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Senior Russian navy commander killed in Ukraine
A senior naval commander from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had been killed in Ukraine, said governor of Sevastopol, a port city on the Crimea Peninsula, on Sunday. Post-Captain Andrei Paliy, the fleet’s deputy commander, died during fighting in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Mikhail Razvozhayev said on the messaging app Telegram.
Ukraine extends martial law
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a bill extending the martial law in in the country as Moscow’s invasion of Kiev was nearing a month. According to Parliament, the legislation extended the current martial law for 30 days starting from 5.30 a.m. on March 26, reports Xinhua news agency. On March 14, Zelensky had submitted a draft bill in Parliament calling for the extension.
Children’s hospital in Kyiv faces ‘terrible’ trauma of war
The horrors of the war in Ukraine can be seen in 13-year-old Volodymyr’s empty expression as he lies in the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, playing with a green balloon dog. His father and his cousin were killed when their car was hit by gunfire two days after Russia’s invasion. Volodymyr was shot in his jaw, his back, his arm and his leg.
“He can’t walk yet, but the doctors told him that he’d be able to step on his feet later,” says his exhausted-looking mother, Natalia, 34, sitting on a bed next to her son in a darkened room.
Before the war, he loved the things that teenagers anywhere in the world might do — playing on his phone and taking their dog for a walk, she says.
Ukrainians told to shelter after ‘leak’ at ammonia plant
Residents of the northern Ukrainian town of Novoselytsya should seek shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, an official said Monday, as intense fighting with Russian forces in the area continues. Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said there had been an “ammonia leakage” at the Sumykhimprom facility, affecting an area within 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) of the plant, which produces fertilisers.
Gold rises as Ukraine crisis escalates
Gold prices rose on Monday, lifted by safe-haven demand as the Ukraine crisis showed no signs of abatement, although the gains were capped by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plan of aggressive measures to combat inflation. Spot gold was up 0.2% to $1,925.46 per ounce by 0316 GMT. U.S. gold futures were down 0.2% to $1,925.80.
Most Asian markets rise as traders track Ukraine crisis
Asian markets mostly rose Monday after last week’s rally while oil prices extended gains, with investors keeping tabs on the Ukraine war as Turkey said Kyiv and Moscow were edging towards a ceasefire agreement. Confidence remains at a premium owing to the crisis in eastern Europe — which threatens to deal a hefty blow to the global economy — as well as central bank monetary tightening measures.
At least four killed by shelling in Kyiv’s Podil district
Shelling hit residential houses and a shopping district in Kyiv’s Podil district late on Sunday, killing at least four people, city authorities said. “According to the information we have at the moment, several homes and one of the shopping centres [were hit],” city mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram channel. He said rescue teams were putting out a large fire at the shopping centre, while other details are still to be confirmed. The Kyiv department of the state emergency service said four people had been killed.
Biden to visit Poland this week for talk with allies about Ukraine
Biden will visit Poland as part of his European trip this week
Exhausted staff at Chernobyl plant get relief
Management of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986, said Sunday that 50 staff members who had been on the job since the plant was seized by Russian forces on Feb. 24 have been rotated out and replaced. Officials had repeatedly expressed alarm that the staff was suffering exhaustion after weeks of forced, unrelieved work and that this endangered the decommissioned plant’s safety.
Russia warns of humanitarian ‘catastrophe’
Ukraine on Monday rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power and fierce fighting shows little sign of easing. “There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms,” the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying early on Monday. “We have already informed the Russian side about this.” Russia earlier called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a “terrible humanitarian catastrophe” was unfolding.
Remains of Indian student killed in Ukraine arrives in Bengaluru
Mortal remains of Indian student Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, who was killed in shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv on March 1 amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, arrived at Bengaluru airport here on Monday. Family members of the deceased medical student and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai were present at the airport, along with state government officials. The family members paid their last respects to the deceased followed by the Chief Minister, who laid a wreath on the mortal remains.
One dead in Russian shelling on Kyiv mall
At least one person was killed when Russian forces shelled a shopping centre in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv late Sunday, the city’s mayor said. A huge blast shook the city at the time of the attack and fires could be seen blazing in the wreckage of the Retroville mall, AFP journalists said. “One killed so far,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
Zelenskyy denounces Russian bombing of school
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the Russian bombing of a school in Mariupol where civilians took refuge. Speaking in a video address early Monday, Zelenskyy said about 400 civilians were taking shelter at the art school in the besieged Azov Sea port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb. “They are under the rubble, and we don’t know how many of them have survived,” he said. “But we know that we will certainly shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, like about 100 other such mass murderers whom we already have downed.” Zelenskyy, who spoke to members of the Israeli parliament via video link on Sunday, thanked Israel for its efforts to broker talks with Russia.
Ukraine refuses to surrender besieged Mariupol
The Russian military has offered the Ukrainian troops defending the strategic port of Mariupol to lay down arms and exit the city via humanitarian corridors, but that proposal was quickly rejected by the Ukrainian authorities. Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said Sunday that all Ukrainian soldiers could leave the Azov Sea port Monday using safe routes for evacuating civilians that had been previously agreed with Ukraine and head to areas controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. He said that “all those who lay down arms will be guaranteed a safe exit from Mariupol.” Mizintsev added that Russia will wait until 5 a.m. Monday for a written Kyiv’s response to the Russian proposal for the Ukrainian troops to leave Mariupol but didn’t say what action Russia will take if its “humanitarian offer” is rejected.
10 million Ukrainians forced to flee homes amid Russian invasion
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday said that 10 million Ukrainian refugees have fled abroad or been displaced inside the country in the wake of Russia’s invasion. UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes due to escalating fights between Russia and Ukraine, reported NHK World.
