Biden administration to ship $100 million in Javelin missiles to Ukraine
The Biden administration Tuesday evening pledged $100 million in protection assist for Ukraine to be used for Javelin anti-tank missiles.
The announcement follows repeated pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for extra weapons to combat Russian forces that invaded on Feb. 24 — and after he detailed alleged battle crimes within the metropolis of Bucha to the U.N. Security Council.
The U.S. mentioned final week it could present $300 million in safety help to Ukraine, together with laser-guided rocket methods, armed drones, ammunition and different gear.
Since February, the U.S. has supplied the nation with greater than $2 billion in assist.
NASA astronaut says Russian crew ‘blindsided’ by response to yellow and blue flight swimsuit
HOUSTON — NASA’s record-setting astronaut Mark Vande Hei says he and his Russian crewmates targeted on their mission, not the “heartbreaking” news unfolding in Ukraine, whereas serving aboard the International Space Station.
His 355-day spaceflight ended final Wednesday with a touchdown in Kazakhstan. He returned to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule with cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, the latter of whom additionally spent a 12 months in orbit.
In his first news convention again on Earth, Vande Hei mentioned Tuesday that he didn’t shrink back from the subject along with his Russian crewmates whereas aboard the house station. “They weren’t very long discussions, but I did ask them how they were feeling and sometimes I asked pointed questions. But our focus really was on our mission together.”
Vande Hei additionally cleared up any misunderstandings concerning the yellow-with-blue-trim flight fits worn by their Russian replacements when arriving on the house station final month. Those had been the college colours of their college, Vande Hei mentioned from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and never meant as a political assertion. “The folks who wore them had no idea that people would perceive that as having anything to do with Ukraine … I think they were kind of blindsided by it.”
Nearly 4,000 folks evacuated from Ukraine as we speak
Nearly 4,000 folks evacuated from war-torn Ukraine alongside humanitarian corridors on Tuesday, the nation’s deputy prime minister mentioned in a message on Telegram.
Iryna Vereshchuk reported {that a} complete of three,846 folks managed to flee the nation Tuesday.
But a convoy of seven buses set to evacuate Ukrainians from Mariupol was compelled to return after working right into a blockade within the space of Mangush, she added.
British PM to Russians: ‘History will bear in mind’ who regarded away
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson decried the savagery of Vladimir Putin’s forces and appealed straight to the Russian folks to “share” the reality in a video message Tuesday.
“The reports are so shocking, so sickening, it’s no wonder your government is seeking to hide them from you,” Johnson mentioned to Russian residents, referring to the horrific wave of killings in Bucha, Irpin and elsewhere in Ukraine.
“Your president knows that if you could see what was happening, you would not support his war,” Johnson mentioned.
“He knows that these crimes betray the trust of every Russian mother who proudly waves goodbye to her son as he heads off to join the military, and he knows they are a stain on the honor of Russia itself — a stain that will only grow larger and more indelible every day this war continues.”
He urged Russian civilians to “access independent information” — “and when you find the truth,” he mentioned, “share it.”
“Those responsible will be held to account,” the prime minister added, “and history will remember who looked the other way. “
U.S., allies to impose extra sweeping sanctions against Russia
The Biden administration plans to announce an extra sweeping sanctions bundle focusing on Russia on Wednesday, in accordance to three sources conversant in the matter.
The bundle was organized in coordination with the G-7 and the European Union, the supply mentioned.
Under the brand new measures, the U.S. will ban all new funding in Russia, improve sanctions on monetary establishments and state-owned enterprises in Russia and sanctions on its authorities officers and their relations.
Sources mentioned the sanctions search to inflict important financial hurt on Russia, and comes after U.S. officers and President Biden have acknowledged new proof of additional battle crimes in Ukraine, significantly within the metropolis of Bucha.
Joint Chiefs chairman says Ukraine battle may final ‘years’
In testimony earlier than the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff mentioned the U.S. and its allies ought to be ready to counter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe for “quite some time.”
“I do think this a very protracted conflict and I think it’s at least measured in years. I don’t know about a decade, but at least years, for sure,” said Gen. Mark Milley, the nation’s top military commander. “This is a very extended conflict that Russia has initiated. And I think that NATO, the United States, Ukraine and all of the allies and partners that are supporting Ukraine are going to be involved in this for quite some time.”
Milley said it’s still too soon to tell how Ukraine’s fiercer than expected resistance might influence Moscow’s plans in the future, but said the U.S. must be prepared to counter future Russian aggression as Moscow tries to expand its sphere of influence in Ukraine and other Eastern European nations.
“We are witness to the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe, and perhaps the world, in my 42 years of service in uniform,” Milley said in his opening remarks at the hearing on the Defense Department’s budget. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening to undermine not only European peace and stability, but the global peace and stability that my parents and a generation of Americans fought so hard to defend.”
Bucha mayor says 3,700 residents left in besieged city
The mayor of Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where Russian troops allegedly carried out horrific atrocities, said on Ukrainian television Tuesday that some 3,700 residents remained in the city.
Anatoliy Fedoruk said almost all the main power lines in Bucha were destroyed. He added that medical care and other municipal services will return to the city after Thursday.
Zelenskyy slams U.N. for inaction, details atrocities
Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday laid out atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine in a powerful speech to the U.N. Security Council from Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said he visited the city of Bucha near Kyiv on Monday and said the Russian military there “searched for and purposely killed anyone who served our country.”
“They shot and killed women outside their houses,” Zelenskyy said. “They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies.”
The Ukrainian leader said civilians were fatally shot in the back of the head after being tortured. Some were shot in the streets and thrown into wells and others were killed in their own apartments by grenades, he said.
“The civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road,” he continued. “They cut off limbs, cut their throats, slashed their throats. Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them.”
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Estonia boots 14 Russian officials, including seven diplomats
Estonia has expelled 14 Russian officials working at consulates there, including seven people with diplomatic status, the country’s ministry of foreign affairs announced Tuesday.
Those being ousted from Estonia should go away the nation by April 30, the ministry mentioned in an announcement.
Märt Volmer, the undersecretary for European affairs at the Estonian foreign ministry, said in part that “in mild of the fixed news of atrocities dedicated by the Russian forces, together with in Bucha and elsewhere, there may be no speak of enterprise as typical.”
European Commission proposes new sanctions against Russia
The European Commission has proposed new sanctions against Russia, including an import ban on coal worth 4 billion euros per year (about $4.4 billion).
The proposed fifth package of sanctions comes as Russia faces widespread condemnation over atrocities it has been accused of committing in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
“We all noticed the ugly photos from Bucha and different areas from which Russian troops have just lately left,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “The perpetrators of those heinous crimes should not go unpunished.”
The proposed package has six pillars, she said. In addition to the import ban on coal from Russia, it would also include a full transaction ban on four key Russian banks, with VTB, the second-largest Russian banks among them.
It would further block Russian vessels and Russian-operated vessels from accessing E.U. ports, with some exemptions, including for agricultural food products, humanitarian aid and energy, along with other measures aimed at cutting “the cash stream of Russia and its oligarchs.”
Von der Leyen said the E.U. would also propose further penalties against individuals and was working on additional sanctions, including on oil imports.
Ukraine’s foreign minister to attend NATO meetings in person this week
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will attend NATO talks in Brussels in person on Thursday, NBC News has confirmed.
Ukraine’s representative to NATO said on Tuesday that Kuleba would be taking part in the meetings of NATO ministers of foreign affairs.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Kuleba is expected to update NATO members on the “newest developments” in Ukraine, together with Kyiv’s negotiations with Moscow.
NATO head decries Russia’s ‘unbearable brutality’ in Bucha
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday condemned the devastation in areas Russian troops recently left, describing horrific images from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha as “insufferable brutality Europe has not witnessed in lots of many years.”
“Targeting and murdering civilians is a battle crime,” Stoltenberg told reporters. “All the info have to be established, and all these answerable for these atrocities have to be introduced to justice.”
Stoltenberg said reporters that NATO leaders expect Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces will soon shift their focus to the east of Ukraine. NATO allies are “decided” to deliver more weapons to support Ukrainian soldiers and freedom fighters, and NATO member countries will discuss sending advanced technologies, including anti-tank weapons.
‘Evil’ acts in Bucha ‘will forever live in infamy,’ U.S. ambassador says
The atrocities Russian forces have been accused of committing in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha “will ceaselessly reside in infamy,” the United States ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said.
“The world is demanding justice following the surprising photos of carnage found when Ukraine liberated Bucha on April 2,” Ambassador Michael Carpenter said in remarks delivered to the OSCE Special Permanent Council in Vienna Tuesday.
Pointing to images purported to show the dead bodies of civilians slain by Russian forces in the Kyiv suburb, Carpenter warned that “as extra areas are liberated, we’re probably to encounter comparable scenes of utter depravity and monstrous brutality.” He said the U.S. continued to see “credible experiences” of Russian forces killing and torturing civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that as many as 300 residents are believed to have been killed and tortured in Bucha. “The evil that has transpired in Bucha will ceaselessly reside in infamy. Let us always remember it,” Carpenter mentioned.
France opens 3 new inquiries over possible war crimes in Ukraine
France’s National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s office has said it is opening three new investigations to determine if war crimes have been committed in Ukraine since Russia invaded.
In a statement Tuesday, the prosecutor’s office said it was investigating possible war crimes allegedly committed in Mariupol, Chernihiv and Gostomel since the invasion began on Feb. 24 until March 16.
“The info referred to by the investigations had been allegedly dedicated to the detriment of French nationals,” it said.
An investigation had already been opened into the death of French Irish Fox news cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, who died in March after Russian forces fired at a car he was in with two others near Kyiv. Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova was also killed, and Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured.
Russia accused of blocking Egypt-bound ship carrying Ukrainian wheat
The Ukrainian embassy in Cairo has accused Russia of blocking a ship loaded with Ukrainian wheat from moving after the goods were purchased by Egypt.
The ship, EMMAKRIS III, remains docked in the Ukrainian port of Chernomorsk in the Black Sea, according to ship tracking information verified by NBC News on Tuesday.
The Russian embassy in the Egyptian capital denied the claims, instead accusing Ukrainian authorities of preventing ships from leaving the port.
Egypt is one of three countries, along with Indonesia and Bangladesh, that import about a third of the wheat that Ukraine exports, according to the International Grains Council.
Sweden to expel 3 Russian diplomats for spying, foreign minister says
Sweden will expel three Russian diplomats for spying, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Tuesday, joining a number of European countries that have expelled Russian diplomats in recent days.
“It is because they are not following the Vienna Convention and they are undertaking illegal intelligence-gathering operations,” Linde told reporters.
France, Belgium and the Netherlands have recently expelled Russian diplomats over alleged spying activity.
The moves coincide with outrage across the continent over reports of the discovery of mass graves and of civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha following the retreat of Russian soldiers, conducting what Moscow calls its “special operation” in Ukraine.
“It is obvious that war crimes have been committed,” Linde said.
The Kremlin denies any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha.
Japan’s top envoy brings back 20 Ukrainians from Poland
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi returned from Poland on Tuesday with 20 Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s ongoing war on their country as Tokyo seeks to play a greater role in international support for Ukraine.
During three days in Poland, Hayashi visited facilities for Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw and held talks with Polish officials, international humanitarian organizations and civil groups to assess how Japan can provide support. He said the visit “renewed my resolve” that Japan should “cooperate with worldwide society and supply the utmost help.”
Japan has an extremely strict refugee policy and has been reluctant to fully accept migrant workers, making its offer to accept Ukrainians unusual. However, the government has carefully called them evacuees and it is still unclear if the Ukrainian situation will change its immigration policy.
Tokyo expects the 20 evacuees will stay in Japan for at least six months, and will provide further support if needed, said Deputy Justice Minister Jun Tsushima, who was traveling with Hayashi. Tokyo has previously accepted about 300 other Ukrainians, all relatives of about 2,000 Ukrainian residents in Japan who arrived on their own since the Russian invasion began.
Russia vows ‘appropriate response’ to Italy’s expulsion of diplomats, TASS reports
Russia has vowed to give an “applicable response” to Italy’s expulsion of 30 of its diplomats on Tuesday, according Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
“Russia will give an appropriate response to the expulsion of [diplomats] from Italy,” the agency quoted official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova as saying.
Italy moved to expel the Russian diplomats because of security concerns, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
European Commission chief to visit Kyiv, meet with Zelenskyy this week
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is set to visit Kyiv this week to meet with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, her spokesperson Eric Mamer tweeted on Tuesday.
Von der Leyen will visit the Ukrainian capital with the commission’s Vice-President Josep Borrell.
The meeting will take place ahead of a “#StandUpforUkraine” campaign in Warsaw, Poland, planned for Saturday. An online rally will also take place concurrent to the event.
The international campaign, organized by Von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and NGO Global Citizen, will go towards humanitarian relief for refugees and those who have been internally displaced in Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict.
Viktoria Mukhina, 33, plants tulips with her daughter Miroslava near an apartment building damaged by Russian shelling in the southern port city of Mariupol on Monday.
Zelenskyy says negotiations with Russia still necessary despite events in Bucha
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that the country still needed to negotiate an end to the war, even after the reports of atrocities and attacks on civilians in Bucha and other cities around the capital.
“I think I have no other choice,” he told journalists in a press conference aired on Ukrainian television. “We cannot fight constantly,” he added. “It does not suit us, and we need security guarantees.”
Still, he said, “I feel this can be a nice tragedy typically, as a result of all of us, as I take into account myself part of society, will see even the potential of negotiations as a problem.”
He also said “Russia may return,” and the country must prepare for that. Any agreement must include security guarantees from other countries, as well as clear sanctions policies in the event of further aggression after this war ends, he said, echoing comments he’s made in previous weeks.
Zelenskyy on Monday visited Bucha, where he claimed that at least 300 civilians had been killed.
Red Cross says team that was detained trying to reach Mariupol has been released
The International Committee of the Red Cross said a team that was stopped and held by police in Manhush during a bid to reach Mariupol has been released.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ICRC said the team was released on Monday evening after being “held by police” within the close by city, about 12 miles west of Mariupol. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had beforehand mentioned the Red Cross crew was being held by “the occupation authorities,” according to Reuters.
The ICRC said the team would return its focus to “continuing the humanitarian evacuation operation.”
The group has been trying to reach Mariupol since Friday to help the trapped residents of the besieged city. However, Vereshchuk said that despite Russia’s agreement to open humanitarian corridors, Russian forces have been blocking those trying to reach Mariupol to help facilitate evacuations and provide aid.
The ICRC said Monday’s incident showed just how “volatile and complex the operation to facilitate safe passage around Mariupol has been.”
U.N. General Assembly could vote on Russia suspension from Human Rights Council this week
The United Nations General Assembly could vote on whether to suspend Russia from its Human Rights Council as early as Thursday, according to the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
The U.S.-led proposal is set to be introduced to the Security Council on Tuesday, and may reach the General Assembly “as soon as possible — this week, and possibly as early as Thursday,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview with NPR’s Michel Martin on Monday.
“It’s more than symbolic, and it does have force because it continues what we have started, and that is to isolate Russia and to call them out for what they’re doing,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
She added that the U.S. will continue to “look at every option we have on the table to call Russia out, to isolate Russia, to unify the world against Russia.”
Russia is one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and wields the right to veto its resolutions.
The push for a vote to see the country suspended from the Human Rights Council comes after Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of killing and torturing hundreds of civilians in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv.
Six killed in Kharkiv region by latest attacks, official says
At least six people died in the Kharkiv region after Russian forces were accused of firing a range of weapons at the city of Kharkiv and surrounding areas, the head of the regional state administration said.
“Over the past day, the occupiers [launched] 54 strikes from various types of long-range weapons,” Oleh Synegubov said Tuesday in a Telegram post. He said the attacks were deployed over a span of 24 hours.
NBC News was unable to independently verify the claim or the reported death toll.
Synegubov said a number of districts were affected, including Saltivka, Oleksiyivka, Kholodna Hora, Derhachi and Chuguiv.
A car displaying a white flag to suggest civilian occupants, is riddled with shrapnel holes on a street in Bucha on Monday.
Chernihiv cut off from heat supply after heavy fighting, official says
Residents in Chernihiv have been left without access to heat due to “damage to critical infrastructure” during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, the head of the local regional state administration has said.
In a Telegram post Tuesday, Vyacheslav Chaus said electricity, water and gas supply were “partially working.” However, he said there was “no heat supply.” Temperatures in the region hovered just below 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), with warmer but still cool weather expected this week.
It comes as Russian troops have reportedly pulled out of areas around Chernihiv and Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Britain’s defense ministry said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had retaken key terrain in the north of Ukraine. However, it said low-level fighting was likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured region.
Chaus said dozens of people have died in the Chernihiv region “as a result of fires provoked by Russian shelling.”
Seven humanitarian corridors to open Tuesday, Ukraine says
Seven humanitarian corridors to evacuate residents from cities in the south and east of Ukraine were set to open Tuesday, the country’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said in a message posted on Telegram.
The besieged southern port city of Mariupol was included in the list, with residents scheduled to go to Zaporizhzhia in their own vehicles rather than buses. However, safe routes out of the city have come under fire or been blocked in recent weeks making evacuations difficult or impossible, and Vereshchuk offered little reason for hope Tuesday.
“Despite the promises of its leadership, the occupying forces do not allow anyone to travel to Mariupol,” she wrote on the Telegram submit.
Seven buses had been deliberate to assist evacuate residents of Manhush, simply east of Mariupol. Russian forces blocked Red Cross representatives on Monday, in accordance to Vereshchuk.
“After negotiations, they were released at night and sent to Zaporizhia,” Vereshchuk mentioned.
Tanya Nedashkivs’ka, 57, mourns the demise of her husband, killed in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday.
Ukrainian forces have retaken key terrain within the north, U.Ok. says
Ukrainian forces have retaken key terrain within the north of Ukraine, in accordance to Britain’s protection ministry.
It comes after troopers compelled Russian forces to retreat from areas across the metropolis of Chernihiv and across the capital, Kyiv, the ministry mentioned Tuesday in its newest intelligence report.
The ministry mentioned that low-level preventing is “likely to continue” in components of the recaptured areas, however is predicted to “diminish significantly over this week” as Russian forces proceed to withdraw.
It added that many Russian military items withdrawing from northern Ukraine are “likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy to tackle U.N. Security Council
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is predicted to tackle the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday as Russia faces mounting strain over alleged atrocities within the city of Bucha, close to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy is ready to tackle the council at at round 10 a.m. following a go to to Bucha, the place he has mentioned as many as 300 folks had been killed or tortured by Russian forces earlier than they withdrew from the Kyiv suburb.
In a tweet Monday, the U.Ok. Mission to the United Nations mentioned the U.Ok. Presidency of the Council would “ensure the truth is heard about Russia’s war crimes.”
“We will expose Putin’s war for what it really is,” it mentioned.