Home ›› 08 Mar 2022 ›› Front
Fierce fighting was reported on Monday from around Kyiv as Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for another round of ceasefire talks with thousands still fleeing their homes and fuel prices skyrocketing.
No-one is getting their hopes high for this round of meeting, expected to end without a definite outcome.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have agreed to meet in Turkey’s coastal Antalya province on March 10, according to their Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, the first potential talks between the top diplomats since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia will stop ‘in a moment’ if Ukraine meets terms
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia was ready to halt military operations “in a moment” if Kyiv meets a list of conditions.
Moscow was demanding that Ukraine cease military action, change its constitution to enshrine neutrality, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, and recognise the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states, reports Reuters.
It was the most explicit Russian statement so far of the terms it wants to impose on Ukraine to halt what it calls its “special military operation”, now in its 12th day. Peskov told Reuters in a telephone interview that Ukraine was aware of the conditions. “And they were told that all this can be stopped in a moment.”
Russia has attacked Ukraine from the north, east and south, pounding cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and the port of Mariupol. The invasion launched on Feb 24, has caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two, provoked outrage across the world, and led to heavy sanctions on Moscow.
Peskov said they were “finishing the demilitarisation of Ukraine”. “The main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military action. They should stop their military action and then no one will shoot,” he said.
400 civilians killed, 1.7m refugees
The UN’s human rights office has confirmed the deaths of 406 civilians, including 27 children, in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. The OHCHR, which has monitors in Ukraine, warned the true death toll was likely much higher.
UNHCR has recorded 1,735,068 refugees on its dedicated website. UNICEF believes around half of them are youngsters.
Authorities and the UN expect the flow to intensify as the Russian army advances deeper into Ukraine, particularly as it approaches the capital, Kyiv.
‘Barbarians of the XXI century’
More than 900 Ukrainian communities have been left without electricity, water and heating, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has said. “Barbarians of the XXI century. Russia damaged/destroyed 202 schools, 34 hospitals, 1500+ residential buildings,” Podolyak tweeted. His remarks came as Ukraine’s energy ministry said 646,000 people across the country had no access to electricity, and that 130,000 were currently without gas.
Oil, gas skyrocket
Europe and UK natural gas prices soared to record highs Monday after the United States proposed an embargo on Russian crude oil. Europe gas reference Dutch TTF rocketed more than 60 per cent to an all-time peak of 345 euros per megawatt hour and UK gas hit an all-time pinnacle of 800 pence per therm. Brent North Sea crude oil surged close to $140 per barrel and a near 14-year high.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the White House and allies were in talks about banning oil imports from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The price explosion has been sparked by the fact that the West is considering banning Russian oil imports in response to the war in Ukraine, noted Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
Russia is one of the world’s biggest crude producers and is also a leading supplier of natural gas.
Fierce fighting
Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko has reported heavy fighting around capital Kyiv, primarily in the northwest.
“With extreme rage, the enemy is destroying Bucha, Hostomel, Vorzel, Irpin. They deliberately kill civilians,” Klitschko said, according to The Kyiv Independent. A video geolocated by CNN on Monday showed Russian tanks taking up positions in a densely-populated area just west of Kyiv.
The 17-second clip was apparently filmed by a resident in an apartment block in the district of Irpin. It shows at least five Russian tanks and their crews within a few yards of tall apartment blocks.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have recaptured the regional airport in Mykolayiv, southern Ukraine, according to the region’s governor. “The roads are open, we control the bridges, you can safely leave Mykolayiv [city] and other towns,” Vitaliy Kim said in a televised statement.
Russia arrests over 5,000 protesters
Russia has reportedly detained more than 5,000 people protesting President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion.
OVD-info, which monitors arrests during protests, said police had detained at least 5,016 people in 60 cities during the anti-war protests.
That is an unprecedented number for a single day and far higher than arrests made during a wave of protests that broke out in the country last year when opposition leader Alexei Navalny was imprisoned.
EU working on further sanctions
The European Union is preparing further sanctions on Russia due to “the Kremlin’s recklessness towards citizens (including) women, children (and) men,” the European Commission President said Monday.
“We had three packages of hard-hitting sanctions already, but now we have to make sure that there are no loopholes and that the effect of the sanctions is maximized,” Ursula von der Leyen said. “The sanctions in place are really biting. We see the downward turbulences in the Russian economy.”
Von der Leyen, also said the EU has to “get rid of the dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal,” and will present proposals tomorrow on ways the bloc can diversify its energy supply away from Russia.
