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Russia-Ukraine war Highlights: Red Cross says ‘impossible to proceed’ with evacuation in war-hit Mariupol
Russia-Ukraine war: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian troops are now building up for new powerful attacks in the southeast after withdrawing from the north and center of the country as he also urged Ukrainians not to let up.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has entered its sixth week. Early Friday, a Ukrainian government agency – responsible for the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nunclear power plant – said the last Russian troops have left the nuclear plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nighttime video address to the nation, said that Russian troops are now building up for new powerful attacks in the southeast after withdrawing from the north and center of the country as he also urged Ukrainians not to let up. “We know their intentions. We know what they are planning and what they are doing,” Zelenskyy said. “We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us"....Read More
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday there’s “no clear evidence” that Vladimir Putin is scaling back military operations around Kyiv and suggested that the Russian president may have ordered some of his advisers fired or placed under house arrest.
Red Cross says ‘impossible to proceed’ with evacuation in war-hit Mariupol
Ukraine passes law allowing to seize properties of Russian war supporters: Report
Ukrainian Parliament passes law allowing seizure of property of Russian war supporters. It allows confiscating property that belongs not only to Russian state or its residents but also to non-residents connected to Russian govt, deny or support Russia’s war, reports The Kyiv Independent.
Russia using disinformation to back Ukraine invasion, says Canadian agency
Canadian intelligence has observed numerous Russian-backed disinformation campaigns online in support of Moscow's assault on Ukraine, the Canadian signals intelligence agency said on Friday.
"Russia has created and amplified fake stories and narratives falsely claiming that only military targets were being attacked," the agency wrote on Twitter.
PM Modi meets Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in New Delhi
Lavrov met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evening. He briefed the Prime Minister on the situation in Ukraine, including the ongoing peace negotiations. Prime Minister reiterated his call for an early cessation of violence, and conveyed India's readiness to contribute in any way to the peace efforts.
The Russian Foreign Minister also updated the Prime Minister on the progress of decisions taken during the India-Russia bilateral Summit held in December 2021, read a statement from the Prime Minister's office.
Russia-Ukraine resume peace talks via video conference, reports AFP
Russia and Ukraine have resumed peace talks via video conference, reports AFP quoting the Russian negotiator.
Ukraine air strike on Russia will hinder talks: Kremlin
Kremlin has said that Ukraine's air strike on a fuel storage facility in Russia will hinder the ongoing talks to resolve the war situation between the two countries.
'Ready to discuss,' says Lavrov on offering India oil supply
“We will be ready to supply to India any goods which it wants to buy from us. We are ready to discuss. Russia & India have very good relations,” said Russian finance minister Sergey Lavrov when asked how he sees India's position in ongoing war, offer of oil supply to India, any confirmation on Rupee-Ruble payment and sanctions.
Red Cross concerned Mariupol evacuation may not happen
The Red Cross said it was "not yet clear" that the evacuation of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol would go ahead as planned on Friday, as quoted by AFP.
"We remain hopeful, we are in action moving towards Mariupol... but it's not yet clear that this will happen today," Ewan Watson, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told reporters in Geneva, as an ICRC team of three cars and nine staff headed towards the city.
West likes to reduce any meaningful international issue to Ukraine crisis: Russia FM
Lavrov said that the "western colleagues like to reduce any meaningful international issue to the crisis in Ukraine".
"We do not fight anything and we appreciated that India is taking this situation in the entirety of effect and not just one-sided way," he added.
Russia foreign minister Lavrov, Jaishankar hold bilateral talks in Delhi
External affairs minister S Jaishankar said that the bilateral relations between India and Russia have continued to grow in many areas, underlining that the meeting is taking place in a difficult international environment quite apart from the pandemic.
“India has always been in favour of resolving disputes through diplomacy,” Jaishankar added.
Russia eases some curbs on transferring money abroad
Russia's central bank said it was easing restrictions on foreign fund transfers for individuals for a six-month period.
"Within a calendar month, individuals have the right to transfer no more than 10,000 U.S. dollars or the equivalent in another currency from the Russian Federation from their account in a Russian bank to their account or to another person abroad," the bank said in a statement.
UK says Ukraine has retaken villages of Sloboda, Lukashivka
Ukrainian forces have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka, British military intelligence said on Friday. The villages are located along main supply routes between the city and Kyiv.
"Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counter attacks to the east and north east of Kyiv," Britain's Ministry of Defence said.
Fuel storage unit on fire in Russian city near Ukrainian border
A fire broke out at a fuel storage facility in Belgorod, a Russian city located close to the Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, two days after the province was rocked by blasts at an arms depot.
Russians leave Chernobyl site as fighting rages elsewhere
More than a month after taking over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Russian troops handed its control back to the Ukrainians and left the heavily contaminated site early on Friday, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Peace talks to resume today
Russia and Ukraine are to resume peace talks online on April 1, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters.
Don't throw Russia out of G20, aid group says, with eye on food crisis
Excluding Russia from the Group of 20 major economies and other international institutions could slow efforts to address a worsening global food crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, the head of German aid group Welthungerhilfe (WHH) told Reuters. Read more
European Parliament leader says visiting Kyiv
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has said she is on her way to Ukraine, making her the first EU leader to visit the war-torn country, reports AFP.
Pentagon: Weapons shipments arrive in Ukraine
The Pentagon says an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance have reached Ukraine as part of the $800 million package of aid that President Joe Biden approved on March 16.
