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Russia-Ukraine war: 100k trapped in Mariupol
Tens of thousands of residents have already fled the besieged southern port city, bringing harrowing testimony of a “freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings”, according to Human Rights Watch.
Almost 100,000 people are trapped by Russian bombardment and facing starvation in the ruins of Mariupol, Ukraine’s leader said, as Moscow accused Washington of undermining peace talks.
Tens of thousands of residents have already fled the besieged southern port city, bringing harrowing testimony of a “freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings”, according to Human Rights Watch.
As the UN demanded Russia end its “absurd” and “unwinnable” war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Japan on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on Russia with a trade embargo, making an unprecedented direct appeal to parliament that invoked the two nations’ shared experience of nuclear disaster.
“An embargo on trade with Russia is necessary,” said Zelensky, who wore a zipped-up military jacket. “It is necessary to remove companies from the Russian market so that money does not go to the Russian army.”
Russia meanwhile refuses to rule out using nuclear weapons if it were facing an “existential threat”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN.
Nato head tells Russia it cannot win nuclear war
Nato warned on Wednesday against Russia’s war in Ukraine sliding into a nuclear confrontation between Moscow and the West. “Russia should stop this dangerous irresponsible nuclear rhetoric,” Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference. “But let there be no doubt about our readiness to protect and defend allies against any threat anytime.”
“Russia must understand that it can never win a nuclear war,” he said on the eve of a summit of the Western military alliance’s national leaders in Brussels.
Meanwhile, Nato estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of fighting in Ukraine, where the country’s defenders have put up stiffer-than-expected resistance and denied Moscow the lightning victory it hoped for.
Putin adviser Chubais quits over invasion
Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais has stepped down and left the country, citing his opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the situation, becoming the highest-level official to break with the Kremlin over the invasion.
The Biden administration has made a formal determination that Russian troops have committed war crimes in Ukraine and said it would work with others to prosecute offenders, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The assessment was based on a “careful review” of public and intelligence sources since Russia launched its invasion last month, he said.
Putin plans to attend G20 meet: Russian amb
President Vladimir Putin plans to attend a G20 summit later this year in Indonesia, Moscow’s envoy said on Wednesday, dismissing suggestions Russia could be excluded from the group over the war in Ukraine.
A day earlier, the US indicated it would consult allies over Russia’s membership in international forums to increase pressure over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva said G20 host Jakarta had already invited Putin to the November heads of state summit in Bali.
Russia on Wednesday said it was expelling US diplomats in retaliation for Washington’s move earlier this month to remove 12 of Moscow’s representatives to the UN based in the US. Also, Poland’s interior minister Mariusz Kaminski on Wednesday said the EU member had “expelled 45 Russian spies pretending to be diplomats”.
