India on Tuesday started moving out all stranded Indian students from Sumy to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine, under Operation Ganga. according to Ministry of External Affairs.
Two civilian flights from Suceava in Romania airlifted 410 Indian nationals to India on Tuesday, the civil aviation ministry said.
The Indian citizens stuck in Ukraine are being airlifted once they cross to neighbouring countries such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has deepened as Russian forces intensified their shelling and food, water, heat and medicine grew increasingly scarce, in what the country condemned as a medieval-style siege by Moscow to batter it into submission.
The third round of talks between the two sides ended Monday with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor, unspecified progress toward establishing safe corridors that would allow civilians to escape the fighting.
Foreign volunteers will be able to obtain Ukrainian citizenship if they want to, First Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said on March 9, Kyiv Independent reported.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has on March 8 said that it has lost contact with the systems at Chernobyl that monitor nuclear material at the radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl.
The sites taken over by the Russian forces on February 24 have stopped transmitting data, the nuclear energy monitoring agency said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday called on British MPs to recognise Russia as a 'terrorist country' following President Vladimir Putin's attack on his nation and called for tougher sanctions to 'make sure our skies are safe'.
Two more Assam students, stranded in war-torn Ukraine, have arrived in New Delhi, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday. One student arrived at the Delhi airport while another at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad, the chief minister said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy evoked British wartime leader Winston Churchill as he told the U.K. Parliament that his country would fight Russia's invasion to the end in Ukraine's cities, fields and riverbanks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Netherlands counterpart Mark Rutte on Tuesday as the two leaders discussed the ongoing situation in war-hit Ukraine and shared their concerns over the continuing humanitarian situation there.
A group of Gandhian organisations held a demonstration against the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war in the national capital here on Tuesday, hoping for the violence to stop.
US President Joe Biden announced a ban on US imports of Russian oil, in the administration's most far-reaching action yet to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.
The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia shows that a conventional war could happen, Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane said on Tuesday.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday announced that it had evacuated all Indian students from Ukraine's Sumy.
Indian Embassy in Ukraine issued an advisory for Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine urging them to leave the conflict-ridden country using the humanitarian corridors using trains or any other means of transport from 10 am on Tuesday.
Under 'Operation Ganga' to rescue Indian citizens from Ukraine's neighbouring countries, about 18 thousand Indians have been brought back by special flights so far.
Amid 'Russia's atrocities' in Ukraine, Shell plc, a multinational oil and gas company based in the UK, on Tuesday announced its intent to withdraw from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil, petroleum products, gas and liquefied natural gas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday denounced Western powers for not approving necessary decisions against Russian military operations in Ukraine and also not saving the country from the missiles and bomb attacks.
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that around 12,000 Russian forces have been killed since the invasion of Ukraine started. According to the MFA data, 1036 armoured vehicles of different types, 48 aircraft, 80 helicopters, 303 tanks, 120 artillery pieces and 56 MLRs were hit during the combat.
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Tuesday is International Women's Day, an important official holiday in Russia and Ukraine dating from the Soviet era. Women are normally feted with flowers and chocolates and speeches, but this year the holiday was overshadowed in Ukraine by war, and in Russia by economic chaos.
Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy. They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine. Flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them home: Ministry of External Affairs
Japan says it has suspended the assets of 32 more Russian and Belarusian individuals as part of international sanctions against Russia.
The additional sanctions announced Tuesday target 20 Russians including head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, deputy chiefs of staff and a press secretary for President Vladamir Putin's govenment, and deputy chairmen of the state parliament.
The list also includes business executives with close ties to Putin and his administration such as Volga Group, Transneft, the Private Military Company Wagner and USM Holdings, according to a statement jointly issued by the foreign, finance and trade ministries.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has released new estimates of casualties and damage from the Russian war, saying Russian military actions have killed 38 children and wounded more than 70.
Overall at least 400 civilian deaths have been recorded and 800 wounded, though "these data are definitely incomplete," he said in a video address. It was not immediately possible to verify the figures.
He said Russian strikes have destroyed more than 200 Ukrainian schools, 34 hospitals and 1,500 residential buildings. He estimated some 10,000 foreign students, notably from India, China and the Persian Gulf are trapped by the fighting, and described attacks on British and Swiss journalists. He claimed that Ukrainian forces have killed more than 11,000 Russian troops.
"Russian invaders fire on humanitarian corridors through which civilians are trying to escape," he said, without saying where.
Humanitarian Corridor for evacuation of stranded people announced in various parts of Ukraine from 1000 hrs on 8 March...All stranded Indians are urged to make use of this opportunity & evacuate using trains/vehicles or other available means of transport: Embassy of India in Kyiv pic.twitter.com/xSxjkyS97E
— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2022
Two civilian flights from Suceava in Romania airlifted 410 Indians nationals to India on Tuesday, the civil aviation ministry said.
The Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive.
The Indian citizens stuck in Ukraine are being airlifted once they cross to neighbouring countries such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
"Under 'Operation Ganga' to rescue Indian citizens from Ukraine's neighbouring countries, 410 Indians have been airlifted today (March 8) by 2 special civilian flights from Suceava," a ministry statement said. (Read more)
German sportswear group Adidas is temporarily closing its stores in Russia and shut its online shop, joining a growing list of companies suspending their activities following the invasion of Ukraine.
Adidas said in a statement late Monday that it would "suspend the operations of our stores and our e-commerce site in Russia until further notice" but continue to pay its employees.
Energy giant Shell says it will stop buying Russian oil and natural gas as well as shut down its service stations and other operations in the country amid international pressure for companies to sever ties over the invasion of Ukraine.
Shell says in a statement Tuesday that it would withdraw from all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, "in a phased manner".
The decision comes just days after Ukraine's foreign minister criticised Shell for continuing to buy Russian oil, lashing out at the company for continuing to do business with President Vladimir Putin's government.
"We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel, despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking, was not the right one and we are sorry," Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said.
China's Xi urges 'maximum restraint' over Ukraine crisis in call with Macron, Scholz: state media
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba tweets, "Russia holds 300,000 civilians hostage in Mariupol, prevents humanitarian evacuation despite agreements with ICRC mediation. One child died of dehydration yesterday!..."#RussiaUkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/Xav5NjDG90
— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2022
Germany's federal prosecutor has opened an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian troops since the invasion of Ukraine, a source in his office told AFP Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports.
"We will collect and secure all evidence of war crimes," Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper, adding that the federal prosecution had opened a so-called structural investigation to begin gathering evidence.
Twenty-one people, including two children, were killed in air strikes on the besieged northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy, the authorities said.
"The bodies of 21 people, including two children" were found at the site of Monday's strikes, the regional public prosecutor said on Facebook. A previous toll given by the emergency services was nine dead.
Indian Embassy in Kyiv, "Intervened to evacuate 75 Indian sailors stranded in Mykolaiv Port."
Indian Embassy in Kyiv,Ukraine: "Mission intervened to evacuate 75 Indian sailors stranded in Mykolaiv Port. Y'day buses evacuated 57sailors including 2 Lebanese &3 Syrians. Route constraints precluded evacuation of balance 23sailors. Mission's attempting their evacuation today." pic.twitter.com/o6GZwxfXc8
— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2022
Indian Embassy in Kyiv, "Intervened to evacuate 75 Indian sailors stranded in Mykolaiv Port."
Indian Embassy in Kyiv,Ukraine: "Mission intervened to evacuate 75 Indian sailors stranded in Mykolaiv Port. Y'day buses evacuated 57sailors including 2 Lebanese &3 Syrians. Route constraints precluded evacuation of balance 23sailors. Mission's attempting their evacuation today." pic.twitter.com/o6GZwxfXc8
— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2022
Ukraine's Zelensky denounces unkept "promises" by West
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday denounced what he called unkept "promises" by the West to protect Ukraine from Russian attacks.
"It's been 13 days we've been hearing promises, 13 days we've been told we'll be helped in the air, that there will be planes, that they will be delivered to us," Zelensky said on a video broadcast on Telegram.
"But the responsibility for that rests also on those who were not capable to take a decision in the West for 13 days," Zelensky added. "On those who have not secured the Ukrainian skies from the Russian assassins."
Viktor Yanukovych, the fourth President of Ukraine who was ousted from power during the 2014 protests, have urged the country's incumbent leader Volodymyr Zelensky to "stop the bloodshed".
Yanukovych, who currently lives in Russia in exile, said he wanted to "address Volodymyr Zelensky in a presidential capacity and even a little bit in a fatherly one", Ukrayinska Pravda reported citing the Moscow-based RIA Novosti news agency.
"I understand that you have many 'advisors' but it is your personal responsibility to stop bloodshed and reach a peace agreement. Ukraine, Donbas, and Russia all expect you to do this. The people of Ukraine and your partners in the West will be grateful to you," the pro-Moscow former leader said.
Visuals from the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where people are lining up in front of departmental stores to restock necessities.#RussiaUkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/nlc3yiwQqM
— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2022
Britain's defense secretary said on Tuesday that there are reports Ukrainian special forces destroyed over 20 Russian helicopters on the ground overnight as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to face logistical problems and fierce resistance.
Russia's advance toward the capital, Kyiv, continues to face pressure from Ukrainian forces around the nearby towns of Hostomel, Bucha, Vorzel and Irpin, the UK Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update released late Monday.
In addition, a lengthy Russian column remains stuck on the road north of Kyiv.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Russian forces are becoming more and more desperate in the face of such military and supply holdups, leading to "indiscriminate shelling" of civilians.
"We've also recognised that probably the biggest single casualties, so far in the war, are Russian military soldiers who have been let down by appalling leaders, appalling leadership and appalling plans. And now you see them, literally, at large scales dying."
Shares fell in Asia on Tuesday after Wall Street logged its biggest drop in more than a year as markets were jolted by another surge in oil prices.
Benchmarks declined in Tokyo, Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai following a 3 per cent tumble for the S&P 500.
The surge in the price of oil past USD 130 per barrel on Monday was triggered by the possibility the US might bar crude imports from Russia. Oil prices steadied later in the day and were moderately higher early Tuesday. (Read more)
An air strike killed at least nine people, including two children, in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, where a humanitarian corridor was to be set up Tuesday, authorities said.
The corridor from Sumy to Poltava is designed to evacuate civilians, including Chinese, Indians and other foreigners, but Ukraine's vice prime minister accused Russia of planning to disrupt the route.
The air strike in Sumy, near the Russian border east of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, took place late Monday, Ukraine's rescue services said.
"Enemy planes insidiously attacked apartment buildings," they said on Telegram after arriving on the scene at 11:00 pm.
The number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine is expected to top two million in the next two days, the head of the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.
"I do think that we will pass the two million mark today or maybe at the latest tomorrow. So, it doesn't stop," Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Oslo. On Monday, the UNHCR put the number of refugees at more than 1.7 million.
Grandi made his remarks at a press conference, after visiting Moldova, Poland and Romania, all of which have received refugees pouring across the border from Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on February 24.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other at the UN of impeding humanitarian corridors that would allow safe passage of citizens and foreigners caught in the raging conflict, even as India urged both sides to facilitate uninterrupted passage for all civilians, including stranded Indians in Ukraine.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the UN Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine on Monday that "Ukraine deeply regrets that more than 2,000 citizens of India, China, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries suffer today along with Ukrainians from Russian aggression."
He said the government of Ukraine was in contact 24/7 with diplomatic missions and consulates of foreign countries to ensure that their citizens can safely return to their countries as soon as possible.
230 companies have left Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, according to the Yale School of Management.
— Yeshi Seli (@YeshiSeli) March 8, 2022
Another 30 companies have remained in the country, including major hotel and fast food chains, as well as consumer brands @mea @NewIndianXpress
India has "compulsions" with Russia and territorial issues with China in its neighbourhood, a former American diplomat has told US lawmakers in response to a question on a string of abstentions at the United Nations by New Delhi against Russia's massive military offensive in Ukraine. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
As Olga Okhrimenko walked into a bustling ballroom-turned-refugee shelter at a four-star Romanian hotel, her corgi, Knolly, strained at the leash anxiously seeking the warmth inside. It had taken them three days to flee Ukraine by car, bus and taxi in the bitter cold. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Intelligence reports received by the Union government have revealed that the Tamil youth, Sainikhesh Ravichandran of Thudaliyur in Coimbatore is a student of Aerospace engineering at Kharkiv National University in Ukraine. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
CAATSA is a tough US law that authorises the administration to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Russia has announced the establishment of safe corridors to allow civilians to leave, but there appeared to be few takers. Evacuation routes led mostly to Russia and its ally Belarus, drawing withering criticism from Ukraine and others. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
The apparent growth of the Ukraine aid also illustrated eleventh-hour negotiations underway among lawmakers as they try to complete the long-overdue $1.5 trillion government spending measure by Friday. The legislation would increase spending for defence and domestic programs, though lawmakers haven't said yet by how much. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Aikyamatyasooktha pooja performed at Trikkakara Vamanamoorthy temple in Kerala invoking the Lords blessings for good sense to prevail upon Vladimir Putin and #Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.@NewIndianXpress @xpresskerala @MOS_MEA @IndiainUkraine #indianstudentsinukraine pic.twitter.com/JPpp1ZeR1d
— Manoj Viswanathan (@Manojexpress) March 8, 2022
"India has been consistent in calling for an immediate end to all hostilities," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti told the UN Security Council meeting Monday on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Aousaf Hussain, a fourth-year student of Kharkiv National Medical University, was criticised by persons from Kerala and Lakshadweep for going out and getting food for his friends who are living in a bunker in Kharkiv. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
With the war in Ukraine entering its 12th day on Monday and tensions between Kyiv and Moscow showing no signs of easing, the students said there is panic in Belarus and their families in India too are concerned about their wellbeing. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
IAEA says it has received reports of artillery shells damaging a nuclear research facility in Ukraine's besieged second city Kharkiv.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 8, 2022
No increase in radiation levels have been reported at the sitehttps://t.co/gs6pbTwH1M pic.twitter.com/ZdBXVPDBdS
Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of resorting to "medieval siege" tactics in places, and in one of the most desperately encircled cities, the southern port of Mariupol, there were no immediate signs of an evacuation. Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces continued to pummel some cities with rockets even after the announcement of corridors, and fierce fighting raged in places, indicating there would be no wider cessation of hostilities. (READ THE HIGHLIGHTS HERE)
"It is important that humanitarian action is always guided by the principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence. We have assisted nationals from other countries in their return to their respective countries. Despite our urgings to both sides, safe corridor for our students stranded in Sumy did not materialize. We have managed to facilitate the safe return of over 20,000 Indians from Ukraine. India has demanded safe and uninterrupted passage for all innocent civilians, Indian nationals from Ukraine," he said.
