Russia-Ukraine live news: Moscow pushes ahead towards Kyiv | Russia-Ukraine war News
- Fighting is raging northwest of Kyiv, with the bulk of Russian ground forces 25km (16 miles) from the centre of the Ukrainian capital.
- Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine widens, with raids reported on east-central city of Dnipro and airfields in western Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk.
- Ukrainian officials say Russian shelling again prevented evacuations from Mariupol, where conditions are “critical”.
- United States and its top allies are revoking Russia’s “most favoured nation” status amid pressure campaign on President Vladimir Putin to end the war.
- Ukrainian envoy to United Nations dismisses Moscow’s accusation that Kyiv is operating US-backed biological weapons laboratories as “insane delirium”.
Here are the latest updates:
Russian attacks continue during latest evacuation attempts, Ukrainian officials say
The governors of two Ukrainian regions, Kyiv and Donetsk, said in separate statements that Russian attacks were continuing in areas where Ukraine was trying to evacuate people and bring aid through “humanitarian corridors.”
“Humanitarian cargo is moving towards Mariupol, we will inform you how it develops … The situation is complicated, there is constant shelling,” Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told local media. “The situation is extremely difficult.”
Russia says it is in constant contact with US, ready for arms control talks
Russia is prepared to resume arms control talks with the US if Washington is, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
Ryabkov told RIA news agency that Moscow and Washington remain in constant contact, but that the Kremlin sees no signs that Washington is ready to continue a dialogue on Ukraine.
However, Ryabkov said proposals on security guarantees that Russia had sent to the US and NATO before Russian forces entered Ukraine last month were no longer valid as the situation had now changed completely.
Israel not pushing Ukraine to yield to Russian demands, Ukraine adviser says
A top Ukrainian adviser has pushed back against suggestions Israel tried to nudge Ukraine into caving to Russian demands during talks.
Israel, “just as other conditional intermediary countries, does NOT offer Ukraine to agree to any demands of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. “This is impossible for military & political reasons. On the contrary, Israel urges Russia to assess the events more adequately.”
Israel has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine. A report in Israel’s Walla news and Jerusalem Post had suggested, citing an unidentified Ukrainian official, that Bennett had urged Ukraine to give in to Russia.
Mosque sheltering 80 civilians shelled in Mariupol
A mosque in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where 80 civilians were taking shelter, has been shelled by Russian forces, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders. More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter account.
The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders.
More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey. #StopRussianAggression#closeUAskyNOW pic.twitter.com/Uel5AoyZUt
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) March 12, 2022
The Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey said a group of 86 Turkish nationals, including 34 children, are among those sheltering in the mosque. No immediate figures for casualties are available.
Russian rockets destroy Ukrainian airbase in Kyiv region
Russian rocket attacks have destroyed a Ukrainian airbase near the town of Vasylkiv in the Kyiv region.
The rocket attacks also hit an ammunition depot, Vasylkiv Mayor Natalia Balasynovych said.
In the capital’s eastern suburb of Brovary, a Ukrainian military intelligence reconnaissance centre was taken out of action, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
Russians push toward Kyiv, keep up siege of other cities
Russian forces appeared to make progress from northeast Ukraine in their slow fight to reach the capital Kyiv.
As part of a multi-front attack on the capital, the Russians’ push from the northeast appeared to be advancing, a US defence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Combat units were moved up from the rear as the forces advanced to within 30km (18.6 miles miles) of Kyiv.
In Mariupol, unceasing barrages have thwarted repeated attempts to bring in food and water and to evacuate trapped civilians. And Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second-largest city – continues to be blockaded by Russian forces.
Italy seizes Russian oligarch Melnichenko’s Sailing Yacht A
Italian police have seized a superyacht from Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, a few days after the businessman was placed on an EU sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 143-metre (470-foot) Sailing Yacht A, which has a price tag of 530 million euros ($578m), has been sequestered at the northern port of Trieste, the government said.
Designed by Philippe Starck and built by Nobiskrug in Germany, the vessel is the world’s biggest sailing yacht, the government said.
Melnichenko owns major fertiliser producer EuroChem Group and coal company SUEK.
Ukraine official hopes Russia will observe ceasefire to allow civilian evacuation
Several humanitarian corridors out of Ukrainian towns and villages including from the besieged southern port of Mariupol will be open so civilians can leave, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, adding she hoped Russia would observe a ceasefire to allow this to take place.
She said Ukraine plans to evacuate residents of several towns and villages in the regions of Kyiv and Sumy and some other areas where there is ongoing combat.
“I hope that the day will go well, all the planned routes will be open and Russia will fulfill its obligations to guarantee the ceasefire regime,” Vereshchuk said in a video address.
Sanctions could cause space station to crash: Roscosmos
Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted.
According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions could disrupt the operation of Russian vessels servicing the ISS. As a result, the Russian segment of the station – which helps correct its orbit – could be affected, causing the 500-tonne structure to “fall down into the sea or into land”.
Majority of Luhansk region occupied by Russia: governor
Approximately 70 percent of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine is occupied by Russian troops, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk Oblast.
Areas that remained under the control of Kiev faced constant shelling and dozens of civilians were injured or killed.
Haidai wrote on Facebook that there were no humanitarian corridors for people to safely leave the region.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine at ‘turning point’
Ukraine’s president has said that his country had “reached a strategic turning point” in the war with Russia.
“It’s impossible to say how many days we will still need to free our land, but it is possible to say that we will do it,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said via video from Kyiv.
“We are already moving towards our goal, our victory.”
Air-raid sirens heard across most of Ukraine: Reports
Air-raid sirens were heard across most Ukrainian cities urging people to seek shelters, local media reports have said.
Sirens were heard in the capital city, Kyiv, and in Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, as well as in the Sumy region in the northeast of the country, Ukrainian media outlets reported.
Russian forces appeared to be regrouping earlier for a possible assault on Kyiv, with satellite images showing them firing artillery as they closed in on the capital.
Guatemala receives first arrivals of Ukrainians fleeing conflict
Guatemala has received its first arrivals of Ukrainian families fleeing their homeland since Russia’s invasion of its neighbour last month, authorities have said.
The eight Ukrainians were the first to arrive in the Central American country “for humanitarian reasons,” an immigration spokesperson told Reuters news agency.
Another flight carrying 10 more Ukrainians is set to arrive later in the evening, officials said. It is unclear how many may have arrived privately in Guatemala since the Russian attacks on Ukraine began.
UN experts say Russian media law amounts to information ‘blackout’
A Russian law giving Moscow stronger powers to crack down on independent journalism is placing Russia under a “total information blackout” on the war in Ukraine, UN independent experts have said.
Moscow last week blocked Facebook and other websites and passed a law that imposed a prison term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military.
“Russia’s recent adoption of a punitive ‘fake war news’ law is an alarming move by the government to gag and blindfold an entire population,” three independent UN experts appointed by the top UN rights body, the Human Rights Council, said in a statement.
” … the law places Russia under a total information blackout on the war and in so doing gives an official seal of approval to disinformation and misinformation,” they continued.
US sanctions Russian board members at Novikombank and ABR Management
The US has sanctioned several board members at Novikombank and ABR Management, including Vice Governor of St Petersburg Vladimir Nikolaevich Knyaginin, over the Ukraine crisis, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
More than 7,000 people evacuated from four Ukrainian cities
A total of 7,144 people were evacuated from four Ukrainian cities on Friday, President Zelenskyy has said in a televised address, a sharply lower number than those who managed to leave in each of the two previous days.
Zelenskyy accused Russia of refusing to allow people out of the besieged city of Mariupol and said Ukraine would try again to deliver food and medicines there on Saturday.
Yellen expects spillovers from Russia sanctions
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the US economy was strong while acknowledging that inflation was a problem and there would be spillovers from sanctions against Russia.
She also said that a tighter monetary policy to fight inflation could cause a recession, but she had confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to balance that.
US accuses Russia of violating ‘nuclear safety principles’
The US has accused Russia of violating nuclear safety principles, saying it was concerned by “continued Russian firing on nuclear facilities” in Ukraine but added that there were no signs detected yet of any radiological release.
“We are monitoring reports of damage to a research facility in Kharkiv. Near-term safety risk is low, but the continued Russian firing on nuclear facilities must cease”, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said on Twitter.
#Ukraine nuclear facilities update: @ENERGY continues to monitor the situation. We remain concerned about Russia’s reckless actions and violations of nuclear safety principles. 1/
— Secretary Jennifer Granholm (@SecGranholm) March 11, 2022
UK says Russia attacked western Ukraine cities
The United Kingdom has said Russian air and missile forces had conducted raids in the past 24 hours against the western Ukrainian cities of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk.
Russian tactical aircraft supporting the advance of Russian ground forces were primarily relying on unguided “dumb” munitions, the UK Ministry of Defence intelligence update posted on Twitter said.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 11 March 2022
Find out more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/Di8gwToXVp
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/6GCXsPCQWa
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 11, 2022
Images show Russian military units moving closer to Kyiv
Satellite images have shown that Russian military units were continuing to deploy closer to Kyiv and actively firing artillery towards residential areas, a US private company said.
According to Maxar Technologies, multiple homes and buildings were on fire and widespread damage, as well as impact craters, were seen throughout the town of Moschun, northwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Blinken, Kuleba concerned about Russian ‘disinformation campaigns’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba shared concerns over Russia’s “disinformation campaigns” during a phone call on Friday, the State Department has said.
The two top diplomats spoke hours after the UN Security Council convened at Moscow’s request to address Russian allegations that Kyiv was developing a biological weapons programme, claims that Washington has forcefully rejected.
Blinken and Kuleba also discussed Ukraine’s direct talks with Russia that took place in Turkey earlier this week, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
Russia accused of using cluster munitions, incendiary weapons
Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv, said the group has gathered evidence of Russian forces using unguided bombs, cluster munitions and incendiary weapons.
“That’s why we have so [many] casualties among civilian populations,” Matviichuk told Al Jazeera.
She added that the centre also has gathered evidence of deliberate Russian bombings of civilian infrastructure and humanitarian corridors along which civilians are seeking to leave conflict areas. Russia has denied it targets civilians.
ICC prosecutor opens online portal to gather evidence
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened an online portal to gather evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.
Prosecutor Karim A A Khan said in a statement that he is “closely following the deeply troubling developments in hostilities”, after recent reports of Russian attacks on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.
“If attacks are intentionally directed against the civilian population: that is a crime. If attacks are intentionally directed against civilian objects: that is a crime. I strongly urge parties to the conflict to avoid the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas,” he said.
Technicians repairing damaged power lines at Chernobyl, IAEA says
Ukraine has informed the UN’s atomic energy watchdog that technicians have started repairing damaged power lines in an effort to restore external electricity supplies to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site.
Electricity supplies to the plant, which is currently under Russian control, were cut off entirely earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.
“Ukraine’s regulatory authority said work that began on the evening of 10 March had succeeded in repairing one section, but off-site electrical power was still down, indicating there was still damage in other places,” the statement said.
#Ukraine nuclear regulator told IAEA: technicians started repairing damaged power lines at #Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant; off-site electrical power still down; additional fuel for diesel generators was delivered; staff still has not been able to rotate. https://t.co/B8aNmzT4EJ pic.twitter.com/cE3wC1Q9In
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 11, 2022
US sanctions Russians over support for N Korea weapons programme
The US has announced economic sanctions against two Russian individuals and three entities over their support for North Korea’s weapons programme.
The sanctions target “a network of Russia-based individuals and entities complicit in helping the DPRK procure components for its unlawful ballistic missile systems,” the treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in a statement, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Money transfers from abroad will be paid only in roubles, Russia’s central bank says
Russians receiving money transfers from foreign banks will only be allowed to withdraw the cash in roubles, the central bank has said, the latest move in a bid to cope with Western sanctions.
The bank said the new temporary measure would come into effect on Saturday. It did not give an end date.
The bank said on Tuesday that until September 9, banks could not sell hard currency to Russian citizens.
US imposes more sanctions on Putin’s inner circle, Russian oligarchs
The US has announced more sanctions on members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, as well as oligarchs and others who backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that three family members of Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov were targeted by the sanctions, as was the management board of the sanctioned VTB Bank.
Twelve members of the Russian Duma were also blacklisted, the department said.
Russia to supply Belarus with modern weapons: Belta news agency
The leaders of Russia and Belarus have agreed that Moscow would supply its neighbour with the most up-to-date military equipment in the near future, the official Belarus Belta news agency said.
Belta also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko agreed at their Kremlin meeting on joint steps for mutual support in the face of Western sanctions, including on energy prices.
The news agency did not provide additional details.
US defence secretary to attend NATO meeting in Brussels
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will attend a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on March 16, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby has said.
“We can expect the defence ministers to talk seriously about what NATO is doing to better shore up its defences,” Kirby told reporters.
Austin also will later travel to Slovakia for further discussions with leaders there, Kirby said.
Biden expected to sign bill containing $13.6bn in Ukraine aid
US President Joe Biden is set to sign a spending bill that contains $13.6bn in emergency military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The US Senate gave final approval to the bill late on Thursday, sending it to Biden’s desk for final approval.
“We’re giving the Ukrainians billions for food, medicine, shelter, and support for the over two million refugees who have had to leave Ukraine,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Read more on the legislation here.
YouTube blocking access to Russian state-owned media
YouTube is immediately blocking access around the world to channels associated with Russian state-funded media, the company has said, citing a policy barring content that denies, minimises or trivialises well-documented violent events.
The world’s most used streaming video service said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now fell under its violent events policy and violating material would be removed.
YouTube spokesperson Farshad Shadloo said the blocking of the Russian outlets was in line with that policy.
Russian shelling prevents Mariupol evacuation, Ukraine says
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said Russian shelling prevented evacuees from leaving the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, while Russian forces also stopped some buses of people trying to flee the Kyiv region.
In a video address, Vereshchuk said some planned evacuations were successful, including 1,000 people who were evacuated from the village of Vorzel, in the Ukrainian capital area.
Russian forces have laid siege to Mariupol, and Ukraine says 1,582 civilians have died there since the invasion began.
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
Read all the updates from Friday, March 11, here.