Russia sieges Ukrainian cities amid world condemnation — live updates

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its eighth day
• Two sides due to meet for new round of peace talks
• International Criminal Court opens war crimes investigation into Russia
• The majority of UN member states call for Russian forces to leave Ukraine

This article was last updated at 07:25 UTC.

Russian, Belarusian athletes banned from Beijing Paralympics

The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) has decided to ban competitors from Russia and Belarus from the competition in Beijing which is due to start tomorrow.

Initially, the sports body said the athletes from those countries would be allowed to compete as “neutrals” with no anthem or flag, but it has since came under strong pressure to reverse the decision. According to the committee, many athletes signaled they would not compete against Russians and Belorusians, jeopardizing the event.

“In the last 12 hours, an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us,” IPC president Andrew Parsons said in a statement. “They have told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences.”

Parsons added: “What is clear is that the rapidly escalating situation has now put us in a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games.”

Toyota halts production at St. Petersburg plant

Carmaking giant Toyota said it was stopping operations at its only Russian plant, located in St. Petersburg. The plant produced around 80,000 vehicles last year, most of which have been sold on the Russian market.

The Japanese-based company also said it has “stopped imports of vehicles, until further notice, due to supply chain disruptions” as Russia faces tough international sanctions.

Toyota has no factories in Ukraine but it had aready stoppped all sales operations in that country when Russia launched the invasion last Thursday.

“As a company with operations in Ukraine and Russia, our priority in dealing with this crisis is to ensure the safety of all our team members, retailer staff, and supply chain partners,” they said in a statement.

UAE offers visa on arrival for Ukrainians

The United Arab Emirates announced on Thursday it will be offering visas on arrival for Ukrainian citizens, as thousands flee the country. 

The UAE reversed its previous decision to suspend visa waivers to Ukrainians, a move which had drawn criticism from its Western allies. The country also abstained from a UN Security Council resolution last week deploring the invasion. However, at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, all six Gulf Arab states supported a vote to reprimand Russia. 

New peace talks scheduled, location unclear

Ukraine and Russia are expected to start another round of peace talks on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Russia’s top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the Russian delegation was waiting in southwestern Belarus, and that Ukrainian representatives were on their way. Medinsky also told Rossyia 24 broadcaster that Russian soldiers created a “safety corridor” for the Ukrainian delegations.

Belarus said the two sides would meet for talks in the ancient Bialowieza Forest on the border of Poland and Belarus, but a Ukrainian representative disputed this information, saying that “negotiations will indeed happen,” but in a different location.

The talks are expected on the ceasefire. The two sides met for their first round of talks on Monday, but the meeting produced no tangible results.

US: Russia in ‘full assault on media freedom and the truth’

The US State Department said Russia launched a “full assault on media freedom and the truth” by blocking independent news media and preventing Russians from hearing news of the invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia’s government is also throttling Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram platforms that tens of millions of Russia’s citizens rely on to access independent information and opinions,” the State Department said in a statement, adding that Russians relied on social media to contact each other and the outside world.

“The people of Russia did not choose this war. Putin did,” the State Department statement said. “They have a right to know about the death, suffering and destruction being inflicted by their government on the people of Ukraine. The people of Russia also have a right to know about the human costs of this senseless war to their own soldiers.”

Russian troops in Black Sea port city of Kherson

The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops were in the center of the city of Kherson after conflicting claims over whether Russian soldiers had captured a major urban center for the first time in its eight-day invasion.

Kherson Mayor Igor Kolykhayev said late on Wednesday that Russian troops were in the streets and had entered the council building.

“The occupiers are in all parts of the city and are very dangerous,” Gennady Lakhuta, head of the regional administration, wrote on messaging service Telegram late Wednesday

US Congress passes resolution in support of Ukraine

The US House of Representatives approved a resolution “steadfastly, staunchly, proudly and fervently” in support of Ukraine. Many in Congress urged that more be done to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Only three members of the House voted against the resolution: Republicans Paul Gosar of Arizona, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Matt Rosendale of Montana.

US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, is introducing a similar resolution in the Senate, the upper chamber.

On Tuesday night, members of both political parties in the US wore pins and waved the sky blue and sunflower yellow of the Ukrainian flag during US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address to both chambers.

Air raid sirens in Kyiv

Residents of the Ukrainian capital were told to go to the nearest shelter early Thursday morning. Videos shared on social media showed explosions hitting the city.

More than 1 million refugees flee Ukraine

The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said more than 1 million people have fled Ukraine.

Grandi tweeted, “In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries.”

The 1 million figure amounts to the displacement of more than 2% of Ukraine’s population. As of 2020, World Bank figures showed Ukraine had a population of 44 million.

The UNHCR predicts up to 4 million people could make an exodus out of Ukraine, though with the caveat that this figure too could increase.

At this rate, UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said that “at this rate” Ukraine could experience “the biggest refugee crisis this century.”

German TV to broadcast benefit ‘Concert for Peace’

German television will broadcast a soldout “Concert for Peace” to raise funds for humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine. The concert is being organized by the Berlin State Opera with Staatskapelle Berlin star conductor Daniel Barenboim.

The concert and television event will be in the form of a matinee scheduled for Sunday. Proceeds will go to the UN Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UNHF).

The presidents of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, and the Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel, will attend. Both central banks will make donations to the UNHF.

The Ukrainian national anthem, based on Pavlo Chubynsky’s poem “Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished,” set to music by Michailo Werbizki, will be included along with symphonies by Schubert and Beethoven.

The Berlin State Opera said its management and staff were “horrified, shocked and deeply concerned about the war that the Russian government has launched against Ukraine.”

ICC proceeds with war crimes inquiry in Ukraine

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan QC announced he is opening an active investigation into war crimes occurring against the civilian population of Ukraine.

In a statement, Khan wrote, “I have notified the ICC Presidency a few moments ago of my decision to immediately proceed with active investigations in the Situation. Our work in the collection of evidence has now commenced.”

Thirty-nine signatories to the court’s jurisdiction, including Germany, referred the situation in Ukraine to the ICC, speeding up the course by which it could act.

Russia is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty which established the ICC.

UN records 752 civilian deaths in Ukraine

The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) monitoring mission in Ukraine said it had recorded 752 deaths among Ukrainian civilians since the conflict began at 4 a.m. (0300 GMT) on February 24. An additional 525 have reportedly been injured during the war.

In a statement, the monitoring mission noted, “This is more than the total number of civilian casualties recorded by OHCHR in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine from 2018-2021,” when 136 people were killed.

“Most of these casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and airstrikes,” the UN body said.

The statement added that the UN “believes that real figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intensive hostilities have been going on was delayed and many reports were still pending corroboration.”

Summary of events in Ukraine-Russia crisis on Wednesday

The Russian military said it took control of the southern city of Kherson, yet both the Ukrainian military and Pentagon disputed the claim.

The UN registered 752 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the invasion began on February 28.

A member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation’s (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission was killed during an attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Russia claims 498 of its troops have been killed so far, a number far lower than Ukrainian estimates.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the war has ushered in a “new era” for Europe and urged the continent to take charge of its own security.

Meanwhile, US top diplomat Antony Blinken described the death toll in Ukraine as “staggering” and voiced support for a cease-fire. President Joe Biden vowed to “inflict pain” on Russian Vladimir Putin in his State of the Union address.

A vast majority of member states in the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution calling for Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine. Russia, along with four other countries, voted against the measure. 

The International Criminal Court confirmed that it will open an investigation into the conflict in Ukraine. 

In Germany, the mayor of Berlin is calling on other German states to assist in helping Ukrainian refugees.

In addition, Germany has pledged help for Ukrainian forces on the ground, with German weapons having arrived in the country.

Russia’s economy has taken a hit due to Western sanctions, with international credit rating agency Fitch downgrading Russia to “B” and several multinational firms shuttering operations in Russia. 

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called for daily anti-war protests in Russia and Belarus to decry the invasion.

wd, ar/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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