Russia Ukraine War LIVE Updates: Zelensky claims Moscow is kidnapping mayors, 'some of them found dead'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that he has been in "very close contact" with India and other countries including Turkey, China and Israel on mediation efforts towards bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military offensive against Ukraine on February 24.

"I've been in close contact with several countries that have been talking to the parties at the highest level in order to explore the different forms of mediation leading to a political solution. I've been in very close contact with our Turkish friends, with Qatar, with Israel, with India, China but also France, Germany. And it is my belief that all these efforts are essential in order to create the conditions to allow for, finally, this war to come to an end,” Guterres told reporters here.

When asked if all those countries are supporting his effort, Guterres said, "I hope so."

Last week, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had met Guterres at the UN headquarters and discussed the situation in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Myanmar.

Sources had said that Shringla’s meeting with Guterres lasted about an hour and the two discussed the issue of Ukraine. It is understood that Guterres had said that a country like India has a very major role to play given that India is one of the few countries that commanded respect across the board and was able to reach out to both the sides over the current situation, which needs countries and leaders who can play a role in helping resolve the issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held several phone conversations with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and called for immediate cessation of violence as well as concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue.
Earlier also Guterres had said that he has been in close contact with a number of countries, including China, France, Germany, India, Israel and Turkey, on mediation efforts to "bring an end to this war."

Guterres announced that exercising his good offices, he has asked Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths "immediately" to explore with the parties involved the possible agreements and arrangements for a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine.

"Since the beginning of the Russian invasion one month ago, the war has led to the senseless loss of thousands of lives; the displacement of ten million people, mainly women and children; the systematic destruction of essential infrastructure; and skyrocketing food and energy prices worldwide. This must stop,” Guterres said.

Asserting that the solution to the humanitarian tragedy caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not humanitarian but political, the UN chief appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, to allow for progress in serious political negotiations, aimed at reaching a peace agreement based on the principles of the United Nations Charter.

"A cessation of hostilities will allow essential humanitarian aid to be delivered and enable civilians to move around safely. It will save lives, prevent suffering, and protect civilians," he said.

Guterres expressed hope that a ceasefire will also help to address the global consequences of the war, which risk compounding the deep hunger crisis in many developing countries that already lack fiscal space to invest in their recovery from the pandemic, and now face soaring food and energy costs.

In the past month, UN humanitarian agencies and their partners have reached nearly 900,000 people, mainly in eastern Ukraine, with food, shelter, blankets, medicine, bottled water, and hygiene supplies.

There are now more than 1,000 United Nations personnel in the country, working via eight humanitarian hubs in Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Uzhorod, Chernivitzi, Mukachevo, Luhansk and Donetsk, he said.

The World Food Programme and partners reached 800,000 people in the past month and are scaling up to reach 1.2 million people by mid-April. The World Health Organisation and partners have reached more than half a million people in the most vulnerable areas with emergency health, trauma and surgery kits.

In response to a question, Guterres said Griffiths, who is currently in Kabul, will "immediately start" his peace effort.

Guterres hoped Griffiths will be able to go to both Moscow and Kyiv as soon as that becomes possible. "It's very important to establish a serious dialogue with both parties in relation to the possibility of this humanitarian ceasefire."

Griffiths tweeted that he began his visit to Afghanistan Monday at the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul. "I struggle to put into words how profoundly affected I was by the plight of the babies I met. Tiny, listless newborns, two to an incubator, suffering from acute malnutrition.

"A mother caring for her severely malnourished baby, after having already lost two children. Hospital staff telling me three newborns have already died today alone. They need our help."

Ukraine is prepared to declare its neutrality and consider a compromise on contested areas in the country's east, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of another round of talks set for Tuesday on stopping the fighting. But he said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia's leader can end the war.

While hinting at possible concessions, Zelenskyy also stressed that Ukraine's priority is ensuring its sovereignty and its “territorial integrity” — preventing Russia from carving up the country, something Ukraine and the West say could now be Moscow's goal.

Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining the Western NATO alliance, which Moscow sees as a threat.

Zelenskyy has also repeatedly stressed that Ukraine needs security guarantees of its own as part of any deal.

“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state — we are ready to go for it,” Zelenskyy said in an interview Sunday with independent Russian media outlets.

The Ukrainian leader has suggested as much before, but rarely so forcefully, and the latest remarks could create momentum for the talks scheduled to take place in Istanbul.

“We must come to an agreement with the president of the Russian Federation, and in order to reach an agreement, he needs to get out of there on his own feet ... and come to meet me," Zelenskyy said in the interview, which Russia barred its media from publishing.

Sweden's prime minister says her country will help refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine but won't take in the kind of share it did during the influx of 2015.

Magdalena Andersson told reporters in Berlin on Monday that “we will do our part in helping Ukrainian refugees, but we cannot come back to the situation we had in 2015 when Sweden took a disproportionate part of the asylum seekers.”

Andersson, a member of the Social Democratic Party, said Sweden accepted about 12% of the total number of refugees coming to the European Union in 2015, despite having only 2% of the bloc's population.

“We cannot come back to that kind of solution, but of course we will do our part and we are right now , of course, also welcoming Ukrainians that are coming to Sweden today, yesterday and during the last weeks,” she said after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Since the war began on Feb. 24, more than 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations' refugee agency.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call for humanitarian help has been answered by the European Commission, the government of Canada and dozens of celebrities assembled by advocacy nonprofit Global Citizen, including Oscar winners Billie Eilish and Finneas, actor Hugh Jackman, as well as Madonna and Grammy nominee Jon Batiste.

“Stand Up for Ukraine,” which organizers are calling a “social media rally,” will take place April 8 to raise awareness for a global pledging summit on April 9.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will host the pledging summit in hopes of raising funds from governments, companies, philanthropies and individuals for Ukrainian refugees, as well as for refugees from conflicts in Afghanistan, South Sudan and Yemen.

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, more than 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced by the war, with 3.5 million already fleeing the country and 6.5 million fleeing their homes, but remaining in Ukraine.

Billions will be needed to provide those refugees food and shelter, as well as to support the countries that are currently hosting the refugees.

A plane carrying members of a Russian delegation has landed in Istanbul ahead of talks with Ukrainian negotiators aimed at ending the month-long war.

Turkey's private DHA news agency said the Russian government plane landed at Istanbul Airport on Monday. The face-to-face talks between the two sides are scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine could declare neutrality, potentially accept a compromise on contested areas in the country's east, and offer security guarantees to Russia to secure peace “without delay.” He said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia's leader could end the war.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the two presidents could meet, but only after the key elements of a potential deal are negotiated.

Earlier talks, held both by video and in person, failed to make progress on ending the war that has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes - including almost 4 million from their country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is likely to visit India in the next one week and the key focus is expected to be discussions on a payment system for New Delhi's procurement of oil and military hardware from Moscow, people familiar with the developments said on Monday.

It would be the highest-level visit from Russia to India after Moscow launched its military offensive against Ukraine on February 24.

There has been no official word on the proposed visit either by the Ministry of External Affairs or by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

There has been a flurry of high-level visits to India in the last few weeks including by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and foreign ministers of Austria and Greece.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is scheduled to visit India on Thursday.

With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine's military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country's territory to possibly end the war.

The bulk of the Ukrainian army is concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where it has been locked up in fighting with Moscow-backed separatists in a nearly eight-year conflict.

If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in the country's industrial heartland, called Donbas, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv and potentially attempt to split the country in two.

The Russian military declared Friday that the “first stage of the operation” had been largely accomplished, allowing Russian troops to concentrate on their "top goal — the liberation of Donbas.”

Many observers say the shift in strategy could reflect President Vladimir Putin's acknowledgment that his plan for a blitz in Ukraine has failed, forcing him to narrow his goals and change tactics amid a disastrous war that has turned Russia into a pariah and decimated its economy.

The number of refugees who have flooded out of Ukraine is nearing 4 million, but data shows fewer people have crossed the border in recent days.

Border guards, aid agencies and refugees say Russia’s unpredictable war on Ukraine offers few signs as to whether it’s just a pause or a permanent drop-off.

In the first two weeks after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, about 2.5 million people in Ukraine’s pre-war population of 44 million left the country to avoid the bombs and bloodshed. In the second two weeks, the number of refugees was roughly half that.

The total exodus through Sunday now stands at 3.87 million, according to the latest tally announced Monday from UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency. In the previous 24 hours, only 45,000 people crossed Ukraine’s borders to seek safety, the slowest one-day count yet.

“People who were determined to leave when war breaks out fled in the first days,” said Anna Michalska, a spokeswoman for the Polish border guards.

UNHCR says the war has triggered Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, and the speed and breadth of refugees fleeing to countries including Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia — as well as Russia — is unprecedented in recent times. Poland alone has taken in 2.3 million refugees and Romania nearly 600,000. The United States has vowed to take in 100,000.

“All G7 ministers agreed completely that this (would be) a one-sided and clear breach of the existing contracts,” Robert Habeck said.

A plane carrying members of a Russian delegation has landed in Istanbul ahead of talks with Ukrainian negotiators aimed at ending the month-long war.

Turkey’s private DHA news agency said the Russian government plane landed at Istanbul Airport on Monday. The face-to-face talks between the two sides are scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine could declare neutrality, potentially accept a compromise on contested areas in the country’s east, and offer security guarantees to Russia to secure peace “without delay.” He said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia’s leader could end the war.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the two presidents could meet, but only after the key elements of a potential deal are negotiated.

Earlier talks, held both by video and in person, failed to make progress on ending the war that has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — including almost 4 million from their country.

NATO-member Turkey has close relations with both Ukraine and Russia. Earlier this month, it hosted a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers.

Russian shares have slumped as its stock market resumed trading of all companies after a monthlong halt following the invasion of Ukraine.

The benchmark MOEX index slid 2.2% Monday after the Moscow Exchange reopened for all of its several hundred listed companies, but with restrictions still in place to limit volatility.

The last full trading session in Moscow was on Feb. 25, a day after the index tumbled by a third after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Prices whipsawed last week when the exchange tentatively reopened for two days of limited trading, with investors allowed to trade only 33 of the MOEX index’s 50 companies.

Some restrictions remained in place Monday to prevent another big selloff. The daily session is shortened to four hours and there is a ban on short-selling, which essentially involves betting on stock prices to go down. Foreigners also are unable to sell shares until Friday.

Zelensky says: A new round of negotiations is ahead, because we are looking for peace. Our priorities in the negotiations are known. Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt. Effective security guarantees for our state are mandatory. Our goal is obvious - peace and the restoration of normal life in our native state as soon as possible.

Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne has quoted the mayor of Mariupol as saying that around 160,000 people remain in the besieged port city, and that a “humanitarian catastrophe” would ensue if more evacuations are not possible.

Vadym Boychenko said Monday that Russian forces were preventing civilians from evacuating from the city and had been turning back some who tried to make it out.

The city, which had a pre-war population of more than 400,000, has seen some of the worst conditions since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb.24. Russian forces have pounded the city, and scores of civilians have been unable to escape, with no access to essentials and cut off from communication with the shelling of cell, radio and TV towers.

Another attempt on the life of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky failed. This time, a military group of 25 people led by the Russian special services was captured near the Slovakia-Hungary border. Their goal was the physical elimination of the Ukrainian President, reported Kyiv Post.

Some mayors abducted by Russia turned up dead. “(Russians) are kidnapping the mayors of our cities. Some of them we cannot find. Some of them we have already found, and they are dead,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with The Economist.

China, which has what it calls a “no limits” partnership with Moscow, has strongly objected to the sanctions, saying they will worsen the global economic outlook without bringing an end to the conflict.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing Monday that China and other nations believe “people of all countries have no responsibility to pay for geopolitical conflicts and great power games.”

“The problem now is not about who wants to help Russia bypass sanctions, but about the normal economic and trade relations between countries, including China, and Russia have been unnecessarily damaged,” Wang said.

“We urge the U.S. to take China’s concerns seriously when dealing with the Ukraine issue and relations with Russia, and not to damage China’s legitimate rights and interests in any way,” Wang said.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — European Union judicial coordination agency Eurojust says it has helped Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine to establish a joint investigation team to probe war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes committed in Ukraine.

The Hague-based agency said Monday that the three nations signed an agreement on Friday establishing the team. Eurojust says it provided legal and technical support.

Eurojust says the main aim of the team is to “support the gathering of evidence and its swift and secure exchange between partners, as well as the transmission of information and evidence.”

Eurojust adds that the team will help the three nations cooperate with International Criminal Court prosecution office, which also has opened an investigation in Ukraine.

Within the first month of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish prosecutors said they had collected some 300 witness testimonies from refugees pouring over the border.

Joint investigation teams help nations pool resources and knowledge during complex international investigations. The Netherlands and other countries set up such a team to investigate the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s foreign minister says the presidents of Russia and Ukraine could meet for talks only after the key elements of a potential deal are negotiated.

Sergey Lavrov said Monday that “the meeting is necessary once we have clarity regarding solutions on all key issues.”

Lavrov’s comments follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement that he’s ready to discuss Ukraine’s neutrality and security guarantees with Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure peace “without delay.” Zelenskyy added that only a face-to-face meeting with Russia’s leader could end the war.

Russian and Turkish negotiators are set to hold another round of talks in Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday to try to draft an agreement.

Speaking in an online interview with Serbian media, Lavrov alleged that Ukraine only want to “imitate talks” while Russia needs specific results that would be secured by the countries’ leaders.

The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that it is still unable to provide assistance to the besieged city of Mariupol because it requires Russia and Ukraine to guarantee safe passage.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine will continue in a face-to-face format, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed. Moscow expects the negotiations to be successful.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vereshchuk has said that Russia continues to militarize the Chernobyl zone.

According to her, this creates a risk of damage to the isolation structures built over the fourth power unit of the plant after the explosion in 1986.

Russian oil is necessary for the energy markets, and no producer can replace its production, states by the Minister of Energy of the United Arab Emirates, Suhail Al Mazroui.

Germany may give up imports of Russian coal and reduce imports of Russian oil as early as this year, Olaf Scholz said.

For his part, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrel believes that the EU can refuse to buy Russian gas within two years.

The British Ministry of Defence reports that there has been no significant change to Russian Forces dispositions in Ukraine.

"The cruise missile on the oil depot in Lutsk was fired from the direction of the Republic of Belarus. It flew at a low altitude, so the radars failed to detect it. According to preliminary data, there are no casualties," said the head of Volyn Region State Administration.

Just after 7pm on Sunday, the Allegro express train from St Petersburg pulled into the Finnish capital, marking the closure of the last rail link between Russia and the EU.

As Moscow's invasion of Kiev has entered its second month, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the world cannot let Russian President Vladimir Putin win in Ukraine because if he can get away with it, this will be a message to other countries that perhaps they could get away with it too.

In an interview with Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of German publishing company Axel Springer, he said that the American government has done more for Ukraine than people may realise.

"But it has just not been very public. But it is important to do something serious. We cannot let Putin take over Ukraine. This is crazy," he told Dopfner at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California.

Russia's media watchdog has warned against the broadcast and publication of an interview between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's and several independent journalists from Moscow, where he speaks about the ongoing war.

The 90-minute interview on Sunday was the first time Zelensky spoke to Russia mediapersons since Moscow launched its invasion of Kiev on February 24. He spoke in Russian to the journalists, including author Mikhail Zygar and Tikhon Dzyadko, the editor-in-chief of the recently shuttered channel TV Rain.

French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said "Mariupol is the new Aleppo", as he compared the largest Syrian city that witnessed some of the worst fighting in the country's brutal civil war to the besieged Ukrainian port city where ongoing Russian attacks have led to widespread destruction and civilian deaths.

Addressing the Doha Forum on Sunday, Le Drian said that world needs to act immediately to help Mariupol, as the scale of the disaster in Ukraine's south-eastern city demands immediate action, the BBC reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his country is willing to discuss the adoption of a neutral stance as part of a peace deal with Russia aimed at ending the war.

While speaking to a group of independent Russian journalists on Sunday for the very first time since the war began on February 24, the President said: "Security guarantees and the neutral, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to accept this. This is the most important point," CNN reported.

Zelensky told the journalists that, "this was the first point of principle for the Russian Federation, as I recall. And as far as I remember, they started the war because of this".

Any agreement would have to be put to the Ukrainian people in a referendum, he said, while stressing his desire to reach a concrete peace agreement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed the need for a cease-fire in Ukraine in a telephone call Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan's office said.

Erdogan also called for an improvement to the humanitarian situation in the region, according to the statement.

The two leaders agreed the next meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials should be held in Istanbul, the statement added, without giving a time frame.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says that neither NATO nor US President Joe Biden aim to bring about regime change in Russia.
Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a speech on Saturday that “this man cannot remain in power.”

The White House and other US officials rushed to clarify that Biden wasn't actually calling for Putin to be toppled.

Asked during an appearance Sunday on ARD television whether Putin's removal is in fact the real aim, Scholz replied: “This is not the aim of NATO, and also not that of the American president.”

Scholz added: “We both agree completely that regime change is not an object and aim of policy that we pursue together.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the West of cowardice on Sunday while another top official said Russia was trying to split the nation in two, like North and South Korea. Zelenskyy made an exasperated plea for fighter jets and tanks to sustain a defense as his country continues battling Russia's invading troops.

Russia now says its main focus is on taking control of the eastern Donbas region, an apparent pullback from its earlier, more expansive goals, but one which is raising fears of a divided Ukraine.

Speaking after US President Joe Biden said in a lacerating speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not stay in power — words the White House immediately sought to downplay — Zelenskyy lashed out at the West's “ping-pong about who and how should hand over jets” and other weapons while Russian missile attacks kill and trap civilians.

Ukraine's priorities at the Ukrainian-Russian talks in Turkey this week will be “sovereignty and territorial integrity,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his nation on Sunday in his nightly address. 

“We are looking for peace, really, without delay,” he said.

“There is an opportunity and a need for a face-to-face meeting in Turkey. This is not bad. Let's see the outcome.”

This week, he said, “I will continue to appeal to the parliaments of other countries” to remind them of the dire situation in besieged cities like Mariupol.

He thanked Ukraine's armed forces, who he said “are holding back the occupiers, and in some areas they are even taking steps forward. Well done.”

Ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: Reuters