Russia Ukraine War Updates: Russian troops start leaving Chernobyl, claims Kyiv

Italy’s leader is urging Europe to “cultivate all available land” as a partial remedy to reductions in agricultural imports, especially of Russian grain, due to the war in Ukraine.

Premier Mario Draghi told reporters on Thursday that under existing agricultural practices in the European Union 10% of land is purposely left fallow, but that must now change as European countries search for ways to reduce dependency on farm imports.

It's not clear whether Ukraine, one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, might be able to salvage any of this planting season.

Meanwhile, Draghi noted that Western Europe will be looking to food producers like Canada, the United States and Argentina to help make up the shortfall of imports from Ukraine and Russia.

As the number of people leaving Ukraine for points west slows, authorities in Poland and other neighbouring nations are encouraging refugees from the war to find jobs, especially in health care and education.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR reported Thursday that the daily number of arriving refugees recorded by the countries that border Ukraine dropped below 40,000 on Wednesday, the fewest since Russian troops invaded five weeks ago.

Poland's Border Guard registered more than half of the new arrivals, maintaining a pattern seen since the start of the war.

Of the conflict's more than 4 million refugees, almost 2.4 million went to Poland, according to the country's border agency.

Humanitarian organisations and other observers have attributed the slowing of the Ukrainian exodus in recent days to several possible factors, including residents of surrounded and besieged cities having no way to safely evacuate.

Others may be reluctant to leave their homes and hope to wait out the hostilities, observers say.

A spokesperson for Poland's Border Guard, Anna Michalska, said the numbers could pick up again, if Russian attacks in Ukraine continue.

Recent legislation passed in Poland allows refugees from Ukraine to obtain ID numbers that entitle them to free medical care, education, social benefits and the right to work for 18 months.

Refugees in Warsaw have submitted about 700 applications and some 100 have been hired for jobs in the Polish capital's medical centres and schools, according to city officials.

To boost the employment drive, Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and Deputy Mayor Renata Kaznowska met Thursday with the director of the Bielanski Hospital and some Ukrainian and Polish staff members.

NATO secretary told reporters in Brussels that "Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region" and "Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions."

The Ukrainian emergency services say the death toll after a Russian missile strike Tuesday on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolaiv has risen to 20.

The emergency services said rescuers had now found 19 bodies in the ruins since the strike devastated the government building Tuesday morning. One other person died in hospital.

The regional governor accused Russia of waiting until people arrived for work before striking the building.

Emergency services said they are still working at the scene.

Robert Habeck told local broadcaster ZDF that there will be costs for the German society but the price is incomparable to the sufferings in Ukraine.

 Italian Premier Mario Draghi says Europe is pushing for a cap on gas prices with Russia because its payments are financing the war in Ukraine.

Draghi told foreign reporters Thursday that the prices that Europe is paying are out of line with the global market.

“We, Germany and Italy, along with other countries that are importers of gas, coal, grains, corn ... are financing the war. There is no doubt,’’ Draghi said. “For this reason, Italy along with other countries are pushing for a cap on the price of gas. There is no substantial reason that the price of gas is so high for Europeans."

Draghi noted that Russia has no other market for its gas, giving Europe room to maneuver. Asked about the risk that Russia would simply respond by turning off the taps, Draghi said, “no there is no danger.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia does not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region.

Russia promised during talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would de-escalate operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the West were skeptical.

Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday that “Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions,” and must be judged on its actions alone, not the word of its leaders.

“According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region,” he said.

At the same time, he said pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities and “we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.”

The U.S. says Russia has begun to reposition less than 20% of its troops that had been arrayed around Kyiv. The Pentagon says that most moved north, although some crossed into Belarus where they could be resupplied and sent back into Ukraine.

Norway has told its citizens to "dust off" their Cold War bunkers and stock medicines in case of a radiation fallout from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant, Daily Mail reported.

Oslo's Defence Minister Odd Roger Enoksen warned citizens a nuclear disaster could see radioactive materials drift over Norway "if the wind goes in this direction".

He said civilians would be given 72 hours notice to prepare their bunkers and that "if they are using them for storage now they need to make a plan for taking things out".

Enoksen also urged citizens to stockpile radiation medicines for children and suggested civilians should store a three-day supply of thyroid-blocking medicine Jodix in each home in case of a shutdown during a nuclear disaster.

The minister said that the warnings were not related to fears of nuclear war but "linked to the nuclear power plants in Ukraine and the accidents we have seen."

"Ukraine has the most production of nuclear power in Europe and if an accident happens, as with Chernobyl, we will all in western Europe be affected by that if the wind goes in this direction," he said, The Times, UK reported.

It comes amid high-level discussions to reimpose Cold War-era building regulations making underground bunkers a requirement for civilian structures, such as hotels, and amid talks about whether some underground shelters needed upgrading.

The Kremlin has expressed “regret” and “concern” over U.S. officials’ reports that the Russian president is being misinformed by advisers about his military’s performance in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that “neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possess the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.”

“They simply don’t understand what’s going on in the Kremlin, they don’t understand President Putin, they don’t understand the mechanism of decision-making, they don’t understand the way we work,” Peskov said.

“It is not just regrettable, it elicits concern, because this complete lack of understanding leads to erroneous decisions, tragic decisions that could have very bad consequences,” he added.

U.S. intelligence officials said Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military’s poor performance in Ukraine, according to the White House. The advisers are scared to tell him the truth, the intel says.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Wednesday the U.S. believes Putin was being misled not only about his military’s performance but also “how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because, again, his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth."

— Russia shells areas in Ukraine where it vowed to scale back

— US intel determines Putin has been misled by advisers on Ukraine

— Poland to end Russian oil imports; Germany warns on gas

— UN agency says 4 million refugees have now fled Ukraine

— UN food chief says Ukraine war’s food crisis is worst since WWII

Britain has imposed sanctions on more than a dozen Russian media figures and organisations accused of spreading propaganda and disinformation about the war in Ukraine.

The latest group subjected to asset freezes and travel bans includes Rossiya television anchor Sergey Brilev, who previously lived in the UK, Gazprom-Media chief executive Aleksandr Zharov and Alexey Nikolov, managing director of Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT.

Sanctions have also been slapped on media organisations TV-Novosti, which owns RT, and Rossiya Segodnya, which controls the Sputnik news agency.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Thursday's sanctions would hit “the shameless propagandists who push out Putin's fake news and narratives.”

The UK also said it was sanctioning Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia's National Defence Command and Control Center, accusing him of orchestrating atrocities including the siege of Mariupol.

The ongoing war in Ukraine, which is the world's largest sunflower grower, is likely to result in at least 25 per cent or 4-6 lakh tonnes shortage of crude sunflower oil supplies in India next fiscal, according to a report.

Around 70 per cent of crude sunflower oil comes to India from Ukraine and about 20 per cent from Russia.

Balance sheets of domestic edible oil processors are healthy enough to withstand supply disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine but will have a bearing on the production planning of domestic edible oil processors, rating agency Crisil said on Thursday.

Refined sunflower oil constitutes 10 per cent of the country's consumption of 230-240 lakh tonnes of edible oils annually and almost 60 per cent of the demand is met through imports.

As much as 90 per cent of the country's annual crude sunflower oil requirement of 22-23 lakh tonnes come from Ukraine (70 per cent), Russia (20 per cent) and the rest from Argentina and other countries.

"Supply disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict could lead to a supply shortfall of at least 4-6 lakh tonnes of crude sunflower oil for India next fiscal," Crisil said.

Jeremy Fleming, head of the UK's cyber and security agency GCHQ, believes Russia has massively misjudged the situation in Ukraine and some of President Vladimir Putins advisers are not telling him the truth, the BBC reported.

Fleming has given a rare speech during a visit to Australia in which he said that Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale – had refused to carry out orders, sabotaged their own equipment and even accidentally shot down their own aircraft.

The Slovenian embassy in Kiev, which reopened earlier this week, has removed its flag because of its similarity with the Russian one, a representative in Ukraine said.

Slovenian and Russian flags carry the same colours in the same order: white, blue and red, with the former bearing the country's coat of arms which consists of stylised symbols of stars, mountains, sea and rivers, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We raised the Slovenian and the European flags with pride when we returned to Kiev," Bostjan Lesjak, Slovenian charge d'affaires in Kiev, told TV Slovenia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed directly to Australian lawmakers Thursday for more help in its war against Russia, including armored vehicles and tougher sanctions. Zelenskyy has been tailoring his message to individual countries through video appeals like the one shown to legislators in the Australian Parliament. Lawmakers gave him standing ovation at the start and end of his 16-minute address.

He called for Russian vessels to be banned from international ports.

“We need more sanctions against Russia, powerful sanctions until they stop blackmailing other countries with their nuclear missiles,” Zelenskyy said through an interpreter.

Zelenskyy specifically asked for Australian-manufactured Bushmaster four-wheel-drive armored vehicles.

In the face of mounting sanctions against Russia for launching military operations in Ukraine, India in line with its old ties and friendly relations will allow Moscow to invest and borrow in the domestic market. Russia has been hit by multiple sanctions following its military operations in Ukraine. Countries around the world are imposing fresh sanctions against Russia.

The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada have banned certain Russian banks from SWIFT, the high-security network that facilitates payments among 11,000 financial institutions in 200 countries. Earlier, Germany halted certification of the 'Nord Stream 2' gas pipeline, following Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

Britain's defense ministry says Russia continues to pound Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, despite Moscow's claim to have scaled back its offensive around that city and Kyiv.

The Ministry of Defense says “significant Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued.”

It said on Thursday that “Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units.
Heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of the city in coming days.”

A Ukrainian family who came to Hawaii for a long-awaited vacation ended up watching from the islands in shock as bombs started dropping on their country. Now, more than a month later, they remain stranded on Oahu without access to their house, money, family or friends. They've found support through the local canoe paddling community, which set them up with a place to stay and raised money online to help get them settled. They do not know if they will ever be able return to their home.

Vasyl and Marina Prishchak and their three daughters, ages 5, 10 and 16, arrived in Hawaii in the middle of February and had an idyllic, three-week beach vacation planned before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that European partners can continue paying for Russian gas in euros, according to a statement published by the government in Berlin.

During a phone conversation on Wednesday, Putin said payments will continue to be made in euros and will be transferred as usual to Gazprombank and converted to rubles, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Scholz did not agree to the procedure proposed by Putin during the conversation but asked for written information in order to understand the procedure more precisely, according to the statement.

The Ukrainian president said his country’s defense against the Russian invasion is at a “turning point” and again pressed the United States for more help in the hours after the Kremlin’s forces reneged on a pledge to scale back some of their operations.

Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv and intensified attacks in other parts of the country Wednesday, adding to already deep doubts about any progress toward ending the punishing war. Talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia.

The talks between Ukraine and Russia for a possible peace agreement will resume on Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation. David Arakhamia is a member of the Ukrainian delegation who also leads the governing party's group in parliament.

The delegations met in-person on Tuesday in Istanbul, after two weeks of meeting by video, and the faint outlines of a possible peace agreement seemed to emerge.

The Ukrainian delegation offered a framework under with the country would declare itself neutral – dropping its bid to join NATO, as Moscow has long demanded – in return for security guarantees from a group of other nations.

Russian diplomats responded positively to Ukraine's proposal. 

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Wednesday to meet Ukrainian officials and provide technical assistance. Rafael Mariano Grossi said the IAEA is not involved in political talks with the Russians.

“We are trying to be very active in order to ensure that as soon as possible, the situation is regressed, and the facilities are back in the hands of the Ukrainians,” Grossi said.

Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors at four plants, one of which (Zaporizhzia) is under the Russian military's control.

Ukraine also is home to the decommissioned Chernobyl plant, the site of the 1986 nuclear accident, with the Russian military seized early in the war. As of Tuesday, eight reactors were operating and the rest were shut down for regular maintenance. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the White House for pledging an additional $500 million in direct aid, but said he was open with U.S. President Biden about Ukraine needing more to resist the Russian invasion.

“If we really are fighting for freedom and in defense of democracy together, then we have a right to demand help in this difficult turning point,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation Wednesday. “Tanks, aircraft, artillery systems. Freedom should be armed no worse than tyranny.”

Prior to Wednesday's announcement of $500 million in aid, the Biden administration had sent Ukraine about $2 billion in humanitarian and security assistance since the start of the war last month. That's all part of the $13.6 billion that Congress approved earlier this month for Ukraine as part of a broader spending bill.

Zelenskyy said the negotiations with Russia were continuing but for now, they were only “words without specifics.”

As the United States prepares to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees following Russia's invasion of their country, existing communities in cities like Sacramento and Seattle are already mobilizing to provide food, shelter and support to those fleeing the war.

The federal government hasn't said when the formal resettlement process will begin, but Ukrainian groups in the U.S. are already providing support to people entering the country through other channels, including on visas that will eventually expire or by flying to Mexico and crossing over the border.

“No refugee is waiting for you to be ready for them," said Eduard Kislyanka, senior pastor at the House of Bread church near Sacramento, which has been sending teams of people to Poland and preparing dozens of its member families to house people arriving in California.

The Ukrainian president said his country's defence against the Russian invasion is at a “turning point” and again pressed the United States for more help in the hours after the Kremlin's forces reneged on a pledge to scale back some of their operations.

Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv and intensified attacks in other parts of the country Wednesday, adding to already deep doubts about any progress toward ending the punishing war. Talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia.

A malicious software command that immediately crippled tens of thousands of modems across Europe anchored the cyberattack on a satellite network used by Ukraine's government and military just as Russia invaded, the satellite owner disclosed Wednesday.

The owner, U.S.-based Viasat, issued a statement providing details for the first time of how the most serious known cyberattack of the Russia-Ukraine war unfolded. The wide-ranging attack affected users from Poland to France, getting quick notice by knocking off remote access to thousands of wind turbines in central Europe.

Viasat would not say who it believed was responsible for the attack when asked separately by The Associated Press. Ukrainian officials blame Russian hackers.

President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has been a "strategic blunder" that has weakened Russia and left it "increasingly isolated" on the world stage, according to the White House. At a press conference on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Kate Bedingfield said the US has information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between the president and his military leadership.

“We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth,” she said.

“So, it is increasingly clear that Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term, and increasingly isolated on the world stage," she said.

The ruble is no longer rubble. The Russian ruble by Wednesday had bounced back from the fall it took after the U.S. and European allies moved to bury the Russian economy under thousands of new sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has resorted to extreme financial measures to blunt the West's penalties and inflate his currency.

While the West has imposed unprecedented levels of sanctions against the Russian economy, Russia's Central Bank has jacked up interest rates to 20% and the Kremlin has imposed strict capital controls on those wishing to exchange their rubles for dollars or euros.

Demoralised Russian soldiers in the Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft, a U.K. intelligence chief said on Thursday.

Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, made the remarks at a speech in the Australian capital Canberra. Russian President Vladimir Putin had apparently “massively misjudged” the invasion, he said.

"It's clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people. He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory,” Fleming said.

The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that Kiev was seriously considering the possibility of using biological weapons against the population of Donbass and the Russian Federation.

"The revealed facts prove that the Kiev regime seriously considered the possibility of using biological weapons against the population of Donbass and the Russian Federation," he said, RT reported.

The Russian armed forces are carrying out a planned regrouping of troops in the Kiev and Chernigov directions, Konashenkov said.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's spokesman Olexandr Motuzyanyk on Wednesday confirmed that Russia has been withdrawing some troops from Kiev and Chernihiv directions, in central and northern Ukraine respectively, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

"The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine notes a certain partial relocation of individual units from the Kiev direction, as well as from the Chernihiv direction," Motuzyanyk told a media briefing.

However, there was no mass withdrawal of Russian troops from those areas, he was quoted as saying Xinhua news agency.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he has discussed support for Ukraine with US President Joe Biden.

"Talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid," Zelensky tweeted after the talks.

The situation on the battlefield in Ukraine and the diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis were other topics of the hour-long conversation, Zelensky was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the White House said Biden and Zelensky discussed delivering "military, economic, and humanitarian assistance" to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia.

A cyberattack targeting a satellite network used by Ukraine's government and military agencies shortly after Russia's invasion also knocked offline tens of thousands of broadband internet users across Europe, the satellite owner disclosed Wednesday.

The owner, US-based Viasat, provided new details of how the cyberattack, the biggest known such attack in the war so far, was conducted and its wide-ranging impact.

The attack affected users from Poland to France and knocked off remote access to thousands of wind turbines in central Europe. Viasat did not say in its statement who it believed was responsible for the attack. Ukrainian officials have blamed Russian hackers.

Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back military operations in those places to help negotiations along, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday. The shelling — and intensified Russian attacks on other parts of the country — tempered optimism about any progress in the talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

The Russian military's announcement Tuesday that it would de-escalate near the capital and Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust" was met with deep suspicion from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the West.

Soon after, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian shelling hit homes, stores, libraries and other civilian sites in and around Chernihiv and on the outskirts of Kyiv.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa Wednesday with appeals for Algeria to limit ties with Russia and look to improve relations with neighbouring Morocco.

“The countries of North Africa and the Middle East have experienced themselves the consequences of Russia's military campaigns before,” Blinken said, noting Russian interventions in Syria and Libya and the impact on energy and food security that the Ukraine conflict is having.

“The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to end this unprovoked and unjustified war,” he said.

The White House has pledged an additional $500 million in direct aid for Ukraine as the Russian invasion grinds on. U.S. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a 55 minute call Wednesday that the additional aid was on its way.

The leaders also reviewed security aid already delivered to Ukraine and the effects that weaponry has had on the war, according to the White House.
Zelesnkyy has pressed the Biden administration and other Western allies to provide Ukraine with military jets.

The U.S. and other NATO countries have thus far been unwilling to accommodate that request out of concern it could lead to Russia broadening the war beyond Ukraine's borders.

Germany and Austria activated early warning plans Wednesday amid concerns that Moscow could cut natural gas deliveries, while Poland announced steps to end all Russian oil imports by year's end, in fresh signs of how Russia's war in Ukraine is affecting Europe's energy security.

The German government said it was establishing a crisis team to step up monitoring of the gas supply, and called on companies and households to conserve energy following demands by Russia that deliveries should be paid in rubles.

Western nations have rejected that demand, arguing it would undermine sanctions imposed because of the war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday spoke with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to review regional priorities, worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine and to promote free and open Indo-Pacific, his spokesperson said.

The two leaders spoke “to review regional priorities, including the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine and our shared efforts to promote a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, in which the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states is respected,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said.

Blinken has wrapped up a three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa on Wednesday, making an impassioned appeal to Algeria to limit ties with Russia.

The ruble is no longer rubble. The Russian ruble by Wednesday had bounced back from the fall it took after the U.S. and European allies moved to bury the Russian economy under thousands of new sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has resorted to extreme financial measures to blunt the West's penalties.

While the West has imposed unprecedented levels of sanctions against the Russian economy, Russia's Central Bank has jacked up interest rates to 20% and the Kremlin has imposed strict capital controls on those wishing to exchange their rubles for dollars or euros.

It's a monetary defense Putin may not be able to sustain as long-term sanctions weigh down the Russian economy.

As members of the Ukrainian parliament were pleading for aid on Capitol Hill, an air raid siren blared from one of their cell phones — a wrenching alert from the war-torn country back home.

One of the visitors reached into her bag, pulled out the phone and let the siren wail in the halls of Congress.

“Right now, you hear the sound?” said Anastasia Radina, a member of the Ukrainian Rada.

“This is the air raid alarm in the community where my son is staying right now,” she said at a press conference this week after meeting with members of Congress. “I need you all to hear that.”

The Ukrainian lawmakers met for a second day Wednesday with their counterparts in the U.S. Congress, urging American allies to more quickly provide additional military aid — fighter jets, tanks and other support — and to impose stiffer economic sanctions on the invading Russians they're trying to push from their country.

The United States has information that Russian President Vladimir Putin felt mislead by his military, the White House said Wednesday adding that the Ukraine war has been a strategic blunder.

“What I can say is, of course, we have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” White House Press Secretary Kate Bedingfield told reporters at her daily news conference.

“We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth,” she said.

“So, it is increasingly clear that Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term, and increasingly isolated on the world stage," she said.

Top Indian-American US advisor and a key architect of Washington's punitive economic sanctions against Moscow, Daleep Singh, currently in New Delhi, will consult closely with India on "consequences" of Russia's "unjustified war" against Ukraine, the White House said Wednesday.

Singh, the Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, had his meetings in New Delhi on Wednesday and is scheduled to continue with his deliberations with his Indian counterparts on Thursday.

“He will meet with the Government of India to deepen cooperation to promote inclusive economic growth and prosperity and a free and open Indo-Pacific. He will consult closely with counterparts on the consequences of Russia's unjustified war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy,” White House Director of Communications Kate Bedingfield told reporters at her daily news conference.