প্রকাশ: 06/03/2022
Highlights:
The number of
Ukrainian refugees was expected to reach 1.5 million on Sunday as Russia
continued its attack 11 days after invading Ukraine and Kyiv pressed for
further Western action, including more sanctions and weapons.
Moscow and Kyiv traded blame over a failed ceasefire plan
that would have let civilians flee Mariupol and Volnovakha, two southern cities
besieged by Russian forces. Another round of talks was tentatively planned for
Monday as Ukrainians who could escape spilled into neighboring Poland, Romania,
Slovakia and elsewhere.
In a televised address on Saturday night, Ukraine's
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on people in areas occupied by Russian
troops to go on the offensive and fight.
"We must go outside and drive this evil out of our
cities," he said, vowing to rebuild his nation. "My confidence in
this is reinforced by the energy of our resistance, our protest."
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier reiterated that he
wanted a neutral Ukraine that had been "demilitarised" and
"denazified," and likened Western sanctions "to a declaration of
war," adding: "Thank God it has not come to that."
Ukraine and Western countries have decried Putin's reasons
as a baseless pretext for the invasion he launched on February 24 and have
imposed sweeping sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow and crippling its economy.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, after meeting with
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ukraine-Poland border, said he expected
new sanctions and weapons for Ukraine in coming days.
The United States has said it would give Ukraine more
weapons and has repeatedly warned it could escalate sanctions, with President
Joe Biden seeking $10 billion in emergency funding to respond to the crisis.
Washington is working with Poland as Warsaw considers
whether to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, a White House spokesperson said
late on Saturday, adding that the United States could replenish Poland's supply
of jets if they did, although challenges remain given the contested airspace.
Zelenskiy had asked for help securing aircraft from European
allies in a video call with US lawmakers earlier on Saturday. He also called
again for more lethal aid, a ban on Russian oil, a no-fly zone and an end to
Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc privileges in Russia, US media reported.
Biden spoke with Zelenskiy for about 30 minutes on Saturday
evening in Washington as Sunday broke in Ukraine, the White House said. They
discussed security, financial support for Ukraine and the continuation of
sanctions against Russia, Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter.
NATO, which Ukraine wants to join, has resisted Zelenskiy's
appeals to impose a no-fly zone over his country, saying it would escalate the
conflict outside Ukraine.
Seeking to mediate, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett
met with Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday and later spoke to Zelenskiy,
Bennett's spokesperson said.
"We continue dialogue," Zelenskiy tweeted after
the call.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a six-point plan
to respond to Russia's invasion ahead of meetings with leaders from Canada, the
Netherlands and Central Europe in London next week.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is expected to talk with
Putin on Sunday. Turkey, a NATO member, shares a maritime border with Ukraine
and Russia in the Black Sea.
Ukrainian negotiators said a third round of talks with
Russia on a ceasefire would go ahead on Monday, although Moscow was less
definitive.
FIERCE FIGHTING
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces were carrying out
a wide-ranging offensive in Ukraine and had taken several towns and villages,
Russian news agency Interfax said.
Ukraine's military said armed forces "are fighting
fiercely to liberate Ukrainian cities from Russian occupiers,"
counter-attacking in some areas and disrupting communications.
The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said the
military shot down two Russian planes and five helicopters on Saturday and also
carried out air strikes against 15 motorized brigades. Reuters had no way to
corroborate the claim.
In Kherson, southern Ukraine, the only regional capital to
have changed hands since the invasion, several thousand people demonstrated on
its main square on Saturday, chanting "Kherson is Ukraine" and
demanding Russian forces withdraw.
Eyewitnesses cited by Interfax said Russian troops fired
automatic rifles into the air in an unsuccessful attempt to disperse the crowd
and later left.
Concerns over nuclear dangers remained after Russia seized
Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, with a top US official saying on
Friday that Russian troops were 20 miles (32 km) from Ukraine's second largest
nuclear facility.
Russia was warning the EU and NATO again to stop the
"pumping of state-of-the-art weapons systems" into Kyiv, foreign
ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, according to RIA.
Putin, in one of several decrees signed on Saturday, also
gave his government two days to draw up a list of nations engaged in
"unfriendly acts" towards Russia, its news agencies reported.
VISA, MASTERCARD EXIT
The International Monetary Fund warned the conflict would
have a "severe impact" on the global economy, driving up energy and
grain prices. It said it would weigh Kyiv's request for $1.4 billion in
emergency financing as early as next week.
Many Russians, reeling from a 30% fall in the rouble's
value, money transfer curbs and the exit of a growing number of Western
companies, have expressed fear for their economic future.
Both Visa and Mastercard on Saturday said their credit card
operations would be suspended in Russia.
Elon Musk promised to deliver more Starlink satellite
internet terminals to Ukraine next week, Zelenskiy said on Saturday, adding he
had spoken to the SpaceX chief executive. That could help shore up Ukraine's
internet access but also poses potential security risks, experts say.
'HELP US IF YOU CAN'
Heavy shelling was heard in the background as residents of
Volnovakha tried to flee the fighting.
"Help us if you can, we all want to live, we have kids,
husbands, we are mothers and fathers, we are also people," said one local,
Larisa. "Where shall I go? What's on me and a bag of things is all I got.
That's all I have."
Blinken, following a meeting in Brussels of counterparts
from NATO, the G7 and the European Union, met refugees staying in a disused
shopping mall in Poland, which has taken in the vast majority of the Ukrainians
forced to flee their country.
Ksenia Tymofeeva, 41, worked in a bank in Kyiv until she
fled two days ago, leaving behind her husband, also a bank worker, who stayed
to fight the Russian invaders.
"He doesn't have any military experience, but it's our
homeland," she said at the site near the Poland-Ukraine border.
More refugees crossed into Moldova, Blinken's next stop.
The World Health Organization said 249 civilians had been
killed so far and 553 injured as of March 3. It put the number of refugees at
1.2 million and said another 160,000 people had been internally displaced.
"The human cost is likely much higher as access and
security challenges make it difficult to verify the actual number of deaths and
injuries," it said in a statement.
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