New Delhi: Russia attacking Ukraine has rattled the entire world with all eyes on Russian president Vladimir Putin who, in a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions on Sunday, ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces on alert in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers. Ukraine said it had regained control in Kharkiv, the second largest city, even as it was able to hold off Russia's onslaught in Kyiv for the fourth day on Sunday.
Here are the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war:
- At least, 210 Ukrainians have been killed in the Russian assault so far. The figure does not include Sunday's deaths and is for both civilians and military personnel. 1,100 Ukrainians have been injured, according to reports.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to send a delegation to speak to Russia on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River. However, Zelensky said he doesn't believe in the positive outcome of the negotiations. "But let them try, so that no citizen of Ukraine doubts that I, as president, tried to stop the war when there was still a chance, however small," he said in a video address.
- Ukraine agreeing to talks happened around the same time when Putin ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces to be on alert. Putin asserted that leading NATO powers had made “aggressive statements” along with the West imposing hard-hitting financial sanctions against Russia, including the president himself. Putin ordered the Russian defense minister and the chief of the military’s General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty.”
- The United Nations’ refugee agency says the latest count of Ukrainians arriving in neighboring countries stands at 368,000 and continues to rise. The update from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Sunday more than doubles its estimate a day ago, when it said at least 150,000 have fled Ukraine into Poland and other countries including Hungary and Romania.
- EU has shut its airspace to all Russian-owned, Russian-registered, or Russian-controlled aircrafts, President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter. “Including the private jets of oligarchs,” she wrote.
- Canada is joining many European countries in closing its airspace to all Russian aircraft as the West ramps up pressure on Russia for invading Ukraine. It is the 18th country to ban airspace for Russia. The other 17 include United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, France, Italy, Austria, Germany.
- The United States and its allies have moved to block certain Russian banks' access to the SWIFT international payment system in further punishment of Moscow as it continues its military assault against Ukraine. The measures, which will include restrictions on the Russian central bank's international reserves, will be implemented in the coming days, the nations said in a joint statement that also vowed further action to come.
- In one of the most significant shifts in European security policy in decades, Germany announced Sunday it was committing 100 billion euros ($113 billion) to a special armed forces fund and would keep its defense spending above 2% of GDP from now on, a move brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Approximately 100,000 people have turned out in Berlin to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Police said large crowds have filled the area originally planned for the demonstration, around the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin, and that they were allocating additional space to accommodate the protesters.
- Ukraine to pay $3,400 (INR 250,000) per month to military personnel. The significant pay raise will be implemented to show the soldiers "that the country is grateful to them," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
