Russian advances sparked fears the Ukrainian capital Kyiv could soon be encircled. (File)
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 today. This comes after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said the mayor of Melitopol was kidnapped by Russian soldiers occupying the city.
The war, continuing for over two weeks now, saw the Western allies stepping up sanctions against Russia as the US imposed a ban on Russian seafood, vodka and diamonds, and along with the European Union, banned exports of luxury goods to Russia.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden yet again ruled out any direct intervention in the Ukraine-Russia crisis and warned that such conflict pitting the NATO alliance against the Kremlin "is World War III".
Russia and Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough Thursday in their first top-level talks since Moscow's invasion two weeks ago, as Russian advances sparked fears the Ukrainian capital Kyiv could soon be encircled.
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German Ex-Chancellor Speaks To Putin In A Bid To End Ukraine War: ReportFormer German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder met Russian President Vladimir Putin for several hours on Thursday evening in a bid to end the war in Ukraine, Germany's Bild am Sonntag (BamS) reported, although it was unclear what was achieved.
Citing a person with detailed insight into Schroeder's activities, the weekly newspaper said Schroeder had also had a long talk with one of Putin's closest advisers.
He left Moscow early on Saturday morning with his wife and flew to Istanbul, the paper said, without disclosing any further details of the conversations.
US Authorises $200 Million In Additional Military Aid To UkraineUS President Joe Biden authorized $200 million in additional military equipment for Ukraine Saturday, as Russia widens its bombardment and pummels civilian areas.
Washington already authorized $350 million of military equipment on February 26 -- the largest such package in US history.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's pleas for help have grown increasingly desperate, and he has repeatedly urged Washington, the EU and NATO for help.
In a memorandum to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden designated "up to an aggregate value of $200 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Ukraine."
Some 13,000 Ukrainians evacuated from cities on Saturday, deputy PM saysAround 13,000 people were evacuated from a number of Ukrainian cities on Saturday, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, almost twice the number who managed to get out the previous day.
Vereshchuk said in an online message that no one had managed to leave the besieged city of Mariupol and blamed obstruction by Russian forces. Moscow had earlier accused Ukrainian forces of intentionally trapping people there.
Satellite Pics Show Fires, Severe Damage To Residential Buildings In Ukraine's MariupolSatellite images taken on Saturday morning showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a private U.S. company said.
Maxar Technologies said fires were seen in the western section of the Black Sea port city and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings had been severely damaged. Reuters could not independently verify the images.
Ukraine accuses Russia of fake referendum plotUkrainian officials on Saturday accused Russia of planning a fake referendum on creating a pro-Moscow "people's republic" in the southern Black Sea city of Kherson.
Russian forces seized the port city, which has a population of 290,000 people, on March 3 following a three-day siege. It was the first major city to fall following Moscow's invasion.
"Russians now desperately try to organize a sham 'referendum' for a fake 'people's republic' in Kherson," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
Humanitarian situation in some Ukraine cities 'catastrophic': Russian militaryThe humanitarian situation in Ukraine is deteriorating quickly and has become catastrophic in a number of cities, the Russian military said on Saturday, speaking on the 17th day of what Moscow has termed a "special military operation".
"Unfortunately, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is continuing to deteriorate rapidly, and in some cities it has reached catastrophic proportions," the head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, Mikhail Mizintsev, said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.
Russian Forces Kill Seven Civilians In Evacuation Envoy, Says UkraineUkraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv, and France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown he was not ready to make peace.
The Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that "the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back."
Ukraine: seven civilians dead after Russia fired at evacuation convoyUkraine's intelligence service accused Russia on Saturday of firing at a convoy of civilian evacuees from the village of Peremoha in the Kyiv region, causing seven deaths.
"After the attack, the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back to Peremoha and are not letting them out of the village," the intelligence service said in a statement.
Ready To Take Diplomatic Steps Ukraine Will Find Helpful: US The United States is willing to take diplomatic steps that the Ukrainian government would find helpful, a State Department spokesperson said on Saturday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the West should be more involved in negotiations to end the war.
"If there are diplomatic steps that we can take that the Ukrainian Government believes would be helpful, we're prepared to take them", the spokesperson said.
"We are working to put the Ukrainians in the strongest possible negotiating position, including by increasing pressure on Russia by imposing severe costs and by providing security assistance to help Ukrainians defend themselves."
Around 1,300 Ukrainian Troops Killed Since Russia invasion: President Zelensky "Around 1,300" Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour, the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday as Moscow's forces closed in on the capital Kyiv.
Zelensky made the disclosure at a media briefing, the first time Kyiv had given such a toll since the beginning of fighting. On March 2 Russia said it had lost nearly 500 soldiers, but has not updated the figure since.
Russia-Ukraine War: Russia Engineers Inspect Seized Ukraine Nuclear PlantRussian engineers have arrived to measure radiation at a Ukrainian nuclear plant, the seizure of which during Moscow's invasion of the country sparked international alarm, officials said.
Russia occupied Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest atomic power plant, after its forces attacked it on March 4.
Its reactors appeared undamaged after the assault despite a fire that broke out there after tanks bombarded it.
Officials from Russia's nuclear firm Rosatom arrived at the site on Friday, the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom said in a message on Telegram.
The Russians told Ukrainian personnel they were there "to evaluate the radiation level" and "help to repair the plant" which was hit by shells, Energoatom said.
France's Macron, German Chancellor Scurry Off To Fresh Talks With Putin French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were holding new talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine on Saturday, the Elysee palace said.
The three leaders had already had spoken by telephone on Thursday when both Macron and Scholz had "demanded an immediate ceasefire by Russia."
Hospitals Shelled In Ukraine's Mykolaiv "Without Military" Motive: Report Hospitals came under fire overnight in the port city of Mykolaiv in the south of Ukraine, including a cancer treatment centre and an eye clinic, an AFP reporter said Saturday.
The windows were blown out of the cancer treatment centre, where patients were undergoing chemotherapy and the doors damaged.
"They shot at the civilian areas, without any military objective," said the hospital's head, Dmytro Lagochev.
Russia-Ukraine War: Israel Not Pushing Ukraine To Yield To Russian Demands, Ukraine Adviser SaysA top Ukrainian adviser on Saturday pushed back against suggestions Israel tried to nudge Ukraine into caving to Russian demands during talks.
Israel has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Ukraine War Live: Russian rockets Destroy Ukraine Airbase In Kyiv Region: Report
Russian rocket attacks destroyed a Ukrainian airbase near the town of Vasylkiv in the Kyiv region on Saturday morning, Interfax Ukraine quoted the local mayor as saying. The rocket attacks also hit an ammunition depot, Vasylkiv Mayor Natalia Balasynovych said. (Reuters)
Ukraine Live: Ukraine Says It Expects New Wave Of Russian Attacks On Kyiv, Kharkiv
Ukraine expects a new wave of attacks on the Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donbass regions after a slowdown in Russia's offensive, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said on Saturday. Arestovych also said Ukraine did not expect Belarus to join the Russian invasion force. (Reuters)
Ukraine Live: Ukraine Says Mosque Housing 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 on Saturday. "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. (AFP)
Ukraine War: Italy Seizes Russian Oligarch Melnichenko's Sailing Yacht A
Italian police have seized a superyacht from Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, the prime minister's office said on Saturday, 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 ($578 million), has been sequestered at the northern port of Trieste, the government said. (Reuters)
Russian Claims To Have Destroyed 3,491 Ukrainian Military Facilities: Report
Russian troops have destroyed 3,491 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities in Ukraine so far, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on Saturday. Russian forces "continue the offensive in Ukraine on a broad front", Konashenkov said. Reuters was not immediately able to verify his statement. (Reuters)
Ukraine War: Russia Warns Sanctions Could Cause Space Station To Crash: Official
Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned Saturday, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted. According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft 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 onto land", the Roscosmos chief wrote on Telegram. (AFP)
Ukraine Live: Ukraine At "Turning Point", "Moving Towards Our Victory," Says President
Ukraine was at a turning point in the war with Russian forces appearing to be regroup for a possible assault on Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as the US imposed new sanctions on senior Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs. With the Russian assault in its third week, Zelenskiy, who has rallied his people with a series of addresses from the capital Kyiv, said Ukraine had "already reached a strategic turning point". "It is impossible to say how many days we still have (ahead of us) to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it," he said. "We are already moving towards our goal, our victory." (Reuters)
Ukraine Live News: Air Raid Sirens Heard Across Most Of Ukraine, Say Reports
Air raid sirens were heard across most Ukrainian cities early on Saturday morning urging people to seek shelters, local media reported. Sirens were heard in the capital city of Kyiv, the western city of Lviv in Odessa, and Kharkiv, Cherkasy, as well as in the Sumy region in northeast of the country, a number of local Ukrainian media reported. Russian forces appeared to be regrouping on Friday for a possible assault on Kyiv, with satellite images showing them firing artillery as they closed in on the capital. (Reuters)
Ukraine Live Updates: Russia Inches Towards Ukraine Capital, Over 1,500 Killed
Russian forces inched towards Kyiv and pounded civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities Friday, drawing warnings of "unimaginable tragedy" as the US and the EU moved to tighten the economic noose around the Kremlin. Sixteen days after Moscow shocked the world by invading Ukraine, the United Nations and others said it may be committing war crimes in cities such as Mariupol, which for days now has been besieged by Vladimir Putin's forces. On Friday, officials in the southern port said more than 1,500 people had been killed during 12 days of attacks. (AFP)
Ukraine Live: Ukraine Says "Weakness Of Invaders" After Mayor "Kidnapped"In a video message late Friday after the mayor of Ukraine's Melitopol was "kidnapped", President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the abduction, calling him "a mayor who bravely defends Ukraine and the members of his community". "This is obviously a sign of weakness of the invaders... They have moved to a new stage of terror in which they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of legitimate local Ukrainian authorities," he said. (AFP)
Ukraine War Live: Ukraine Says Melitopol Mayor "Kidnapped" By Russian Forces
The mayor of southern Ukraine's Melitopol was kidnapped on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying the city, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian officials said. "A group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov," Ukraine's parliament said on Twitter. "He refused to cooperate with the enemy," it added. It said the mayor was seized when he was at the city's crisis centre dealing with supply issues. (AFP)