Despite mounting casualties, punishing international sanctions and unexpectedly strong resistance from Ukrainians, US sees no sign that Russia “is prepared to stop” its offensive – now in its 24th day.
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Ukraine sees no major changes in fighting over past 24 hours
Ukrainian authorities have not noticed any significant shifts over the past 24 hours in front line areas where Ukrainian troops are battling Russian forces, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said.
In an online video address, he said fighting was ongoing and named the southeastern city of Mariupol, the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson, and the eastern town of Izyum as particular hotspots where Russian troops were on the offensive.
Switzerland brands Ukraine conflict ‘devastating madness’
Russia’s attack on Ukraine is driven by “devastating madness”, and Switzerland is prepared to pay the price for defending freedom and democracy, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said Saturday.
Switzerland has decided to impose the same sanctions on Russia as the European Union but Cassis insisted Switzerland’s neutrality was not at stake.
However, he said Switzerland could not simply stand by in the “confrontation between democracy and barbarism”, and was prepared to take an economic hit.
US to provide Stryker army company to NATO battlegroup in Bulgaria
The US has agreed to provide a Stryker mechanised infantry company for Bulgaria’s battlegroup under NATO’s drive to bolster its eastern flank after Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said.
“The USA agreed to provide a Stryker company,” he told a press conference with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “This is a strong sign to all of our allies in NATO.”
Bulgaria, once Moscow’s closest ally during the Cold War era but a NATO and European Union member state, is establishing a battlegroup of up to 1,000 troops under the operational command of NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
UK fears ‘more extreme’ Russian actions in Ukraine
Peace talks to end the Ukraine conflict could be a “smokescreen” for more extreme Russian military manoeuvres, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned.
“I’m very sceptical,” Truss told The Times newspaper in an interview. “What we’ve seen is an attempt to create space for the Russians to regroup. Their invasion isn’t going according to plan.”
“I fear the negotiation is yet another attempt to create a diversion and create a smokescreen. I don’t think we’re yet at a point for negotiation,” she added.
Truss echoed comments by British intelligence that Putin could turn to “more and more extreme actions,” adding “we’ve seen appalling atrocities already.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry says it used a hypersonic Kinzhal missile to destroy a large weapons depot in Ukraine. Let’s take a look at what a hypersonic missile is: pic.twitter.com/CCHb1TCP00
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) March 19, 2022
Russia uses hypersonic weapons in western Ukraine
Russia has used its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time in Ukraine to destroy a weapons storage site in the country’s west, the defence ministry said.
“The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition” in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region,” the Russian defence ministry said on Saturday.
State news agency RIA Novosti said it was the first use of the Kinzhal hypersonic weapons during what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in pro-Western Ukraine.
Ukraine: Another senior Russian military officer killed
Ukraine claimed that another senior Russian military officer was killed, the fifth since the conflict began last month.
Lt. Gen. Andrey Mordvichev, a commander of the 8th Rus. Army of the South region, was eliminated in Chornobaivka township near Kherson city, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement.
Humanitarian corridor to open in Luhansk
A humanitarian corridor for evacuations in Ukraine’s Luhansk region will be opened on Saturday morning, regional governor Serhiy Gaiday said on Telegram.
“A humanitarian corridor has been agreed, we will try to evacuate people and bring food today. A ‘regime of silence’ has been agreed for March 19, starting at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT),” Gaiday said.
Ukraine hopes ten humanitarian corridors will operate
Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians on Saturday via ten humanitarian corridors from cities and towns on the front line of fighting with Russian forces, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
She said a corridor had been agreed for the besieged city of Mariupol, although the authorities’ previous efforts to evacuate civilians there under a temporary ceasefire have mostly failed, with both sides trading blame.
Mayor of Mariupol says more than 80 percent of residential buildings in the city have been either damaged and destroyed pic.twitter.com/eecvU3SqdH
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) March 19, 2022
Zelensky calls for fresh talks, Russia enters Mariupol centre
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a fresh appeal for talks with Moscow, while Russia said its soldiers had entered the centre of besieged port city Mariupol.
“This is the time to meet, to talk, time for renewing territorial integrity and fairness for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted to Facebook.
“Otherwise, Russia’s losses will be such, that several generations will not recover.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said that the army and its separatist allies had made a breakthrough in Mariupol, which has been under Russian shelling for days, and were now inside the city.
Telegram booms as Russia’s digital landscape shrinks
The Telegram messaging app has become a go-to platform since Russia’s offensive on Ukraine, despite concerns over its data security and defences against misinformation.
It has benefitted from the gap left by Russia’s blocking of Facebook and Instagram, offering a platform for mass messaging in a way similar to social media.
According to daily figures provided by Telegram, the app has been downloaded over 150 million times since the beginning of the year, with the official figure of half a billion active users dating back to January 2021.
Over $100M worth of crypto raised for Ukraine
Cryptocurrencies have taken on an unprecedented role in the Ukraine conflict, helping the government raise millions of dollars to fund its fight against the Russian offensive.
Ukrainian officials posted addresses for two crypto wallets on their Twitter account, giving donors a direct and clear address to which to send contributions.
The wallets attracted more than $10.2 million (9.2 million euros) just four days after the start of the offensive.
Since then, more than $100 million worth of crypto has been raised, with the “Crypto Fund for Ukraine” run by Michael Chobanian -– the founder of the Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna -– accounting for 60 percent of all donations.
US basketball star detained in Russia
Detained for more than a month in Russia, US basketball star Brittney Griner has become an unlikely victim of the Ukraine conflict.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, was detained in Moscow airport on February 17 on charges of carrying vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil in her luggage.
She was immediately placed in a detention centre, and on Thursday a Russian court extended her arrest until May 19.
The 31-year-old – one of few women who can “dunk” a ball and considered one of the best players in the world – faces up to 10 years in prison.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls for direct peace and security talks to end the conflict with Russia pic.twitter.com/Ep9S8XGwJL
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) March 19, 2022
Ukraine loses access to Sea of Azov — Defence ministry
Ukraine’s defence ministry has said it lost access to the Sea of Azov “temporarily” as Russian forces were tightening their grip around the Sea’s major port of Mariupol.
“The occupiers have partially succeeded in the Donetsk operational district, temporarily depriving Ukraine of access to the Sea of Azov,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said in a statement.
The ministry did not specify in its statement whether Ukraine’s forces have regained access to the Sea.
9,000 leave besieged Mariupol — Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian forces are blockading Ukraine’s largest cities to create a “humanitarian catastrophe” with the aim of persuading Ukrainians to cooperate with them.
He says Russians are preventing supplies from reaching surrounded cities in the centre and southeast of the country.
He said more than 9,000 people were able to leave besieged Mariupol in the past day, and in all more than 180,000 people have been able to flee to safety through humanitarian corridors.
It’s time to talk — Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow, saying Russia would otherwise need generations to recover from losses suffered during the incursion.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had always offered solutions for peace and wanted meaningful and honest negotiations on peace and security, without delay.
“I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk,” he said in a video address released in the early hours of Saturday.
“The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia’s losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover.”
US denies its soldiers killed in Ukraine
The US has denied a “false news” report that said three American troops were killed in eastern Ukraine.
“There is wide reporting that there were three US soldiers who were killed in Donbass, which is patently false and a deliberate fabrication. There are no US soldiers in Ukraine,” State Department principal deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said at a briefing.
“The imagery used is – on this false reporting is from 2018, and those depicted in the picture returned safely to their home the next year in 2019. They are accounted for, safe, and not, as the article erroneously states, US mercenaries killed in Donetsk,” said Porter.
For live updates from Friday (March 18), click here
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Live blog: Ukraine sees no major changes in fighting over past 24 hours
Source: Pinay Pop Showbiz
