world oil market. Russia and Saudi Arabia will continue to coordinate their approaches within this format.”

“Taking into account the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by a number of Western countries, Vladimir Putin emphasized the inadmissibility of politicizing the issues of global energy supply, and also outlined the fundamental approaches of the Russian side in the context of the ongoing special military operation to protect Donbass,” the readout said.

More background from CNN Business: Russian oil has not been directly targeted by the West’s crushing sanctions on Moscow — so far, at least. In fact, the United States and Europe have gone out of their way to avoid hitting Russia’s fossil fuels.

But the market is taking no chances when it comes to Russian oil. Traders, shippers, insurance companies and banks don’t want to touch it, for fear of running afoul of Western sanctions. 

This means that a considerable amount of Russian oil has been effectively sidelined — precisely what the West didn’t want to happen. Prices for oil and gasoline have skyrocketed.

“The sanctions have led to a de facto ban on Russian oil,” Andy Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, told CNN. 

CNN’s Matt Egan contributed reporting to this post.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that there are no plans for a meeting or call between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “Now is not the moment.”

“We’re not planning a meeting between them or an engagement or a call. The President’s been very, very clear about that. But we’ll have those discussions internally and weigh the range of factors,” Psaki told Collins in Thursday’s briefing. 

Asked if there is any situation in which Biden would sit down with Putin if Russian troops remain in Ukraine, Psaki said, “I can’t make an assessment of that … Right now, they’re invading a sovereign country and continuing to escalate every day. We’re never going to take diplomacy ever off the table but again, now is not the moment for that.”

Psaki also told Collins that the administration has “no assessment” on whether it is moving closer to banning Russian imports. 

Asked what the calculus is in waiting if the White House will ultimately ban Russian imports, Psaki said there is a policy process, adding “sometimes those moves rapidly and often there are a range of factors that are discussed as those decisions are made.” 

Psaki wouldn’t directly answer whether the President believes Russia will ultimately take Kyiv, telling Collins, “That continues to be their aspiration.”

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral development bank based in China, has put all activities related to Russia and Belarus on hold, the AIIB said in the statement. The projects are currently “under review.”

China controls 26% of the voting power of the AIIB, according to the bank’s website. Russia has 6%. China spearheaded the founding of the AIIB to rival the U.S.-based World Bank in 2016. 

The Biden administration is planning to impose new sanctions on Russian oligarchs and members of their families as soon as Thursday, sources familiar with the matter said.

The sanctions are expected to loosely follow a list of oligarchs sanctioned by the European Union earlier this week, though won’t be identical, one person said. A number of the same individuals will be sanctioned by the US.

The US package, however, will be more expansive, including travel bans and targeting family members.

Biden has already applied sanctions to a number of top Russians close to the Kremlin, along with their adult children.

Biden has vowed to go after the “ill begotten gains” of Russian oligarchs, including their private jets, luxury apartments and yachts.

The White House says sanctions on Russian oligarchs are meant to put the squeeze on President Vladimir Putin, and that Thursday’s batch of names won’t be the last.

“We look, one of the big factors, is the proximity to President Putin,” press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked how the US chose who to sanction.

“We want him to feel the squeeze, we want people around him to feel the squeeze,” she said. “I don’t believe this is going to be the last set of oligarchs making them a priority and a focus of our individual sanctions is something the president has been focused on.”

As air raid sirens blared in the small Ukrainian city of Uman, about 125 miles south of the capital Kyiv, families crowded into a makeshift bomb shelter underneath a central synagogue.

Before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last week, the basement of the temple was used as a bathhouse for Jewish worshippers to do their ritual washing — or mivkeh — before prayers.

But now, the Synagogue of the Breslover Hasidim is opening its doors to all locals looking for shelter from the threat of Russian troops. Uman was hit by missile attacks on the first day of the invasion, but has not seen any major fighting yet. Still, the city is on edge, and remaining residents are preparing for the worst.

“We invite all the people, all Ukrainians, all Hasidic people, doesn’t matter who,” said Irina Rybnitskaya, a lawyer for the US-owned foundation that runs the synagogue. “We prepare this place especially for them, in order to hide (when) there is (an) alarm.”

The temporary hideout is lined with wooden benches and has been stocked with mattresses, blankets and hot drinks. The residents have arrived carrying their valuables and bags of clothing, in case they have to camp out for days — or longer — in the shelter.

“It’s safe to be here, that’s why I am here,” said Dasha Borscht, 16, a non-Jewish resident taking refuge in the basement.

The Jewish neighborhood in Uman is normally busy with visitors to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement who died in 1810. Every year in September, the streets turn into a festival scene, with tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims descending on the memorial complex to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

But since Uman came under attack on the first day of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, many residents have fled. Its shops have been left shuttered and streets strewn with litter. Roadblocks run by Ukrainian soldiers now guard the perimeter of the city, with strict document checks for every vehicle passing through.

The Jewish community in the city has dwindled from around 600 members to under less than 60 since the Russian invasion began, according to the synagogue’s lawyer.

“All the people is afraid to be here,” said Yehuda Turgiman, a worshipper at the synagogue. “Stop with the war, stop with the fighting, stop with the hate.”

Those left behind are those who can’t — or won’t — leave their homes, along with some who stay out of religious conviction.

“I didn’t go to Bulgaria, because I believe Rabbi Nachman cares about us, and nobody can do something that God doesn’t want,” said Shula, a worshipper at the synagogue who was born in Israel but has lived in Uman for 21 years. “Putin will not come here, and the soldiers will not come here.”

Other residents have decided to stay in Uman to fight back against the Russians.

Tzvi Arieli, a former soldier with the Israel Defense Forces who has lived in Ukraine for a decade, told CNN that he is helping to train civilians to use weapons and learn basic combat first aid. He said most of them are businessmen, and they have never held a weapon before.

A week ago, taking up arms was unthinkable to most people here. “We don’t have weapons, we don’t want to fight,” Turgiman said.

The threat to Uman and its holy tomb was brought into focus on Tuesday, when a Russian attack on a Kyiv TV tower struck in the vicinity of Babyn Yar shrine — a site of mourning for more than 30,000 Jew massacred there by Nazi killing squads in 1941, one of the worst mass murders of Jews during the Holocaust.

Read more.

The second round of talks between a delegation from Russia and Ukraine in Belarus have ended, the head of Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky told Russian media, and the two sides have agreed on humanitarian corridors for civilians.

“We have thoroughly discussed three points – military, international and humanitarian, and the third one is an issue of a future political regulation of the conflict. Both positions are clear and written down. We managed to agree on some of them, but the key thing that we have reached an agreement on today was a matter of rescuing civilians who found themselves in a military clash zone. Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries agreed on providing humanitarian corridors for civilians and on a possible temporary ceasefire in areas where evacuation is happening,” Medinsky told media.

The talks lasted for two-and-a-half hours. 

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian negotiator on Thursday said that the talks didn’t deliver results that Ukraine needed, but he said there is a “solution only for the organization of humanitarian corridors.”

“The second round of negotiations is over. Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved. There is a solution only for the organization of humanitarian corridors,” senior Ukrainian official  Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet.  

Another member of the Russian delegation, Leonid Slutsky, told Russia 24 that both sides have agreed on the third round of talks, which will happen in the “nearest future.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the war in Ukraine was “going according to plan,” despite defense assessments from other countries.

“The special military operation in Ukraine is going according to plan, in strict accordance with the schedule,” Putin said, using the euphemism the Kremlin uses to describe the invasion of Ukraine.

“All tasks are being successfully being carried out,” Putin said in remarks to his Security Council broadcast on state television.

However, the defense assessments indicate that Russia is facing “stiffer than expected” resistance from the Ukrainian military.

A 40-mile-long convoy of Russian tanks, armored vehicles, and towed artillery that is believed to be readying for an assault on the Ukrainian capital appears to have stalled some 30 kilometers (or about 19 miles) outside Kyiv and has made “little discernible progress” over the past three days, according to the UK’s defense ministry.

In his remarks, Putin praised Russian soldiers for their courage during the invasion. The invasion, though, has been met with more resistance than expected.

Russia has yet to establish air supremacy over Ukraine, a senior US defense official said, as the Ukrainian Air Force and air defense systems fight for control of the airspace.

“Ukrainian air defenses, including aircraft, do continue to be operable and continue to engage and deny access to Russian aircraft in places over the country,” the official said.

In his remarks, the Russian president again repeated the baseless and inaccurate claim that the democratically elected Ukrainian government is a “Nazi” or “fascist” regime. That language has been roundly condemned internationally, especially considering that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish.

European Council President Charles Michel said on Thursday that enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine is a NATO decision, but that it would be “one step too far” with a “real risk of escalation and a real risk of a possible third international war.” 

“The EU is not at war with Russia. The reality is that Russia has launched a savage war against Ukraine. Ukraine is not a NATO member, and that’s why we must be extremely careful and cautious. We need to do everything which is possible, but taking into account that Russia has nuclear weapons, and it is very important to avoid a third international war,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson. 

Michel said that while this was a decision for NATO to make and not the EU, it is important for NATO members to understand that it would be “one step too far.”

“That’s why we are trying to advocate in different fields at the diplomatic level. We are trying to provide more support to Ukraine in order to have a ceasefire as soon as possible, and in order to make sure that we’ll be able to negotiate as soon as possible,” he added. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been calling for NATO and Western allies to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion and aerial bombardment of its cities. So far, that request has not been met. 

Michel said that although NATO is a “backbone for common security in Europe,” European countries need to take on more responsibilities to be able to provide more capabilities on their own in the military field.  

Zelensky has also put in an official request to join the European Union. The EU parliament has since adopted a resolution on Tuesday calling on the European Union institutions “to work towards granting” Ukraine the status of EU candidate country. 

The European Council president told Anderson that Zelensky’s request was “very legitimate” and that the EU would work to asses the request as fast as possible, “in order to remain extremely united in this field,” alluding to some differing views among member states.  

He said in the meantime and short term, he has decided to invite Zelensky to the European Council meetings on a “regular basis” to “cooperate and coordinate politically with Ukraine”. 

Michel also stressed that the West’s strength is in its unity. 

“Mr. Putin has tried to divide the EU and the United States. He failed. Mr. Putin has also tried to demonstrate that we are not able to act. He failed. We were able to take extremely important decisions that target directly the economic sectors in Russia. This is extremely painful, and I feel that Mr. Putin is really surprised by our ability to act and be extremely united and firm,” he said.  

In response to whether Western unity is in fact changing Putin’s calculus on the ground, Michel told Anderson that it gives the impression to Russia’s leader that this will not be a battle between Russia against NATO and the EU, because there is very broad support from the international community against Moscow’s actions. 

“We are not certain it will work, but we are certain that we must try and we must use the tools we have in our possession,” Michel said.  

A small town in the middle of Ukraine has suddenly become a hotspot in the week-old conflict — because it’s home to one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants.    

Two days ago, Russian forces said they controlled the territory around the town of Enerhodar, but on Wednesday a large crowd of workers from the power plant and civilians blocked access to the town, building makeshift barricades of trucks and tires.    

At one point, Russian forces fired close to the crowd, according to geolocated social media videos, injuring at least one man.  

The situation deteriorated further Thursday.  

Thick black smoke rose from the barricades as sirens went off in the town, according to videos CNN has geolocated and authenticated.  

“The sirens are not stopping,” a woman is heard saying in one of the videos. “The column of Russian tanks are trying to fight though the checkpoint, can you hear the fighting, the explosions.” 

The person filming, along with others, retreated from the barricades.  

“This is peacekeeping operation from Russia,” a man said in the video. “This is what it looks like.”   

 “Without warning, whatsoever, they arrived, put everyone down,” a man said, appearing to be talking on the phone with someone. “Stay at home, don’t go anywhere.”  

The mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, painted an increasingly grim picture about the Russian offensive around the town.  

At one point, he posted on Facebook: “The enemy column of military equipment is again actively circling near Enerhodar! We are staying at home for now! In case of an alarm — we all block the entrance to the city.”  

Later, Orlov posted: “The enemy is approaching the city, with weapons, the checkpoint was fired at! Stay at home!!!…The battle continues at the checkpoint. Our guys are resisting and doing their best to keep the enemy from passing.”  

He alleged that shellfire had hit residential buildings in the city, as well as a school, and said that power and water had been cut in some neighborhoods.  

In another video, a man said: “Yesterday we had 5,000 people on the streets in a peaceful protest and today they must be holding talks, but this is happening. The people stood as a human shield for days, even today. Did you see this? The shelling.”  

It’s unclear whether Ukrainian authorities still control the nuclear power plant near the town.  

The Russian Football Union announced Thursday they will file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the decision by FIFA and UEFA to remove the Russian national team from any upcoming international competitions. 

The Russian union claims that global football governing body FIFA and European football governing body UEFA did not have a legal basis when deciding on the removal of Russian teams and that it was not given the right to defend its position. 

“As part of a single lawsuit against two organizations, the RFU will demand the restoration of all men’s and women’s national teams of Russia in all types of football in the tournaments in which they took part (including in the qualifying round of the World Cup in Qatar), as well as compensation for damage, if any will be installed,” the RFU said in a statement.

In the statement, the RFU alleges that FIFA’s decision to withdraw the men’s national team from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers was made under pressure from teams the country would have competed against, which violates the principle of sports and the rules of fair play. 

“If FIFA and UEFA refuse such a procedure, a requirement will be put forward for the introduction of interim measures in the form of suspension of FIFA and UEFA decisions, as well as competitions in which Russian teams were supposed to participate,” the statement said.

More background: On Monday, FIFA and UEFA banned the Russian national football teams along with all professional club teams from international competitions “until further notice” due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision to ban Russia from international competitions was made after FIFA and UEFA came under fire for initially imposing a “blanket ban” on the nation, allowing its athletes to compete under the Russian Football Union name, along with other sanctions. 

With the 2022 World Cup qualifiers scheduled for next month, Poland, Czech Republic and Sweden said they would not play against Russia. Shortly after FIFA’s initial sanctions, Poland and the Czech Republic maintained that they would not play Russia under any circumstances. 

Prior to being banned, Russia was scheduled to host Poland in a playoff semifinal on March 24 at the VTB Arena in Moscow. The winner of that match would host either Sweden or Czech Republic on March 29 in the final of their World Cup qualification route.

A Ukrainian negotiator on Thursday said that a second round of talks with Russia is over but it didn’t deliver any results that Ukraine needed.

“The second round of negotiations is over. Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved. There is a solution only for the organization of humanitarian corridors,” senior Ukrainian official  Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet.  

The United Nations estimates that more than 10 million people may end up fleeing their homes in Ukraine, including four million who may cross the border into neighboring countries, according to a statement.

“Our colleagues tell us that the needs in Ukraine are growing and spreading by the hour. They warn that while the scale and scope of displacement is not yet clear, we expect that more than 10 million people may flee their homes if violence continues, including 4 million people who may cross borders to neighbouring countries,” UN Secretary General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Some essential UN staff have been relocated outside Kyiv, Ukraine, so they may continue delivering humanitarian assistance “with minimum disruption” and also to “reduce risk,” according to the statement, but Dujarric said some staff does remain in the capital of Kyiv.

“Our humanitarian colleagues stress that to scale up our operations, we need safe, unimpeded access to all conflict-affected areas,” Dujarric said.

Quad leaders, including US President Joe Biden, spoke Thursday to “reaffirm their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, in which the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states is respected and countries are free from military, economic, and political coercion,” according to a joint readout of the call.

Along with Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “discussed the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and assessed its broader implications. They agreed to stand up a new humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mechanism which will enable the Quad to meet future humanitarian challenges in the Indo-Pacific and provide a channel for communication as they each address and respond to the crisis in Ukraine,” the readout says.

They also agreed to meet in person in Tokyo “in the coming months.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for NATO to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, stressing on Thursday that this would be the “most important step” as Ukraine faces “incessant bombing” by Russia.

“We want a no-fly zone because our people are being killed. From Belarus, from Russia — these missiles, these Iskander missiles and bomber planes, are coming,” Zelensky said. 

“I asked President Biden, and Scholz and Macron…and I said, if you can’t provide a no-fly zone right now, then tell us when?” 

Speaking during a televised news conference in Kyiv, the Ukrainian president went on to ask how many more people in Ukraine must be killed before NATO agrees to enact a no-fly zone.  

“If you can’t give Ukrainians a date, how long do you need? How many people should be blown up? How many arms and legs and heads should be severed, so that you understand? I will go and count them, and we will wait until we have a sufficient number,” Zelensky said in an impassioned plea. 

“If you don’t have the strength to provide a no-fly zone, then give me planes. Would that not be fair?” he continued.

On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that using US troops to create a no-fly zone in Ukraine is “not a good idea.” Speaking during an interview with MSNBC, Psaki said the implementation of a no-fly zone by the US military “would essentially mean the US military would be shooting down planes, Russian planes.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also said Wednesday that NATO allies “do not seek conflict with Russia,” stressing that NATO is a “defensive alliance.”

The former Soviet republic of Georgia has formally signed an application for membership into the European Union, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said in a statement on the government’s website Thursday, as Ukraine said it was seeking membership to the bloc after Russia’s invasion.

“It is a historic day for Georgia — we are signing an Application for EU Membership on behalf of the country. Application for EU Membership is yet another milestone on the path of European integration of Georgia — it is a stage, which turns a new page in our history and continues the effort of our ancestors, which is aimed at the accession of Georgia into a common European family,” he said. 

Tblisi had been prepared to apply for full EU membership in 2024, according to the European Parliament.

Tbilisi’s application comes two days after its neighbor and fellow former Soviet republic of Ukraine said it was seeking fast-track membership to the bloc. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the EU on Monday to “urgently admit Ukraine” to the bloc.

“We are grateful to partners for standing with us. But our goal is to be with all Europeans and, to be equal to them. I am sure we deserve it. I am sure it is possible,” Zelensky said.

Some background: According to the EU Delegation to Georgia, an agreement was reached for closer political association and economic integration between Georgia and the bloc in 2016. A free trade area between the two was established in 2017, and Georgian citizens have the right to visa-free travel in the Schengen area.  

Georgia has had a contentious relationship with Russia since it gained independence from the Soviet Union almost 30 years ago, with Russia backing two breakaway self-proclaimed republics in Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In 2008, it spiraled into full-blown conflict after South Ossetian separatists attacked Georgian peacekeepers. Georgia sent troops into South Ossetia, and Russia responded with a military incursion into Georgia itself.

A senior US defense official said Thursday that the US is sharing intelligence with Ukraine amid concerns raised by lawmakers that some intelligence has been delayed reaching Ukrainians on the ground.

Both GOP Sens. Ben Sasse and Marco Rubio — the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee — have expressed concerns that intelligence is not moving fast enough, with Sasse saying “we have lawyers delaying the process at way, way too many steps and we shouldn’t let technicalities get in the way of helping them fight back.”

The senior defense official told reporters Thursday that it wasn’t accurate that intelligence was “being held up” by government lawyers. “We continue to provide information and intelligence to Ukraine as we assess would be most helpful. That continues,” the official said.

But asked whether any decisions have been made that the US won’t share certain targeting intelligence with Ukraine because it risks making the US a party to the conflict, the official declined to discuss the specifics of what is being shared.

“What I can tell you is we continue to provide intelligence and information to the Ukrainians, and that’s ongoing,” the official said. “We share with them what we believe can be helpful to them. I’m not going to talk about the vehicles, I’m not going to talk about the parameters of that.”

The official noted that the US no longer has boots on the ground in Ukraine or aircraft flying over the country’s air space, saying the US ability to glean intelligence “is not as robust as it once was.”

“The Ukrainians are on the ground, the Ukrainians are in the fight,” the official said. “And in many cases, in many ways they simply have more contextual information than what we can give them.” 

Russian forces have shown a “willingness to hit civilian infrastructure on purpose,” a senior US defense official told reporters on Thursday. Previously, the official said the US was seeing Russians hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, but it was unclear if it was purposeful or not.

The official said the US can see Russians hitting civilian infrastructure on purpose in their targeting of structures like “media towers and media facilities.” They are also “hitting residential areas,” and, in places like Kyiv and Kharkiv, “hitting government infrastructure.”

“One of the things that we certainly have seen them do in places like Kyiv and Kharkiv is hitting government infrastructure with increasing bombardment, as we’ve watched over the last couple of days, as they’ve gotten somewhat geographically closer to some of these population centers, the bombardments have increased,” the official said. 

“It’s clear they’re trying to weaken the governing structures that are resident in these population centers,” the official added.

US and other Western officials have told CNN that Russia’s strategy in its war on Ukraine is shifting toward a “slow annihilation” of the Ukrainian military, warning that Russia could focus on a bloody and deadly bombardment of cities and civilian targets.

The European Union will grant temporary protection to all refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, according to the bloc’s Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.  

Johansson made the announcement in a tweet Thursday, calling it “a historic decision.” 

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin provided further details on how the protection will be offered in a press release: 

“This device will permit EU member states to offer persons fleeing the conflict in Ukraine a response adapted to their situation. Eligible persons can benefit from a protective status similar to that of refugee, in any EU country for a one-year period which may be reviewed,” according to the statement.  

EU ministers met on Thursday to activate Directive 2001/55/CE, which provides “temporary protection in the case of a massive influx of displaced persons,” according to the press release.  

The French presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission welcomed the decision, saying it “reflected the EU’s full engagement in showing solidarity towards Ukraine and assuming its duty towards victims of this unjustifiable war.” 

“The European Union will continue to do everything to help Ukraine and the victims of the war,” Darmanin stressed.  

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called the EU’s decision “unprecedented.” 

“It will provide protection to millions on the move. We encourage its swift and broad application,” he said in a tweet.  

There have been more than a million Ukrainian refugee arrivals since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, according to the latest update from the UN Refugee Agency.  

Russia’s assault on Ukraine is just a week old, but its consequences have already been catastrophic.

In the seven days since Russian troops invaded their western neighbor, hundreds of people have been reported dead and one million have fled for their lives. Energy prices are skyrocketing, and food prices could be next.

No one can say for sure what will happen in the coming days and weeks, but years of relative peace and stability in Europe have already been ruptured, and should the fighting stretch on for months, the crisis could have even greater ramifications.

What happens to Kyiv? Russian President Vladimir Putin has been very clear about his basic goals in invading: He wants to disarm Ukraine, sever its ties to the NATO military alliance and end the Ukrainian people’s aspirations of joining the West.

He has also said he wants to rid the country of what he calls the “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis that has settled in Kyiv and taken hostage the entire Ukrainian people,” a baseless and highly-charged reference to Ukraine’s democratically-elected government and its Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russian forces are encircling the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in an apparent push to topple the government, and a 40-mile-long military convoy is edging toward the city, which has been targeted by multiple rocket and missile attacks in recent days.

Zelensky has vowed to keep fighting, but he is under no illusions that Putin’s forces “want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state.”

Should those forces take the capital, Ukraine does have other politicians who might be eager to fill the ranks of a pro-Russian puppet regime.

One of Putin’s top allies in Ukraine is Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent politician and oligarch. He faces allegations of treason in Ukraine and has been under house arrest, but his exact whereabouts are unclear.

Territorial goals: Russian forces are also waging campaigns far from Kyiv, attempting to take control of key cities in Ukraine’s south and southeast, including Kherson.

The mayor of Kherson effectively admitted that Ukrainian forces had ceded control of the city on Wednesday, saying in a statement on his Facebook page that residents would have to accept the direction of “armed people who came to the city’s administration” — in other words, Russian forces.

One former NATO commander told CNN: “It is quite clear that Putin is pushing for a land corridor to Crimea.” Richard Shirreff, NATO’s former deputy supreme allied commander for Europe, said the land corridor was “an obvious objective.”

“He’s had Crimea in the Russian Federation since 2014, he’s only been able to supply it across the Kerch Strait bridge, and so of course he’s looking to establish that land corridor down off the Sea of Azov,” Shirreff added.

If Russian forces capture the port city of Odessa, it is possible to imagine Moscow creating a land bridge extending all the way across southern Ukraine, potentially even linking Transnistria — a separatist enclave in Moldova, where Russian troops are stationed — to Odessa, Crimea and southern and eastern Ukraine.

Read the full analysis here.

The United Kingdom will not let legal threats hinder its ability to sanction Russian oligarchs, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned on Thursday. 

“I’m very clear that legal threats will have no impact on our ability to sanction oligarchs,” Truss told reporters in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. 

The UK is “absolutely determined” to sanction Russian oligarchs, the foreign secretary stressed, adding that it is working through “a further list” of oligarchs to sanction. 

Britain is also focused on “cutting off funding for Putin’s war machine,” particularly the oil and gas sectors, she added. 

To achieve this, the UK will work “in coordination” with its allies “to reduce dependency on Russian gas and oil,” she said.  

Russia has moved 90% of its “pre-staged combat power” into Ukraine, according to a senior US defense official, with increasingly heavy bombardment against the cities of Kyiv, Cherniv, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

The official said that while Russian forces are “largely stalled” in northern Ukraine, “that doesn’t mean that they aren’t making any progress.”

Russian forces are now “just outside” Kharkiv, though they remain stalled to the north and northeast of Cherniv, according to the official.

The official also said that the US cannot independently verify that the city of Kherson has fallen under Russian control.

Mariupol is still under Ukrainian control, according to the official, but Russian forces are advancing on the city from the north and from the coastline with the apparent intention of isolating it.

The official said that there have been no “appreciable” moves by Russia, naval or otherwise, on the city of Odessa.

While the US assessed that Russia had moved 90% of its combat power that had been prepositioned outside of Ukraine into the country, Russia is not “running out of juice” and still has “the vast, vast majority of their total combat power” available, the official said.

The US still believes a large Russian military convoy headed toward Kyiv is “stalled,” a senior US defense official told reporters on Thursday.

The official said the US has “no reason to doubt Ukrainian claims” that they have “contributed” to the convoy being stalled by attacking it, the official said. 

“We still assess that the convoy that everybody’s been focused on is stalled. We have no reason to doubt Ukrainian claims that they have, that they have contributed to it being stalled by attacking it,” the official said.

More background: For days, residents of Kyiv had been bracing themselves for a 40-mile-long convoy of Russian tanks, armored vehicles and towed artillery to arrive for an assault on the Ukrainian capital.

On Thursday, the UK’s defense ministry said the convoy appears to have stalled some 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) outside Kyiv and has made “little discernible progress” over the past three days, citing intelligence.

Read more about the convoy here.

CNN’s Luke McGee contributed reporting to this post.

Russia has launched “more than 480” missiles of “all sizes and stripes” on Ukraine since the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine, a senior US defense official said on Thursday.

The invasion is in its eighth day. 

“More than 230” of that 480 total are “coming from inside Ukraine,” the official said. “They have mobile systems, they’re moving them inside,” the official added. 

The next biggest chunk of missiles are coming from Russia, “about 160 from Russia” and about 70 are coming from Belarus, and a very small number — less than 10 — are coming from the Black Sea, the official added. 

While the airspace over Ukraine “remains contested,” the US assesses that Ukrainian “air and missile defense systems remain intact” and “remain effective,” the official said. 

“They continue to be able to fly their airplanes and to employ air defense assets,” the official added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that he will continue military operations in Ukraine during a 90-minute call initiated by Putin, an Élysée Palace source told reporters at a briefing on Thursday.

“This conversation is unfortunately an occasion to hear that President Putin will continue military interventions and to go all the way,” according to the Élysée source.
“[The call] allowed the President of the Republic to return to the disagreements we have with Russia, to plead for the diplomatic alternative to military operations, to tell the truth to President Putin about the way we see his war in Ukraine but also the consequences it will have for Russia in the long term,” the source continued.

The Élysée source said “the worst is yet to come” in Ukraine following Macron’s phone call with Putin.

“Without making a prediction, we should expect the worst is yet to come. The (French) president said so yesterday as well. There is nothing in what Putin said today that should reassure us,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Russian state news agency TASS said Putin and Macron had “a frank exchange of views on the situation around Ukraine,” the Kremlin’s press service said Thursday.

A Kremlin pool report from the Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti said the discussion was difficult, with Putin alleging the Ukraine had carried out a “seven-year sabotage” of the Minsk agreements, a peace process that was definitely ended by the Russian government in its recent recognition of two separatist republics in Ukraine’s east.

The two sides agreed to keep the door of dialogue open, according to both the Russians and the French.

RIA’s report added that Putin warned the West that if Russian-Ukrainian negotiations drag on, then Moscow will have new demands on Kyiv, and that the tasks of the “special military operation” — Russia’s euphemism for its war in Ukraine — would be carried out in any case. 

According to the Élysée source, Putin also denied having bombarded Kyiv and warned that the situation will worsen, but it’s the fault of Ukraine.

In response, Macron warned Putin that he is making a huge mistake, according to the source. Macron reiterated that Moscow’s demands of neutralizing and disarming Ukraine are unacceptable, and the responsibility of this conflict falls entirely on Putin.

But Macron also said that there is still time for diplomacy and dialogue to address Russia’s concerns and include Russia’s interests; however, the discussion can’t happen “under Russian control” and had to be organized by international partners, according to the source.

Macron also asked Putin to respect the Ukrainian president, his family, relatives, state officials and elected representatives, according to the source.

After his call with Putin, Macron spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Biden administration is planning to impose new sanctions on Russian oligarchs and members of their families as soon as Thursday, sources familiar with the matter said.

The sanctions are expected to loosely follow a list of oligarchs sanctioned by the European Union earlier this week, though won’t be identical, one person said.

A number of the same individuals will be sanctioned by the US.

The US package, however, will be more expansive, including travel bans and targeting family members.

US President Joe Biden has already applied sanctions to a number of top Russians close to the Kremlin, along with their adult children.

Biden has vowed to go after the “ill-begotten gains” of Russian oligarchs, including their private jets, luxury apartments and yachts.

The US ambassador to the United Nations said a “grim milestone” has been reached in Vladimir Putin’s “war of choice against Ukraine,” marking that over 1 million people have left the war torn country as “civilian casualties and death tolls mount.”

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield reiterated US support for Ukraine and actions the US has taken including deploying experts to bolster the international and humanitarian response, and supporting the frontline countries of Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.

“The world demands that Russia abide by international humanitarian law,” which prohibits the targeting of civilians and critical infrastructure, she said in a statement Thursday.

“Ultimately, it is up to Putin to stop this humanitarian catastrophe by ending this war and ceasing these unconscionable attacks against the people of Ukraine,” the statement continued.

Watch how 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine:

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02:18 - Source: cnn

In an extraordinary measure, Canada announced Thursday it would fast-track Ukrainian applications for both temporary and permanent residency status with full access to work and study programs, as well as family reunification applications.

“Canada is ready to welcome Ukrainians fleeing Vladimir Putin’s war, and there is no limit to the number of applications that we are going to be willing to accept,” said Sean Fraser, Canada’s immigration minister, at a news briefing in Ottawa.

Canada is home to the world’s largest Ukrainian diaspora after Russia, with more than a million Canadians who claim Ukrainian heritage. 

One of them is Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, who says she is proud of Ukrainians and how they are resisting the Russian onslaught, but has a sobering prediction for what lies ahead for them. 

“There is every reason to believe it is going to get worse, and a lot more people are going to die and we as Canadians need to brace ourselves for that. It’s already been a bloodbath, I think it’s going to be become more of a bloodbath,” said Freeland, adding that Russian soldiers fighting against their will are also casualties of this conflict.

Canada also said it will revoke “most-favored nation” status for both Russia and Belarus. It means imports from those countries will now automatically face a 35% tariff. Freeland said Canada was one of the first nations to take that step and encouraged allies to do the same.

Canada also announced it has sent more shipments of lethal military aid to Ukraine, including rocket launchers. 

Germany must freeze assets of Russian oligarchs immediately as part of sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine,German Economy Minister Robert Habeck urged on Thursday.

”The assets of oligarchs must be frozen immediately and I assume that the relevant agencies of the federal government will take the necessary steps,” Habeck told reporters in Berlin following talks with German business leaders. 

The process of freezing the assets of Russian billionaires in Germany would involve the finance and justice ministries of Germany as well as the chancellery, he added. 

More context: Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Western governments have sought to freeze the oligarchs’ overseas assets along with Putin’s, as well as prevent them from traveling.

The goal is two-pronged: Sanctions act as both a punishment for Russia’s ruling class and a cudgel to try to force Putin to back down.

Yesterday, the US Justice Department said it is launching a special unit to help enforce sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs, targeting their yachts, jets, real estate and other assets.

CNN’s Evan Perez contributed reporting to this post.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said Thursday it was banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, which begin on Friday.

“At the IPC we are very firm believers that sport and politics should not mix. However, by no fault of its own the war has now come to these Games and behind the scenes many Governments are having an influence on our cherished event,” IPC President Andrew Parsons said in a statement.

Russia is preparing to file a lawsuit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following the decision, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday.

“We are currently in work to establish our legal position to file lawsuits on the protection of our athletes’ rights, against the discrimination of athletes based on their ethnicity and the use of sports as a tool of a political pressure,” Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said, according to TASS. 

Parsons said the IPC’s decision was also a matter of safety and security, with the situation in the athletes’ village becoming “untenable” as tensions escalate, he said.

He said Paralympic committees from multiple countries had threatened not to compete, and that if Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to take part, “nations will likely withdraw” and “we will likely not have a viable Games.”

“To the Para athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of your governments’ actions,” he said.

The decision comes less than a day after the IPC initially permitted athletes from both countries to compete as neutrals under the Paralympic flag and the Paralympic anthem. It will affect 83 athletes from the two countries, Parsons said.

According to TASS, Matytsin said: “It is extremely inadmissible to put in action any type of sanctions in regard to Paralympians, who have already arrived for the tournament.”

Matytsin said he wanted CAS to consider the matter before Friday’s opening ceremony, TASS said.

Talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations have begun at an undisclosed location on Ukraine’s border.

A short video clip showed the Ukrainian delegation entering a conference room where the Russian delegation was seated. The two teams shook hands before sitting down to begin their talks. 

This is the second round of talks.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also tweeted, “Start talking to Russian representatives. The key issues on the agenda:

1. Immediate ceasefire
2. Armistice
3. Humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from destroyed or constantly shelled villages/cities.”

Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova accused the Russian Federation on Thursday of engaging in acts that amount to war crimes, adding that Russian forces in Ukraine have carried out “blatant violations” of human rights. 

“Recent events clearly point to the fact that the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine carry out the most blatant violations and abuses of human rights, systematically engaging in acts that clearly amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Dzhaparova said. 

“Russian bombs are destroying the cities and villages of my homeland, targeting residential areas, schools, orphanages, hospitals, churches, museums, TV towers, central squares and critical infrastructure,” she added. 

Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council via video link, Dzhaparova called on the UN to hold the Russian Federation to account for its invasion of Ukraine and ongoing military aggression. 

“We believe the Human Rights Council has a leading role to play in uniting efforts for ensuring the accountability of Russia for its crimes against my country,” the deputy foreign minister told the council. 

“This is the very moment of truth, not only for my country that is fighting for its survival, but for the whole international human rights system and its fundamental institutions, and for those who were entrusted to promote human rights as members of this council,” she said. 

More context: US President Joe Biden has said it is evident civilians are being targeted by Russia, echoing an accusation made by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are dropping munitions on innocent people.

Unlike Johnson, however, Biden stopped short of labeling Russia’s actions a war crime. “We are following it very closely,” Biden said. “It’s too early to say that.”

Russia routinely denies targeting civilians in Ukraine; however, international media and observers have extensively documented civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, the UN confirmed at least 752 civilian casualties, including 227 killed, by Tuesday night. However, accounts of civilian death tolls have varied greatly across different authorities and agencies. CNN cannot independently verify the number of deaths.

Speaking on Thursday, Dzhaparova said Russia holds itself “above international law and above the rules-based order,” but noted that Ukraine “is resisting” Russian military aggression.

“Our international coalition is strengthening every day,” she added. “In this extraordinary moment, we must stand together to ensure accountability.”

Sergiy Stakhovsky, a former Ukrainian tennis pro who left his family to go fight Russia, said he decided to go back to his country because he “would like it to still be on a map.”

Stakhovsky and his wife did not tell their three young children where he was going, but he said he thinks they may figure it out.

“It was not an easy decision. … If I would stay home, I would feel guilt that I didn’t come back. And now that I’m here, I feel guilty that I left them at home,” he told CNN from Kyiv.

Stakhovsky beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2013.

“I was born here, my grandparents are buried here. And I would like to have a history to tell to my kids. If I would stay home and Ukraine would fail, then there would be no Ukraine, not even in the history books,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “lies would be transformed into history books,” he said. “The modern history of Ukraine would be nonexistent.”

He said he has had a basic military training class and that “people like me will be the last resort,” but he is also in good health.

When asked if he’d be willing to sacrifice his life for his country, he said:

“This is a question which I don’t have an answer to. I’m not sure that there is one individual who is ready to tell you now whether he’s ready to sacrifice his life. I want to see my kids, that’s for sure. I want to see my wife. That’s my goal. But in a given moment, nobody knows what’s happening.”

Watch the interview:

The reservation system that is the backbone of airlines worldwide says it has terminated its agreement with Russia’s government-owned carrier, which could significantly hamper domestic travel.  

The technology company Sabre says Aeroflot has been removed from its global distribution system, meaning the airline will not be shown in its “marketplace used by travel agencies, travel websites and corporations around the world to shop, book and service flight reservations.”

The move is the latest significant measure against Russian aviation industry after the western world closed airspace to Russian aircraft. Earlier this week, Boeing and Airbus said they would no longer do business with Russian customers. Last week, Delta Air Lines ended its codeshare booking agreement with Aeroflot.

“Sabre has been monitoring the evolving situation in Ukraine with increasing concern,” said Sabre CEO Sean Menke in a statement. “We are taking a stand against this military conflict.”

As US President Joe Biden collects his Cabinet for a meeting today in Washington, DC, the officials sitting around the table will provide a good illustration of how widely the Ukraine crisis is being dealt with in the Biden administration.

Nearly every agency or department represented has played some type of role, a rare example of the tired phrase “whole of government” actually being true.

Around the table today will be:

And while Secretary of State Antony Blinken is not expected to attend, his absence is because he is traveling to Europe for meetings today with NATO allies.

The situation in the city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine “remains difficult,” a spokesperson of the Ukrainian National Guard told CNN Thursday, stressing however that the military “is not going to surrender the city.” 

“The Ukrainian military is not going to surrender the city and will strike at the occupying forces. The military will also continue to destroy enemy sabotage groups on the outskirts of Mariupol,” the official continued.

Where things stand in the city: According to the spokesperson, Russian forces have been “constantly bombing” the city, with the objective of destroying infrastructure — including the city’s rail network. 

“Shelling is taking place even in the direction of residential buildings, schools and kindergartens,” the spokesperson told CNN. 

Earlier on Thursday, the city’s Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov said during an interview on CNN’s New Day that Mariupol had faced 26 hours of continued shelling, describing the situation as “critical.”

It’s mid-afternoon in Kyiv, seven days after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Here are today’s latest developments:

Volkswagen is stopping production of vehicles in Russia and will suspend exports to the Russian market.

“The Volkswagen Group has received the news about the war in Ukraine with great dismay and shock. Volkswagen continues to hope for a cessation of hostilities and a return to diplomacy. We are convinced that a sustainable solution to the conflict can only be found on the basis of international law,” the carmaker said.

“Against the background of the Russian attack on Ukraine and the resulting consequences, the Group Board of Management of Volkswagen AG has decided to stop the production of vehicles in Russia until further notice. This decision applies to the Russian production sites in Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod,” it added, noting that vehicle exports to Russia will be stopped “with immediate effect.”

Other car makers, including Ford and Renault, have also paused production in Russia. Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo said they are stopping shipments to Russia until further notice.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs warned Thursday against calls for unauthorized protests against the war in Ukraine and said it has introduced “extra measures to ensure law and order,” Russian state news agency TASS reported. 

The ministry warned that all attempts to carry out unsanctioned actions will be stopped, and their organizers and participants will be prosecuted, TASS said.

OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group that tracks detentions in Russia, says over 7,500 people have been arrested in anti-war protests over the past week. 

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.

The White House has asked lawmakers to approve $10 billion in lethal and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as part of a $32.5 billion emergency funding request sent to Capitol Hill as Russia continues its advance on Ukraine.

The request follows weeks of discussions between White House officials and lawmaker about the shape of any potential emergency request, which was expected to focus heavily on Covid-19 needs. But the escalating Russian invasion has dramatically increased the size of the request for Ukraine specifically.

Lawmakers are in the midst of negotiations over a long-term funding deal and face a March 11 deadline to reach an agreement.

The Ukraine funds are expected to be attached to any final deal, but the process remains fluid.

“This request identifies an immediate need for $10.0 billion in additional humanitarian, security, and economic assistance for Ukraine and Central European partners due to Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked invasion,” the formal request sent Wednesday from acting Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young to Congressional leadership says. 

Young suggested the initial $10 billion request for Ukraine would address “immediate needs” and more funding could be needed.

“Given the rapidly evolving situation in Ukraine, I anticipate that additional needs may arise over time. This funding request is based on the Administration’s best information on resource requirements at this time, and we will remain in touch with the Congress in the coming weeks and months as we assess resource requirements beyond these immediate needs,” she said. 

More on the funding request: The detailed request provides $4.8 billion to the Department of Defense, including $1.8 billion for support in the region as US military units support the US European Command and NATO Response Force, $1.3 billion for cybersecurity and other defense support, and $1.8 billion for replenishment of DOD stocks. It also calls for $5 billion for the Department of State and US Agency for International Development (USAID), including $2.8 billion in humanitarian assistance like food and other support, $500 million in military assistance through the Foreign Military Financing program, and $1.8 billion in economic assistance to help “support continuity of government and the resilience of the Ukrainian people, as well as emergent needs in the region.”  

The request also provides $21 million for the Department of Commerce to bolster export controls, $30 million for the Department of Energy to provide “technical assistance for electric grid integration,” $59 million for the Department of Justice to support a newly-announced Task Force KleptoCapture to enforce sanctions on Russia and other funding for the Multinational Task Force, and $91 million for the Department of Treasury for sanctions support and IRS criminal investigations, among other expenditures.

US President Joe Biden will convene his Cabinet Thursday afternoon for a meeting that is expected to focus much more heavily on foreign policy than usual, officials told CNN.

At 2 p.m. ET Thursday, Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with top aides in the Cabinet room as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold.

The White House said this morning that the President will also hold a secure video call in the Situation Room at 9 a.m. ET with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan “to discuss the war against Ukraine and its implications for the Indo-Pacific.” It is closed to press.

What we expect to happen in today’s Cabinet meeting: The President is set to make brief remarks at the top of the meeting on the latest developments in Ukraine, White House officials said. He last convened a Cabinet meeting in November, which was focused on infrastructure.

Biden has remained highly focused this week on the invasion as Ukraine’s cities have continued to be attacked by Russian forces, dedicating a large portion of Tuesday’s State of the Union address to the conflict.

The US and allies have issued a wide range of actions in recent weeks intended to punish Moscow for the invasion.

During his address to Congress, the President announced that the US would join other countries in banning Russia’s aircraft from US airspace and that the US and its allies had agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from their reserves. And after Biden told Russian oligarchs during the speech that the US was “coming for you,” an official told CNN the Treasury Department is preparing further sanctions on more oligarchs and could impose those in the coming days. The sanctions are still being finalized, the official said.

Read more about the Cabinet meeting here.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen reiterated the European Union’s support for Ukraine membership, saying “there is no doubt that these brave people who defend our values with their lives belong in the European family.” 

Von Der Leyen said the bloc can provide Ukrainian refugees with protection, residency, access to work and to housing, adding that it is “not only an act of compassion in times of war, this is also our duty as Europeans.” 

At least one million refugees have fled Ukraine in the week since the invasion began and “crossed our borders,” she said.

In a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Von Der Leyen announced the creation of a “civil protection hub for Ukraine” based in Romania to assist with humanitarian needs.

She also addressed the long lines of people at the Polish border saying they “have issued guidelines for border management. This is to simplify formalities at the border and thus enable people to get a shelter more rapidly.”

Von der Leyen said “we are providing humanitarian support to deal with the consequences of this war” and “will deploy at least 500 million euros from the EU budget in humanitarian assistance and of course more will come. As we need to brace for devastating consequences of this atrocious war.”

On sanctions: She stated that the EU’s “aim is to cut off the Kremlin’s capacity to wage war on its neighbors and warned of “additional steps if the situation deteriorates on the ground.” 

The EU is preparing in case of “retaliation,” by Russia, by working to diversify its energy supplies, she said. Von der Leyen also announced plans to connect Ukraine to the European electricity grid. “We are in this together and we will accompany Ukraine in this process with determination, with unity and with solidarity.” 

“We will always remember the determination and bravery of the people of Ukraine. They are an inspiration to all of us,” she said before adding “Our focus is on ending this war.”

For days, residents of Kyiv had been bracing themselves for a 40-mile-long convoy of Russian tanks, armored vehicles, and towed artillery to arrive for an assault on the Ukrainian capital.

Days later, they’re still waiting.

On Thursday, the UK’s defense ministry said the convoy appears to have stalled some 30 kilometers (19 miles) outside Kyiv and has made “little discernible progress” over the past three days, citing intelligence.

“The main body of the large Rusian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30km from the center of the city, having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion. The column has made little discernible progress in over three days,” the UK statement said.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday night that while the convoy and Russia’s broader push towards Kyiv “remains stalled,” there was a significant concern “that maybe the window is closing to be able to get aid into cities that may become under siege.”

A senior US defense official told reporters on that although the convoy is suffering shortages of fuel and food, the US has assessed that the Russians “will again learn from these missteps and these stumbles and will try to overcome them.”

The convoy’s stalled progress could create multiple strategic problems for Russia.

Read the full story here.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are set to meet for a second round of talks in Belarus today, after a Ukrainian presidential adviser confirmed that their representatives were on the way.

Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that the Ukrainian delegation was traveling to the meeting point after Russian officials said they would take place on Thursday. 

“En route to talks with Russian Federation. Already in helicopters. We will start in couple of hours,” tweeted Podolyak alongside a photo of himself with David David Arakhamia, a senior official of the governing party. Arakhamia said in a Facebook post that talks are expected to begin around 9 a.m. ET.

“The talks will take place,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier in a video conference.

Lavrov claimed — without evidence — that the Ukrainian side had deliberately delayed their arrival, and suggested that the Ukraine is a puppet state of the United States.

Also on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a Russian delegation was in Belarus waiting for their Ukrainian counterparts.

“Our delegation was in place last night. It was expecting Ukrainian negotiators last night, all night, then in the morning. They are still waiting,” he said. “

“But as you know, the talks have not started. Ukrainian negotiators are clearly in no hurry. Let’s hope they arrive today,” added Peskov.

Delegations from both countries were due to meet Wednesday for a second round of talks.

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

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, according to a statement tweeted by the Office of the Cambodian Prime Minister. 

“The Foreign Ministers of ASEAN are deeply troubled by the intensifying gravity of the situation and ensuing worsening humanitarian conditions resulting from the ongoing military hostilities in Ukraine,” the statement said. 

“We therefore, call for an immediate ceasefire or armistice and continuation of political dialogues that would lead to sustainable peace in Ukraine,” it said, adding that a ceasefire would create an “enabling environment for negotiations” and “avoid expanding suffering of innocent people.”

“There is still room for a peaceful dialogue to prevent the situation from getting out of control and halt the growing number of civilian and military losses and casualties,” it added. 

The statement said ASEAN “stands ready to facilitate, in any way possible, peaceful dialogue among parties concerned.”

ASEAN is comprised of 10 Southeast Asian states, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

IKEA is temporarily pausing operations in Russia and Belarus, the company said in a press release Thursday.

“The war has a huge human impact already. It is also resulting in serious disruptions to supply chain and trading conditions. For all of these reasons, the company groups have decided to temporarily pause IKEA operations in Russia,” it said.

IKEA said it has decided to pause all exports and imports in and out of Russia and Belarus and to stop all IKEA retail and industry operations in Russia. IKEA has 17 stores in the country.

“These decisions have a direct impact on 15 000 IKEA co-workers. The ambitions of the company groups are long term and we have secured employment and income stability for the immediate future and provide support to them and their families in the region,” according to the statement.

IKEA also announced “an immediate donation of €20 million for humanitarian assistance to those who have been forcibly displaced as a result of the conflict in Ukraine,” in response to an emergency appeal from the UN refugee agency.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in expressed his condolences for the lives lost and “respect” for the “courage and sacrifice” of the Ukrainian people during a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Moon delivered his “deepest condolences for the lost lives and to the bereaved families,” Moon’s spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee said in a statement after the call, which lasted around 30 minutes.

Park said Moon “expressed respect” to the Ukrainian people and President Zelensky for their “courage and sacrifice.”

During the call, Zelensky requested South Korea to provide “available support” for the country to defend itself against Russia’s invasion, according to the presidential Blue House.

Moon said that South Korea would provide $10 million in humanitarian aid.

He said he hopes “Ukraine will return to peace and stability as soon as possible,” adding that “South Korea will be with Ukrainians.”

A resident from the Ukrainian city of Kherson told Thursday that there had been chaos and panic in the city as residents tried to get basic necessities amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. 

According to the local resident, the town is suffering a severe lack of food and medicine — particularly insulin — with pharmacies being looted. 

The local resident also claimed that there had been a significant amount of looting by Russian troops, and said that Russian soldiers had been seen arresting men. 

Kherson’s Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev said Wednesday in a statement shared on his Facebook page that the Ukrainian military is no longer in the city and that its inhabitants must now carry out the instructions of “armed people who came to the city’s administration” – indicating that the city has now fallen under Russian control.  

British military intelligence released early Thursday noted that “some Russian forces have entered the city of Kherson,” but cautioned that the military situation on the ground “remains unclear.” 

In a statement on Thursday, Hennadii Lahuta, the head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, said Russian forces have “completely occupied” the regional state administration building. 

“We have not given up our responsibilities. The regional operational headquarters, which I lead, continues its work and addresses issues to help residents of the region. We are waiting for humanitarian aid,” Lahuta added.  

Speaking to CNN, the Kherson resident said some locals had approached Russian soldiers in the city, who told them that they were from the Russian city of Voronezh and doubted they would leave the city alive. 

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country will sanction Russian oligarchs and Belarusian officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko, over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In a press conference Thursday, Kishida said Japan would freeze oligarchs’ assets, following Sunday’s decision to suspend the financial assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other key government officials. 

Japan will also ban financial transactions with seven major Russian banks, in addition to restricting transactions with the Russian Central Bank and tightening controls on exports of internationally controlled items and semiconductors.  

“We, along with Western countries, have taken the necessary domestic measures today to isolate Russia from the international financial system and the global economy,” Kishida told reporters Thursday. 

Japan will also impose sanctions on Belarus, including President Lukashenko and high-ranking officials, for the country’s support of Russia’s military aggression, Kishida announced, condemning Belarus for allowing Russian troops to enter Ukraine through its territory.

The United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have already levied sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities for the country’s involvement in Russia’s aggression.

The mayor of the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, Vadym Boichenko, says the Russian military are creating a “humanitarian catastrophe” in the city.

In a post on his Telegram account Thursday, the mayor said:

“They are blocking the supply and repair of electricity, water and heat. They have also damaged the railways. They have destroyed bridges and smashed trains so that we can’t evacuate women, children and the elderly out of Mariupol.”

Russia is stopping food supplies, “blocking us like in former Leningrad [in the Second World War], deliberately destroying the city’s critical life-support infrastructure for seven days,” said the mayor, who added that the city had no light, water or heat. 

“We are working with international institutions to create a ‘green corridor’ for the humanitarian mission. We are working to ensure ceasefire to restore electricity,” said Boichenko.

“We are being destroyed as a nation. This is the genocide of the Ukrainian people. These hypocrites came to ‘save’ Russian-speaking citizens of Mariupol and the region,” continued the mayor. “But they arranged the extermination of Ukrainians – Mariupol residents of Russian, Ukrainian, Greek and other origins.”

The first foreign fighters have arrived in Ukraine to help defend the country against the Russian invasion, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Ukraine is already greeting foreign volunteers. (The) first 16,000 are already on their way to protect freedom and life for us, and for all,” he said in a video address posted on Facebook Thursday.

The Ukrainian government has called for people around the world to join the fight against Russia.

But governments such as the US and UK have instructed citizens otherwise, while sending help in the form of weapons, aid and sanctions. Zelensky did not specify where the fighters have come from. 

He also praised allies for sending weaponry to Ukraine, saying it receives new “ammunition daily from our partners, from true friends. Every day we have more and more powerful weapons.”

Zelensky announced a plan to rebuild the country after the war, saying a program has been set up to assist Ukrainians who have lost jobs and promised that all pensions will be paid.

“Ukrainians in all regions burnt by war are receiving everything necessary. Coordinating headquarters are working in full, real humanitarian cargos are on their way,” he said.

Western allies must maintain their attempts to curb Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ensure that no Russian bank has access to the SWIFT bank messaging system, said UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

“It’s vital that we keep our foot on the gas. [The United Kingdom] has worked with the US, EU and G7 to cut off funding for Putin’s war machine, kicking Russian banks out of the financial system, we’ve shut our airspace to Russian planes and we’re fast-forwarding sanctions against Russian oligarchs. But we need to go further,” said Truss on Thursday.

“We need to make sure no Russian bank has access to SWIFT and we need to go further on reducing dependency on hydrocarbons from Russia including oil, gas and coal,” Truss said, speaking alongside her Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian counterparts.in Vilnius, Lithuania.

On Wednesday seven Russian banks were removed from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a key messaging service that connects financial institutions around the world.

Truss said she will raise the extending the block to further Russian banks at the G7 meeting on Friday, as well as at the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

“We need to degrade the Russian economy, to stop the ability to fund Putin’s war machine,” Truss added.

However while Truss talks tough, critics have previously said that the British government’s hands-off approach to Russian money, coupled with the ability of oligarchs to use the legal system to shield themselves from scrutiny, has allowed Russian expatriates to wield huge influence in the UK.

“The links of the Russian elite to the UK — especially where this involves business and investment — provide access to UK companies and political figures, and thereby a means for broad Russian influence in the UK,” the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament said in its 2020 report.

“To a certain extent, this cannot be untangled and the priority now must be to mitigate the risk and ensure that, where hostile activity is uncovered, the tools exist to tackle it at source,” it continued.

Formula One will no longer race in Russia, it announced Thursday.

The 2022 running of the event, which was due to take place in September at Sochi’s Olympic Park, was cancelled last week following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Grand Prix was due to move from Sochi to a new purpose-built circuit just outside St Petersburg in 2023, but this will now no longer happen.

Russia will take a more direct approach in its effort to capture Ukrainian cities after plans to encircle targets such as Kyiv have been frustrated, according to a NATO military official.

“We’re seeing a change in strategy from the Russian side … They’re less focused on encircling cities, more concentrated trying to go in,” the unnamed official told CNN.

“[Heavier] bombardment is a side effect of that shift,” the official said.

Russia’s slow advance and heavy losses suffered in the first few days of its invasion have forced the change, the official said, with Russian forces now hamstrung by logistical issues as they attempt to push further into Ukraine.

“It’s the whole logistical chain that is somehow not working [properly],” the NATO official said. “So what we’ve seen is really poor strategy, combined with bad preparation and dwindling morale.”

“They have no food, they lack fuel and also spare parts,” they added.

While a staunch Ukrainian resistance is largely responsible for stymying the Russian advance, the NATO official warned that the situation on the ground could change rapidly and that “expectations” should be “managed.”

The Ukrainians will tire while Russia still has fresh reserves, the official warned. “Russia can still escalate further,” they said.

The official added there is still a chance the Belarusian military could join the offensive.

The key southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol is “surrounded” by Russian forces, the city’s deputy mayor told CNN Thursday.

“Our Ukrainian army and National Guard is very brave, they stand and fight for Ukraine, for Mariupol. But the situation is quite critical,” Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told CNN’s John Berman, calling on the West to provide further military support. 

“We are asking for help, for military help, and we are waiting for military help,” Orlov said. “Our internal forces are very brave, but we are surrounded by the Russian army, which has more people in their army.”

Speaking during an interview on CNN’s New Day, Orlov said Mariupol had faced 26 hours of continuous shelling, warning that the city is now facing a humanitarian crisis.

“They are destroying our city with all weapons, from artillery, from airplane bombing, from tactical rockets, from multiple launch rocket systems,” Orlov said. 

The deputy mayor also said that Russian shelling had targeted multiple civilian buildings, including homes, kindergartens and schools, but added that the civilian death toll in the city remains unclear. 

“We do not know how many, because we cannot collect all the bodies and we cannot count,” Orlov said. 

In a video briefing on Thursday, Russian Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the Russian military had made advances around Mariupol, repeating claims it was not targeting civilian areas in Ukraine.

Russia routinely denies causing civilian casualties in Ukraine, however international media and observers have extensively documented civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine will continue to defend itself from Russian troops encroaching on key cities a week after the invasion began, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his latest Facebook address. 

The “first hours and days” of “full-scale war” were “really difficult,” he said, but Ukrainians were “united, and therefore strong, and therefore we persevered. And so it will continue. We continue to stand.” 

Russian troops have been held off by fierce Ukrainian resistance which Zelensky claimed is still intact.

“All lines of our defense are kept. The enemy has no success in any of the strategic directions,” he said.

Moscow has been “forced to change tactics,” said Zelensky, adding that “Russia’s missile and bomb strikes on Ukrainian cities are a confession that they have failed to do anything significant on our land.”

Zelensky said Ukraine will prevail against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion as it did with “another virus, another disease,” namely Covid-19.

“The first weeks of fighting it were extremely difficult. But we were united, and therefore strong, and therefore we persevered,” he added.

However, the situation appears to be worsening.

The mayor of the strategically important city of Kherson on the Black Sea indicated that Russian forces had seized control, though claims remain disputed.

In the capital Kyiv, residents were awoken in the early hours of Thursday morning by at least one large explosion in the southwest of the city, following a day of heavy shelling.

And in the port city of Mariupol, residents are without electricity and water, according to the mayor, as Russian troops step up their offensive.

French authorities seized a yacht owned by Igor Sechin, the chief executive officer of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, on Wednesday night, according to a statement from the French Finance Ministry.

“Thank you to the French customs officers who are enforcing the European Union’s sanctions against those close to the Russian government,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in a tweet.

The yacht, named “Amore Vero” – meaning “True Love” in Italian – arrived at the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat on January 3. It was scheduled to leave the port on April 1.

Earlier this week, Le Maire announced that France has set up a task force to assess the financial assets and luxury goods owned by Russian personalities targeted by EU sanctions.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has expressed “great sorrow” over Russian military casualties suffered during the invasion of Ukraine.

“Naturally, we all express condolences to relatives and friends, those who have lost their husbands and children. Of course, this is a great tragedy for all of us,” said Peskov on Thursday.

“At the same time, we all admire the heroism of the military. Their acts of bravery will of course go down in history as a feat in the fight against the Nazis and the fulfillment of this important task.”

The Nazi reference is part of a propaganda campaign by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has – baselessly and inaccurately – referred to his country’s invasion of Ukraine as a campaign of “denazification.” 

Peskov added that Putin would address casualties at the beginning of a Security Council meeting Thursday. He declined to say whether national mourning would be announced.

Peskov also dismissed online speculation about the possible introduction of martial law in Russia or a travel ban for military-age men.

“These are hoaxes, mere hoaxes circling around. Then citizens send them to each other and so on,” he said. “Therefore, you need to be very careful about all the information and not become victims of rumors and simple deception.”

Russia has introduced a raft of emergency economic measures including restrictions on currency transfers abroad.

The Russian ruble has plummeted against the dollar following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

China has dismissed a Western intelligence report indicating that its officials asked Russia to wait until after the Beijing Winter Olympics had finished before invading Ukraine.

On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry called the story “totally false” and an attempt to “divert attention and blame.”

CNN has earlier reported that one source familiar with the intelligence said US officials broadly view the report as credible, but its particulars are open to interpretation. 

The existence of the report was first published by the New York Times.  

On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry responded to the New York Times report, calling it “totally false and despicable to divert attention and blame,” reiterating that the cause of the current conflict is the eastward expansion of NATO advocated by the US. 

“We hope that those responsible for the crisis should reflect on their role in the Ukraine crisis, shoulder their due responsibilities and take concrete actions to ease the situation and solve the issue, instead of blaming others,” said ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin in a briefing Thursday. 

The Czech government has declared a state of emergency from Friday in anticipation of a major influx of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the ongoing Russian invasion.

“We are implementing it purely for technical reasons, so we can handle the influx of refugees,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Wednesday during a press briefing. 

“In no way this will affect Czech citizens,” he added. 

The state of emergency is set to last 30 days, but it could be extended by the government if necessary.

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed 34 civilians and injured 285 more in the 24 hours to Thursday morning, according to emergency services.

“The enemy continued to strike residential neighborhoods and entire settlements with its deadly bombs, shells and rocket-propelled grenades,” said Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) in a statement.

Several dozen fires were caused by ammunition entering houses and administrative buildings, it added.

The SES listed a range of attacks that took place in the region Wednesday, with sites hit including residential and administrative buildings, as well as businesses. It said three people were killed at a garage.

“At midnight there was a massive air raid on the peaceful city of Izyum,” which lasted two hours and damaged a 5-story residential building, it said.

“In addition, a massive airstrike affected the Saltivka residential area. In residential high-rise buildings, structures were damaged,” it added.

When the first tank battle broke out in front of Natali’s house in Kharkiv, she was horrified and scared.

The body of a Russian soldier, killed during the fight, was left lying at the crossroads nearby.

Now, she is just angry.

Natali, 49, lives in the Bolshaya Danilovka district of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which has been under heavy attack from Russian forces.

“There was a battle near our house with tanks, grenades. Submachine gunners ran right into the pines in front of the house, which was shaking. Then the light was turned off,” she said.

Natali and her family had spent three days sitting in a bomb shelter in their friend’s house.

“We were getting through thanks to our sense of humor and by taking care of each other,” she said.

While they were sheltering, neighbors told them that something was burning near their home.

“We took the car and tried to go and see, but we couldn’t get close to our house,” she said. “We heard shooting, we saw destroyed wires and gas was leaking from the distribution network.”

On Tuesday, the family was finally able to go back home.

“Soldiers let us in for only 20 to 30 minutes. Part of our house does not longer exist - there is a hole through my favorite part, my cozy kitchen where I cooked for my friends,” she said.

The neighbor’s house is completely gone. Kira, the family cat that had kittens last summer and loved roaming around the area, is dead.

“Killed by Russian ‘liberators’,” Natali said.

Their home has been looted, like many in the neighborhood.

“We took a few things and food, scattered food around the house for the animals left behind and left. Now, there are no emotions left. Just silence in my head,” she said. “We are staying with friends and I am just laying down, cuddling my pets.”

Still, Natali is determined things will change and Ukraine will win this conflict.

“We will restore everything when the invaders die and the war ends,” she said.

“I have decided that I’m going to gather friends who would like to help me restore our piece of paradise in Ukraine. Everything will be good!”

Russia’s independent radio station “Echo of Moscow” announced Thursday it will be closing down following authorities’ decision to take the station off-air.

“By a majority vote of the Board of Directors of Echo of Moscow, a decision was made to liquidate the radio channel and the website of Echo of Moscow,” reads a statement on its website.

On March 1, the Russian authorities moved to block the websites of Echo of Moscow and another outlet named TV Rain, and took Echo of Moscow off the air due to their coverage of the war in Ukraine.

In a statement, the Prosecutor General accused the Echo of Moscow and TV Rain 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.” 

The Prosecutor General also said the two outlets had been posting information which the statement said 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 as organizing illegal protests.

The Echo of Moscow website appeared to be inaccessible in Russia on Thursday.

Spain will send 1,370 anti-tank grenade launchers to Ukraine on Friday as part of its first shipment of offensive weapons to help against the Russian invasion.

The shipment will also include light machine guns and 700,000 rounds of rifle and machine-gun ammunition, said Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles. 

“All of it will go in Spanish air force planes to a location in Poland close to the border, where Ukranian officials will receive it,” said Robles in a late-night interview on Spain’s Antena 3 TV channel.

Robles said the weapons “are very important because the material allows for a very individualized defense, even by people who don’t have much experience using weapons.” 

After days of emphasizing its humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as well as sending some defensive military equipment, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that “Spain will deliver to the Ukrainian resistance offensive military material” in parliament on Wednesday.

In the interview, Robles acknowledged some divisions over the weapons shipments in the Socialist-led government’s junior coalition partner, the leftist party Podemos.

But she said the Prime Minister’s cabinet was firmly in favor, especially considering “how events are unfolding, and the (Russian) bombings of the civilian population.” 

The Russian military has announced advances around the key city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, and repeated claims it is not targeting civilian areas during the invasion.

“The units of the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic narrowed the encirclement of the city of Mariupol, and also took control of the settlements of Vinogradnoye, Sartaka and Vodyanoye,” Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a video briefing. 

On Wednesday the mayor of Mariupol said Russian and Russian-backed separatist forces had surrounded the city and that shelling had pummelled its 400,000 inhabitants. 

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the Russian military announced that civilians in the town of Borodianka, in the Kyiv region, could exit through a designated corridor in the direction of Berestianka.

The Russian military also confirmed what it described as a “long-range high-precision strike” in the Lysa Hora region of Kyiv, claiming it was targeting a radio-television center allegedly being used by Ukraine’s State Security Service for “psychological operations against Russia.” There were no casualties or damage to residential buildings, it said.

Russia routinely denies causing civilian casualties in Ukraine. International media and observers have extensively documented civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

The United Kingdom announced new sanctions Thursday aimed at blocking Russian companies in the aviation and space industries from accessing the British insurance market.

“Russian companies in the aviation or space industry will be prevented from making use of UK-based insurance or reinsurance services directly or indirectly, the UK Government has announced today, in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” read a statement issued by the UK’s Treasury Office.

“In taking such action, the UK is demonstrating its commitment to apply severe economic sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the statement continued.

Aviation has been a key target following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Western-backed sanctions impacting the country’s airline and aerospace sectors.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has warned that the situation in Ukraine could further deteriorate under relentless bombardment from Russia.

“Indeed, it’s possible that the worst is ahead of us,” Le Drian said in a TV interview with France 2 on Thursday, adding that the conflict had entered a “logic of siege.”

Due to fierce resistance from the Ukrainian military and people, Russia’s hope to end the war quickly is gradually fading away, he said.

The continuous build-up of forces around major Ukrainian cities like Kharkiv and the capital, Kyiv, could mean that the war is entering a stage of siege, according to Le Drian.

“You know the Russians are accustomed to fighting wars in a logic of siege, remember Aleppo and remember Grozny,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming increasing isolated, added Le Drian, citing the UN General Assembly vote to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, at which only four countries voted in support of Russia.

“People don’t listen to him any more because people don’t trust him any more since he has successively renounced Russia’s commitments, Russia’s signature and also his own commitments,” said Le Drian.

However, it’s still important to maintain dialogue with Moscow because Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are not talking directly, said Le Drian, adding that France needs to play the mediator role.

He also reiterated the need to impose a ceasefire as a precondition for peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, explaining that the European Union imposed its package of sanctions in the hope of bringing about a ceasefire.

The French Foreign Ministry released a statement Thursday advising its citizens to leave Russia. 

“It is strongly recommended that French citizens, whose presence and that of their families is not essential in Russia, make arrangements to leave the country by the still existing connections,” the statement said.

The Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol “remain in Ukrainian hands,” despite heavy shelling by Russian forces, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Thursday.

“Some Russian forces have entered the city of Kherson, but the military situation remains unclear,” the MoD said in its latest intelligence update. 

However, city mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev said the Ukrainian military is no longer present in Kherson in a statement posted Wednesday on Facebook.

Residents must now carry out the instructions of “armed people who came to the city’s administration,” said Kolykhaiev, indicating that the city has now fallen under Russian control.  

According to the MoD’s update, the main body of a large Russian column advancing on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, remains more than 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) from the center of the city.

It has made “little discernible progress in over three days” having been “delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion,” said the MoD.

“The Russian defence ministry has been forced to admit that 498 Russian soldiers have already been killed and 1,597 wounded in Putin’s war,” continued the update.

“The actual number of those killed and wounded will almost certainly be considerably higher and will continue to rise.” 

An NFT of Ukraine’s flag has raised over $6.7 million for the country’s defenses as cryptocurrency donations continue to flood in following the Russian invasion.

Organized by UkraineDAO, an initiative backed by a member of the Russian activist group and feminist punk band Pussy Riot, the sale saw thousands of users bid for a share of the digital image.

The fundraiser comes just days after Ukraine’s government announced via Twitter that it is now accepting cryptocurrency donations. The country’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has also called for online contributions while urging cryptocurrency exchanges to block Russian users.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, allow buyers to prove ownership of a virtual asset – in this case, a digital version of Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag. Although the NFT was produced as a single edition on the Ethereum blockchain, bidders were able to take shared ownership of the item, with contributions ranging from 0.00001 ether (under $0.03) to 44 ether ($128,000), according to a listing on NFT sale platform PartyBid.

The sale attracted more than 3,200 individual contributions in 72 hours, amounting to just over 2,258 ether (equivalent to about $6.7 million at the time the auction concluded on Wednesday). Organizers said all the funds would go towards “Come Back Alive,” a campaign supporting Ukraine’s military.

Read the full story here:

The Ukrainian flag NFT is seen in this photo...

Related article NFT backed by Pussy Riot member raises $6.7 million for Ukraine

An oil depot in the city of Chernihiv, northern Ukraine was hit by shelling during an airstrike on Thursday morning, according to the State Service of Ukraine for Emergencies.

Photos from Chernihiv show clouds of thick black smoke from what appear to be oil tanks, with firefighters and emergency workers on the scene.

Pakistan’s United Nations ambassador said Wednesday the country is “deeply concerned” by the war in Ukraine, despite abstaining from a UN General Assembly vote condemning Russia’s invasion.

“Pakistan remains deeply concerned at the recent turn of events,” which “reflects a failure of diplomacy,” Ambassador Munir Akram said in a statement.

Pakistan has “repeatedly stressed the need for de-escalation, renewed negotiations, sustained dialogue, and continuous diplomacy,” and that “all efforts must be made to avoid further escalation of violence and loss of life as well as military, political and economic tensions which can pose an unprecedented threat to international peace and security and global economic stability,” he added.

Some context: Earlier this week, the heads of various foreign missions in Pakistan — including the EU, the US, the UK, Norway and Japan — issued a joint letter urging Islamabad to condemn Russia’s invasion in the special session of the UN General Assembly.

On Wednesday, the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with 141 nations voting in favor, five nations against and 35 countries abstaining, including Pakistan, India and China. 

Investment service provider MSCI is booting Russia from its emerging markets indices and is now calling the country a “standalone” market.

The firm said Wednesday that Russian stocks were “uninvestable,” based on feedback from “an overwhelming majority” of investors and asset managers following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Starting next Wednesday, all Russian indices will be reclassified, MSCI added.

The move speaks to how isolated Moscow is becoming as it continues to grapple with new waves of punishing sanctions.

“It’s very difficult to see any scenario right now where buying Russian assets makes sense,” David Coombs, head of multi-asset investments at Rathbones, told CNN Business last week.

The view is gaining traction. On Wednesday, FTSE Russell, another index provider under the London Stock Exchange, also said it would cut Russia from all its widely tracked stock indices from next week.

As more than a million people fled Ukraine this week, some Ukrainian volunteers were traveling in the opposite direction — returning to the country to join the ranks of those defending it.

One volunteer, Valery, left his home in France last week, determined to see his aging parents in Kyiv before war broke out. The next morning, he awoke to air raid sirens marking the beginning of Russia’s invasion.

Within a day of Russia’s initial attack, he had joined the Ukrainian armed forces. CNN is identifying him only by his first name for his safety.

“What can I do when Russian aircraft are throwing bombs on the capital city? I just couldn’t stay inside, indoors, in four walls doing nothing. So I came, and I joined,” he told CNN on Wednesday.

Like tens of thousands of volunteers, he received weapons from the government as he joined the defense effort.

“First when I joined, first when I received the weapon, I felt this sense of nausea,” he said.  “If you go outside and see the eyes of the people who are queueing up to get guns as well, there’s a lot of hope, and there is a lot of determination to defeat the enemy.”

At a Ukrainian cathedral in Paris, the parish has been gathering donations and compiling a database of hosts for Ukrainian refugees. One man, Andre, told CNN he was collecting funds to buy body armor for his two best friends before they head to join the fight in Ukraine.

Videos from the embattled city of Kherson show residents defiantly waving the Ukrainian flag in front of what appear to be Russian troops and tanks.

This comes after the city’s mayor, Ihor Kolykhaiev, indicated on Wednesday that Kherson had fallen under Russian control following several days of heavy fighting.

The videos, posted online on Wednesday, show what appear to be Russian troops and tanks in front of the Kherson Regional Administration building, with one of the soldiers holding Ukrainian flags.

Shouting is heard, but it’s unclear who is speaking.

“They are f***ing walking away with our flag,” a man is heard saying in the video. “A**holes!” 

The video then shows a group of civilians begin walking toward the soldiers outside the Regional Administration building.  “They went to get the flag,” the man says.

The civilians appear to reclaim the flags from the soldiers. “Oh, they put down the flag, sh**,” he continues. “Our people took the flag! Beauties!”

As the soldier returns to the line of tanks, the civilians raise the Ukrainian flags to jubilant cheers from onlookers.

CNN has geolocated and verified the videos’ authenticity.

Battle for Kherson: The strategically important port city of nearly 300,000 residents is located on an inlet from the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.

The mayor said Wednesday on Facebook that the Ukrainian military is no longer in Kherson, and its inhabitants must now carry out the instructions of “armed people who came to the city’s administration” — indicating that the city has fallen under Russian control. 

The announcement on his Facebook page follows several days of pressure on Kherson by Russian forces who had surrounded the city.  

As police in Russia clamp down on anti-war protests emerging around the country, many citizens do not fully know what is happening in Ukraine.

State-controlled television shows almost no reports of Russian bombing and shelling in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Instead, it focuses on so-called Ukrainian “nationalists” and “neo-fascists.”

But Russian young people like 25-year-old Arina, who lives in Moscow, aren’t watching TV. She’s on the internet, reading blogs and listening to vloggers. She, too, is having difficulty comprehending why this war is happening and what it will mean for her own life as a young Russian.

“It is very difficult to predict anything, of course, the situation is horrible,” Arina, who asked CNN to only use her first name for her safety, said. “Among some of my friends, there is a lot of anxiety about the future, a lot of fear, because we don’t know how it will affect us.”

But Arina’s mother sees it completely differently, believing the war is a “necessary measure” against Western threat, Arina said. She checked out a guide suggesting how young Russians can talk with their parents and others about the war in Ukraine — and read it just in time before it was removed online.

Arina and her mother “had a very fierce argument,” she said. “We have very different sources of information: I learn everything from the independent media, which have mostly long been blocked in Russia, and she watches TV.”

Divided reaction: As Arina and her friends follow news about Ukraine on social media, Russians have had contradictory reactions, she said.

“The first one is, everyone says, ‘Yes, we should be ashamed.’ The second one is, ‘No, let’s not be ashamed of ourselves and let’s not pin decisions on ourselves that were not made by us.’”

Read more here.

Tasya, 19, stood with her friends on a cold morning in St. Petersburg as they joined protesters’ chants against the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “Nyet Voine!” (“No to War!”).

“It’s always safer to stand together with others … to look over your shoulder, in case you need to run,” said Tasya, who asked that her last name not be used for her safety. At some point, Tasya said her friends left the protest to go home or somewhere else to warm up, leaving her standing alone in the street.

“Then a group of cops walked past me … and suddenly one of them looked at me and then they turned around, walked towards me and detained me,” she said of the February 24 protest.

Protests are continuing across Russia as young citizens, along with middle-age and even retired people, take to the streets to speak out against a military conflict ordered by their President — a decision in which, they claim, they had no say.

Now, they are finding their voice. But Russian authorities are intent on shutting down any public dissent against the attack on Ukraine. Police clamp down on demonstrations almost as quickly as they pop up, dragging some protesters away and roughing up others.

Police in St. Petersburg arrested at least 350 anti-war protesters on Wednesday, taking the total number of protesters detained or arrested to 7,624 since the invasion began, according to an independent organization that tracks human rights violations in Russia.

Intellectuals speak out: Members of Russia’s “intelligentsia” — academics, writers, journalists and others — have issued public appeals decrying the war, including a rare “open letter” to Putin signed by 1,200 students, faculty and staff of MGIMO University, the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations, affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which produces most of Russia’s government and foreign service elite.

The signers proclaim they are “categorically against the Russian Federation’s military actions in Ukraine.”

“We consider it morally unacceptable to stay on the sidelines and keep silent when people are dying in a neighboring state. They are dying through the fault of those who preferred weapons instead of peaceful diplomacy,” the letter says.

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Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in central Saint Petersburg on February 24, 2022.

Related article Russians struggle to understand Ukraine war: 'We didn't choose this'

On Wednesday morning, as Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine entered its seventh day, I turned on RT, the Russia-controlled network that has in recent days been banned in Europe and dropped by television carriers across the world.

Founded in 2005, RT, which operates multiple channels, including RT America, has served as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s largest megaphones across the world. It offers insight into how the Kremlin would like to portray the world and its role in it.

For several hours I watched the channel and was struck by how brazenly its hosts and personalities worked to mislead its audience and deflect from the issues at hand. The main thrust of RT’s coverage presented Russia as a mere victim of Western aggression, a country forced to launch a limited “military operation” after its hand was forced by a high-and-mighty NATO that showed no interest in taking Moscow’s security concerns seriously.

Here’s a breakdown of what I observed on the network.

Russia the “liberator”: Peter John Lavelle, the host of RT’s signature talk program, “Crosstalk,” put it like this: He said that the failed “liberal order” implemented by the West was to blame. “It is so irritating,” Lavelle said on his show. “The way it is being framed: Ukraine’s democracy. Well, it has nothing to do with Ukraine’s democracy — if you can say it even has one… This is about security… There is only security for other countries.”

Missing from coverage: Noticeably left out of the coverage was a focus on how unbearable life has been for Ukrainians whose cities are under attack by unrelenting Russian forces. I did not see much coverage showing the damage that Russian forces have caused as they try to seize control of the country. Or coverage about the residents of cities such as Kyiv who live in terror and sleep underground in bomb shelters. Or coverage about the hundreds of thousands who have simply chosen to flee the country for their safety. Those inconvenient facts were not the emphasis of the narrative RT pushed.

Also left out of RT’s coverage: The ramifications the West’s sanctions and other actions are having on Russia’s economy.

Read the full analysis:

A Russia's state-controlled Russia Today (RT) television broadcast van is seen parked outside the Luzhniki stadium ahead of an international friendly football match between Russia and Argentina in Moscow on November 11, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV (Photo credit should read KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images)

Related article I spent an entire day watching Russia's propaganda network. Here's the warped reality I saw presented to viewers | CNN Business

The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city Mariupol called Wednesday the most difficult day yet of the Russian invasion, amid heavy shelling and growing numbers of wounded civilians in hospitals.

In a statement posted late Wednesday on Telegram, Mayor Vadym Boychenko addressed the citizens of Mariupol and said Ukrainian forces fought back valiantly against those who were shooting at homes.

CNN has not been able to independently verify the reports of Russian soldiers shooting at civilian homes.

Boychenko also said critical infrastructure was compromised in the city, and that citizens are without water and electricity until utility services restore them on Thursday.

“And you dear citizens of Mariupol are great heroes,” he wrote. “All of us are fighting for our freedom, for our country, for our one-and-only Mariupol. We aren’t attacking anyone. We are simply sitting at home. That means God is with us. That means truth is with us. That means victory will be on our side.”

He also thanked doctors, utility service workers, Ukrainian armed forces and all citizens.

“Together we really will survive this. We will be victorious. I think we deserve it. We are Ukrainians. We love our country. We love our city. Glory to the heroes! Glory to Ukraine!” he said.

Injuries mount: Russian and Russian-backed troops had surrounded the city of some 400,000 residents from three sides as of Wednesday afternoon, as the Kremlin looks to complete a land border that would link Crimea with southern Russia. 

Early Wednesday morning, Boychenko said there were 128 people in hospitals, with doctors working nonstop “for the lives of Mariupol residents.”

The US State Department criticized the Kremlin on Wednesday for cracking down on Russian media and for its disinformation campaign on the invasion of Ukraine.

“At home, the Kremlin is engaged in a full assault on media freedom and the truth, and Moscow’s efforts to mislead and suppress the truth of the brutal invasion are intensifying,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

Earlier this week, the Russian Prosecutor General blocked access to two independent media outlets, Echo of Moscow and TV Rain, accusing them of reporting “false” information about the invasion.

“The outlets were baselessly accused of ‘calling for extremist activity and violence’ and sharing ‘deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel in Ukraine,’” Price said, adding that Echo of Moscow “has been respected for its even-handed treatment of breaking news since its founding 32 years ago.”

Price did an interview with Echo of Moscow earlier this week.

Price added that Russia’s Parliament will meet on Friday to consider a bill to criminalize ‘unofficial’ reporting on the invasion.

“The people of Russia also have a right to know about the human costs of this senseless war to their own soldiers,” Price said. “We call upon Putin and his government to honor Russia’s international obligations and commitments, to immediately cease this bloodshed, withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s territory, and to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of their own citizens.”

India on Thursday denied Russia’s claims that Indian students stranded in Ukraine were being held hostage by Ukrainian forces and used as “human shields.”

After Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone Wednesday, the Kremlin released a statement saying Putin had warned of Indian students being “taken hostage by the Ukrainian security forces.”

“We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student,” Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said in a statement on Thursday.
“Our embassy is in constant touch with Indian nationals in Ukraine. We note that with the cooperation of Ukrainian authorities, many students have left Kharkiv yesterday.”

Bagchi thanked authorities in Ukraine and neighboring countries for facilitating the evacuation of Indian nationals.

As of Wednesday, more than 17,000 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine with a few thousand remaining, according to India’s Foreign Ministry.

As dawn breaks in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Thursday marks one week since the Russian invasion began. Here’s the latest:

New satellite images of areas in Ukraine hit by Russian military strikes show the extent of the damage in the first five days of the invasion.

The images were captured on February 28 by Maxar Technologies. Since then, dense cloud cover has prevented most satellites from observing anything on the ground across the country. 

The images show homes on fire in the village of Rivnopillya in the Chernhiv region, roughly 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) north of the capital, Kyiv. Dozens of impact craters can be seen dotting the fields surrounding the village.

In Chernihiv, a bridge across the Stryzhen River appears to have been destroyed, while residential buildings and a factory nearby seem to have sustained damage. A Russian military convoy was also seen on a nearby roadway.

The satellite images also show the burned remains of Russian military vehicles in a residential area in Bucha, a town outside of Kyiv. On Sunday, Ukrainian officials claimed they had thwarted the advance of a Russian column in Bucha. 

In Sukachi, a small town 70 kilometers (about 43.5 miles) northwest of Kyiv, a large impact crater is seen in the middle of a roadway, with houses nearby appearing significantly damaged.

The images also captured scenes of daily life amid the war in both Chernihiv and Kyiv, with dozens of people lining up outside supermarkets.

One million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a tweet Wednesday evening.

“For many millions more, inside Ukraine, it’s time for guns to fall silent, so that life-saving humanitarian assistance can be provided,” he added.

Want to help? You can learn how to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine here. 

A Western intelligence report indicated that Chinese officials in early February requested that senior Russian officials wait until after the Beijing Olympics had finished before beginning an invasion into Ukraine, US officials said Wednesday.

US officials broadly view the report as credible, but its particulars are open to interpretation, according to one source familiar with the intelligence.

Although the request was made around the time that Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympics — where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping — it is not clear from the report whether Putin addressed the matter with Xi directly, the source said.

The New York Times first reported the existence of the report.

Read more:

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 04: Thomas Bach, IOC President puts his face mask on as a firework display is seen above during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Beijing National Stadium on February 04, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Related article China asked Russia to delay Ukraine invasion until after Olympics, Western intel shows | CNN

The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands said on Wednesday it would immediately proceed with an active investigation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said in a statement 39 of the court’s member states had requested for the investigation to proceed. 

Khan said his office “had already found a reasonable basis to believe crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court had been committed, and had identified potential cases that would be admissible.”

The ICC’s chief prosecutor implored all parties engaged in conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law.

Russia’s strategy in its war on Ukraine is shifting toward a “slow annihilation” of the Ukrainian military, US and other Western officials tell CNN, warning that Russia could focus on a bloody and deadly bombardment of cities and civilian targets as the conflict becomes a grinding war of attrition.

Ukrainian forces have so far been able to stave off Russia’s initial push, maintaining control of Kyiv and other major cities. But they remain massively outgunned and outmanned. And Russia is now bringing in heavier, more destructive weaponry and increasingly striking civilian infrastructure, after an initial focus on military targets, the officials said.

The shift in strategy likely reflects a recognition by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his initial plan to quickly topple Kyiv has failed, said one senior Western intelligence official — in part because the Ukrainians have put up a stiffer than anticipated fight and in part because logistics and supply missteps have slowed the Russian advance.

But Western officials now expect that Russia will ramp up heavy weapons bombardment of Ukraine’s cities and potentially march in “tens of thousands” of troops, one US official said. Eventually, officials caution, Ukraine’s military will likely run short of supplies needed to keep up the fight.

The US has delivered hundreds of Stinger missiles to Ukraine over the last few days, including more than 200 on Monday, according to a US official and a congressional source briefed on the matter. But the US and NATO have made it clear they will not commit troops to defending Ukraine.

Ukraine’s will to fight “is extending this,” said the senior Western intelligence official. “But the cruel military math of this will eventually come to bear, absent some intervention, absent some fundamental change in the dynamic.”

For Ukraine, whose military forces and civilian population have shown no signs of capitulating, the war appears poised to become a grim struggle for survival over a protracted, uncertain future.

The numbers are already bleak: Russia has lost roughly 3% to 5% of its tanks, aircraft, artillery and other military assets inside Ukraine — compared with Ukrainian losses of roughly 10% of its capabilities, according to two US officials familiar with the latest intelligence.

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The scene of a fire at the Economy Department building of Karazin Kharkiv National University, allegedly hit during recent shelling by Russia, on March 2, 2022.

Related article US officials warn Russia will increasingly hit civilian targets and seek 'slow annihilation' of Ukraine's military

If Russia’s oligarchs weren’t already shaking in their custom Italian-leather boots, they probably are now.

In his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Joe Biden addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cronies directly, telling them the United States and its allies are coming to “seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.”

The message underscored how much the ground is shifting beneath the well-heeled feet of Russia’s oligarchs, a class of businessmen who amassed their billions in personal wealth by leveraging their connections to the Kremlin in the 1990s carve-up of the former Soviet Union’s assets.

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Western governments have sought to freeze the oligarchs’ overseas assets along with Putin’s, as well as prevent them from traveling. The goal is two-pronged: Sanctions act as both a punishment for Russia’s ruling class and a cudgel to try to force Putin to back down.

It’s safe to say the sanctions have, at least so far, successfully grabbed the oligarchs’ attention.

Chelsea for sale: Roman Abramovich, a 55-year-old worth an estimated $13.5 billion, on Wednesday announced he is selling his beloved Chelsea Football Club, which he acquired in 2003. Even though Abramovich has not yet been named on sanctions lists, UK lawmakers are pressuring leaders to do so. The tycoon is reportedly offloading some of his London properties in anticipation of sanctions.

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The Solaris superyacht (right), owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, moored in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

Related article It's not the best time to be a Russian oligarch | CNN Business