- Russian forces push deeper into besieged, battered port metropolis of Mariupol.
- Ukraine says 6,623 evacuated on Saturday, 4,128 of these left Mariupol.
- UN maintains at the very least 847 civilians killed in Ukraine, 6.5 million internally displaced.
- Native official alleges Ukraine metropolis of Mykolaiv going through air raids.
- Ukraine calls on China to sentence “Russian barbarism”, help “civilised international locations’ coalition”.
- Poland PM presses for a complete commerce ban between the EU and Russia.
- Russia claims it used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the primary time in Ukraine.
Listed below are the most recent updates:
Six journalists killed in Ukraine: Swiss group
A Switzerland-based press freedom group says six journalists have been killed and eight others have been wounded throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The journalists had been killed below varied circumstances, from shrapnel after a rocket assault to a bullet wound,” the Press Emblem Marketing campaign mentioned.
Three of them had been killed whereas masking battles close to Kyiv, close to the town of Irpin, it mentioned.
PEC additionally mentioned Russian forces in southern Ukraine have kidnapped two journalists.
Ukraine’s navy persevering with to ‘successfully defend Ukrainian air house’: UK
The British Ministry of Defence says Ukraine’s air forces are “persevering with to successfully defend Ukrainian airspace”.
“Russia has failed to realize management of the air and is basically counting on stand-off weapons launched from the relative security of Russian airspace to strike targets inside Ukraine,” the ministry mentioned in its newest intelligence replace.
“Gaining management of the air was certainly one of Russia’s principal goals for the opening days of the battle and their continued failure to take action has considerably blunted their operational progress,” it added.
Newest Defence Intelligence replace on the scenario in Ukraine – 19 March 2022
Discover out extra concerning the UK authorities’s response: https://t.co/2whpSpRbwX
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/CcIp8qZg3w
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 19, 2022
Zelenskyy desires Switzerland to freeze financial institution accounts of all Russian billionaires
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has referred to as on the Swiss authorities to freeze the financial institution accounts of all Russian billionaires.
Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported that Zelenskyy, who spoke through livestream on Saturday to 1000’s of antiwar protesters within the Swiss metropolis of Bern, mentioned “in your banks are the funds of the individuals who unleashed this struggle. Assist to battle this. In order that their funds are frozen. (…) It could be good to remove these privileges from them”.
SRF additionally reported that the Ukrainian president criticized the Swiss multinational meals conglomerate Nestle, which has determined to not withdraw from Russia in the interim, versus many different worldwide firms.
Chinese language diplomat says NATO ought to have ‘been consigned to historical past’
Chinese language Vice Overseas Minister Le Yucheng has mentioned that NATO ought to follow what he claimed was a promise to not broaden eastward.
Echoing a Kremlin speaking level, the diplomat mentioned if NATO’s “enlargement goes additional, it might be approaching the ‘outskirts of Moscow’ the place a missile might hit the Kremlin inside seven or eight minutes.”
“Pushing a significant nation, particularly a nuclear energy, to the nook would entail repercussions too dreadful to ponder,” he mentioned.
He expressed an understanding for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oft-repeated place, saying that NATO ought to have disintegrated and “been consigned to historical past alongside the Warsaw Pact”.
“Nonetheless, relatively than breaking apart, NATO has stored strengthening and increasing, and intervened militarily in international locations like Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan,” he mentioned. “One might nicely anticipate the results happening this path. The disaster in Ukraine is a stern warning.”
He mentioned Chinese language President Xi Jinping in talks with US President Joe Biden on Friday urged the events in Ukraine to show “political will and maintain the dialogue and negotiation going. The US and NATO must also have dialogue with Russia to deal with the crux of the Ukraine disaster and ease the safety considerations of each Russia and Ukraine.”
Germany courts Qatar, UAE for options to Russian fuel
German Economic system Minister Robert Habeck will talk about liquefied pure fuel (LNG) provide on a visit to Qatar and the UAE, as he goals to safe a hydrogen deal, making Germany much less depending on Russia for fuel.
Russia is the most important provider of fuel to Germany, in response to knowledge on the Economic system Ministry’s web site. Roughly half of Germany’s LNG imports come from Russia.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Habeck has launched a number of initiatives to reduce Germany’s power dependence on Russia, together with massive orders of non-Russian LNG, plans for a terminal to import LNG and slowing the nation’s exit from coal.
Learn the total story right here.
What’s China’s technique on Ukraine?
US President Joe Biden and his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping spoke on the telephone on Friday, for the primary time for the reason that struggle started.
Washington is anxious about Beijing’s stance on the battle as Chinese language officers have refused to sentence the invasion. Biden has warned of penalties for China if it supplies materials help to Moscow.
So, what does all of it imply for China’s relations with the West?
Ukrainian refugees search ID playing cards in Poland
Hoping to revive some normalcy after fleeing the struggle in Ukraine, 1000’s of refugees waited in lengthy traces on Saturday within the Polish capital Warsaw to get identification playing cards that can permit them to get on with their lives – at the very least for now.
Refugees began queueing by Warsaw’s Nationwide Stadium in a single day to get the coveted PESEL identification playing cards that can permit them to work, reside, go to high school and get medical care or social advantages for the following 18 months. By mid-morning, many had been informed to come back again one other day.
The demand was too excessive regardless that Polish authorities had simplified the method.
Elevated threat for little one refugees – UNICEF
Youngsters fleeing the struggle in Ukraine are at an elevated threat of exploitation and abuse, UNICEF has warned.
“It’s an enormous concern, nearly 1.7 million youngsters have fled Ukraine and an extra 3.3 million are internally displaced,” UNICEF’s Joe English informed Al Jazeera from Lviv in Ukraine.
“When youngsters are separated from mother and father or caregivers, the chance of exploitation, trafficking, abuse and being pressured into little one labour is excessive. We all know that gangs and legal networks exist throughout Europe and it’s important that we scale up our programming and response to essentially mitigate that threat.”
Mykolaiv going through air raids: Native official
Russian air raids on Mykolaiv had been happening in fast succession on Saturday, a regional official mentioned.
Vitaly Kim, head of the regional administration, mentioned there was not even sufficient time to lift the alarm over the raids “as a result of by the point we announce this twister, it’s already there”.
“The [alert] message and the bombings arrive on the identical time,” he mentioned on social media.
Ukraine says 6,623 folks evacuated on Saturday
A complete of 6,623 folks had been evacuated from Ukrainian cities by humanitarian corridors on Saturday, a senior official mentioned, significantly fewer than managed to flee yesterday.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s workplace, mentioned in a web-based put up that 4,128 folks had left the besieged metropolis of Mariupol. On Friday, he mentioned 9,145 folks had managed to go away cities throughout the nation throughout the day.
‘Town is destroyed’
Russian forces have pushed deeper into Ukraine’s besieged and battered port metropolis of Mariupol, the place heavy combating shut down a significant metal plant and native authorities pleaded for extra assist.
The autumn of Mariupol, the scene of a number of the struggle’s worst struggling, would mark an important battlefield advance for the Russians, who’re largely slowed down exterior key cities greater than three weeks into the largest land invasion in Europe since World Conflict II.
“Youngsters, aged persons are dying. Town is destroyed and it’s wiped off the face of the earth,” Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin mentioned on Saturday from a rubble-strewn road in a video addressed to Western leaders.
Hiya, welcome to Al Jazeera’s persevering with protection of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Click on right here to learn all of the Russia-Ukraine struggle updates from March 19.
