Zelenskyy said in a video message Sunday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine amounts to an act of genocide, saying that “Russia has taken the path of evil and the world should come to depriving it of its U.N. Security Council seat.”
President Zelensky said Ukraine is willing to hold talks with Russia but not in neighbouring Belarus as it is being used as a launchpad for the invasion.
European ministers have said further sanctions are possible, including kicking Russia out of SWIFT. Separately, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada supports the removal of Russia from the SWIFT banking system.
As dawn broke in Kyiv, it was not immediately clear how far the soldiers had advanced. Skirmishes reported on the edge of the city suggested that small Russian units were probing Ukrainian defenses to clear a path for the main forces.
The vote on Friday was 11 in favour, with Russia voting no and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, which showed significant but not total opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of his country's smaller and militarily weaker neighbour.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said, “the fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” according to a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation, who described Zelenskyy as upbeat."
Russia and Pakistan have shared military exercises and grown closer as peace was sought to the relentless conflict in Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden announced that they are ordering heavy financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs, declaring that Moscow had flagrantly violated international law in what he called the “beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Russia and Ukraine are two parties who have a lot at stake as invasion tension looms but the prevailing situation is not equally good for Europe as well, especially Germany regarding its concerns around the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that directly links Russia gas to Europe via Germany.
Kremlin said it is too early to organise a summit between Putin and Biden after Paris announced the possibility of a meeting to calm tensions over Ukraine.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that preparations for the visit of Prime Minister Khan were underway, the state-run TASS news agency reported on Sunday.
Accordingly, Air India will operate three flights between Delhi and Kyiv on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The flights to the Boryspil International Airport from India will be operated on February 22, 24 and 26.
Western leaders warned that Russia was poised to attack its neighbor, which is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment. Russia held nuclear drills Saturday in neighboring Belarus and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.
The tension between Russia and Ukraine has been building up ever since the latter's proposed move to join NATO, which Russia didn't want at any cost among dead-lock over Moscow's other demands with the West. The US, allies have warned Putin that if Russia goes ahead and invades Ukraine then it will be calling for very serious consequences. Catch all updates on the Russia-Ukraine crisis here.
NATO said Monday it is bolstering its “deterrence” in the Baltic Sea region. Denmark is sending a frigate and deploying F-16 warplanes to Lithuania; Spain is sending four fighter jets to Bulgaria and three ships to the Black Sea to join NATO naval forces; and France stands ready to send troops to Romania. The Netherlands also plans to send two F-35 fighter aircraft to Bulgaria from April.
Russia already has by far Europe’s highest pandemic toll at over 317,000 dead. The warning on Tuesday comes just weeks after new infections and deaths in Russia began to decline following another record-breaking surge.
The suspect is a 45-year-old Moscow resident, according to Russian Interior Ministry spokesperson Irina Volk. A 10-year-old girl was among the people wounded
A report by Rosstat on Friday brought the overall number of virus-linked deaths between Apr 2020 and Oct 2021 to over 537,000- almost twice the widely-cited toll reported by Russia’s state coronavirus task force to date.
The launch was the latest in a series of tests of Zircon, which is set to enter service next year.
"Considering that coronavirus keeps mutating, we have to work out mechanisms for systematic and quick upgrade of vaccines," Putin told a G20 summit.
Top News
Latest News
