Russia Ukraine War Updates: Ukrainians claim to retake ground ahead of latest talks

Late last week, with its forces, bogged down in parts of the country, Russia seemed to scale back its war aims, saying its main goal was gaining control of the Donbas. While that suggested a possible face-saving exit strategy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, it also raised Ukrainian fears that the Kremlin intends to split the country in two and force it to surrender a swath of its territory. In recent days, Ukrainian troops have pushed the Russians back in other sectors. Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining NATO, which Moscow sees as a threat. Zelenskyy, for his part, has stressed that Ukraine needs security guarantees of its own as part of any deal. Meanwhile, Biden made no apologies for calling for Putin’s ouster, saying he was expressing his “moral outrage,” not a new US policy. 

Japan bans exports of luxury products to Russia from April 5

From April 5, the Japanese government will impose a ban on the exportation of luxury goods to Russia, including premium cars and precious stones, Economy Minister Koichi Hagiuda told reporters.

Roman Abramovich experienced symptoms of poisoning during peace talks in Kiev

Roman Abramovich had suffered a suspected poisoning along with Ukraine peace negotiators earlier this month, Daily Mail reported.

The Chelsea Football Club owner was reportedly poisoned just weeks ago after a meeting in Kiev while he acted as a ‘peacemaker’ in the Russian war in Ukraine, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Following the meeting in Kiev, Abramovich, as well as two senior members of the Ukrainian team, developed symptoms that included red eyes, painful tearing as well as peeling skin on their faces and hands, sources told the newspaper.

Analysts at Bellingcat confirmed that three members of the delegation — including Abramovich — attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on March 3 experienced “symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons”, Daily Mail reported.

5,000 people killed in Mariupol, 170K remain under siege

Since the Russian blockade in Mariupol began on March 1, some 5,000 people have been killed, 170,000 others still remain under siege, while 150,000 were evacuated from the strategic Ukrainian port city, according to preliminary estimates.

Of the 5,000 victims, 210 were children, Ukrayinska Pravda reported citing the government estimates.

Before the ongoing siege began, 140,000 residents left the coastal city.

Ukrainian journalist abducted by Russian forces: Media watchdog

Dmytro Khilyuk, a journalist working for the Ukrainian Independent News Agency (UNIAN), was abducted by Russian forces on March 4 from a village in the Kiev region, a media watchdog announced.

In a statement posted on its website on Monday, the Media Initiative for Human Rights said on the eve of his disappearance, Dmytro wrote on Facebook that his village of Kozarovychi in Vyshhorod district, was “under occupation” and that there was no water, the shops were empty and the internet connection was very weak.

He claimed in his post that Russian troops were “going from house to house”, and people remained inside their homes as there were periodic shooting in the village.

New round of Ukraine-Russia talks to begin in Turkey

Delegations from Ukraine and Russia have arrived in the Turkish city of Istanbul to begin a new round of peace talks from Tuesday aimed at ending the ongoing war.

The in-person talks slated to begin at 10.30 a.m. (local time, about 1 p.m. IST), will be hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Dolmabahce Presidential Working Office in Istabul’s Besiktas district, reports Xinhua news agency.

While Russian delegation has settled in the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, the Ukrainian delegation has checked in the Shangri-La Bosphorus, both very close to each other in the district.

US proposes $6.9bn in FY 2023 budget for countering Ukraine war

US President Joe Biden’s administration has proposed $6.9 billion in its fiscal year 2023 budget proposal, which is aimed at addressing what it views as threats stemming from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

“This funding will enhance the capabilities and readiness of US Forces, (NATO) allies, and regional partners in the face of Russian aggression,” Xinhua news agency quoted a budget document issued on Monday.

UN chief wants Ukraine humanitarian cease-fire

The United Nations chief has launched an initiative to immediately explore possible arrangements for “a humanitarian cease-fire in Ukraine” in order to allow the delivery of desperately needed aid and pave the way for serious political negotiations to end the month-long war.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he asked Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN’s worldwide humanitarian operations, to explore the possibility of a cease-fire with Russia and Ukraine. He said Griffiths has already made some contacts.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly, by an overwhelming majority of about 140 nations, has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine twice — on March 2 and on March 24 — and Guterres told reporters he thinks “this is the moment” for the United Nations “to assume the initiative.”

New round of talks aims to stop the fighting in Ukraine

Another round of talks aimed at stopping the war in Ukraine is scheduled for Tuesday as the fighting looks increasingly like a stalemate on the ground, with the two sides trading control of a town in the east and a suburb of the capital.

Ukrainian forces retook Irpin, northwest of Kyviv, from Russian troops, who were regrouping to take the area back, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday as he sought to rally the country.

“We still have to fight, we have to endure,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation. “We can’t express our emotions now. We can’t raise expectations, simply so that we don’t burn out.”

Ahead of the talks, to be held in Istanbul, the Ukrainian president said his country is prepared to declare its neutrality, as Moscow has demanded, and is open to compromise on the fate of the Donbas, the contested region in the country’s east.

Ukraine communications service suffers outage

The Ukraine’s national telecommunications provider Ukrtelecom has been knocked almost completely offline, suffering what network monitors called its most severe outage since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion. Government officials in Kyiv say they are investigating whether a cyberattack is to blame.

The outage began Monday morning and persisted into the evening. Alp Toker, director of the London-based monitor Netblocks, said connectivity for Ukrtelecom has collapsed to just 13 percent of pre-war levels.

Ukrtelecom is the seventh-largest provider in Ukraine in traffic moved but, as the pre-independence incumbent, is likely the lone provider in much of rural Ukraine, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at the network management firm Kentik.

Urktelecom provides telephone, internet and mobile service.

Biden says remark on Putin’s power was about ‘moral outrage’, no change in US policy

US President Joe Biden on Monday said that his weekend comment in Europe that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” was a moral outrage for his invasion of Ukraine, and that does not reflect any change in American policy with respect to regime change. As such, Biden refused to apologize for his comments, on which his administration has been having a tough time in explaining over the past few days.

“I’m not walking anything back. The fact of the matter is, I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing …, which is just brutality, half the children of Ukraine. I just come from being with those families,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

Pentagon may need more budget funding to help Ukraine

The Pentagon may have to ask Congress for additional money to support Ukraine’s battle against Russia’s invasion, including to replenish America’s arsenal for weapons sent to Kyiv, officials said Monday. Rolling out the Defense Department’s USD 773 billion request for fiscal 2023, Pentagon leaders said the budget was finalized before the invasion so it has no specific money for the war. Congress approved a USD 13.5 billion emergency funding package in early March.

The leaders said it was too early to predict how quickly Ukrainian forces will use up the weapons and ammunition already being provided, and how much the US will need to replace what it sends to Ukraine, such as Stinger and Javelin missiles or body armour and other equipment.

News Credit: India TV News