10 points on day 10 of Russia Ukraine war: 1.45 million refugees, Turkey to speak to Putin, more sanctions

As the Western world imposes 'unprecedented' sanctions on Russia and Putin tightens his grip on free press, it is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to operate in the nation, Russia refuses to back down and continues its assault on key Ukrainian cities.

New Delhi: The Russian attack on Ukraine entered its tenth day on Saturday. As the Western world imposes 'unprecedented' sanctions on Russia and Putin tightens his grip on free press, it is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to operate in the nation even as Russia refuses to back down and continues its assault on key Ukrainian cities.

Here are the key takeaways from the war-torn nation and the world reacting to the conflict, as reported in the last 24 hours.

1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proclaimed that Ukrainian forces were holding key cities in the central and southeastern part of the country Saturday, while the Russians were trying to block and keep encircled Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Sumy. “We’re inflicting losses on the occupants they could not see in their worst nightmare,” Zelenskyy said. A video was released by the Ukrainian government that shows a Russian military plane falling from the sky and crashing, as onlookers on the ground cheer. Firefighters sprayed water on flames and smoke at a structure next to the debris of the plane, which bore a red star and the number 24.
2. The International Organization for Migration said the number of people who have left Ukraine since fighting began has now reached 1.45 million. The UN agency added that 787,300 of them went to Poland. Some 228,700 fled to Moldova, 144,700 to Hungary, 132,600 to Romania and 100,500 to Slovakia. Nationals of 138 countries have crossed Ukraine’s borders into neighboring nations.
3. The head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court has appealed for Russia’s top court to be excluded from a body of Central and Eastern Europe’s chief justices because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s top court president, Vsevolod Kniaziev, said the Supreme Court of Russia should be excluded from the Conference of Chief Justices of Central & Eastern Europe “as it represents a country that brought terror, death and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”
4. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman says the Turkish leader will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday. “This war must be stopped immediately and there must be a return to the negotiating table,” Ibrahim Kalin told broadcaster NTV in Istanbul. He said Saturday that "our president will talk to Putin tomorrow.” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that Russian Foreign Minister Seygey Lavrov had confirmed his attendance at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, to be held in the Mediterranean coastal city between March 11-13.
5. Finland and Sweden have pledged to further deepen defense cooperation, including with NATO. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says that “Russia’s war against a European nation puts the European security order at risk.” “It’s very understandable that the mindset of our citizens is changing due to Russia’s attack against Ukraine,” said Marin, but refused to comment on whether Finland would ask for a major non-NATO allied status, a designation given to countries with close strategic relationship with the U.S. military. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said cooperation with NATO is “maybe closer than ever” and that a rapprochement with NATO would be discussed.
6. Russian President Vladimir Putin said there is nothing that warrants imposing martial law in Russia at this point. Putin’s comment on Saturday followed days of speculation that the introduction of martial law could be imminent. Putin said that “martial law is imposed in a country ... in the event of external aggression, including in specific areas of hostilities. But we don’t have such a situation, and I hope we won’t.”
7. Italian state broadcaster Rai is suspending reporting by its correspondents in Russia. Rai's measure, effective Saturday. Rai said the measure is necessary to “safeguard the safety of its journalists in the place as well as the maximum freedom of information about the country." German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF say they are suspending reporting from their Moscow studios. ARD and ZDF said in a statement that they are examining the consequences of the new legislation and suspending reporting from the Moscow studios for now. Russia on Friday passed a law foreseeing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading what is deemed to be fake information about its armed forces.
8. Singapore has announced sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, becoming one of the few governments in Southeast Asia to do so. “The sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of all countries, big and small, must be respected,” said an announcement by the Foreign Ministry. The tiny city-state imposed controls on exports or transshipments of military-related or dual use items considered “strategic goods.” It said the sanctions were aimed at constraining Russia’s ability to wage war and engage in “cyber aggression.” The regional commercial hub also said it would prohibit all financial institutions from doing business with four Russian banks: VTB Bank, Bank Rossiya, the Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Co., and the Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs Vnesheconombank. Companies with existing dealings with the four must freeze their assets, it said. The order also bans providing financial services or enabling financing for the Russian central bank, Russian government and entities owned or controlled by them.
9. Aeroflot, Russia’s flagship carrier, has announced that it will halt all international flights except to Belarus starting March 8. The move by Russia’s biggest state-owned airline comes after the country’s aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, recommended that all Russian airlines with foreign-leased planes halt both passenger and cargo flights abroad. It cited a high risk of foreign-leased planes being impounded as part of Western sanctions that ban leasing of planes to Russia.
10. SpaceX founder Elon Musk says the company's Starlink satellite internet service was “told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources.” “We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” Musk said in a post on Twitter. Earlier this week, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation thanked Musk for providing equipment to Starlink. Mykhailo Fedorov thanked SpaceX founder Elon Musk for the equipment in a Twitter post accompanied by a photo of boxes on the back of a truck. Federov had publicly requested the service. Starlink is a satellite-based internet system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world. It markets itself as “ideally suited” for areas where internet service is unreliable or unavailable.