Russia Ukraine War LIVE Updates: France warns against verbal 'escalation' with Moscow after Biden's remarks

Britain has seized two jet aircraft belonging to Russian billionaire Eugene Shvidler as Western governments seeking to end the war in Ukraine put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin by targeting the luxury lifestyles of his closest supporters.

Treasury Secretary Grant Shapps said Saturday that the two aircraft would be detained “indefinitely” after three-week investigation that had already grounded the planes. The Times of London described the aircraft as a $45 million Bombardier Global 6500 and a $13 million Cessna Citation Latitude.

“Putin's friends who made millions out of his regime will not enjoy luxuries whilst innocent people die,” Shapps said on Twitter.

The UK froze Shvidler's UK assets last week as it announced a new round of sanctions on Russian companies and wealthy individuals. Shvidler was sanctioned because of his links to those who have backed the war in Ukraine and because he has profited from his support for the Putin regime, the UK said. 

US President Joe Biden said that he is confident that the Russian President was trying to divide North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and separate Eastern countries from the West but NATO will stay united. He made this statement in the bilateral meeting with Poland President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.

Taking advantage of the distressed situation of its military friend, Russia in the ongoing Ukraine war, the possibility of China speeding up the modernization of its military and its nuclear arsenal is real. James Crickton, writing in think-tank Policy Research Group POREG said that China and Russia are close defense partners. It is more of a one-way relationship that is advantageous to Beijing than Moscow.

Lviv Oblast governor: At least 5 injured by 2 missile strikes on Lviv. No residential buildings in Lviv, a regional capital in western Ukraine, have been hit during the Russian attack on March 26, Maksym Kozytskyi said, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda.

Explosions reported near Ukraine's western city of Lviv as President Joe Biden wraps up visit to neighbouring Poland, reports AP

Ukraine, US agree on next steps to reduce number of Russian missiles hitting Ukraine. Dmytro Kuleba made the announcement following his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, and other top U.S. officials on March 26 in Poland.

Several thousand Russians living in the Czech Republic in Prague and thousands more people in London have rallied to protest the Russian military aggression against Ukraine.

The organizers from Prague’s Russian anti-war committee said the rally is an opportunity for the Russian nationals to say loud and clear “No to the war,” “No to Putin,” “We are with Ukraine,” and “We are with the Czech Republic and the whole world against the Russian aggression.”

President Joe Biden on Saturday sought to reassure Poland that the United States would defend against any attacks by Russia and he acknowledged that the NATO ally bore the burden of the refugee crisis from the war in neighboring Ukraine.

“Your freedom is ours,” Biden told Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, echoing one of Poland’s unofficial mottos.

The war between Russia and Ukraine is being projected as David vs Goliath, and Kyiv has churned out a steady stream of sophisticated propaganda aimed at stirring public and official support from Western countries.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escorted the U.S. ambassador to his hometown Hiroshima on Saturday to pay respects to atomic bombing victims and warned that the world is again facing threats of nuclear attacks stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The UK will provide GBP 2 million in vital food supplies for areas of Ukraine encircled by Russian forces, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Saturday. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the decision follows a direct request from the government of Ukraine, with the supplies covering a rapid donation of dried food, tinned goods and water.

Ukrainian Prez Volodymyr Zelensky called on Qatar, energy-rich nations to boost production amid sanctions on Russian energy. In an address to Doha Forum, Zelensky said that Europe's refusal to purchase Russian oil, gas is a matter of time and that Qatar can contribute to stabilizing the situation.

NATO Deputy-General Secretary Mircea Geoana says that Russian President Vladimir Putin's month-old “barbaric war” against Ukraine is a war he cannot win. In an interview with The Associated Press, the former Romanian foreign minister and ambassador to the United States added that NATO would be “forced to take appropriate measures” in the event of a chemical or nuclear attack, which follows a string of ominous comments from Moscow officials who refuse to rule out their use. He declined to say what those measures would be.

Japan PM Fumio Kishida said he sees growing chance of Russia using nuclear weapons. Japan, the only country attacked by nuclear weapons, has regularly been calling against nuclear armaments.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that the extended curfew that had been announced for March 26-28 would be canceled. The curfew hours will remain regular over the weekend, from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Finland's president says his country would likely be targeted by Russian cyber warfare and could face border violations if it decides to apply for membership in NATO. Several polls in recent weeks have shown a majority of Finns now supporting NATO membership, up from 25% at most before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces have occupied Slavutych, and have kidnapped the mayor. Russian invaders threw stun grenades at local civilians protesting the invasion in Slavutych, a northern town home to Chornobyl power plant staff. An injury has been reported.

Russian shelling has left Kyiv’s western Sviatoshynskyi District without electricity. Two power lines have been cut off by shelling in the suburbs, according to the city council. Water pressure might drop, too.

Like many residents of Ukraine's besieged city of Chernihiv, linguistics scholar Ihar Kazmerchak spends his nights in a bomb shelter and starts his day lining up for the little potable water authorities have left to hand out. Surrounded by Russian forces and under constant bombardment, the northern city known for its eclectic monasteries has no electricity, heating or running water.

A fresh curfew will be imposed in Ukraine's capital city Kyiv starting Saturday evening, and will go on till Monday morning, reported news agency AFP.

Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine has subverted a lot of prophecies — doomsday omens and bright hopes alike.  It has now been a month of this new reality since Russia’s attacks began early in the morning on Feb. 24, 2022. 

YouTube removed the channel of Russian hoaxers Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, known as Vovan and Lexus, respectively, where footage of prank telephone calls with UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel was published. "The YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated," a YouTube message read.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has told Sputnik that a threat of a nuclear conflict always exists, even when no one wants any war, therefore it is necessary to implement a responsible policy. "No one wants any war, much less a nuclear war, which is a threat to the very existence of human civilization. 

Ukraine's president made a surprise video appearance Saturday at Qatar's Doha Forum, calling on the energy-rich nation and others to boost their production to counteract the loss of Russian energy supplies. Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid, as he has in a series of other addresses given around the world since the start of the war February 24.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a surprise video appearance at Qatar’s Doha Forum. Zelenskyy in his video address criticized Russia’s ongoing war on his nation. He called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid.

10 humanitarian corridors to open on March 26.

Civilians will be evacuated from 4 cities in Kyiv Oblast and 6 cities in Luhansk Oblast. 

Those in besieged Mariupol must head out, to Zaporizhzhia, on their own. Russians don’t let buses pass.

Source: Deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk.

The head of the Kyiv region administration said that Russian troops entered the town of Slavutich, near #Chernobyl, reports NEXTA

Britain’s Defense Ministry says Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.

A daily update says Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralize defending forces.

Russia says it will focus its invasion of Ukraine on "liberating" the east, signalling a possible shift in its strategy, the BBC reported.

The Defence Ministry said that the initial aims of the war were complete, and that Russia had reduced the combat capacity of Ukraine.

"The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been carried out," said Sergei Rudskoy, head of the General Staff's main operations administration.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba said there has been no consensus with Russia on the four points of negotiations mentioned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"There is no consensus with Russia regarding the four points mentioned by the Turkish President. In particular, the only state language in Ukraine is Ukrainian and will remain so. And in general the classification of key negotiation topics into four points, or any other number, is inappropriate," Kuleba told Ukrayinska Pravda on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Erdogan told reporters that Moscow and Kiev were close to an agreement the four issues -- Ukraine's accession to NATO; recognition of the Russian language as the second official language in Ukraine; demilitarisation; and collective security.

US President Joe Biden again called his Russian counterpart a "war criminal" due to the Moscow's continued invasion of Kiev.

Biden made the remarks during a joint briefing on the humanitarian efforts for Ukraine with Polish President Andrej Duda on Friday in Rzeszow, located close to the Poland-Ukraine border.

In his opening remarks, Biden, who arrived in Poland on Friday, said the "single-most important thing that we can do from the outset is keep the democracies united in our opposition and our effort to curtail the devastation that is occurring at the hands of a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal".

"And I think it will meet the legal definition of that as well," he said.

The Russian military hacked into a European satellite internet service that affected Ukrainian military communications, according to the US government officials.

The cyber attack hit the KA-SAT satellite broadband network, owned by Viasat, a US satellite communications company, as Russia began the invasion of Ukraine last month, the officials told The Washington Post.

Western intelligence agencies had launched a probe into the cyberattack that hit Viasat, resulting in a huge communications outage across Europe.

"We currently believe this was a deliberate, isolated and external cyber event," Viasat spokesperson Chris Phillips had said.

More than 400 firms have stopped their business activities in Russia, as a result of the severe US sanctions on the country for its invasion of Ukraine, founder of a US-based software company Bobby Balachandran said on Friday.

"The last I heard, more than 400 companies have decided to support the government to stop doing business with Russia," said Balachandran adding that his own company Exterro has stopped its activities in Russia.

Balachandran made the observations while speaking to ANI in the Coimbatore office of the company.

"We follow the governmental norms. So, currently, we are not doing business with Russia at this point," Balachandran told ANI.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has registered a total of 72 attacks targeting Ukrainian healthcare facilities since Russia launched its war on February 24.

According to the WHO's Surveillance System for Attacks on Healthcare (SSA), of the 72 attacks, 58 impacted facilities, 11 transportation, 16 personnel, 10 patients, eight supplies and one impacted a warehouse.

There were a total of 71 deaths and 37 injuries as a result of these attacks, the SSA added.

Swedish music streaming giant Spotify is suspending its services in Russia after Moscow passed a new law earlier this month to crack down on free press and speech.

Spotify said it had no choice but to leave the Russian market, citing the law that essentially outlaws independent journalism.

"Spotify has continued to believe that it's critically important to try and keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region," a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch.

"Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression and criminalising certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify's employees and possibly even our listeners at risk."

In early March, the Russian Parliament enacted the law that criminalizes sharing what the government deems to be "false information" about Moscow's ongoing war in Ukraine.

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its second month, a large protest was carried out in Brussels with protesters, including the sizable Belgian-Ukrainian community and recently arrived refugees, demanding tougher sanctions against Russia.

The event was organized by the Ukrainian-led advocacy group Promote Ukraine. It took place in front of the Council of the European Union, where US President Joe Biden was concluding a summit with European leaders, reported Ukraine's local media outlet The Kyiv Independent.

Initially, the protesters were demanding NATO for a no-fly zone over the war-torn country. After the refusal of the NATO alliance to create a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace, the organizers are now demanding that Ukraine's Western allies supply anti-air defences and fighter jets.

A senior US defence official told reporters that the Pentagon has seen indications of Russia sending troop reinforcements from "Georgia" to Ukraine to support its offensive in the Donbas region.

The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with essential food supplies worth 2 million pounds, the UK Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"The UK is set to provide £2 million in vital food supplies for areas of Ukraine encircled by Russian forces, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed today," the statement read.

According to the Ministry it is estimated over 12 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance across Ukraine, with the actual figure likely to be much higher.

"Warehouses in Poland and Slovakia are being readied to supply these goods to the government of Ukraine from early next week. Around 25 truckloads will then be transported by road and rail to the local Ukrainian communities in greatest need," it added.

The main tasks of the first stage of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine have been completed in general, the Russian military has said.

"The combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced," said Sergei Rudskoy, first Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, on Friday.

"Our forces and means will concentrate on the main thing -- the complete liberation of Donbas," he added.

Russia has imposed restrictions on the movement of funds that could be transferred to "unfriendly" countries and regions, its central bank has said.

The measure was taken in response to the freezing of part of Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves in some countries, the central bank said on Telegram on Friday.

"A comparable amount" of funds are affected, it said, without specifying the exact sum, Xinhua news agency reported.

US President Joe Biden has said he was in favour of Russia being excluded from the Group of 20 (G20).

If Russia is not excluded, at least Ukraine should also be invited to the G20 group as an observer, Biden added at a press conference at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.

The US President is in Brussels to attend three summits addressing the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including the NATO extraordinary summit, the Group of Seven summit and the European Council meeting, Xinhua news agency reported.

Russia has not commented on Biden's statement so far.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone conversation to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The two leaders on Friday discussed the situation on the ground and the stage of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, according to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency.

Erdogan told Zelensky that he once again had emphasised Turkey's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity at the NATO leaders' summit, which was held in Brussels on Thursday, said the statement.

Biden about Mariupol: 'It's unimaginable, we've only seen it in horror movies.' - The Kyiv Independent

While in Poland, Biden again called Putin a war criminal. “I saw these catastrophes, children, babies, mothers. You don’t have to understand their language, you just have to look them in the eye.”

Ukrainians fighting to take back Kherson, now 'contested' city: Pentagon

Ukraine destroyed Russian three airplanes, five cruise missiles, three UAVs, and a helicopter on March 25, according to the Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. - The Kyiv Independent

Just 60 miles from Ukraine, President Joe Biden saluted Poland on Friday for welcoming more than 2 million refugees who have fled Russia's invasion. Then he met with humanitarian experts on the ground about what will be needed to mitigate the growing suffering.

Biden said he had hoped to get even closer to the border but was prevented because of security concerns. Still, he said he wanted to visit Poland to underscore that the assistance it is providing is of “enormous consequence" as Europe experiences the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

“It's not stopping," Biden said of the devastation in Ukraine. "It's like something out of a science fiction movie.”

About 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week on a Mariupol theater that was being used as a shelter, Ukrainian authorities said Friday in what would make it the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet.

Meanwhile, in what could signal an important narrowing of Moscow's military objectives, the US said Russian forces appear to have halted, at least for now, their ground offensive aimed at capturing the capital, Kyiv, and are concentrating more on the fighting for control of the Donbas region in the country's southeast — a shift the Kremlin seemed to confirm.

Col-Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said the main objective of the first stage of the operation — reducing Ukraine's fighting capacity — has "generally been accomplished”, allowing Russian forces to focus on “the main goal, liberation of Donbas”.

Pope Francis has presided over a special prayer for Ukraine that harked back to a century-old apocalyptic prophecy about peace and Russia. Francis invited bishops, priests and ordinary faithful around the world to join him in the consecration prayer on Friday.

An estimated 3,500 people, including cardinals, ambassadors and pilgrims, attended the service at St Peter's Basilica and the text of the prayer was translated into three dozen languages.

The ritual is of deep spiritual importance to many Catholics and a source of fascination to others.

It deals with some of the more controversial aspects of the Catholic faith: purported visions of the Madonna, prophecies of hell, Soviet communism and the death of a pope.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday justified the hikes in fuel prices, thrice in the last four days, saying that the oil prices had gone up within the international market owing to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which was beyond the Indian government’s control.

Speaking at a session titled “New India, New Manifesto-Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas,” at the ABP Network’s inaugural ‘Ídeas of India’ summit here on Friday, Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, also said that, “Sometimes, Hindutva is projected in a wrong way.”

“In India, 80 per cent of the oil is imported. Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the oil prices have spiralled up within international markets and we can not do anything about that,” he said when asked about the high petrol and diesel prices and how the government was planning to the issue.

A senior US defense official says Russia's military advance on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv appears to have halted as it turns its focus to fighting elsewhere in the country. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe an internal US military assessment of the war, said Friday that Russia appears to be concentrating more on fighting for control of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region rather than its ground offensive aimed at capturing Kyiv, at least for now.

The Kremlin seemed to confirm the shift Friday. Col.-Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said that the main objective of the first stage of the operation — reducing Ukraine's fighting capacity — has “generally been accomplished,” allowing Russian forces to focus on “the main goal, liberation of Donbas.”

The Donbas is the largely Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland of Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. 

The Associated Press has independently documented at least 34 assaults on Ukrainian medical facilities by Russian forces.
AP journalists in Ukraine have seen firsthand the deadly results of Russian strikes on civilian targets, including the final moments of children whose bodies were shredded by shrapnel and dozens of corpses heaped into mass graves.

AP journalists outside Ukraine have confirmed the details of other attacks by interviewing survivors and independently verifying war zone videos and photos posted online.

The accounting is part of the War Crimes Watch Ukraine project, a broader effort by AP and PBS “Frontline” to track evidence of potential war crimes for the duration of the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.

In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on “the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.” Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.