The latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war:
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Russian military has offered safe corridors to civilians to allow them to leave areas of fighting in Ukraine.
Putin, speaking in a video call with members of his Security Council, has charged that Ukrainian nationalist groups are preventing civilians from leaving.
The Russian leader said the groups were also using civilians as shields, taking up firing positions to provoke the Russian retaliatory fire. Putin’s claim couldn’t be independently verified.
The Russian military says it has only struck military facilities and haven’t targeted residential areas, a claim that has been contradicted by the abundant evidence of massive casualties and damage to residential areas of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and other cities in Ukraine documented by The Associated Press.
Putin reaffirmed his claim that the Russian military was fighting “neo-Nazis,” adding that some Ukrainians were also “fooled by nationalist propaganda.”
He hailed the Russian military as heroes and ordered additional payments to families of the soldiers who were killed and servicemen who were wounded in action.
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BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel — The chief rabbi of Kyiv, Ukraine, says the Russian invasion has produced “a catastrophe,” and that most Jews have fled.
Jonathan Markovitch spoke as he arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport Thursday. He said the scene on the ground in Ukraine is “a catastrophe.
Planes are bombing places right next to residential buildings,” as well as a train station “maybe 100 meters from where my son lives and 50 meters from the synagogue.”
Most Jews, he said, have left the country. As he spoke, a group of about 150 young men and women held banners and sang as part of a welcome ceremony for new immigrants arriving from Ukraine.
Israel is expecting a wave of perhaps thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the invasion. So far this month, they’ve received a little over 500 people, the government says.
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TORONTO — Canada is calling for Russia’s membership in Interpol to be suspended.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says international law enforcement co-operation depends on mutual respect among members. Britain is also seeking to suspend Russia from the international policing body.
Defence Minister Anita Anand also says Canada is sending more weapons to Ukraine. Anand says Canada is sending 4,500 rocket launchers and 7,500 grenades.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks while urging the West to offer a stronger military assistance to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.
In a sarcastic reference to a long table Putin used for his recent meetings with foreign leaders and Russian officials, Zelensky said: “Sit down with me to negotiate, just not at 30 meters,” adding, “I don’t bite. What are you afraid of?”
During Thursday’s news conference, Zelensky said that prospects for another round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiations don’t seem promising, but emphasized the need to negotiate, adding that “any words are more important than shots.”
He said the world was too slow to offer support for Ukraine and prodded Western leaders to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine to deny access to the Russian warplanes. The U.S. and NATO allies have ruled out the move that would directly pit Russian and Western militaries.
Zelensky charged that if the West remains reluctant to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine, it should at least provide Kyiv with warplanes.
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MOSCOW — Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division, was killed in fighting in Ukraine earlier this week.
His death was confirmed by a local officers’ organization in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.
Sukhovetsky, who was 47, began his military service as a platoon commander after graduating from a military academy and steadily rose through the ranks to take a series of leadership positions. He took part in Russia’s military campaign in Syria.
He was also a deputy comxjmtzywmander of the 41st Combined Arms Army.
A funeral ceremony will be held in Novorossiisk, but further details weren’t immediately announced.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office says a second round of talks with Russia about the war in Ukraine has begun in neighbouring Belarus.
A video released by Zelensky’s office Thursday showed the informally dressed Ukrainian delegation walking into the meeting room where they shook hands with Russian delegates in suits and ties.
The talks are aimed at stopping the fighting that has sent more than 1 million people fleeing over Ukraine’s borders, but the two sides appeared to have little common ground.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin’s demand for its "demilitarization" and declare itself neutral, formally renouncing its bid to join NATO. Putin has long contended that Ukraine’s turn toward the West is a threat to Moscow, an argument he used to justify last week’s invasion.
The talks came as the Russian military made significant gains in the south of Ukraine as part of an effort to sever the country’s connection to the Black and Azov seas.
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PARIS — A French official says French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken for 90 minutes by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told Macron that military operations in Ukraine are "going according to plan."
The official at the French Elysee presidential palace said Putin told Macron the conflict would continue "until the end" unless negotiations meet his terms.
Putin said negotiations must center on the "neutralization and disarmament of Ukraine," according to the French official. Putin reportedly said he would attain that goal by military means, if not by political and diplomatic means.
The official said the two leaders spoke at Putin’s request. The French official could not be named in keeping with Elysee practice.
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WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s most powerful politician says his country will raise its defence spending to 3% of GDP starting next year, amid the new security threat following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is deputy prime minister for security and the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, told parliament that Poland needs a strong army.
"The army should have deterrent power. We want peace, we do not want war," Kaczynski said.
Poland is already one of the handful of NATO countries whose defence spending exceeds the alliance’s target of 2% of GDP, now at 2.2%. The country had already planned to increase spending to 2.5% in 2030 but now plans to increase spending to 3% in 2023, Kaczynski said.
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BERLIN — Germany’s economy minister has spoken out against an embargo on Russian energy imports, saying it could endanger social cohesion in the country.
Germany gets about half of its coal and gas from Russia, and a third of its oil.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor, said Thursday that his country needs to "free itself from imports of Russian energy" but acknowledged that doing so will take time.
Habeck told reporters in Berlin that the government is working on a series of measures to quickly increase energy independence, including securing new suppliers and ramping up the use of renewables.
He played down the suggestion that Germany should extend the lifetime of its three remaining nuclear power plants, which are scheduled to be shut down this year. But he left open the possibility that this might be considered, "if it helps."
Habeck said the government would also work on energy efficiency measures to reduce demand and encouraged Germans to do their bit, too.
"If you want to hurt Putin a bit, then save energy," he said.
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AMSTERDAM — An Amsterdam museum says it has cut its close links to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Hermitage Amsterdam said Thursday that it has long distanced itself from politics in Russia under President Vladimir Putin as it built close ties with the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, giving the Amsterdam museum "access to one of the world’s most famous art collections, which we could draw from" for exhibitions.
"Russia’s recent attack on Ukraine makes keeping this distance no longer tenable," the museum said in a statement.
The Amsterdam museum says that, "Like everyone else, we hope for peace. Also for changes in the future of Russia that will allow us to restore ties with the Hermitage Saint Petersburg."
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Russia has declined to attend as an observer a NATO drill in Norway with about 30,00 troops from 27 nations later this month.
Norway is scheduled to host the Cold Response exercise from March 13. The drill, which has been planned for months, is aimed at training in cold-weather conditions in case of attack. Russia had been invited to observe it.
The Norwegian Armed Forces said in a statement to The Associated Press that they want "to be open and transparent about this exercise, so that there will be no misunderstandings," and stressed that the drill was "of a defensive nature, where we practice and train with our allies and partner countries."
"With the tension that is in Europe, it is important that we practice and train to be able to defend ourselves," the statement said, adding that the Norwegians "would have preferred Russia to send observers, but at the same time we respect their decision."
The Scandinavian country shares a nearly 200-kilometre (124-mile) land border with Russia.
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PARIS — The United Nations’ cultural agency says it is assessing the damage to Ukraine’s educational and cultural institutions and its heritage sites amid Russia’s invasion.
UNESCO’s director general Audrey Azoulay is calling on the Russian forces and the international community to protect Ukraine’s cultural heritage.
She said in a statement Thursday that the UN agency is coordinating efforts with Ukrainian authorities to mark as quickly as possible key historic monuments and sites across Ukraine with an internationally recognized sign for the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict.
UNESCO will also organize a meeting with the country’s museum directors to help them safeguard collections and cultural property as the war rages.
Ukraine has seven World Heritage sites, located in the western city of Lviv; in the capital, Kyiv; in the Black Sea port city of Odesa; and in the second largest city of Kharkiv. All four cities have been subjected to artillery attacks and air bombardment by the invading Russian forces.
At least seven educational institutions have been damaged in attacks over the past week, including the Karazin National University in Kharkiv on Wednesday, the UNESCO statement said.
The nationwide closure of schools and education facilities since the assault on Ukraine began has affected the entire school-aged population: 6 million students between ages of 3 and 17, and more than 1.5 million enrolled in higher education institutions, according to the statement.
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TORONTO — Canada is announcing a 35% tariff on any imports from Russia or Belarus.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada is removing those countries’ "most favoured nation" status as a trading partner, which is normally extended to fellow World Trade Organization member countries.
Freeland said Thursday that Canada is encouraging its allies to take the same step.
Russia and Belarus join North Korea in being downgraded for trade.
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LVIV, Ukraine — As Russian forces advance on strategic points in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities on Thursday called on compatriots to launch a guerrilla war against Russian forces.
In a video message posted online, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovich urged men to cut down trees and destroy rear columns of Russian troops.
"We urge people to begin providing total popular resistance to the enemy in the occupied territories," Arestovich said.
"The weak side of the Russian army is the rear – if we burn them now and block the rear, the war will stop in a matter of days," he said.
Arestovich said that such tactics are already being used in Konotop in northeast Ukraine and Melitopol near the Azov Sea, which were captured by Russian troops.
He called on the civilian population to build barricades in cities, hold rallies with Ukrainian flags, and create online networking groups. "Total resistance … this is our Ukrainian trump card and this is what we can do best in the world," Arestovich said, recalling guerrilla actions in Nazi-occupied Ukraine during the Second World War.
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HELSINKI — A Panama-flagged cargo vessel belonging to an Estonian shipping company has reportedly driven into a mine and sank off the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.
The m/v Helt was built in 1985 and is owned by the VISTA Shipping Agency AS, Estonian media outlets reported Thursday, adding that two crew members have been rescued, while four others are missing.
Ukrainian authorities said earlier this week that Russian sailors had captured the ship.
Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets said Estonian officials are currently dealing with the issue and the ministry would give details on the incident as soon as possible.
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STOCKHOLM — The organization that awards the Nobel Prize in literature broke a long-standing practice of not making political statements by condemning "in the strongest possible terms the Russian regime’s illegal invasion of Ukraine."
The Swedish Academy said Thursday that its history and mission "are deeply rooted in the traditions of freedom of expression, freedom of belief and freedom of inquiry,"
"We therefore join the legion of our fellow academies, literary and cultural institutions, places of higher learning, defenders of a free press, human rights organizations and nation states in expressing our abhorrence of the Russian government’s unjustified attack on Ukraine and its people," the academy said in a statement.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces have taken a strategic Ukrainian seaport and set siege to another as Moscow tries to cut its neighbor off from the Black Sea.
The Russian military said Thursday it had control of Kherson, which has a population of 280,000 people, making it the first major city to fall since a Russian invasion began last week.
Russian armoured vehicles were seen in the otherwise empty streets of Kherson, in videos shared with The Associated Press by a resident
Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued in Mariupol, in the outskirts of the strategic the Azov Sea port city. Electricity and phone connections are mostly not working in Mariupol, which faces food and water shortages.
The Russians are pressing their offensive on a variety of fronts, even as the Kremlin says it is ready for talks to end the fighting that has triggered more than 1 million refugees.
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LONDON — The British government is defending its sanctions against rich Russians amid criticism it is lagging compared to its American and European allies.
The U.K. has slapped sanctions on only a handful of wealthy Russians accused of links to the Kremlin who have assets in Britain. That is fewer than the European Union or the U.S.
The Conservative government is under pressure to add more names, including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, who has announced plans to sell the team.
The government says more individuals will be sanctioned but it has not said when. It denies the delay is giving oligarchs time to move assets out of the U.K., long a favored haven for Russian wealth.
Opposition lawmakers are also urging the government to seize oligarchs’ properties in Britain.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain, denied the government was dragging its feet. He said penalizing individuals was only part of the picture and it was sanctions on large banks and companies that would put the most pressure on the Russian government.
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LONDON — The British satellite company OneWeb says it is cancelling all launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which is run by the Russian Aerospace Forces and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos.
The firm said in a one-line statement that “the Board of OneWeb has voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur.”
OneWeb had been due to launch a batch of its internet satellites Friday on Russian rockets from the base.
The launch was put in doubt after Russia demanded the British government sell its stake in OneWeb, which it partly owns. It also wanted a guarantee from the company that none of its satellites would have military uses.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thrown international space cooperation into turmoil and put a planned Europe-Russian mission to Mars this year on hold.
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GENEVA — The UN’s top human rights body is holding an urgent debate on the situation in Ukraine and the possibility of creating a panel to investigate any abuses during Russia’s war with its neighbour.
The meeting is set to culminate in a vote Friday on whether to set up a three-person expert panel, following Russia’s invasion last week.
The vote by the 47-member-state body, which counts Ukraine and Russia as members, offers a bellwether of international sentiment about the Kremlin’s invasion. It comes a day after the UN General Assembly in New York voted 141-5, with 35 abstentions, to demand an immediate halt to Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
The panel would seek to collect and analyze evidence that could be used by a court, such as the International Criminal Court, which has already launched its own investigation over Russia’s invasion.
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HELSINKI — In the latest economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Finnish national airline Finnair says it is planning temporary layoffs of up to 90 days for its flight crews.
That is due to the closure of Russian airspace, which is causing significant changes to long-haul traffic and is a severe financial blow for the carrier.
Meanwhile, the biggest Czech carmaker Skoda Auto says it is halting car production at its two Russian plants and all exports to Russia over aggression against Ukraine.
Skoda Auto belongs to Volkswagen Group, which has halted all its business in Russia. Russia was Skoda’s second-biggest market in 2021.
Flat-pack furnishings retailer Ikea also said it was temporarily closing its operations in Russia and halting all exports and imports involving Russia and Belarus.
The Swedish group added that the decision will have a direct impact on 15,000 IKEA workers.
The tourism sector in Egypt, where nearly 20,000 Ukrainian tourists are said to be stranded, is also expected to take a hit.
Ukrainians account for the country’s second-largest number of European visitors, especially to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts. More than 1.4 million Ukrainian tourists reportedly visited Egypt in 2021.
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JERUSALEM — Two buses carrying more than 100 Jewish refugee children from a foster home in Odesa are making their way across Europe to Berlin, where the local Jewish community will provide them with accommodation.
The children are just a few of the roughly 1 million people who have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded it last week.
Rabbi Mendy Wolff, 25, spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday as the convoy made its way across Romania, after the group crossed from Ukraine into Moldova the previous day.
He said many of 105 children, the youngest only 37 days old, lack proper documentation, which prevented them from fleeing the Black Sea port of Odesa until Wednesday.
"We cannot fly because nobody has documents," he said. Instead they are making a roughly 2,000 kilometre (1,200 mile) overland trek across the continent to the German capital.
The Jewish children have received financial assistance from Jewish aid groups, and diplomatic support from Israel, Germany and other European states, who have facilitated their swift passage so that they reach Berlin before sundown on Friday, when the Jewish Sabbath begins.
"We’re not making them feel for a second that they are refugees, that’s our main thing," said Wolff, an Odesa native who is fleeing his hometown.
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BRUSSELS — A senior European Union official says that in the wake of Ukraine’s formal application this week to join the bloc, bids for entry are also expected “imminently” from Moldova and Georgia.
The two eastern European countries are already part of EU outreach programs, but a membership request would be a major development in their relations with the 27-nation bloc.
Any membership application and consideration is a process that would take many years and involve fundamental political adjustments, ranging from trade, to rule of law measures and anti-corruption commitments.
The EU official who spoke Thursday asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of recent geopolitical developments after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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BERLIN — German automaker Volkswagen says it is halting production of vehicles in Russia until further notice due to the Russian attack on Ukraine.
The VW Group said in a brief statement Thursday on Twitter that “vehicle exports to Russia will also be stopped with immediate effect.”
The company said it takes its “responsibility for the affected employees in Russia very seriously” and all those affected will receive short-time working benefits, paid by Volkswagen.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s government says it is in talks with governments of international organizations and nearby countries to send essential medical supplies to Ukraine.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke Thursday by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who requested further help in resisting Russia’s invasion of his country.
South Korea has joined the U.S.-led economic pressure campaign on Moscow over the invasion, banning exports of strategic materials to Russia and supporting efforts to cut off key Russian banks from global payment systems.
Moon’s office said he expressed his condolences for war victims and saluted the courage of Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.
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DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh officials say a missile has hit one of the country’s cargo ships at the Ukrainian port of Olvia, killing one crew member.
The junior minister for shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, said 29 crew were aboard the vessel, which is owned by the state-run Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.
He said the ship was carrying cement clay and was on its way to Italy.
Hadisur Rahman, an engineer onboard, was struck in the attack late Wednesday and died. The other 28 members were safe, Chowdhury said. It was unclear whether it was a Ukrainian or Russian missile.
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PARIS — French authorities say they have seized a yacht linked to Igor Sechin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of European Union sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The French Finance Ministry said in a statement Thursday that customs authorities carried out an inspection of the yacht Amore Vero in the Mediterranean resort of La Ciotat.
The boat arrived in La Ciotat on Jan. 3 for repairs and was slated to stay until April 1. When French customs officers arrived to inspect the yacht, its crew was preparing an urgent departure, even though the repair work wasn’t finished, the statement said. The boat was seized to prevent its departure.
It says the boat is owned by a company that lists Sechin as its primary shareholder. Sechin runs Russian oil giant Rosneft.
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BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s government is insisting it will not allow any arms shipments bound for neighbouring Ukraine to cross its territory, as the European Union country receives tens of thousands of refugees from the conflict and frets about the reliability of its energy links to Moscow.
A large Hungarian ethnic minority, around 150,000 people, lives in the western Ukrainian region of Transcarpathia, just across the border.
The prime minister’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, says allowing weapons into Ukraine would endanger that minority.
Gulyas said Thursday that some 120,000 refugees fleeing the conflict have crossed into Hungary so far.
Hungary has agreed to all EU sanctions imposed on Russia, Gulyas said. But he argued against allowing sanctions to affect Hungary’s energy sector, which relies heavily on Russian natural gas.
Gulyas also said that Hungary will not pull out of the planned Russian-backed expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, which will be financed primarily by a Russian state bank.
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BERLIN — A German magazine says it has hired 15 reporters in Ukraine and Russia to cover the war after existing staff waived part of their salaries and the publication received a flood of donations from supporters.
Editor-in-chief Benjamin Friedrich said Katapult magazine is sending its new hires in Ukraine urgently needed equipment such as protective vests, helmets and smartphones to help them do their work. Fourteen of the new hires are women.
“It’s a bit of a wild effort,” Friedrich told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. The magazine hopes to hire a total of 21 staff for the new venture, which will initially be published online in English and Ukrainian, he said.
“Russian would be great too, eventually,” Friedrich said, noting that coverage of the war in Russian media is very limited and not often impartial.
Katapult magazine, a quarterly based in the northeast German town of Greifswald, has made a name for itself in recent years explaining complex social issues with easy-to-understand graphics and charts that are widely shared on social media. It claims to have 150,000 print subscribers.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow is ready for peace talks but will press its effort to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure, which the Kremlin claims is threatening Russia.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that the Russian delegation to the talks submitted its demands to Ukrainian negotiators earlier this week and is now waiting for Kyiv’s response in a meeting set for Thursday.
Lavrov said that Russia will insist on provisions that Ukraine will never again represent a military threat to Russia. He said it will be up to Ukrainians to choose what government they should have.
Lavrov voiced regret for civilian casualties during the Russian action in Ukraine, which started last week, and insisted that the Russian military is using only precision weapons against military targets.
He tacitly acknowledged that some Russian strikes could have killed civilians, saying that “any military action is fraught with casualties, and not just among the military but also civilians.”
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BEIJING — China is denouncing a report that it asked Russia to delay invading Ukraine until after the Beijing Winter Olympics as “fake news” and a “very despicable” attempt to divert attention and shift blame over the conflict.
“The New York Times report is purely fake news, and such behaviours of diverting attentions and shifting blames are very despicable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Thursday.
The Times article cited a “Western intelligence report” considered credible by officials, which indicated that “senior Chinese officials had some level of direct knowledge about Russia’s war plans or intentions before the invasion started last week,” the Times wrote.
China also commented on its decision to abstain in Wednesday’s UN General Assembly emergency session vote to demand an immediate halt to Moscow’s attack on Ukraine and the withdrawal of all Russian troops.
“Regrettably, the draft resolution submitted to the General Assembly emergency special session for vote had not undergone full consultations with the whole membership, nor does it take into consideration the history and the complexity of the current crisis,” Wang said.
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BERLIN — Activists from the Fridays for Future environmental movement are staging protests in dozens of German cities calling for peace in Ukraine.
The group, which has staged large marches in the past calling for greater action against climate change, said it wants to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine following Russia’s attack.
The demonstrations, including one in front of the German parliament, are scheduled to take place in 35 cities on Thursday.
Separately, churches across Germany are planning to ring their bells at noon for seven minutes, representing the seven days since the start of the war in Ukraine.
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JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister is calling on world leaders to get Russia and Ukraine “out of the battlefield and to the negotiating table” after a week of fighting.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke in English on Thursday at a cyber tech conference in Tel Aviv, less than a day after he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Israel maintains good relations with both countries. It has condemned Russia’s invasion and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but the same time has avoided taking a stance that might anger Moscow. Russia and Israel cooperate on military operations in Syria.
Bennett said of the situation in Ukraine that “things are looking bad on the ground right now, but it’s important to understand that if world leaders don’t act quickly it can get much worse.”
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GENEVA — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is backing calls to investigate potential human rights violations committed by Russia in Ukraine, with a view to holding to account those responsible.
In a video message to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Baerbock said that grave abuses “must be prosecuted.”
“We urgently need a commission of inquiry on Ukraine to investigate all violations of human rights that have been committed by Russia since its military aggression,” she said. “We must stand strong on accountability.”
Baerbock also expressed support for activists in Russia, such as the recently closed human rights group Memorial and imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Hercules C130 transport aircraft with some 2,000 anti-tank missiles for Ukraine has taken off from Norway.
The weapons are to help Ukrainian forces resist Russia’s invasion, which began last week.
Norway’s national news agency NTB said the shipment was being sent from Oslo on Thursday to a third country before being transported to Ukraine.
Also Thursday, Germany’s economy ministry approved sending 2,700 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, the dpa news agency said.
The agency quoted unnamed Economy Ministry officials saying the weapons are Soviet-made, shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles left over from East German army supplies.
Germany reversed its previous refusal to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons last week, following Russia’s attack.
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LONDON — A British military expert says the longer Ukrainian cities can hold out against Russian attacks, the fewer troops Moscow will have at its disposal to encircle Kyiv, its main objective.
Jack Watling, an expert in land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, said Thursday that if cities are able to resist they can draw out the conflict.
“If the conflict protracts, the Ukrainians have more leverage to be able to negotiate,” Watling said.
His assessment came as Russia claimed its troops had taken the southern city of Kherson, even as the head of the local administration said he was working to keep the Ukrainian flag flying over the city.
Russian forces pounded Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, overnight and air raid sirens were heard in the capital, Kyiv.
The next phase of the war will test the Ukrainians’ commitment and their ability to conduct small-scale offensive actions that disrupt and delay the Russian advance, Watling said.
The challenge will be to prevent cities from being surrounded so they aren’t cut off from supplies of food, water and ammunition, he added.
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GENEVA — The UN human rights office says 227 civilians have been killed and another 525 injured in its latest count of the toll in Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s military invasion that began a week ago.
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says the tally eclipses the entire civilian casualty count from the war in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in 2014 — which left 136 dead and 577 injured.
The rights office admits that the figures so far are a vast undercount. It uses a strict methodology and counts only confirmed casualties. Ukrainian officials have presented far higher numbers.
The rights office said in a statement late Wednesday 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.”
Most of the 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 rights office said.
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ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities say a convoy of dozens of Greek citizens and staff from the Greek consulate in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol are making their way toward Ukraine’s western borders.
The convoy of 21 vehicles and more than 80 people left Mariupol on Wednesday, arriving in the town of Zaporizhzhia that night. Greek authorities said the convoy set out again Thursday morning from Zaporizhzhia, heading toward the border with Moldova.
Greek Ambassador Frangiskos Kostelenos, who was heading the convoy, told Greek state television ERT the convoy had been delayed Wednesday by checkpoints and a destroyed bridge but the vehicles had arrived in Zaporizhzhia without serious incident.
A Greek diaspora community in Ukraine lives mainly in the Donetsk Oblast region, in and around Mariupol. Greece’s consulate in Mariupol continues to operate.
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BERLIN — The German news agency dpa reported that Germany has approved sending 2,700 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine.
The report quoted unnamed Economy Ministry officials on Thursday saying the weapons are Soviet-made, shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles left over from East German army supplies.
Germany reversed its previous refusal to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons last week following Russia’s invasion.
Berlin has already authorized sending 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine.
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LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defence says that a Russian military column heading for Kyiv has made “little discernible progress” over the past three days and remains over 30 kilometres from the centre of the city.
The column has been delayed by Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdowns and congestion, the ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing Thursday.
Despite heavy Russian shelling, the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain in Ukrainian hands, the department said. Some Russian forces have entered the city of Kherson, but the military situation remains unclear, it added.
The ministry also noted that Russia has been forced to admit that 498 of its soldiers have been killed in Ukraine and another 1,597 have been wounded. The actual number of those killed and wounded will almost certainly be considerably higher and will continue to rise, it said.
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STOCKHOLM — Low-cost fashion brand Hennes & Mauritz AB has become the latest company to suspend its activities in Russia and Ukraine, saying it had decided to temporarily pause all sales in its Russian stores and temporarily close its Ukrainian shops “due to the safety of customers and colleagues.”
The Stockholm-based group said Wednesday that it was “deeply concerned about the tragic developments in Ukraine and stand with all the people who are suffering.” It added that it was “in dialogue with all relevant stakeholders.”
H&M said clothes “and other necessities” had been donated and the H&M Foundation, which is privately funded by the founders and main owners of the group, had made donations to Save the Children and to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
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BRUSSELS — With close to a million refugees already fleeing Ukraine for the eastern nations of the European Union, the bloc is bracing for the arrival of many more as the Russian invasion continues.
EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson said Thursday ahead of a special meeting of justice and home affairs ministers that “we have to be prepared for millions of refugees to come to the European Union.”
The bloc is already moving toward granting temporary protection to those fleeing war, seeking to give temporary residence permits to refugees and allow them rights to education and work in the 27-nation bloc.
The EU Commission has already promised at least 500 million euros (US$560 million) in humanitarian aid for the refugees. Johansson said the bloc will need funding and equipment.
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LONDON — Fitch Ratings has downgraded Russia’s credit rating, citing a “severe shock” to fundamental conditions due to its invasion of Ukraine.
Fitch said the war has raised risks to financial stability and could undermine Russia’s ability to service its government debt. It said that, in turn, will weaken the country’s finances and slow its economy, further raising geopolitical risks and uncertainty.
Among other factors, the ratings agency noted sanctions imposed by Western countries that are limiting access to foreign currency needed to repay debt and purchase imports and increased uncertainty over Russia’s willingness to pay such debts.
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BEIJING — Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from the Winter Paralympic Games for their countries’ roles in the war in Ukraine, the International Paralympic Committee said Thursday in Beijing.
The about-face comes less than 24 hours after the IPC on Wednesday said it would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete when the Games open on Friday, but only as neutral athletes with colours, flags and other national symbols removed.
The IPC received immediate criticism for its initial decision. It was termed a betrayal that sent the wrong message to Russia’s leadership. The IPC also said it was evident that many athletes would refuse to compete against Russians or Belarusians, creating chaos for the Paralympics.
The IPC now joins sports like soccer, track, basketball, hockey and others that have imposed blanket bans on Russians and Belarusians.
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SEOUL, South Korea – A South Korean pharmaceutical company manufacturing Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine says it’s bracing for business complications as the U.S.-led West escalates sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Recently expanded U.S. sanctions include targeted measures against the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund run by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin that globally markets the Sputnik vaccines.
Kim Gi-young, an official from Seoul-based GL Rapha, said the sanctions won’t directly impede its production of the shots as the measures aren’t aimed at essential medical supplies.
However, the company is concerned about potential problems rising from the financial side as South Korea joins the United States and many European countries in a move to cut off key Russian banks from global payment systems.
“Right now, we are watching how the situation develops,” Kim said.
GL Rapha has so far produced 5 million shots of the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine, but none of them have been used so far as Russia continues to delay rollout plans, Kim said.
GL Rapha also has an agreement with RDIF to produce 150 million shots of the two-dose Sputnik V and is participating in a consortium of South Korean companies that has been contracted to produce another 500 million doses of Sputnik V, but these shots haven’t been produced yet.
RDIF has reportedly criticized the U.S. sanctions and said the measures would slow its promotion of Sputnik V.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates says Ukrainian passport holders continue to be eligible for visas on arrival to the Gulf state.
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry statement on Thursday came in response to media coverage quoting Ukraine’s Embassy in the UAE saying that the Gulf country is reimposing visa requirements on Ukrainians and suspending an agreement for visa-free travel between the two countries.
The energy-rich UAE, which relies on Russian and Ukrainian wheat exports, is home to some 15,000 Ukrainian residents among its roughly 8 million foreign residents and 1 million Emirati citizens. Before the coronavirus pandemic, around a quarter-million Ukrainian tourists visited the UAE.
The UAE, like other Gulf Arab states, does not recognize individuals fleeing war and has not permitted refugees from Syria, Iraq and other wars to seek asylum or seek resettlement.
The UAE, which is home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, abstained in a UN Security Council vote late last week condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. It is also chair of the Security Council.
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MAZYR, Belarus — A string of seven bus-size Russian military ambulances — their windows blocked with gray shades — pulled up to the back entrance of the main hospital about 48 kilometres from the border with Ukraine on Tuesday evening, ferrying casualties from the front.
The convoy was part of what residents and doctors said has in recent days become a steady flow of Russian soldiers wounded in fierce fighting around Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, where a Russian advance has stalled in the face of strong resistance.
A doctor at the hospital — which is in southern Belarus’s Gomel region, a main staging ground for Russia’s offensive — said injured Russian troops began arriving on Monday. “I hope they don’t jail me for sharing this,” she said.
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WARSAW, Poland — The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe says one of its members died during shelling in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Maryna Fenina was killed while getting supplies for her family, the group said in a news release Wednesday. Fenina worked with the organization’s monitoring mission in Ukraine.
“In Kharkiv and other cities and towns in Ukraine, missiles, shells and rockets are hitting residential buildings and town centres, killing and injuring innocent civilians — women, men and children alike,” it said.
The organization’s chairperson, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, and Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid extended their condolences.
“Our deepest condolences and sympathies go to Maryna’s family. Maryna was a valued member of the SMM team, and our colleagues in Ukraine remain in close contact with her family to offer our support,” it said.
The organization launched its Ukraine monitoring mission in 2014 in response to a request from Ukraine’s government and the consent of the group’s 57 participating states. The mission observes and reports on the situation in Ukraine and aims to facilitate dialogue.
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GENEVA — The UN refugee agency says 1 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion less than a week ago, an exodus without precedent in this century for its speed.
The tally from UNHCR amounts to more than 2 percent of Ukraine’s population on the move in under a week. The World Bank counted the population at 44 million at the end of 2020.
The UN agency has predicted that up to 4 million people could eventually leave Ukraine but cautioned that even that projection could be revised upward.
In an email, UNHCR spokesperson Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams wrote: “Our data indicates we passed the 1M mark” as of midnight in central Europe, based on counts collected by national authorities.
On Twitter, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, wrote: “In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighbouring countries.”
Syria, whose civil war erupted in 2011, currently remains the country with the largest refugee outflows – at more than 5.6 million people, according to UNHCR figures. But even at the swiftest rate of flight by refugees out of Syria, in early 2013, it took at least three months for 1 million refugees to leave that country.
UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said Wednesday that “at this rate” the outflows from Ukraine could make it the source of “the biggest refugee crisis this century.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — In a video address to the nation early Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an upbeat assessment of the war and called on Ukrainians to keep up the resistance.
“We are a people who in a week have destroyed the plans of the enemy,” he said. “They will have no peace here. They will have no food. They will have here not one quiet moment.”
Zelensky didn’t comment on whether the Russians have seized several cities, including Kherson.
“If they went somewhere, then only temporarily. We’ll drive them out,” he said.
He said the fighting is taking a toll on the morale of Russian soldiers, who “go into grocery stores and try to find something to eat.”
“These are not warriors of a superpower," he said. "These are confused children who have been used.”
He said the Russian death toll has reached about 9,000.
“Ukraine doesn’t want to be covered in bodies of soldiers," he said. "Go home.”
RELATED IMAGESview larger image
Women and children, fleeing from Ukraine, sleep at a makeshift shelter in the train station in Przemysl, Poland, on March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Firefighters extinguish a building of the Ukrainian Security Service after a rocket attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko)
Local militiaman Valery, 37, carries a child as he helps a fleeing family across a bridge destroyed by artillery on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 2. 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
