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Ukraine war: Lviv strikes leave 5 hurt, Biden calls Putin a butcher | Top points
Ukraine-Russia war: President Joe Biden met his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and said the vow to defend NATO territory is a “sacred commitment.” He is set to give what’s been billed as a major speech on US and allied efforts to aid Ukraine and counter Russia.
Russia continued to pound cities across Ukraine as explosions rang out on Saturday near the western city of Lviv, a destination for refugees that had been largely spared from major attacks so far.
The city’s governor said at least five people were wounded in strikes on Lviv with plumes of smoke covering the city sky. The explosions were reported as United States President Joe Biden wrapped up his visit to neighbouring Poland.
Here are some of the key updates on Russia’s war against Ukraine that was in its second month now, having displaced millions, leaving hundreds dead and several others injured.
- Biden called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "butcher" following his meeting with refugees fleeing Russia's war in Ukraine in Poland's capital Warsaw.
- The Kremlin said Biden's comments narrowed the prospects for mending ties between the two countries, according to TASS news agency.
- Air raid sirens were sounded in the far western city of Lviv where “three powerful explosions” were reported injuring at least five people.
- The mayor of Ukraine's capital Kyiv cancelled a curfew in the capital he had announced just hours earlier for the next day without providing further explanation. "New information from the military command: the Kyiv curfew will not enter into force tomorrow," mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram.
- Earlier in the day, Biden met Poland’s president Andrzej Duda and assured him of US’ support, saying “your freedom is ours”. He said the vow to defend NATO territory is a “sacred commitment.”
- He is scheduled to give what’s been billed as a major speech on US and allied efforts to aid Ukraine and counter Russia.
- Biden also held talks with Ukrainian ministers Dmytro Kuleba and Oleksii Reznikov. During the meeting, Biden was seated at a long white table alongside US secretary of state Antony Blinken and defence secretary Lloyd Austin.
- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Doha Forum that Russia's "bragging" about its nuclear weapons was fuelling a dangerous arms race. He also called on Qatar, which organised the annual meeting of international political and business leaders, to increase production of natural gas to counter Russian efforts to use energy as a weapon.
- Russian forces took control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant lived, the governor of Kyiv region said. Fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol.
- Russia’s military said it was focusing on taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, a signal that the Kremlin may be backing away from more ambitious military gains after a month of fighting.
- A Winona, Minnesota man taken into custody by Russian forces in Ukraine has been released, US Senator Amy Klobuchar said. Tyler Jacob had been detained earlier this month while trying to cross from Ukraine into Turkey. Klobuchar said she reached out to the US State Department and connected with John Sullivan, the US ambassador to Russia, who discussed the situation with the Russian government.
- The US and European Union unveiled an agreement to help Europe wean itself off Russian fuel imports. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the US and EU of aiming to “destroy” Russia through “hybrid war, a total war.” The US and its Western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions against the Kremlin over the past one month for its military campaign in the east European nation.
(With inputs from agencies)
