Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow's advance in Ukraine is going "according to plan" and ordered large compensations for Russian soldiers killed in the invasion.
"I want to say that the special military operation is going strictly according to schedule, according to plan," he said, opening a meeting with his security council. "We are at war with neo-Nazis," the Russian leader said, adding: "I will never give up on my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people."
Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the West on Thursday to increase military aid to Ukraine, saying Russia would advance on the rest of Europe otherwise.
"If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes!" Zelensky told a press conference. "If we are no more then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next," he said, adding: "Believe me."
He called for direct talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying it was "the only way to stop this war."
"We are not attacking Russia and we do not plan to attack it. What do you want from us? Leave our land," he said, addressing Putin.
"Sit down with me. Just not 30 metres away like with (French President Emmanuel Macron)," the Ukrainian leader said, referring to Putin receiving world leaders at a now famous enormously long table.
Here are the Highlights on Ukraine-Russia War:
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the largest of its kind in Europe, was on fire early on Friday after an attack by Russian troops, the mayor of the nearby town of Energodar said.
There has been fierce fighting between local forces and Russian troops, Dmytro Orlov said in an online post, adding that there had been casualties without giving details.
Facebook and multiple media websites were partially inaccessible in Russia on Friday, as authorities crack down on critical voices as fighting escalates in Ukraine.
AFP journalists in Moscow were not able to access Facebook, as well as the sites of media outlets Meduza, Deutsche Welle, RFE-RL and the BBC's Russian-language service. The monitoring NGO GlobalCheck also said the sites were partially down. (AFP)
The United States announced on Thursday that it was granting "temporary protected status" to Ukrainians in the country for the next 18 months.
The move by the Department of Homeland Security allows Ukrainians currently in the United States to remain here and lifts the threat of deportation. (AFP)European and US stocks tumbled as investors monitored the worsening toll of the Russian invasion of Ukraine amid worries over high oil prices.
Brent North Sea crude reached $119.84 per barrel, the highest level since early 2012, while WTI touched a 14-year peak -- but both gave up ground mid-session and finished lower.
The United States imposed sanctions on the ultra-wealthy Russian oligarchs at the heart of President Vladimir Putin's regime Thursday in the latest ratcheting up of pressure on the Kremlin to halt its invasion of Ukraine.
They and their family members "will be cut off from the US financial system, their assets in the United States will be frozen and their property will be blocked from use," the White House said in a statement. (AFP)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman offered to host mediation talks between Russia and Ukraine in a phone call Thursday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as the conflict entered its second week.
The Gulf state's de facto leader called for a "political solution" after the Russian invasion and also reiterated his support for the OPEC+ group of oil producers, which includes Russia, to stabilise oil markets. (AFP)
The UK government said Thursday it was imposing sanctions on billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov and former deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov as part of punitive measures over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The pair, who are worth a combined $19 billion (£14 bn) and have "significant interests in the UK and close links to the Kremlin", are "sanctioned with immediate effect", the Foreign Office said.
They face a full asset freeze and a travel ban, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss saying that the sanctio
The UK government said Thursday it was imposing sanctions on billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov and former deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov as part of punitive measures over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
At least 22 bodies have been recovered from rubble in the wake of Russian air strikes in Ukraine's Chernihiv region, the Ukrainian emergency services said in an online post.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that the goals of Russia's operation in Ukraine - its demilitarisation and neutral status - will be achieved in any case, the Kremlin said.
Moscow is continuing contact with Washington, mostly through embassies, and believes talks with Ukraine in Belarus can produce results, the TASS news agency quoted Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Thursday.
Russia-Ukraine War: "Dear Passengers From Ukraine, Welcome...": Refugees Pour Into GermanyThe loudspeaker announcement is nearly drowned out by the hubbub of passengers spilling out of the train from Warsaw, but it's a message many of them have been longing to hear: "Dear passengers from Ukraine, welcome to Berlin!"
Ukrainian diplomats formerly based in Moscow arrived in Latvia on Wednesday evening, Latvia's foreign minister said.
"Latvia welcomes Ukrainian diplomats who left Moscow and crossed Latvian-Russian border last night," minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted on Thursday.
On Ukraine, Foreign Minister Jaishankar Briefs Consultative Committee Including Shashi Tharoor, Rahul GandhiThe foreign ministry briefed the 21-member consultative committee on foreign affairs today on the situation in Ukraine, and the ongoing effort to evacuate the stranded Indian citizens, especially students.
Russian shelling and attacks on civilian populations killed 34 civilians in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region in the past 24 hours between March 2-3, the emergency services said on Thursday.
Separately, the governor of the Ukraine-controlled eastern Donetsk region said the port city of Mariupol, one of the first targets of the Russian invasion, was without electricity or water supplies.
Britain on Thursday announced new sanctions preventing Russian companies in the aviation and space industry from accessing British insurance and reinsurance services following the invasion of Ukraine.
Around 575,100 people have enetered Poland from Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion of the country on Feb 24, the Polish border guard said on Thursday.
The Border Guard said that on Wednesday around 95,000 people entered, and that as of 0600 GMT on Thursday about 27,100 people had crossed the frontier.
Ekho Moskvy, a liberal radio station in Moscow, has been dissolved by its board, its editor Alexei Venediktov said, in a move eliminating one of the few remaining liberal media that the Kremlin has tolerated until now.
The move came shortly after the prosecutor general's office demanded that access be restricted to Ekho Moskvy and the TV Rain online news channel because of their coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The French government on Thursday advised French citizens to leave Russia where possible, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia-Ukraine War: France Fears "Worst Ahead Of Us" In Russia's Ukraine InvasionFrance on Thursday expressed fear that the worst phase of Russia's war on Ukraine could be yet to start, with key Ukrainian cities at risk of encirclement by Russian forces.
Ukrainians Use Tyres, Lorries To Stop Russians From Taking Control Of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear PlantRussia-Ukraine war: The advancing Russian forces on Thursday captured Kherson city. The IAEA is devising plan to protect Ukraine's nuclear plants.
Pro-Russian forces may launch targeted strikes on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol unless Ukrainian forces there surrender, the Interfax news agency quoted Donetsk separatist commander Eduard Basurin as saying on Thursday.
Russia and separatists say they have encircled the city of 430,000 located on the Azov Sea coast.
Ukraine needs humanitarian corridors supported by bodies such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the wake of Russia's invasion, an adviser to Ukraine's presidential office said on Thursday.
"The villages and towns where Russian troops' columns are stationed immediately turn into places of looting, robbery, murder," Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
More than 139,000 Ukrainians have fled to Romania in the first seven days since Russia invaded Ukraine by land, sea and air, border police data showed on Thursday.
They have entered Romania through its four land border checkpoints with Ukraine, but also through its checkpoints with Moldova, data showed. Just under 88,000 of them have already driven or flown out of Romania.
Ukraine Food Queues Seen From Space, See PicsNew satellite images on the war in Ukraine show long lines of people waiting for essentials outside shops, burning buildings and long convoys of military vehicles. The long queues waiting for food were seen outside supermarkets in Chernihiv and Kyiv.
A Bangladeshi sailor has been killed in an attack on his vessel in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Olvia, the state shipping company said Thursday.
The Banglar Samriddhi, a bulk carrier, arrived in the country on February 22, a day before Russia invaded, and has since been unable to leave.
Pijush Dutta, executive director of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, told AFP that the vessel was hit in a "rocket or bomb" attack on Wednesday.
The third engineer was killed and the bridge caught fire, he said, but the remaining 28 crew -- all Bangladeshis -- were still on board.
"The fire has been brought under control," he added. "Other crew in the ship are safe."
Russia vs Ukraine: Don't Want To Get Stuck Like Indian Students In Ukraine, Some Indian Students Return From RussiaMore and more Indian students are being brought home safely in evacuation flights from conflict-hit Ukraine's neighbouring countries under Operation Ganga. However, some have returned from Russia, whose armed forces have invaded Ukraine.
The Biden administration is trying to urge India to take a "clear position" on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, US diplomat Donald Lu said. Mr Lu noted that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been on the "frontlines of that battle" and that US President Joe Biden and other senior officials in the State Department have been relentlessly conducting various "very serious" high-level dialogue with their Indian counterparts over Ukraine. Read more
Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich said on Wednesday he had made the "incredibly difficult" decision to sell the Premier League club, pledging that proceeds would go to victims of the war in Ukraine. The billionaire believes it is in the "best interest" of the Champions League holders if he parts ways with the club he has transformed since he bought it in 2003. The dramatic development comes days after Abramovich said he was handing over control of Chelsea to trustees of its charitable foundation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Indian government today denied reports of Indian students being held as "hostages" in Ukraine, stating that it was in constant touch with Indian nationals in the war-torn country.
"We have not received reports of any hostage situation regarding any student. We have requested support of the Ukrainian authorities in arranging special trains for taking out students from Kharkiv and neighbouring areas to the western part of the country," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. Read more
Toyota Suspends Russian Car Production, Imports Amid "Cyberattack" RisksToyota said Thursday it would suspend operations at its only factory in Russia and stop shipping vehicles to the country, citing "supply chain disruptions" linked to Moscow's assault on Ukraine.
Russia Ukraine War: US Considers Sanctions On India After It Abstained To Vote On Russia At UNThe Biden administration is looking whether to apply or waive sanctions on India for its purchase of the S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Russia, under Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
The British broadcasting regulator has announced another dozen investigations into the "impartiality" of news programmes aired on Russian state-funded television channel RT.
Ofcom said on Wednesday that it now has 27 open investigations into RT and is considering whether the channel should keep its UK licence.
"We are very concerned by the volume of programmes on RT that are raising potential issues under the Broadcasting Code," Ofcom said in a statement.
Russia is pushing hard to seize control in major Ukrainian cities as the country puts up the defiant stand. India has stepped up evacuation of its citizens from the war zone by roping in the Air Force. Read more
The United Arab Emirates has temporarily suspended a visa waiver for Ukrainian citizens, Kyiv's embassy in the Gulf Arab state said, at a time thousands of people are fleeing war in Ukraine.
The UAE decision went into effect on Tuesday, the embassy said in a notice to citizens on its Facebook page, without providing a reason. Emirati authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
The move would be symbolic at best because very few Russian vessels actually use the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific.
Under a 1977 treaty in which the US-built canal was handed over to local control, the waterway is supposed to remain neutral in the event of international conflict.
Russia-Ukraine War: US Delays Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Test Amid Russia Nuclear ThreatThe US military said on Wednesday it will postpone a scheduled test launch of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, in a bid to lower soaring tensions after Russia announced it was putting its nuclear forces on high alert.
One million refugees have fled Ukraine in the week since Russia's invasion, the UN's refugee agency announced Thursday.
"In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighbouring countries," the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi tweeted, while urging "guns to fall silent" in the country.
Amazon.com Inc is using its logistics capability to get supplies to those in need and cybersecurity expertise to help governments and companies as part of its support for Ukraine, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said on Twitter on Wednesday.
"Amazon stands with the people of Ukraine, and will continue to help," Jassy said, following Russia's invasion that Moscow has called a "special operation." Amazon, which earlier this week pledged to donate up to $10 million for humanitarian efforts, is the latest company to mobilize in offering aid.
Russia-Ukraine War: "We Are Living In Real Hell": Ukraine's Maternity Hospital Under SiegeSitting on a temporary bed set up along a gloomy underground passageway, expectant mother Alena Shinkar reads a book to try to stay calm.
The Ukrainian has been at a Kyiv maternity hospital since before the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24 waiting to give birth, but with the capital city under siege from rockets and missiles, her nerves are fraying.
"I should not be stressed now so I am trying to cool myself down, but of course it is terrible what is happening," she told Reuters in English.
Mercedes-Benz said Wednesday it was suspending vehicle exports to Russia and local production in the country, becoming the latest carmaker to respond to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
"Mercedes-Benz will suspend the export of passenger cars and vans to Russia as well as the local manufacturing in Russia until further notice," it said in a statement.
German rivals BMW and Volkswagen made similar announcements earlier this week as Western companies withdraw from sanctions-hit Russia.
Japan's Pan Pacific International, formerly Don Quijote Holdings, said on Thursday it will accept 100 refugee families from Ukraine as Russia's invasion of the country continues.
The company said in a statement it will accept 100 Ukrainian families approved by the Japanese government to enter Japan as refugees, and provide financial support and job opportunities.
India on Wednesday abstained on a UN General Assembly resolution that strongly deplored Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the third abstention in less than a week by the country in the world body on resolutions on the escalating crisis between Moscow and Kyiv.
