With the Russian offensive in Ukraine entering its 26th day, Moscow’s forces use long-range missiles at cities and military bases and Ukrainian forces try to sever their supply lines.
Monday, March 21, 2022
Russia-Ukraine conflict raises alarm about spectre of ‘famine’
The Russian offensive on Ukraine risks causing famine in parts of the world because of the two countries’ roles as major agricultural exporters, EU ministers in Brussels warned.
The European bloc is working on a plan to increase the area of EU land able to be given over to farm production, ease import restrictions on animal feed and looking at more direct aid to EU farmers, agricultural ministers said as they held a meeting.
The conflict “soon will bring risks of famine,” impacting food security not just in Europe but worldwide, France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le D rian, said as he went into a separate meeting of his EU counterparts in Brussels.
Ukraine and Russia are among the biggest exporters of farm-grown foodstuffs and fertilisers, notably of wheat, maize, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil.
Kiev mayor announces 35-hour curfew amid Russian attacks
Kiev will impose a new 35-hour curfew, the mayor of Ukraine’s capital city announced.
Vitali Klitschko said the curfew will begin at 8 pm local time and last until 7 am on Wednesday.
Shops, pharmacies, and gas stations will be closed during the curfew, and no vehicles will be allowed to move in the city, except for those with a special permit.
The first 35-hour curfew in the Ukrainian capital Kiev was announced on March 15.
Russian FM discusses Ukraine with Armenian, Azerbaijani counterparts
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held separate phone talks with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
With Jeyhun Bayramov, Azerbaijan’s top diplomat, Lavrov discussed the issues related to signing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and further work of the 3 3 format (Iran, Russia, and Türkiye plus Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia).
With Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Lavrov spoke on the implementation of key provisions of the trilateral agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh, the beginning of projects aiming to unblock transport and economic ties in the region, and provisions of a possible peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Russia’s security service urges immediate Meta ban
Russia’s FSB national security service asked a court to “immediately” ban US tech giant Meta, accusing it of working against Moscow’s interests during its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The court was considering a request by prosecutors to designate Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — as an “extremist” organisation and ban it.
The move is part of sweeping efforts by Moscow to put a tight lid on information available to Russians about the conflict in Ukraine.
UK says Russia behind hoax calls to officials
Britain is accusing the Russian state of being behind hoax calls to two government ministers by an imposter posing as the prime minister of Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the hoaxer was able to speak to him on a video call Thursday. Home Secretary Priti Patel said she had received a similar call, and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said an unsuccessful attempt was made to speak to her.
Wallace said he became suspicious and hung up after the caller “posed several misleading questions.” He accused Russia of “dirty tricks.”
EU foreign ministers to discuss imposing more sanctions on Russia that will include its energy and oil sector pic.twitter.com/801adIErI4
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) March 21, 2022
Russian assault on Mariupol is ‘massive war crime’: EU
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has decried Russia’s attack on the Ukrainian port city Mariupol as “a massive war crime”.
“What’s happening now in Mariupol is a massive war crime, destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody,” Borrell said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Ukraine’s Odessa accuses Russia of attacking city outskirts for the first time
Authorities in Odessa have accused Russian forces of carrying out a strike on residential buildings in the outskirts of the Ukrainian city, the first such attack on the Black Sea port city.
The city council said there were no casualties although the strike caused a fire.
“These are residential buildings where peaceful people live,” Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov was quoted as saying. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Ukraine says Russia shelled chemical plant
Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.
Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a “planned provocation” by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.
“What I saw [in Mariupol], I hope no one will ever see”
Greece’s consul general, who was in the city until Tuesday, says the Ukrainian city under Russian siege is joining the ranks of places of “Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo” pic.twitter.com/eqqZ7HcZ4T
— TRT World (@trtworld) March 21, 2022
Zelenskyy calls on Europe to halt all trade with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on European leaders to cease all trade with Russia in an effort to pressure Moscow to halt its nearly month-long military assault on his country.
“Please do not sponsor the weapons of war of this country, of Russia. No euros for the occupiers. Close all of your ports to them. Don’t export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
Kremlin says no significant progress in peace talks with Ukraine
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine had not yet made any significant progress.
Significant progress in the talks still had to be made for there to be a basis for a possible meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Peskov said.
Moscow has accused Kiev of stalling peace talks by making proposals unacceptable for Russia. Ukraine has said it is willing to negotiate but will not surrender or accept Russian ultimatums.
Kiev announces new curfew
Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko has announced a new curfew for the Ukrainian capital, starting later today and lasting until Wednesday morning.
The curfew “will begin at 1800 GMT (8PM) and last until 0500 GMT (7AM) on March 23,” Klitschko wrote on Telegram.
“Stores, pharmacies, gas stations” and other establishments will not be open and only vehicles with special permission will be able to move about the city, he wrote.
Russia needs over a week to take Mariupol: separatist leader
A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine has commented that it would take more than a week to take control of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
“I am not so optimistic that two or three days or even a week will close the issue. Unfortunately, no, the city is big,” Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said according to the report.
EU ‘too dependent’ on Russian oil and gas to cut it off tomorrow
EU countries still largely depend on Russian oil and gas for their energy supply and can’t simply cut themselves off on short notice, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said.
“Too many refineries in the eastern and western part of Europe still completely depend on Russian oil and with gas it’s even worse”, Rutte told reporters after a meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in Vilnius.
“We have to deleverage that dependency. We need to do it as speedily as possible, but we can’t do this tomorrow.”
Russia claims hitting training centre, neutralising 80 ‘foreign mercenaries’
The Russian Defence Ministry has reportedly hit a training center for “foreign mercenaries and nationalists units” in Ukraine’s Rivne Oblast with high-precision cruise missiles and neutralised over 80 mercenaries.
“On the night of March 21, a training centre for foreign mercenaries and Ukrainian nationalist formations, located at the Nova Lyubomirka training ground in Rivne Oblast, was hit with high-precision cruise missiles,” the ministry’s spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a daily briefing in Moscow.
“Over 80 mercenaries and nationalists were neutralised. Also, an ammunition depot and a command point of a mechanised infantry near Selets settlement were hit with high-precision cruise missiles from the air.”
EU sees high risk of child trafficking as 3.3 million Ukrainians flee to Europe
The European Union’s migration commissioner has warned that Ukrainian children were in danger of being trafficked as they flee their country, saying “there is a huge risk of vulnerable children being trafficked.”
Ylva Johansson told a news conference in Estonia that about half of 3.3 million Ukrainians who had fled to EU countries since the start of the conflict were children, and “many more millions” were expected to come.
Ukraine has a high number of orphans and children born through surrogate mothers who had not been picked up by their parents. That increased the risk that they could be abducted or become victims of forced adoptions, she said.
Ukrainian resistance keeps Russia at bay: UK
Britain’s defence ministry has said heavy fighting is continuing north of Kiev as Russian forces press on with a stalled effort to encircle Ukraine’s capital city.
In an update on social media, the ministry said Russian forces advancing on the city from the northeast have stalled, and troops advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the northwest have been pushed back by fierce Ukrainian resistance.
“Despite the continued lack of progress, Kiev remains Russia’s primary military objective and they are likely to prioritise attempting to encircle the city over the coming weeks,” UK officials said, adding that the bulk of Russian forces were more than 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the city centre.
Israel to maintain relations with Kiev, Moscow
Israel’s prime minister has said the country is managing its involvement with Ukraine and Russia “in a sensitive, generous and responsible way while balancing various and complex considerations.”
Naftali Bennett spoke on the tarmac at Israel’s main international airport as an aid delegation was set to depart for Ukraine to set up a field hospital for refugees near the Polish border.
Kremlin: Russian oil embargo would hurt Europe, not US
The Kremlin has said Europe will be hit hard in the event of an embargo on Russian oil, striking the continent’s energy balance, but will not affect the United States.
Some European Union foreign ministers are pushing for an oil embargo as part of further sanctions against Russia, in an effort to punish Moscow over events in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters the question of any oil embargo was a very complex topic.
Russia says it hit military facility in Ukraine’s Rivne region
Russian air forces reportedly hit a Ukrainian army military facility in Rivne Region with cruise missiles, Russia’s Defence Ministry has said.
“High-precision air-launched cruise missiles have struck a training centre for foreign mercenaries and Ukrainian nationalist formations,” Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
The ministry also reported that Russia does not plan to and has not hit any chemical industry facilities in Ukraine.
‘No agreement reached’ to evacuate Mariupol civilians
Agreement has been reached on creating eight humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from besieged towns and cities, but the city of Mariupol is not among them.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said efforts to reach Mariupol with humanitarian supplies continued to fail.
Russia-Ukraine fighting goes into 26th day as Kiev rejects Moscow’s offer to surrender strategic Mariupol in return for “safe passage” to its forces out of the besieged port city
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— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) March 21, 2022
Putin ally Timchenko resigns from Novatek board
Gennady Timchenko, a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has resigned from the board at gas producer Novatek after he was targeted by sanctions over Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Novatek, Russia’s largest private natural gas producer, did not provide a reason for his resignation.
A representative of Timchenko, who had served on the company’s board of directors since 2009, declined to comment.
Ammonia leak in north-eastern Ukraine city contained
Emergency officials have contained an ammonia leak at a chemical plant that contaminated wide area in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials said.
Regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy didn’t say what caused the leak, which spread about 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) in all directions from the Sumykhimprom plant.
The plant is on the eastern outskirts of the city, which has a population of about 263,000 and has been regularly shelled by Russian troops in recent weeks.
Ukraine finally rotates workers at Chernobyl: IAEA
Ukraine has managed to rotate staff working at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for the first time since Russia seized it last month as part of its offensive, the UN’s nuclear agency said.
Ukraine told the International Atomic Energy Agency that around half of the staff were “finally” able to return to their homes on Sunday after working at the Russian-controlled site for nearly four weeks, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said.
Those who left were replaced by other Ukrainian staff, Grossi said in a statement. “It is a positive, albeit long overdue, development that some staff at the Chernobyl NPP have now rotated and returned to their families,” he said.
The Ukrainian banking system remains stable and debt payments are viable in the short term but the Russian onslaught could plunge Ukraine into a devastating recession, IMF estimates.
We look at UN projections, which predict 90% population facing poverty
— TRT World (@trtworld) March 20, 2022
Ukraine conflict could lead to global food crisis
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia, two of the world’s top crop producers, could lead to a food crisis “on the global” scale, French farming minister Julien Denormandie said in Brussels ahead of a EU agriculture meeting.
EU ministers will discuss the food situation with their Ukrainian counterpart in a video call, he added.
A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with key infrastructure such as bridges and trains destroyed by bombs and many grocery stores and warehouses empty.
Ammonia leak contaminates area in northeast Ukraine
Residents of the northeastern Ukrainian town of Novoselytsya should seek shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, officials have warned, as intense fighting with Russian forces in the area continues.
Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said there had been an “ammonia leakage” at the Sumykhimprom facility, affecting an area within 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) of the plant, which produces fertilisers. He didn’t say what caused the leak.
The extent of the incident was not immediately clear, but residents were told to seek refuge in basements or on lower levels of buildings to avoid exposure.
At least six dead in overnight bombing in Ukraine’s Kiev
At least six people were killed in an overnight bombing on a shopping centre in Ukraine’s capital Kiev, an AFP journalist has said.
Six bodies were laid out in front of the “Retroville” shopping mall in the northwest of Kiev, according to the journalist.
The building had been hit by a powerful blast that pulverised vehicles in its car park and left a crater several metres wide.
Russia and Ukraine peace talks currently hinge on a ceasefire, Russian troop withdrawal and security guarantees for Ukraine that could see Kiev remain out of NATO.
Nearly 60 percent of Ukrainians polled want to be in the alliance even if it means not ending the fighting: pic.twitter.com/wjGoe1msQg
— TRT World (@trtworld) March 20, 2022
Ukraine says talks with Russia on cease-fire to continue
Negotiations on a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia are set to continue online, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Mykhailovych Podolyak, has said.
He added that intensive efforts were being made to reach an agreement.
Russia to open humanitarian corridors from Mariupol
Russia’s Defence Ministry has announced that humanitarian aid corridors will be opened from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol to the east and west.
Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Centre for Defence Management, made evaluations about the humanitarian aid corridors in Ukraine and said that civilians would be allowed to leave as of 0700 GMT (10AM Moscow time).
Mizintsev called on the parties to the cease-fire to comply with the decision starting at 0630 GMT (0930AM).
New Zealand to provide Ukraine with non-lethal military assistance
New Zealand is set to provide Ukraine with a further $3.46 million (NZ$5 million) in funds and non-lethal military assistance including some surplus equipment, bringing New Zealand’s total assistance to Ukraine to NZ$11 million.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the money would be primarily directed to a NATO Trust Fund that provides fuel, rations, communication equipment and first aid kits to support Ukraine as it battles Russian forces. The New Zealand Defence Force will provide tactical equipment as well.
“We consider what is happening in Ukraine as a massive disruption to the international rules-based order and because of that it impacts all of us and that’s why we have taken these extraordinary measures,” Ardern told a news conference.
Ukrainian officials have rejected a Russian demand to surrender the besieged city of Mariupol, deeming it “deliberate manipulation and … a real hostage situation” pic.twitter.com/XV50Ann6g9
— TRT World (@trtworld) March 21, 2022
Ukraine says no question of surrendering city of Mariupol
There is no question of Ukraine giving up the city of Mariupol and laying down arms, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said.
“There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this,” she told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. “I wrote: ‘Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.'”
Russia demanded Ukrainian forces lay down their arms in the besieged eastern port city. Mariupol residents were given until 5 am Monday to respond to the offer, which included them raising a white flag. Russia didn’t say what action it would take if the offer was rejected.
Biden to travel to Poland to discuss Ukraine crisis with Duda
US President Joseph Biden will travel to Poland to discuss the international response to “the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked attack on Ukraine has created,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said .
Biden’s Poland trip will come a day after he meets in Brussels with NATO allies, G7 Leaders and European Union leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine after Russia’s offensive, the White House said.
On Friday, Biden will travel to Warsaw where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda.
For live updates from Sunday (March 20), click here
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Live blog: Russia-Ukraine conflict raises alarm about ‘famine’ worldwide
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