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At least 10 people were killed and 35 others were injured after a rocket hit Ukraine’s second-biggest city Kharkiv on Tuesday, according to Kyiv’s Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko.
“Freedom Square was hit by a cruise missile. There was a second hit by a similar rocket that hit the building after the rescuers arrived (in 5-7 minutes). One-third of the administration building fell,” Herashchenko said in a post on Telegram, according to CNN. Ukrainian State Emergency Services also confirmed the death toll in a social media post today.
-ANI
Russia Ukraine crisis LATEST Updates
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioned Tuesday whether Russia deserved to remain a member of the UN Human Rights Council following its invasion of Ukraine.
“One can reasonably ask whether a UN member state that tries to take over another UN member state, while committing horrific human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering, should be allowed to remain on this council,” he asked in a video address to the UN’s top human rights body in Geneva.
-AP
Russia Ukraine crisis LATEST Updates
Russia Ukraine crisis LIVE news Updates: If Russian President Vladimir Putin achieves his goal of ousting the government in Kyiv, the humanitarian and rights crises in Ukraine ‘will only get worse’, Antony Blinken warned Tuesday
Russia Ukraine crisis LATEST Updates
Hungary supports a request by eight European Union (EU) countries to begin membership talks with Ukraine, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said here on Tuesday.
“We urge the Brussels institutions to put this request of the eight presidents on the agenda, which Hungary also supports,” Szijjarto said in a video posted on his Facebook page. “We expect Brussels to take this initiative very seriously,” he added.
On Monday, eight European countries said in a joint declaration that they would support Ukraine’s immediate accession to the EU.
-ANI
Russia Ukraine crisis LATEST Updates
Oil prices soared and investors shifted more money into ultra-safe U.S. government bonds as Russia stepped up its war on Ukraine. The price of oil surged back above $100 a barrel after Russia, a major energy producer, faced further isolation and economic damage because of its invasion of Ukraine. The rush into bonds pushed the yield on the 10-year Treasury back down to 1.77%, where it was in early February. Stock prices were mixed in the early going on Wall Street. The S&P 500 was bobbing between small gains and losses in the first few minutes of trading. European markets were lower.
-AP
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The second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine may take place on March 2, Ukreaine’s Dzerkalo Tyzhnia newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing Ukrainian diplomatic sources.
The newspaper also said that during the first round on Monday, the Russian delegation conveyed Moscow’s demand to enshrine Ukraine’s non-bloc status at the parliamentary level and hold a referendum. Among other conditions reportedly voiced by Moscow was Kiev’s recognition of the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics within the borders of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as well as the denazification of Ukraine.
-ANI
Russia Ukraine crisis LATEST Updates
Like much of the world, Arabs were stunned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but shock quickly gave way to indignation over media commentary seen by many as racist against people from the Middle East.
“This isn’t a place — with all due respect, you know — like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades,” said Charlie D’Agata of US network CBS News.
“This is a relatively civilised, relatively European — I have to choose those words carefully too — city where you wouldn’t expect that or hope it is going to happen.”
A day later, after much online furore, D’Agata apologised for his “poor choice of words”.
This was just one of many remarks on reputable media outlets drawing a line between the conflict unfolding in Ukraine and those in other parts of the world.
Russia Ukraine crisis LATEST Updates
Russia Ukraine crisis LIVE news Updates: Scores of diplomats have walked out of two meetings at the United Nations in Geneva in which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was beamed in for a video statement, as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
-AP
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Poland is not going to send fighter jets to Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday.
On Sunday, EU foreign ministers agreed to supply 450 million euros ($500 million) worth of arms, including fighter jets to the Kiev forces amid the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
“We are not sending any jets to Ukraine because that would open a military interference in the Ukrainian conflict. We are not joining this conflict. NATO is not a party to this conflict. We are supporting Ukraine with humanitarian aid, however we are not sending any jets to the Ukrainian airspace,” Duda said at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “a moment of truth for Europe” and the future of the continent is at stake, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.
“The destiny of Ukraine is at stake, but our own fate also lies in the balance,” the European Commission president told the European Parliament.
As part of the EU’s response, she said, Brussels would provide 500 million euros ($560 million) in extra funding to help deal with the “humanitarian consequences” of the war, including the flow of refugees into the bloc.
-AFP