Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
March 3 (Reuters) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its second week on Thursday an apparent tactical failure so far, with its main assault force stalled for days on a highway north of Kyiv and other advances halted at the outskirts of cities it is bombing into wastelands.
The invasion of Ukraine was denounced by the United Nations in a historic vote, as global brands exited Russia and the rouble hit record lows.
MORE HEADLINES
* Ukraine’s defence lines were holding against the Russian attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest video, adding there had been no respite in Moscow’s shelling of Ukraine since midnight. read more
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday he believed some foreign leaders were preparing for war against Russia and that Moscow would press on with its military operation in Ukraine until “the end”.
* The second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine may start in Belarus at 1200 GMT, Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky as saying.
* Mariupol city council said Russia was constantly and deliberately shelling critical civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian southern port, leaving it without water, heating or power and preventing bringing supplies or evacuating people.
* French bank Societe Generale said it was working to cut its risks in Russia, fearing Moscow’s tit-for-tat response to Western sanctions, while Brazilian planemaker Embraer joined Airbus and Boeing in halting parts supplies to Russian airlines.
* Russia’s advance on the Ukrainian capital has made little progress over the past three days and the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain in Ukrainian hands, according to British military intelligence.
* French customs have seized a yacht belonging to Rosneft (ROSN.MM) boss Igor Sechin as it tried to leave the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in a breach of EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
* Russian stocks and bonds are now “in the realms of utterly uninvestable,” the chief executive of Schroders Peter Harrison told Reuters, as Western sanctions squeeze Russia’s economy after its invasion of Ukraine. read more
* A missile or bomb hit a Bangladeshi-owned cargo ship in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Olvia, killing one of its crew members, and efforts were underway to rescue the others from the vessel, its owner said on Thursday. read more
* Formula One will no longer race in Russia, it said in a statement, while Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from the Winter Paralympics in Beijing on the eve of the Games. read more
QUOTES
* “We have nothing to lose but our own freedom,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest video.
* “The thought of nuclear is constantly spinning in the heads of Western politicians but not in the heads of Russians,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
* “In just seven days, one million people have fled Ukraine, uprooted by this senseless war. I have worked in refugee emergencies for almost 40 years, and rarely have I seen an exodus as rapid as this one,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.
* “Russia is increasingly an economic island….Nothing is off the table in terms of future sanctions,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
* “There were armed visitors in the city executive committee today,” Kherson Mayor Igor Kolykhayev said in a statement. “My team and I are peaceful people – we had no weapons and there was no aggression from our side… I didn’t make any promises to them… I just asked them not to shoot people.
“Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Lincoln Feast and Alex Richardson
SOURCE: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-russia-what-you-need-know-right-now-2022-03-02/
