Russia Ukraine War: Pentagon sees strategy in Russia's troop moves

Hosting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the first high level Russian official to visit Beijing after the Ukraine war, China on Wednesday said "cooperation" between the two allies has no "ceiling" to resist "hegemony". Lavrov arrived in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, for the third meeting of foreign ministers of the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Russia’s official news agency Tass reported on Wednesday. "There is no ceiling for China-Russia cooperation, no ceiling for us to strive for peace, no ceiling for us to safeguard security and no ceiling for us to oppose hegemony," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here when asked to describe the limits of China-Russia relations. Commenting on the most recent round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey’s Istanbul, Wang Wenbin noted "positive signals" demonstrated by both parties.

The head of Russia's delegation in talks with Ukraine this week says that Kyiv's readiness to consider a neutral status would meet a key Russian demand. Vladimir Medinsky said that, during Tuesday's talks in Istanbul, Ukraine submitted a set of proposals including its readiness to adopt a non-bloc, nuclear-free status and drop its bid to join NATO. He said Ukraine also signalled its readiness not to host foreign military bases and to hold joint drills with foreign militaries only in consultation with countries serving as guarantors of a peace deal, which would include Russia.

Hungary's foreign minister on Wednesday accused Ukraine's leadership of attempting to interfere in the upcoming Hungarian election, a charge later denied by his Ukrainian counterpart in an episode that put further strain on relations between the two countries. In a video on social media, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claimed that there was “ongoing coordination between the Hungarian left and representatives of the Ukrainian government”, and that Ukraine was attempting to influence Hungary's April 3 election in favour of a coalition of opposition parties. Szijjarto did not provide any evidence supporting the claim. Its government has also actively opposed levying sanctions against Russian energy imports, arguing that doing so would deeply damage its economy.

The number of people who have fled Ukraine since Russian troops invaded has surpassed 4 million, the United Nations reported Wednesday as shelling continued in places where Moscow had vowed to ease its military operations. "I do not know if we can still believe the Russians,” refugee Nikolay Nazarov, 23, said as he crossed Ukraine's border into Poland with his wheelchair-bound father. Despite Russia's announcement during talks on Tuesday that its forces would ease their assault near Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and elsewhere, Nazarov said he expects “more escalation” in the country's east, including the city he and his father fled. “That is why we cannot go back to Kharkiv," he said. “We are afraid of a new phase of war in eastern Ukraine.”

Russian forces pounded areas around Ukraine's capital and another city overnight, regional leaders said Wednesday, just hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places. The shelling further tempered optimism about any progress in talks aimed at ending the punishing war. Russia did not spell out what exactly it planned to do differently, and while the promise initially raised hopes that a path toward peace was coming into view, Ukraine's president and others cautioned that the remarks could merely be bluster. Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling hit homes, shops, libraries and other “civilian infrastructure” in the northern city of Chernihiv and on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the Norwegian Parliament that Russia wants “to destroy the foundation of Europe.” Zelenskyy, speaking through an interpreter during a live video appearance before the 169-member Stortinget, said Wednesday that “the future of Europe is being decided now.” Speaking generally of Russia's military activities in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that “for the Russians, there are no prohibited targets.” Zelenskyy's speech was the latest of a string of addresses to lawmakers in several countries, including the United States, Britain, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Israel, Japan and the European Union.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict could come up during President Ram Nath Kovind's talks with the Dutch leadership during his visit to the Netherlands next week and he would reiterate India's "clear position" on the issue, a senior Ministry of External Affairs official said on Wednesday. Sanjay Verma, Secretary West in the MEA, made the remarks at a press briefing on President Kovind's week-long visit to Turkmenistan and the Netherlands starting April 1 during which he would hold talks with the leadership of those countries to strengthen bilateral ties. At the invitation of the President of Turkmenistan, President Kovind will pay a state visit to Turkmenistan from April 1-4, he said.

Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu is known as the Manchester of the South with most of the garment exports taking place from this place. The industry, already reeling under a steep increase in prices of raw materials, is now affected by the Ukraine-Russia war. 
Tiruppur which is one of the biggest textile hubs in the country has a turnover of Rs 3000 crore per month but in the last month, exporters said, the business has come down anywhere between 20 to 30 percent. Around 65 percent of the export business from Tiruppur is with the European Union and the war between Ukraine and Russia has affected the exports significantly.

Ukraine established three humanitarian corridors on Wednesday, the country's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram. Two corridors were set up to allow Ukrainian civilians to flee the cities of Melitopol and Energodar in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, which were captured by Russia's forces, Xinhua news agency reported citing Vereshchuk. Another humanitarian route was established in the eastern Donetsk region to evacuate people from the city of Mariupol, where active hostilities are underway, she added.

The Kremlin says there was no breakthrough in the latest round of talks with Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday it was a “positive factor” that Ukraine submitted its written proposals, but added that “we can't say there has been something promising or any breakthroughs”. He emphasised in a call with reporters that there is still a lot of work ahead following Tuesday's talks in Istanbul. On Tuesday, Ukraine set out a detailed framework for a peace deal under which the country would remain neutral but its security would be guaranteed by a group of third countries, including the US, Britain, France, Turkey, China and Poland.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay an official visit to India from March 31 to April 1, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Wednesday. It would be the highest-level visit from Russia to India after Moscow launched its military offensive against Ukraine on February 24.

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The German government said Wednesday it was triggering the early warning level for gas supplies amid concerns that Russia could cut off supplies unless it is paid in rubles. Western nations have rejected the Russian demand for ruble payments, arguing it would undermine the sanctions imposed against Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

“There have been several comments from the Russian side that if this (payments in rubles) doesn't happen, then the supplies will be stopped,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said. “In order to be prepared for this situation I have today triggered the early warning level.”

Habeck, who is also Germany's energy minister and vice chancellor, told reporters that this was the first of three warning levels and entailed the establishment of a crisis team in his ministry that will step up monitoring of the gas supply situation.

The governor of Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region says Russian attacks continued overnight despite Moscow saying it would reduce military activity in the area. Viacheslav Chaus said in a video message on social media that houses and infrastructure including libraries and shopping centers had been damaged in the cities of Chernihiv and Nizhyn.

Chaus didn't say if anyone had been killed or injured.

Of Russia's statement that it would cut back its military activity, he said: “Do we believe that? Of course not.”

During talks in Istanbul on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow would cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.”

Poland will take steps to cut Russian oil imports by the end of 2022, the prime minister said Wednesday. Poland has already largely reduced its dependence on Russian oil, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.

Morawiecki told a news conference that Poland was launching the most radical plan among European nations to wean off Russian energy sources.
Poland said Tuesday it was banning imports of Russian coal. Morawiecki said he expects gas imports will be cut in May and called on other European countries to follow suit.

Poland is arguing that money from oil and gas exports are fueling Russia's war machine and that that should stop. 

Donetsk Mayor Alexey Kulemzin said that during a night shelling attack on the city, a Ukrainian projectile directly hit a residential building, and it was partially destroyed.

Germany's economy minister said Wednesday he was triggering the early warning level for gas supplies amid Russia's continued demand to be paid in rubles. Robert Habeck told reporters that this was the first of three warning levels and entails the establishment of a crisis team in his ministry that will heighten monitoring of the gas supply situation.

Habeck said he took the measure after Moscow indicated it would pass a bill to require payment in rubles despite the Group of Seven countries rejecting this demands on Monday.

Britain's Ministry of Defense says Russia's stated focus on the separatist regions in eastern Ukraine “is likely a tacit admission that it is struggling to sustain more than one significant axis of advance." In a daily war assessment, the ministry said Wednesday that Russian units suffering heavy losses have been forced to return to Belarus and Russia to reorganise and supply.

It says such activity is placing further pressure on Russia's already strained logistics and demonstrates the difficulties Russia is having reorganizing its units in forward areas within Ukraine.

It noted, however, that the shift is unlikely to mean relief for civilians in cities that have been subjected to relentless Russian bombardments. It expects Moscow will continue to compensate for reduced ground maneuvers through mass artillery and missile strikes.

Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday as talks on ending Russia's war on Ukraine appeared to make progress. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Tokyo declined. Oil prices advanced less than $1 per barrel.

That followed Russia's announcement it would scale back military operations near Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and another northern city. It came as negotiators meeting in Turkey began to lay out a possible deal to end the five-week-old war.

“This was a nice add-on catalyst" to a market rally already under way, Clifford Bennett of ACY Securities said in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.7% to 3,258.22, rebounding from the previous day's loss after Shanghai, China's most populous city, closed most businesses to fight coronavirus outbreaks.

India has gone through a very "complicated and challenging time" in negotiating its diplomatic stand on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and because of its multiple interests with other countries, it's been a "bit of dancing on a tightrope," Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor has said.

He was responding to a question during an interaction held here on Tuesday after inaugurating a three-day photo exhibition, 'Ukraine Untold (Glimpses)', on how the country looked barely a month before the war began.

"India has gone through a very complicated and challenging time in negotiating as it were its own stand on the (Ukraine-Russia) crisis. There is no doubt that India in its very first statement seemed to be a little unwilling to say anything that the Russians will be upset about," he said.

A former UN under secretary-general, Tharoor, on the likely visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to India this week, said, "He will have a tough cause to defend and I am sure the talks that he is going to have in New Delhi will be very interesting".

The global macroeconomic uncertainties have increased due to the Russia-Ukraine war, but it is too early to predict its impact on the Indian economy, eminent economist Pinaki Chakraborty said on Wednesday.

In an interview with PTI, Chakraborty said high-frequency data show that in many countries, inflation is higher than expected, there are supply chain disruptions and much higher volatility in financial markets.

"As we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the global macroeconomic uncertainties have increased due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. 
"However, it is too early to even predict its impact on the Indian economy," he said.

Amid the ongoing tension between Moscow and Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday spoke with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and discussed his country's "struggle against Russian aggression".

"Had a phone conversation with Pak Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI. Spoke about our struggle against Russian aggression. The people of Ukraine seek peace. This is our unconditional priority," Zelenskyy tweeted.

Meanwhile, Khan "expressed deep regret that the military conflict" between Moscow and Kyiv was continuing, according to Geo News.

An explosion occurred near the village of Krasny Oktyabr in the Belgorod region, there were no casualties among local residents, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

At least 12 people were killed and 33 others injured in an airstrike carried out by Russia's forces on a regional administration building in Ukraine's southeastern city of Mykolayiv, the press service of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

The airstrike, which occurred at about 8:45 a.m. local time (0545 GMT), destroyed the central section of the nine-story building, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, 18 people were rescued from the debris following the attack.

The search and rescue operation is under way, the ministry said.

The United States on Tuesday (local time) said that Russia's bombardment of Ukraine's cities and critical infrastructure has created one of the fastest-growing humanitarian crises.

"Russia's ceaseless bombardment of Ukraine's cities and critical infrastructure has created one of the fastest-growing humanitarian crises in recent decades. Russian forces have laid siege to cities like Mariupol, where citizens have been left without food, water, heat, or electricity in the depths of winter," US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said at UN Security Council (UNSC).

Sherman said that the impacts of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war are being felt far beyond Ukraine's borders, as well - with some of the most immediate and dangerous implications for global food security.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi has arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for talks with senior Ukrainian officials on delivering urgent technical assistance to ensure the security of the country's nuclear facilities, the IAEA said.

The aim of Grossi's visit is to "initiate prompt safety and security support to Ukraine's nuclear facilities," which will include sending IAEA experts to prioritized facilities and the shipment of vital safety and security supplies including monitoring and emergency equipment, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement by the IAEA.

"The military conflict is putting Ukraine's nuclear power plants and other facilities with radioactive material in unprecedented danger," Grossi was quoted by the statement as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are likely to meet only after an agreement is ready for signing, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia's negotiation team, said on Tuesday.

Before the discussion of a possible meeting of the presidents, a treaty must be prepared and approved by the negotiators, and then endorsed by the foreign ministers, explained Medinsky, also an aide to the Russian President.

This will be not simple especially because the meeting could be a multilateral one with the participation of state guarantors of peace and security to Ukraine, he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that his government is in talks with international partners over the supplies of fuel to Ukraine, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

"We are negotiating with global companies and foreign countries over the supplies," Shmyhal was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Ukraine has undertaken a series of measures to ensure stable supplies of fuel to the army and to the farmers who conduct the sowing campaign, he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he saw positive signals from the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

"The signals we hear from the negotiating platform can be called positive," Zelensky said in a video address published on his official Telegram channel.

At the same time, Zelensky said Ukraine is "aware of all the risks" and will trust only "concrete results", Xinhua news agency reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron held a phone conversation to continue discussions of the situation in Ukraine, shortly after a new round of Moscow-Kiev peace talks ended in Istanbul, Turkey.

Putin and Macron paid particular attention to humanitarian issues in Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a Kremlin statement.

Putin informed Macron of measures being taken by the Russian military to provide emergency humanitarian assistance and ensure the safe evacuation of civilians, including from the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

Belgium will expel 21 Russian diplomats suspected of espionage and involvement in influence operations threatening Belgian security, the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmes has announced.

The diplomats, from the Russian Embassy in Brussels and the Consulate General in Antwerp, will have to leave the territory within 15 days, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that the Ukraine's indirect losses from the conflict with Russia are estimated at more than $1 trillion, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

"The losses, calculated indirectly, taking into account the losses in the coming years, amount to more than a trillion dollars," Shmyhal was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The cost of direct damage to Ukraine's public buildings, bridges, roads, civilian and military infrastructure caused by the attacks is estimated at about 270 billion dollars, he said.

The Dutch government has ordered the expulsion of 17 Russian diplomats suspected of being "intelligence officers," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.

The Russian ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hague and informed of the decision on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday appeared to be unconvinced on the Russian announcement that it is scaling back its operations in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.

“We'll see. I don't read anything into it until I see what their actions are,” Biden told reporters at the White House when asked about the Russian announcement on Tuesday that it will fundamentally scale back its military operations near Kyiv and another northern city in Ukraine.

“We'll see if they follow through on what they're suggesting. There are negotiations that have begun and continued today. One in Turkey and others,” he said, adding that he had a meeting with the heads of state of France, Germany and the Great Britain.

Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine's capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks. Ukraine's delegation at the conference, held in Istanbul, laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of other nations.

Moscow's public reaction was positive, and the negotiations are expected to resume on Wednesday, five weeks into what has devolved into a bloody war of attrition, with thousands dead and almost 4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country.

Amid the talks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow has decided to “fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv” to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.”

He did not immediately spell out what that would mean in practical terms.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has implications for the Asia Pacific, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore said Tuesday cautioning the international community that there are potential flashpoints and contentious issues in the region as well.

“The war in the Ukraine has implications for the Asia-Pacific,” Lee told reporters during a joint news conference with President Joe Biden of the United States at the White House.

“There are potential flashpoints and contentious issues in our region too, which if not managed well could escalate to open conflict,” he said, soon after holding a bilateral meeting with Biden.

US President Joe Biden is sending his top advisor and key person leading his administration’s economic sanctions on Russia to India, which so far has refused to toe the American line and maintained its own independent strategic position. The Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh, an Indian American, will be in New Delhi on March 30 and 31, the White House said Tuesday.

“Singh will consult closely with counterparts on the consequences of Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy,” said Emily Horne, spokesperson of the National Security Council of the White House.

The UN food chief warned Tuesday the war in Ukraine has created “a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe” and will have a global impact “beyond anything we've seen since World War II" because many of the Ukrainian farmers who produce a significant amount of the world's wheat are now fighting Russians.

David Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Program, told the UN Security Council that already high food prices are skyrocketing.
His agency was feeding 125 million people around the world before Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, and Beasley said it has had to start cutting their rations because of rising food, fuel and shipping costs.

He pointed to war-torn Yemen where 8 million people just had their food allotment cut 50%, “and now we're looking at going to zero rations.”

India on Tuesday (local time) reiterated its call for unimpeded humanitarian access to areas of armed conflict in Ukraine. "India remains deeply concerned at the ongoing situation, which continues to deteriorate since the beginning of the hostilities. We reiterate our call for unimpeded humanitarian access to areas of armed conflict in Ukraine," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti said at the UNSC briefing on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

Tirumurti said that there is an urgent need to address the humanitarian needs of the affected population in Ukraine.

He continued saying that "in this regard, the initiatives of UN, and its agencies like OCHA and WFP have reinforced ongoing efforts. We also note the decision by the EU countries who have agreed to a permit-free transit of humanitarian carriers to Ukraine."