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Russia artillery hits mosque, another hospital
With the Russian invasion now in its third week, consideration is more and more centered on the West’s efforts to arm and re-supply Ukrainian forces towards an enemy with vastly superior weaponry.
Days after the Biden administration rejected Poland’s proposal to supply Soviet-built MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S. to present to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby advised reporters Friday different army tools was persevering with to achieve Ukrainian fighters.
“We’re working with allies and companions to assist get the varieties off capabilities that we all know the Ukrainians want and are utilizing very nicely inside Ukraine,” he stated. “A few of that materials we’ve and we’re offering. A few of that materials we do not have however we all know others have have been serving to coordinate that as nicely and that safety help is flowing.”
That drew a warning from Russia’s deputy international minister Saturday who stated convoys transporting international weapons into Ukraine will turn out to be “professional targets” for assaults.
Additionally Saturday, President Joe Biden approved the State Division to supply as much as $200 million for arms and tools to help Ukraine.
Devastating financial sanctions from the U.S. and its allies have not stopped Russia’s assault on Ukraine, which resulted in injury to one other hospital — this time a most cancers hospital within the southern metropolis of Mykolaiv, in response to Ukrainian officers.
A number of hundred sufferers have been within the hospital through the assault however nobody was killed, in response to the hospital’s head physician, Maksim Beznosenko.
And on Saturday, Ukraine’s International Ministry accused Russian forces of shelling a mosque in Mariupol the place greater than 80 kids and adults have been looking for shelter.
Russia presently seems to be regrouping from current losses and probably gearing up for operations towards Kyiv. Preventing has intensified shut to Ukraine’s capital, the place docs are bracing for the prospect of widespread casualties from warfare.
Extra:Biden says the Ukraine disaster exhibits why the U.S. should turn out to be power impartial. Is that attainable?
In the meantime, Russia’s financial system is in shambles: The ruble has crashed and the Moscow inventory market stays closed.
U.S. leaders have hinted the financial stress is meant to impress the Russian folks to take motion towards their authorities.
Within the meantime, consultants warn the Ukrainian folks will proceed to undergo, particularly if preventing in Kyiv escalates.
“The place that leads, I believe, is for an unpleasant subsequent few weeks by which he doubles down with scant regard for civilian casualties, by which city preventing can get even uglier,” stated CIA Director William Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia.
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Newest developments:
► Ukraine’s International Ministry stated Russian forces shelled a mosque in Mariupol sheltering greater than 80 kids and adults.
► Russia’s deputy international minister warned Saturday that convoys transporting international weapons into Ukraine will turn out to be “professional targets” for assaults.
►Russia introduced it should ban Instagram starting March 14, citing messages on the social media platform encouraging and frightening violent acts towards Russians.
► President Joe Biden on Friday known as for a elimination of regular commerce relations with Russia, permitting for brand spanking new tariffs on Russian imports in one more effort to ratchet up sanctions over Moscow’s intensifying invasion of Ukraine. Biden stated the transfer shall be one other “crushing blow” to Russia’s financial system.
► Ukraine’s chief prosecutor’s workplace says a minimum of 79 kids have been killed for the reason that invasion started on Feb. 24. A minimum of 2.5 million folks have fled the nation, in response to the United Nations refugee company.
► Some 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia started its invasion, in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
► On Friday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of kidnapping the mayor of the town of Melitopol.
Russia kilos army vary in Ukraine’s west
Russian forces carried out an air strike on a army vary close to Lviv in western Ukraine, increasing its offensive nearer to the border with Poland.
The Russian army on Sunday morning fired eight rockets on the Yaroviv army vary 30 kilometers northwest of Lviv, the Lviv regional administration stated, with out providing any particulars about attainable casualties.
The Yaroviv army vary, also referred to as the Yaroviv Worldwide Peacekeeping and Safety Middle, is situated 35 kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Poland.
Since 2015, the U.S. has often despatched instructors to the Yaroviv army vary to coach Ukraine’s army. The vary has additionally hosted worldwide NATO drills.
On Friday, Russian forces shelled two airfields within the western cities of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, firing greater than 10 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers, the Ukrainian Basic Workers stated.
– The Related Press
Explosions reported outdoors Lviv, Ukraine’s western capital
A number of explosions have been reported within the northwestern metropolis of Lviv on Sunday morning, in response to CNN and journalists within the space.
The explosions have been reported about 6 a.m. native time Sunday on the outskirts of the town, close to Ukraine’s border with Poland, CNN stated.
The explosions have been from Russian missiles fired on the Worldwide Peacekeeping and Safety Centre within the Yavoriv district, about 20 miles northwest of Lviv, in response to reviews from CNN and the BBC.
Air raid sirens went off all through the evening in Lviv and plenty of different areas in Ukraine and continued via the morning, the BBC reported.
Lviv has been recognized as a possible capital if Kyiv falls to the Kremlin.
USA TODAY reporters this week spent 36 hours with a group of abroad nurses, engineers and logistics personnel invited by Ukraine’s authorities to build a field hospital for emergency and specialized trauma care on the outskirts of Lviv.
Already, Lviv was feeling the strain of hundreds of people pouring off trains each day as they flee for destinations in western Europe and beyond. About 1.5 million people have left Ukraine for Poland and other neighboring countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Lviv’s streets this week were congested with vehicles, people and pockets of patrolling soldiers. Some private buildings, such as art galleries, have been hastily converted into impromptu distribution centers for humanitarian aid.
►On the ground:In Lviv, Ukraine’s beleaguered government plans for what might happen in war with Russia
About 60 child cancer patients from Ukraine boarded a medical train in a Polish town Saturday, bound for hospitals in Warsaw and elsewhere. Medical workers carried some young patients in their arms, on stretchers and in a wheelchair at a station in Medyka, near the Ukrainian border.
“Some of them will require oxygen, will require some form of intensive care,” and some have COVID-19 and have to be kept separate from others,” said Dominik Daszuta, an anesthesiologist from Warsaw Hospital. He said the train has transported 120 children with cancer so far.
The United Nations refugee agency says at least 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine in the two weeks since Russia invaded it.
-The Associated Press
A Russian general was killed in fighting at Ukraine’s southern city Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said. Maj. Gen. Andrei Kolesnikov would be the third Russian general to die since the invasion of Ukraine began, making an unusual loss of such a high-ranking military official during fighting. Kolesnikov was the commander of Russia’s Eastern Military District, according to Ukraine’s military.
Russia did not confirm Kolesnikov’s death, and has not shared many details about its military losses during the invasion of Ukraine. Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division, and Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov, who had fought with Russian forces in Syria and Chechnya, had previously been reported killed.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said Saturday that seven people, including one child, were killed Friday by Russian soldiers while traveling along a humanitarian corridor, calling the act a “military crime.”
The ministry claimed Russian soldiers shot at a group of civilians, consisting primarily of women and children, behind “the agreed ‘green’ corridor.” The attack allegedly occurred during an evacuation attempt in the village of Peremoga, which is in the Baryshevskyi district of the Kyiv region. The number of non-fatal injuries from the shooting is unknown, the agency said.
The defense ministry additionally claimed that after the shooting, Russian soldiers would not allow other individuals to escape. “At present, it is practically impossible to contact them, as well as to provide humanitarian and medical care,” the agency said.
– Ella Lee
More:Putin war crimes in Ukraine will be investigated, but Russian leaders unlikely to be prosecuted
Hours after returning from a trip to Poland and Romania, Vice President Kamala Harris told Democratic Party officials Saturday that the U.S. must do whatever it can short of direct military action to help Ukraine resist the Russian invasion.
“When democracy is threatened anywhere, it threatens us all,” Harris said during an otherwise campaign-style speech at the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee. The vice president emphasized the U.S. military alliance with the European nations of NATO, and told Democratic supporters that “the ocean that separates us will not leave us untouched by this aggression.”
She also referred to the invasion as “Putin’s war.”
Harris spoke shortly after President Joe Biden, who is spending the weekend at Camp David in Maryland, authorized an additional $200 million for arms and equipment to help Ukraine fight off the Russian military.
– David Jackson
Russian forces shelled a mosque sheltering more than 80 children and adults in the war-ravaged city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Saturday. Each the ministry and Ukraine’s first deputy minister of international affairs shared images of the mosque to Twitter.
“At this very second, the (Russian) military is bombing the Magnificent Mosque, which was inbuilt reminiscence of Suleiman the Magnificent and Hürrem Sultan,” Emine Dzheppar, the deputy minister of international affairs, tweeted Friday.
The ministry stated that Turkish residents have been additionally hiding within the mosque when it was shelled, which the Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey confirmed. The embassy stated a bunch of 86 Turkish nationals, together with 34 kids, have been among the many individuals who sought security within the mosque.
– Ella Lee, Related Press
Convoys transporting international weapons into Ukraine will turn out to be “professional targets” for the Russian Armed Forces, Deputy International Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated on Russian tv Saturday.
“We warned the USA that pumping Ukraine with weapons from a variety of nations orchestrated by them is not only a harmful transfer, however these are actions that flip the corresponding convoys into professional targets,” Ryabkov stated on Russia’s Channel One, according to state-run media RIA Novosti.
Western countries have pledged to provide Ukraine with weaponry to support its fight against Russia, but attacks on convoys could make that aid more difficult to offer.
“We’ve actually been flowing more stuff forward, uniforms, protective equipment, some munitions and weaponry,” British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said in a Feb. 28 interview with British Forces radio. “We reach a stage now, though, where because combat operations are ongoing, routes for the Ukrainians to get the stuff into the country are much more challenging.”
The New York Times reported March 6 that in less than a week’s time, the U.S. and NATO transported more than 17,000 antitank weapons into Ukraine from neighboring countries like Poland and Romania. Those weapons had to make the trip to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, by land, as airspace over the country has become a war zone in which Western countries have vowed to steer clear.
– Ella Lee
Ukraine President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on world leaders Saturday to assist safe the discharge of a mayor he says was kidnapped by the Russians.
“We attraction to all world leaders who converse to Moscow – France, Germany, Israel, and others,” he advised reporters. On Friday evening, the Ukrainian president introduced that Russian troopers had kidnapped Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov throughout their occupation of that metropolis within the southeasternn a part of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy stated Saturday he raised Fedorov’s destiny in talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“I ask my companions to assist in releasing the captive mayor of Melitopol,” Zelensky tweeted. “Prospects for peace talks additionally mentioned. We should cease the aggressor collectively.”
– David Jackson
President Joe Biden on Saturday approved the State Division to supply as much as $200 million in extra help to Ukraine. The funds may finance weapons, training, coaching and different army companies as Ukraine continues its efforts to beat again Russian troops.
Congress on Thursday handed a invoice that included $13.6 billion in emergency army and humanitarian help for Ukraine. About $6.5 billion of these funds will cowl the price of sending U.S. troops and weapons and equipping allied forces. $6.8 billion was marked for refugees and giving assist to allies. Different funds will assist U.S. federal companies implement sanctions towards Russia and defend towards cyber assaults.
The U.S. supplied Ukraine with greater than $1 billion within the final yr, according to the Department of Defense.
– Ella Lee
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that about 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in late February. “Some 1,300 military people died in our country, and more than 12,000 in Russia,” Zelensky said, according to the Ukrainian news website Hromadske. “One to ten. I’m not happy that 12,000 of them died. This is not my vision of the world.”
The Ukrainian president had not previously offered a figure for the number of troops killed since the first day of the attack, when he said 137 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were killed with hundreds more wounded.
It’s not clear on what Zelenskyy is basing his estimate of Russian forces killed. Russia has reported only 2,095 casualties – 498 killed and 1,597 wounded – however that was 10 days in the past and hasn’t been up to date by Moscow. Some Western sources advised the BBC the variety of Russians killed is nearer to round 6,000.
Zelenskyy additionally claimed that 500 to 600 Russian troops on Friday surrendered to Ukraine’s armed forces, although USA TODAY couldn’t independently confirm this info.
– Ella Lee German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to agree an “instant cease-fire in Ukraine.”
Scholz’s workplace stated the 75-minute name Saturday was a part of “ongoing worldwide efforts to finish the warfare in Ukraine.”
It stated the leaders of Germany and France known as on Putin to start the method of discovering a diplomatic resolution to the battle.
Additional particulars of the decision weren’t launched.
Individually, Scholz spoke earlier Saturday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to get his evaluation of the present state of affairs. – Related Press
Propelled by the highest inflation in 40 years and Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, gasoline costs are the most costly in U.S. historical past, not accounting for inflation.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday introduced a ban on the U.S. import of all Russian power merchandise to focus on “the principle artery of Russia’s financial system.” However he warned there shall be prices at house.
Extra:Inflation reaches highest degree since 1982 as shopper costs leap 7% in 2021
Some People advised USA TODAY they have already began canceling street journeys, carpooling, giving up facet gigs, strolling to work, streamlining errand runs and doing extra purchasing on-line to chop down on driving. In a report this week, Goldman Sachs strategists warned the warfare in Ukraine may outcome within the fifth largest one-month disruption in international commodities markets since World Battle II.
The U.S. additionally noticed sharp will increase in crude oil costs within the Seventies, stemming from the Yom Kippur Battle and Arab oil embargo in 1973 and the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
What can the U.S. be taught from its previous? “In contrast to within the Seventies … we’re actually on the verge of a form of renewable future,” one knowledgeable advised USA TODAY. Learn extra.
— Grace Hauck
Russia will ban Instagram starting March 14, the nation’s communications company Roskomnadzor introduced Saturday.
“Messages are circulating on the Instagram social community encouraging and frightening violent acts towards Russians, in reference to which the Russian Prosecutor Basic’s Workplace demanded that Roskomnadzor prohibit entry to this social community,” the announcement reads.
Extra:Oil, gold, commerce: Congress is in search of choices to punish Russia for invading Ukraine
Reuters first reported Thursday that Meta, the mum or dad firm of Instagram and Fb, would make a brief change to its hate speech coverage to permit customers in some nations to name for violence towards Russians within the context of the Ukraine invasion. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the matter to a number of information organizations, including that the corporate “nonetheless received’t enable credible requires violence towards Russian civilians.”
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri tweeted the information Friday, calling Russia’s determination to dam the social media app “fallacious.”
“On Monday, Instagram shall be blocked in Russia,” he stated. “This determination will reduce 80 million in Russia off from each other, and from the remainder of the world as ~80% of individuals in Russia observe an Instagram account outdoors their nation. That is fallacious.” Russia restricted entry to Fb and Twitter on March 4, Forbes reported.
– Ella Lee
Dozens of youngsters have been killed and greater than 100 injured since Russia started its invasion, the Ukrainian Workplace of the Legal professional Basic stated Saturday in a Telegram publish.
The company stated that 79 kids have died through the 16 days Ukraine has been at warfare with Russia, however the determine is “not last” because of the incapability to examine places nonetheless underneath assault. Most deaths occurred within the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Kherson and Zhytomyr areas, in response to the publish.
Extra:‘Worse than hell’: Mariupol mom fears for her daughter as Russia lays siege to the Ukrainian metropolis Greater than 280 instructional establishments additionally have been attacked, of which 9 have been “fully destroyed, the company stated. Of these establishments, 110 have been within the Donetsk area, 28 within the Sumy area and 17 in Kyiv. Ten kids’s medical establishments have been additionally attacked, the publish says.
“On common, 17 instructional establishments are destroyed every day by the occupier through the warfare,” the lawyer normal’s workplace stated. “In consequence, 7 million kids are disadvantaged of the chance to review attributable to energetic hostilities on the territory of Ukraine and the deliberate destruction of such establishments.”
– Ella Lee
Misinformation and disinformation is well spreading on social media — this is the newest from the USA TODAY fact-check group:
MILAN — Italian monetary police has seized a Russian-owned superyacht valued at $578 million within the port of Trieste as a part of seizures of oligarch wealth to stress Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the warfare on Ukraine. The “Sy A” yacht was recognized by Italian police as belonging to belonging to billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, who made a fortune in fertilizer manufacturing and coal power. It was seized Friday night.
Video exhibits police in automobiles with flashing lights approaching the triple-mast yacht and officers boarding it.
Italian authorities final week seized some $156 million in luxurious yachts and villas belonging to Russian billionaires in such picturesque retreats as Sardinia, the Ligurian coast and Lake Como.
– Related Press
LONDON — Britain’s Protection Ministry says preventing northwest of Kyiv has continued with the majority of Russian floor forces now round 15 miles from the middle of the town. A every day intelligence replace says parts of the massive Russian army column north of Kyiv have dispersed. It says that is more likely to help a Russian try to encircle the Ukrainian capital. Based on the temporary, it may be an try by Russia to cut back its vulnerability to Ukrainian counterattacks, which have taken a big toll on Russian forces.
The replace says that past Kyiv, the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol stay encircled and proceed to undergo heavy Russian shelling.
– Related Press
Russia’s area company has despatched NASA and different worldwide companions a letter demanding an finish to sanctions, saying they may threaten the Worldwide Area Station.
In a tweet Saturday, the pinnacle of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, stated the letter appealed to the area companies of the USA, Canada and Europe to maintain the area station operational. He illustrated the attraction with a map exhibiting the flight path of the ISS — and a possible fall zone that straddles a lot of the world however barely touches upon Russia.
4 NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and one European astronaut are presently on the area station.
– Related Press
SpaceX’s Starlink community of web satellites in Earth orbit continues to make its case throughout real-world crises, this time with the supply of extra {hardware} to Ukraine.
Mykhailo Fedorov, vice prime minister of Ukraine, this week confirmed his nation’s authorities obtained its second cargo of Starlink consumer terminals, every of which embody a satellite tv for pc dish and built-in WiFi router. Non-traditional communications channels, particularly satellite-based, are important throughout crises like warfare or pure disasters. SpaceX founder Elon Musk this month agreed to open up the satellite-based web service to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. Customers solely want the terminal, energy, and a tool like a smartphone or laptop computer to entry the web, that means Starlink’s connectivity is much less vulnerable to being knocked out by Russian forces.
– Emre Kelly, Florida As we speak
Medical train carries Ukraine kids with cancer
A third Russian general has died in fighting, Ukraine officials say
Ukraine: 7 dead, including one child, after shooting in humanitarian corridor
Kamala Harris: ‘When democracy is threatened anywhere, it threatens us all.’
Ukraine Foreign Ministry: Mosque sheltering 80+ children, adults shelled
Russian International Ministry: International weapons convoys ‘professional targets’
Zelenskyy asks world leaders to help him free kidnapped Ukrainian mayor
Biden authorizes $200M in extra State Division help for Ukraine
1,300 Ukrainian troops killed since start of invasion, Zelenskyy says
In name with Putin, Macron, Scholz urge ‘instant cease-fire’
How international conflicts just like the warfare in Ukraine impression US gasoline costs
Russia to ban Instagram, citing ‘requires violence towards Russian residents’
Battle toll: 79 kids killed, greater than 280 instructional establishments ‘destroyed
Misinformation abounds amid Russia-Ukraine warfare
Italy seizes Russian billionaire’s $578M yacht
UK: Bulk of Russian floor forces about 15 miles from the Kyiv’s heart
Russia’s area company demand an finish to sanctions, cites ISS
Ukraine receives extra Starlink web entry terminals
Downtown Kyiv hospital braces for carnage docs concern will come
