KYIV, Ukraine — The next round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held on Monday, Ukrainian official Davyd Arakhamia said Saturday.
Arakhamia is head of the parliamentary faction of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party and a member of Ukraine’s delegation at the talks.
Monday's will be the third round of talks as the two sides try to negotiate a cease-fire and safe passage corridors for civilians.
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LVIV, Ukraine — Russian forces have now seized two Ukrainian nuclear power plants and are advancing toward a third, Ukraine’s president said during a call with U.S. senators Saturday.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the third plant currently under threat is the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Mykolaiv, one of several cities the Russians were trying to keep encircled Saturday.
One of the plants under the Russians' control is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe. The other is Chernobyl, which is not active but is still staffed and maintained. Previous Russian shelling sparked a fire at the Zaporizhzhia plant that was extinguished without a release of radiation.
Technical safety systems are intact and radiation levels are still normal at the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to the country’s nuclear regulator, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday.
Two out of the six reactors at the plant, Europe’s biggest, are now operating after Russian forces took control of the site, the nuclear regulator told the IAEA.
Ukraine has four nuclear plants with a total of 15 reactors.
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WASHINGTON — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged U.S. lawmakers to sanction Russia’s oil and gas sector and suspend credit card access, and backed an idea to ban Russian oil imports to the U.S. that’s been gaining support in Congress.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said Zelenskyy emphasized during a private call Saturday with the U.S. lawmakers that the energy sector needs to be sanctioned.
“Anything that could hurt the Russian economy will help the Ukrainian people and may make this war more difficult” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Graham said in a video.
During the call, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia asked Zelenskyy about the idea of banning Russian oil to the U.S., according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the private call.
Zelenskyy indicated he was 100% on board with banning Russian oil to the U.S. and told the senators it would be very helpful, the people said.
Zelensky also asked them to suspend access to Visa and Mastercard credit cards in Russia, according to another person granted anonymity to discuss the call.
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JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for several hours in Moscow on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office confirmed the meeting at the Kremlin, which came just days after Bennett spoke over the phone with both Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
Bennett's office said he departed early Saturday morning for Moscow, accompanied by Russian-speaking Cabinet minister Zeev Elkin, who was born in Ukraine. Both men are observant Jews and wouldn’t normally travel on the Sabbath.
Israel is one of the few countries that has good working relations with both sides. The country has delivered humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but also maintains ties with Moscow to make sure that Israeli and Russian warplanes do not come into conflict in neighboring Syria.
The meeting ended after about three hours, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said the meeting was coordinated with the U.S., Germany and France and that Bennett “is in ongoing dialogue with Ukraine.”
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CAIRO — Egypt says it has transferred to Europe about 4,000 Ukrainian tourists who were stranded in the Middle Eastern nation after Russia invaded their country.
The tourists were brought to countries neighboring Ukraine on free flights operated by state-run airliners, and more flights are scheduled in the coming days, government spokesman Nader Saad said Saturday. He did not elaborate.
Following Russia’s invasion and the closure of Ukrainian airspace, the Egyptian government has allowed Ukrainian tourists to extend their stay for free in hotels and resorts, Saad said.
Ukraine’s embassy in Cairo has said there were about 20,000 Ukrainian tourists in Egypt, a touristic hub for tourists from eastern Europe and Russia.
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WASHINGTON — A Russian airliner has received an exception to the U.S. airspace ban in order to return Russian diplomats expelled from the U.S to Russia.
The Ilyushin Il-62 is flying from St. Petersburg to Washington Dulles International Airport outside the U.S. Capitol. A U.S. government official confirmed it had been granted a waiver from the airspace restriction put in place in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in order to retrieve the Russian diplomats.
The U.S. expelled 12 Russians at its mission to the United Nations accusing them of being intelligence operatives.
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NEW YORK — Another Russian airline, low cost carrier Pobeda, said it would halt all international flights starting March 8, in accordance with recommendations from the Russia’s state aviation agency.
Rosaviatsiya on Saturday recommended that all Russian airlines with foreign-leased planes halt both passenger and cargo flights abroad. It cited a high risk of foreign-leased planes being impounded as part of Western sanctions that ban leasing of planes to Russia.
Rosaviatsiya’s recommendation doesn’t apply to Russian airlines that use Russian planes or foreign planes that aren’t at risk of being impounded. However, shortly after the recommendation was released, Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot said it would suspend international flights starting March 8, including those carried out by its subsidiary airline Rossia. Several hours later, Pobeda followed suit.
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LONDON — Ukraine’s foreign minister on Saturday criticized Shell for continuing to buy Russian oil, lashing out at the energy giant for continuing to do business with Vladimir Putin’s regime after the company announced it was exiting investments in Russia.
Dmytro Kuleba said he had been told Shell “discreetly” bought the oil on Friday. He appealed to the public to pressure the company and other international firms to halt such purchases in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“One question to Shell: doesn’t Russian oil smell (like) Ukrainian blood for you?” Kuleba said on Twitter. “I call on all conscious people around the globe to demand multinational companies to cut all business ties with Russia,” he wrote.
Earlier this week, Shell said it was “shocked by the loss of life in Ukraine” and would end its joint ventures with Gazprom, the massive oil and gas company that is controlled by the Russian government.
Shell on Saturday said it has already stopped “most activities involving Russian oil,” although it continues to buy some products from Russia to supply the needs of its refineries and chemical plants. These purchases are necessary to ensure fuel supplies for customers, Shell said.
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WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a “desperate plea” to U.S. senators on Saturday to send more planes to help the country fight the Russian invasion.
Zelenskyy made the request on a call joined by more than 300 people, including senators, some House lawmakers and aides.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement that Zelenskyy made a “desperate plea for Eastern European countries to provide Russian-made planes to Ukraine."
“I will do all I can to help the administration to facilitate their transfer,” Schumer said.
Schumer told Zelenskyy the U.S. lawmakers are inspired by him and by the strength and courage of the Ukrainian people, according to another person on the call who was granted anonymity to discuss it.
The U.S. Congress also is working on a $10 billion package of military and humanitarian aide, and Schumer told Zelenskyy that lawmakers hope to send it quickly to Ukraine, the person said.
Zelenskyy told senators he needs planes and drones more than other security tools, according to a senior Senate aide granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has updated an earlier travel advisory and is now recommending that U.S. citizens leave Russia immediately.
The notice offers this guidance: “If you wish to depart Russia, you should make arrangements on your own as soon as possible. If you plan to stay in Russia, understand the U.S. Embassy has severe limitations on its ability to assist U.S. citizens, and conditions, including transportation options, may change suddenly.”
The department already has advised Americans not to travel to Russia. That warning cites “the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine” and “the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials,” among other things.
The American ambassador in Moscow, John Sullivan, has scheduled a virtual town hall on Wednesday for U.S. citizens in Russia “in light of the rapidly developing situation” from the Russian invasion.
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CHISINAU, Moldova — Hundreds of families, many from Ukraine's Donetsk region, have taken refuge in a sports venue in the capital of Moldova. The refugees milled about or tried to relax on cots Saturday while lamenting what they were forced to leave behind.
Maria Cherepovskaia, 50, said she walked 15 kilometers (9 miles) to reach Chisinau, and received help from people who supplied rides and food.
“We will be here until the war is over," Cherepovskaia said. “We don’t know where to go. We left behind our children and relatives, also our men.”
She said there is bombing going on in Donetsk: “a lot, too much.”
Refugees also fled to Siret, Romania, where some gathered together in a large tent. Iryna Bogavchuk, from Chernivtsi in Ukraine, warmed herself next to a portable heater as she caressed her 4-year-old daughter and looked at photos of her husband, who stayed behind.
“I miss him,” Bogavchuk said as she wept. “I took a few Polaroid photos because I couldn’t take a lot of stuff."
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ROME — Thousands of pacifists marched through Rome on Saturday to protest the war in Ukraine.
But Italy’s powerful labor federations are feuding over whether to support the decision of Italy and other Western countries to send weapons to Ukraine’s government.
The leader of the more centrist-leading CISL union, Luigi Sbarra, said he was boycotting the pacifist rally on Saturday because “one can’t be neutral, we’re with the Italian government.”
The Italian government last week asked Parliament to approve sending weapons to Ukraine.
Rome’s protests comprised two marches, one of which set out behind a banner reading “Neither NATO nor Putin.”
Left-leaning CGIL union leader Maurizo Landini, who turned out for the rally, dismissed suggestions that he wasn’t supportive of efforts to help Ukraine.
“The theme is to block war’’ with negotiations, Landini told reporters. “It’s (Russian President Vladimir) Putin who started the war.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were holding key cities in the central and southeastern part of the country Saturday, while the Russians were trying to block and keep encircled Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Sumy.
“We’re inflicting losses on the occupants they could not see in their worst nightmare,” Zelenskyy said. He alleged that 10,000 Russian troops were killed in the 10 days of the war, a claim that could not be independently verified. The Russian military doesn't offer regular updates on their casualties. Only once, on Wednesday, they revealed a death toll of nearly 500.
“This is horrible,” Zelenskyy said. “Guys 18, 20 years old ... soldiers who weren’t even explained what they were going to fight for.”
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CHERNIHIV, Ukraine __ Video released Saturday by the Ukrainian government shows a Russian military plane falling from the sky and crashing, as onlookers on the ground cheer.
Firefighters sprayed water on flames and smoke at a structure next to the debris of the plane, which bore a red star and the number 24.
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WARSAW, Poland — The head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court has appealed for Russia’s top court to be excluded from a body of Central and Eastern Europe’s chief justices because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s top court president, Vsevolod Kniaziev, said the Supreme Court of Russia should be excluded from the Conference of Chief Justices of Central & Eastern Europe “as it represents a country that brought terror, death and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”
Kniaziev’s letter of appeal was received Saturday by Malgorzata Manowska, the president of the Supreme Court in Poland, which borders Ukraine.
Manowska’s office said she will urgently pass the appeal on to the chief justices’ conference, a platform of cooperation that works to enhance judicial standards.
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NEW YORK -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says there is nothing that warrants imposing martial law in Russia at this point.
Putin’s comment on Saturday followed days of speculation that the introduction of martial law could be imminent.
Putin said that “martial law is imposed in a country ... in the event of external aggression, including in specific areas of hostilities. But we don’t have such a situation, and I hope we won’t.”
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ROME — Italian state broadcaster Rai is suspending reporting by its correspondents in Russia.
Rai's measure, effective Saturday, follows similar moves by some other foreign media. Rai said the measure is necessary to “safeguard the safety of its journalists in the place as well as the maximum freedom of information about the country."
Russia on Friday passed a law foreseeing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading what is deemed to be fake information about its armed forces.
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NEW YORK — Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow would consider any third-party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as “participation in the armed conflict.”
Speaking at a meeting with female pilots on Saturday, Putin said Russia would view “any move in this direction” as an intervention that “will pose a threat to our service members.”
“That very second, we will view them as participants of the military conflict, and it would not matter what members they are,” the Russian president said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed NATO to impose a no-fly zone over his country, warning that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you.”
NATO has said a no-fly zone, which would bar all unauthorized aircraft from flying over Ukraine, could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia.
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HELSINKI, Finland — Finland and Sweden have pledged to further deepen defense cooperation, including with NATO. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says that “Russia’s war against a European nation puts the European security order at risk.”
Finland and neighboring Sweden for years have resisted joining NATO, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine is changing the dynamic. Recent polls in both countries show more than 50% of Finns and Swedes in support of NATO membership but their governments are more cautious.
“It’s very understandable that the mindset of our citizens is changing due to Russia’s attack against Ukraine,” said Marin, but refused to comment on whether Finland would ask for a major non-NATO allied status, a designation given to countries with close strategic relationship with the U.S. military.
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BERLIN -- The U.N. human rights office says it has confirmed the deaths of 351 civilians in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
The Geneva-based office said that another 707 civilians were injured between Feb. 24 and midnight Friday.
The rights office uses strict methodology and only reports casualties it has confirmed. It said Saturday it believes the real figures are considerably higher, “especially in government-controlled territory and especially in recent days,” as the receipt of information from some places where there was intense fighting was delayed and many reports were still undergoing corroboration.
Ukrainian officials have presented far higher numbers.
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LONDON — Hundreds have gathered in central London Saturday to protest Russia’s assault on Ukraine, with the conflict in its 10th day.
Carrying placards reading ’’Protect Europe: Save Ukraine″ and waving the country’s blue and yellow flag, demonstrators chanted, “Stop Putin, stop the war.”
The rally in London’s Trafalgar Square began with a prayer from Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the papal nuncio to Great Britain. He said: “Today we are all Ukrainians.”
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NEW YORK — Aeroflot, Russia’s flagship carrier, has announced that it will halt all international flights except to Belarus starting March 8.
The move by Russia’s biggest state-owned airline comes after the country’s aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, recommended that all Russian airlines with foreign-leased planes halt both passenger and cargo flights abroad.
It cited a high risk of foreign-leased planes being impounded as part of Western sanctions that ban leasing of planes to Russia.
Rosaviatsiya’s recommendation doesn’t apply to Russian airlines that use Russian planes or foreign planes that aren't at risk of being impounded.
It also doesn’t apply to foreign airlines from countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia and have not shut down their airspace for Russian planes. Aeroflot's statement Saturday cited “circumstances that hinder operating flights” as a reason for its move.
Aeroflot said it would cancel return tickets for passengers who are scheduled to depart Russia after March 6 and travel back after March 8. Those with one-way tickets will be allowed to fly up until March 8. Earlier this week, S7, Russia’s biggest private airline, announced that it was halting all international flights starting Saturday.
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BERLIN -- German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF say they are suspending reporting from their Moscow studios after Russia passed a law foreseeing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading what is deemed to be fake information about its armed forces.
The measure was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on Friday and already prompted some foreign media including the BBC and Bloomberg to say they were suspending operations within Russia.
ARD and ZDF said in a statement that they are examining the consequences of the new legislation and suspending reporting from the Moscow studios for now.
The passing of the law comes amid a broader crackdown on media outlets and social media in Russia.
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LVIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian president’s office says civilian evacuations have halted in an area of the country where Russian defense officials had announced a cease-fire.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, said the evacuation effort was stopped because the city of Mariupol remained under fire on Saturday.
“The Russian side is not holding to the ceasefire and has continued firing on Mariupol itself and on its surrounding area,” he said. “Talks with the Russian Federation are ongoing regarding setting up a ceasefire and ensuring a safe humanitarian corridor.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier in a statement it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces for Mariupol, a strategic port in the southeast, and for the eastern city of Volnovakha.
But a city official reported that shelling continued in his area Saturday despite the deal, a sign of the fragility of efforts to stop fighting across the country.
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RZESZOW, Poland — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine as the war enters its 10th day. Blinken arrived in Rzeszow on Saturday for talks with top Polish officials and was to visit a frontier post to meet Ukrainian refugees later in the day.
Blinken was meeting Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau a day after attending a NATO foreign minister’s meeting in Brussels at which the alliance pledged to step up support for eastern flank members like Poland to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although NATO has ruled out establishing a no-fly zone over non-member Ukraine, it has significantly boosted both military and humanitarian assistance. Rzeszow is about 80 km (50 miles) from the Ukrainian border and its airport has become a hub for flights carrying such aid.
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MADRID — Spanish clothing giant Inditex has decided to “temporarily suspend” all its activity in Russia, including over 500 stores and its online sales.
In a statement to Spanish stock market regulator CNMV, the parent company of Zara, Massimo Dutti and other fashion chains says that “under the current circumstances it cannot guarantee the continuity of its operations and the commercial conditions in the Russian Federation.”
It added that the company will focus on developing “a special support plan” for the more than 9,000 people it employs in Russia.
Inditex said that Russia accounts for 8.5% of the group’s business. It said the move doesn’t significantly impact its investment there because all its Russian shops operate on rented premises.
Major western companies, including H&M, Apple, Mercedes-Benz and BP, have halted their sales or operations in Russia since the country started its invasion of Ukraine.
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NEW YORK — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has defended Russia’s adoption of a law setting out prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading what is deemed to be fake information about its armed forces.
The measure was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on Friday and prompted some foreign media including the BBC and Bloomberg to say they were suspending operations within Russia.
Peskov told reporters the measure was justified on the grounds of an “information war which was unleashed against our country.” Asked how Russians could express opinions which don’t match the official government position, Peskov said “within the bounds of the law.”
The passing of the law comes amid a broader crackdown on media outlets and social media in Russia. Facebook and Twitter were both blocked Friday in Russia.
GENEVA -- The International Organization for Migration says the number of people who have left Ukraine since fighting began has now reached 1.45 million.
The U.N. migration agency, citing figures from government ministries in countries where they have arrived, said Saturday that 787,300 of them went to Poland. Some 228,700 fled to Moldova, 144,700 to Hungary, 132,600 to Romania and 100,500 to Slovakia.
The IOM said that nationals of 138 countries have crossed Ukraine’s borders into neighboring nations.
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ISTANBUL - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman says the Turkish leader will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
“This war must be stopped immediately and there must be a return to the negotiating table,” Ibrahim Kalin told broadcaster NTV in Istanbul. He said Saturday that "our president will talk to Putin tomorrow.”
NATO member Turkey has close ties to both Russia and Ukraine and has repeatedly offered to mediate between the two. It has invited the top diplomats of both countries to Turkey for talks next week.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that Russian Foreign Minister Seygey Lavrov had confirmed his attendance at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, to be held in the Mediterranean coastal city between March 11-13.
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BERLIN -- The German government says the country’s state-owned development bank has signed an agreement with Dutch gas company Gasunie and German energy company RWE to build a liquid natural gas import terminal.
The Economy Ministry said Saturday that the memorandum of understanding to build the LNG terminal in Brunsbuettel, on Germany’s North Sea coast, was signed Friday. It didn’t give financial details or a timeframe.
The terminal will be run by Gasunie, which is owned by the Dutch state, and Germany’s KfW development bank will have a 50% stake. The ministry said that, in the long term, the plan is to re-equip the terminal to import green hydrogen derivatives.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last weekend that Germany will quickly build two LNG terminals, one in Brunsbuettel and the other in Wilhelmshaven. Germany wants to reduce its dependency on Russian gas following the attack on Ukraine.
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ROME — Italian financial police have seized two Russian-owned superyachts moored in a Ligurian port after Italy’s foreign minister announced plans to sequester 140 million euros ($154 million) from Russian billionaires in Italy.
Foreign Minister Luigio Di Maio told Italian state TV Friday evening that “this is the only way to convince” Putin “to reason.’’
Financial police in the port of Imperia immediately seized the 65-meter (215-foot) “Lady M,” with an estimated value of 65 million euros, owned by Alexei Mordashov, as well as the “Lena,” valued at 50 million euros and belonging to Gennady Timchenko. Other seizures were reportedly under way.
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PARIS — The office of President Emmanuel Macron says France will soon propose concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of Ukraine’s five main nuclear sites.
The safeguards will be drawn up on the basis of International Atomic Energy Agency criteria, a statement from the French presidency said Saturday.
A Russian attack on a nuclear plant sparked a fire on Friday and briefly raised worldwide fears of a catastrophe. The statement said Macron is “extremely concerned about the risks to nuclear safety, security and the implementation of international safeguards resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Macron said Russia “must immediately cease its illegal and dangerous military actions” and allow Ukrainian authorities full control over all nuclear facilities within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. He urged Russia to allow “free, regular and unhindered access for facility personnel to ensure their continued safe operation.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — The Russian military will observe a ceasefire in two areas of Ukraine starting Saturday to allow civilians to evacuate, Russian state media reported, but there was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine. It would be the first breakthrough in allowing civilians to escape the war.
The Russian Defense Ministry statement carried by the RIA Novosti and Tass agencies said it has agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces to allow civilians to leave the strategic port of Mariupol in the southeast and the eastern town of Volnovakha “from 10 a.m. Moscow time.” It was not immediately clear from the vaguely worded statement how long the routes would remain open.
The head of Ukraine’s security council, Oleksiy Danilov, had called on Russia to create humanitarian corridors to allow children, women and the elderly to escape the fighting, calling such corridors “question No. 1.”
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TOKYO — Hundreds of people marched in Tokyo on Saturday protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The crowd shouted, “Stop war. Protect lives.” Some held signs that read: “We stand with Ukraine.” Others held images of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the words: “Stop Putin.”
Russia’s shelling of a nuclear plant in Ukraine on Friday and Putin’s implied threat of nuclear war have struck a nerve in Japan, which suffered atomic attacks at the end of World War II in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl in Fukushima in 2011.
“It’s too terrible,” said housewife Yukiko Asano, one of the protesters.
The protest, one of the largest in Tokyo in recent years, included people from Europe and spiraled through the fashionable Omotesando district, extending for blocks. Many wore yellow and blue, the colors of Ukraine's flag.
“We need to stop Putin. We need to end the dictatorship,” said a Russian software engineer, who asked to be identified only by his first name Egor to avoid backlash. “This kind of situation is a way to nowhere.”
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LOS ANGELES — SpaceX founder Elon Musk says the company's Starlink satellite internet service was “told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources.”
“We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” Musk said in a post on Twitter.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation thanked Musk for providing equipment to Starlink.
Mykhailo Fedorov thanked SpaceX founder Elon Musk for the equipment in a Twitter post accompanied by a photo of boxes on the back of a truck. Federov had publicly requested the service.
Musk replied with his own tweet saying: “You are most welcome.”
The tech billionaire has said Starlink was “active” in Ukraine and more equipment to use it was on the way.
Starlink is a satellite-based internet system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world. It markets itself as “ideally suited” for areas where internet service is unreliable or unavailable.
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SINGAPORE — Singapore has announced sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, becoming one of the few governments in Southeast Asia to do so.
“The sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of all countries, big and small, must be respected,” said an announcement by the Foreign Ministry.
The tiny city-state imposed controls on exports or transshipments of military-related or dual use items considered “strategic goods.” It said the sanctions were aimed at constraining Russia’s ability to wage war and engage in “cyber aggression.”
The regional commercial hub also said it would prohibit all financial institutions from doing business with four Russian banks: VTB Bank, Bank Rossiya, the Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Co., and the Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs Vnesheconombank. Companies with existing dealings with the four must freeze their assets, it said.
The order also bans providing financial services or enabling financing for the Russian central bank, Russian government and entities owned or controlled by them.
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UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council will hold an open meeting Monday on the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine as the Russian offensive intensifies.
The United States and Albania requested the meeting, which will hear briefings by U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and Catherine Russell, executive director of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, diplomats said Friday.
At the request of France and Mexico, the council meeting will be followed by closed consultations on a draft resolution on the humanitarian plight of millions of Ukrainians that the two countries have been spearheading, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations on the meeting have been private.
The United Nations launched an emergency appeal on March 1 for $1.7 billion to respond to soaring humanitarian needs of both people who fled Ukraine and who remain in the country. It immediately received pledges of $1.5 billion, and has urged that the pledges be turned into cash quickly.
The UN estimates that 12 million people staying in Ukraine and four million fleeing to neighboring countries in the coming months will need humanitarian aid.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is calling Russia’s attack on a nuclear plant a war crime.
“It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant,” the embassy statement said. “Putin’s shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further.”
Russian troops seized the plant Friday in an attack that set it on fire and briefly raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The blaze was extinguished and no radiation was released.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia’s action “nuclear terrorism” and appealed to the U.N. Security Council for action to safeguard Ukraine’s endangered nuclear facilities.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal appealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the EU to send representatives to all five of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. “This is a question of the security of the whole world,” he said in a nighttime video address.
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HONOLULU — The Hawaii House of Representatives voted 47-1 to pass a resolution condemning Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and supporting U.S. economic sanctions on Russia.
“Ukraine is fighting to enjoy the same basic rights that Americans are promised at birth: free speech, security in a democratic society and equal protection under the law,” said Rep. Patrick Pihana Branco, a Democrat.
Many lawmakers wore blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, on Friday to show their support for the embattled country.
Rep. Dale Kobayashi, a Democrat, cast the lone vote against the measure.
“I just have not seen similar resolutions condemning us for our military aggression as the United States,” Kobayashi said.
Separately, the owner of Hawaii’s oil refinery decided to suspend purchases of Russian oil, which in recent years has accounted for up to a third of the crude consumed in the islands. Par Hawaii plans to meet the state’s fuel needs with other sources primarily from North and South America, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The head of Ukraine’s security council called on Russia to create humanitarian corridors to allow children, women and the elderly to escape the fighting.
Oleksiy Danilov said Friday more than 840 children have been wounded in the war. A day earlier, the Ukrainian government put the death toll among children at 28.
He spoke ahead of the latest talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations, planned for this weekend.
“The question of humanitarian corridors is question No. 1.,” Danilov said on Ukrainian television. “Children, women, elderly people – what are they doing here?”
Russian troops have encircled and blockaded several large cities in the south of the country, including Mariupol, trying to cut Ukraine off from the Black and Azov seas.
Ukrainian officials have asked for help from the Red Cross in organizing corridors, describing the situation in the blockaded cities as “close to a catastrophe.”
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WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will talk to U.S. senators on a video conference call Saturday morning, according to a person familiar with the invitation from the Ukrainian embassy.
All senators are invited to the call, according to the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the private invitation. The meeting will be the first time lawmakers have talked to the Ukrainian president since Russia invaded his country.
The call will come as Congress is considering a request for $10 billion in emergency funding, with money going toward humanitarian aid and security needs in the war-torn country. Approval could come as soon as next week.
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BERN, Switzerland — Switzerland’s financial regulator is taking steps to protect creditors of a commercial bank that’s tied to one of Russia’s biggest lenders.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, said Friday that Zurich-based Sberbank AG is “at risk of liquidity problems,” as a result of sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other nations on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
To protect creditors, FINMA has deferred the bank’s obligations from deposits by 60 days and banned the lender from making payments or transactions that are “not necessary for its operations as a bank.”
Sberbank, which specializes in commodity trade finance and has about 70 business clients, is reducing its business activities and has decided not to engage in any new business, FINMA said.
The regulator also said it will monitor the bank’s financial stability to ensure creditors are treated equally.
Sberbank AG is an indirect subsidiary of Sberbank Russia, which is one of the country’s two largest state-run banks.
The Russian bank was among those targeted last week by tough U.S. sanctions aimed at limiting their businesses internationally and over the weekend barred from the international SWIFT payment system.
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KYIV, Ukraine — In a bitter and emotional speech, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized NATO for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying it will fully untie Russia’s hands as it escalates its attack from the air.
“All the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you, because of your weakness, because of your lack of unity,” he said in a nighttime address. “The alliance has given the green light to the bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages by refusing to create a no-fly zone.”
On Friday, NATO refused to impose a no-fly zone, warning that to do so could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia.
“All that the alliance was able to do today was to pass through its procurement system 50 tons of diesel fuel for Ukraine. Perhaps so we could burn the Budapest Memorandum,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the 1994 security guarantees given to Ukraine in exchange for the withdrawal of its Soviet-era nuclear weapons.
“You will not be able to pay us off with liters of fuel for the liters of our blood, shed for our common Europe.”
He said Ukrainians will continue to resist and have already destroyed Russia’s plans for a lightning invasion “having endured nine days of darkness and evil.”
“We are warriors of light,” he said. “The history of Europe will remember this forever.”
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WASHINGTON — The White House announced Friday that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Poland and Romania next week to meet with officials to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and impact the war is having on the region.
Harris’ agenda for the March 9 to 11 visit to Warsaw and Bucharest is expected to center on economic, security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.
“The Vice President’s meetings will also focus on how the United States can further support Ukraine’s neighbors as they welcome and care for refugees fleeing violence,” said the vice president’s deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh.
President Joe Biden spoke on Friday with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda.
Poland is assisting about 700,000 Ukrainians and others who have fled the war so far. The United States has also more than doubled its military presence in Poland, which is a member of NATO, to 9,000 troops in recent weeks.
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WASHINGTON — Cogent, a major internet backbone company, is terminating its relationships with Russian customers, the company confirmed Friday.
“We’re concerned the Russians could use our network for either offensive cyberattacks or to spread disinformation,” said Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer said in an interview Friday, and added that the move was not because of sanctions the U.S. government placed on tech exports late last month. He said cutting off Russia was likely to hurt ordinary people’s ability to stream video.
Disconnecting the Russian customers won’t kick the country off the internet, but it could worsen their service, Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for the U.S. network management firm Kentik Inc., wrote in a blog post Friday. He said other internet traffic companies would have to fill in for Cogent. “A backbone carrier disconnecting its customers in a country the size of Russia is without precedent in the history of the internet and reflects the intense global reaction that the world has had over the invasion of Ukraine,” Madory said.
Madory said Cogent's Russian customers included state telecom Rostelecom as well as two of Russia’s three major cellphone carriers.
Ukraine’s government on Monday had asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to effectively cut off Russia’s internet, because of Russian propaganda about the war and cyberattacks on Ukraine, but its request was rejected. Kicking Russia off the internet would not stop Russian hackers, who could find alternatives, but it would isolate the Russian public.
Andrew Sullivan, the head of the Internet Society, a non-profit dedicated to promoting an open internet, has pushed against calls to cut Russia off from the internet. “Cutting a whole population off the Internet will stop disinformation coming from that population — but it also stops the flow of truth, he wrote Wednesday.
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TORONTO — The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation says it is temporarily suspending the work of all its journalists in Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation criminalizing reporting of the war in Ukraine that differs from the government line.
The CBC says the legislation “appears to criminalize independent reporting on the current situation in Ukraine and Russia.” The BBC earlier made a similar announcement.
“In light of this situation and out of concern for the risk to our journalists and staff in Russia, we have temporarily suspended our reporting from the ground in Russia while we get clarity on this legislation,” CBC said in a statement.
CBC says it joins other media in standing up for a free press and unimpeded access to accurate, independent journalism in Ukraine and Russia.
The Russian parliament voted unanimously Friday to approve a draft law criminalizing the intentional spreading of what Russia deems to be “fake” reports. It was then quickly signed by President Vladimir Putin.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto met Friday in the Oval Office to discuss the situation in Ukraine but did not directly address the issue of NATO membership. Finland is a “NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner” like its Scandinavian neighbor Sweden.
Biden thanked the Finnish president for the country’s help for Ukraine. “Finland is a critical partner to the United states, a strong defense partner, a partner to NATO.”
Niinisto thanked the U.S. for “leading in very difficult times.”
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WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday reiterated that the Biden administration remains resistant for now on banning Russian oil imports, raising concerns that such a ban could have a negative impact for U.S. and European economies. She added, however, that the administration was “looking at options we could take right now to cut U.S. consumption of Russian energy,”
Psaki also called on Russian forces to withdraw Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine. Russian troops seized the plant earlier Friday.
“The best step for nuclear safety would be for Russia to immediately withdraw,” Psaki said.
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UNITED NATIONS — Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador is accusing Russia of committing “an act of nuclear terrorism” by attacking the country’s largest nuclear power plant and is dismissing as “lies” his Russian counterpart’s claim that a “Ukrainian sabotage group” was responsible for setting fire to a training facility at the plant.
Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that as a result of Russian shelling on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, a fire broke out killing and injuring several people.
The plant is currently under control of the Russian armed forces, he said, and “it is alarming that several employees responsible for maintaining nuclear security at the site have reportedly been killed by Russian soldiers,” and “there has been no rotation of personnel since yesterday morning.”
While there have been no changes in radiation levels, Kyslytsya said several buildings are damaged and the telephone connection to the plant “is disrupted and not available at the moment.”
Describing the state of the plant’s nuclear power facilities, he said, Unit One “is in outage, its main building is damaged” and “the overpass of the special building is damaged.” Units Two and Three “have been disconnected from the grid” and are being cooled down, Unit Four is in operation at 690 megawatts power, and Units Five and Six are being cooled down, he said.
Kyslytsya accused Russia of deliberately attacking the nuclear power site in violation of numerous international agreements and said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who blamed a “Ukrainian sabotage group,” may not be properly informed by his government.
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LONDON — Britain is toughening up sanctions on Russian companies and wealthy individuals after criticism that it was too slow to act.
The Foreign Office said it would make it easier to slap sanctions on people and firms who have already been sanctioned by allies including the U.S., Canada and the European Union.
It also said it was tightening a new rule that requires overseas firms with assets in Britain to reveal their true owners — an attempt to crack down on money-laundering — by shortening the deadline for compliance from 18 months to 6 months,
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the changes, expected to be approved by Parliament next week, would give the U.K. “new powers in our arsenal to go further and faster” in sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies.
The British government is under pressure to hit the assets of more Russians in the U.K., which has long been a favored haven for ill-gotten wealth. The U.K. has imposed sanctions on fewer wealthy Russians than the European Union or the U.S.
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BELGRADE, Serbia — Several hundred followers of right-wing groups in Serbia rallied in central Belgrade in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chanting “Russia, Russia,” the protesters on Friday held up Russian flags as organizers pledged wider demonstrations if Belgrade joins Western sanctions against Russia.
Mladen Obradovic, from Obraz, or Honor, organization, described Russian President Vladimir Putin as the “strongest and bravest statesman in the world.”
Obradovic added that “Russia seeks to liberate the world from the NATO threat.”
Serbia has criticized the attack on Ukraine but has refused to impose sanctions against its traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally Russia. Many Serbs view Russia as a friendly nation and believe it has been wrongly vilified by the West.
Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic has complained of alleged Western pressure on his government over ties with Russia. The Balkan nation formally is seeking European Union membership but has maintained close relations with Moscow and with China.
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MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill introducing a prison sentence of up to 15 years for spreading information that goes against the Russian government’s position on the war in Ukraine.
The bill criminalizing the intentional spreading of what Russia deems to be “fake” reports about the war was quickly rubber-stamped by both houses of the Kremlin-controlled parliament earlier Friday.
Russian authorities have repeatedly decried reports of Russian military setbacks or civilian deaths in Ukraine as “fake” reports. State media outlets refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” rather than a “war” or “invasion.”
The law envisages sentences of up to three years or fines for spreading what authorities deem to be false news about the military, but the maximum punishment rises to 15 years for cases deemed to have led to “severe consequences.”
Also Friday, the state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, blocked Facebook and five foreign media organizations based abroad which publish news in Russian in a sweeping action to establish tight control over information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the European nations to support his country’s fight against the invading Russian military.
Zelenskyy appeared on video as he addressed thousands of people protesting the war in several European cities, naming among them Paris, Prague, Lyon, Frankfurt and others. He asked the big crowds not to be silent about what’s going on in his country.
“Don’t turn a blind eye on this,” he said. “Come out and support Ukraine as much as you can,” he said though a translator.
“If we fall, you will fall,” he said.
“And if we win, and I’m sure we’ll win, this will be the victory of the whole democratic world, this will be the victory of our freedom, this will be the victory of light over darkness, of freedom over slavery. And if we win we will become as blossoming as Europe. And Europe will be flourishing more than ever,” he said.
“All of you are Ukrainians today, thank you for this.”
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MOSCOW — Russia’s defense minister has spoken to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about humanitarian corridors in Ukraine.
Sergei Shoigu told Guterres in Friday’s call that the Russian military has created safe corridors for civilians to exit areas blocked by the Russian troops but charged that Ukrainian “nationalists” have prevented them from leaving, according to the Defense Ministry readout. Shoigu alleged that “nationalist and neo-Nazi forces, which also include foreign mercenaries, have used civilians as shields,” a claim that couldn’t be independently verified.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators on Thursday held the second of two rounds of talks, reaching a tentative agreement on setting up safe corridors to allow civilians to leave besieged Ukrainian cities and the delivery of humanitarian supplies. They are yet to iron out detailed provisions for those corridors.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s state communications watchdog has ordered to completely block access to Facebook in Russia amid the tensions over the war in Ukraine.
The agency, Roskomnadzor, said Friday it decided to cut access to Facebook over its alleged “discrimination” of the Russian media and state information resources. It said the restrictions introduced by Facebook owner Meta on the RT and other state-controlled media violate the Russian law.
A week ago, the watchdog announced “partial restrictions” on access to Facebook that sharply slowed it down, citing the platform’s moves to limit the accounts of several state-controlled Russian media. Facebook and Twitter have played a major role in amplifying dissent in Russia in recent years.
“Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” said Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs. “We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services to they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action.”
The move against Facebook follows the blocks imposed Friday on the BBC, the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Latvia-based website Meduza as the government seeks to uproot independent sources of information about the invasion of Ukraine.
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BRUSSELS — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven major world powers say that those responsible for Russian military attacks on civilians in Ukraine must be held accountable for their crimes, amid reports of the use of cluster bombs and other banned munitions.
In a statement after talks in Brussels on Friday, the G7 ministers said they are “deeply concerned with the catastrophic humanitarian toll taken by Russia’s continuing strikes against the civilian population of Ukraine’s cities.”
They underlined that “indiscriminate attacks are prohibited by international humanitarian law,” and that they “will hold accountable those responsible for war crimes, including indiscriminate use of weapons against civilians.”
The ministers also welcomed the investigations and evidence-gathering being done to establish what war crimes might have been committed in Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor has launched an investigation that could target senior officials believed responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide amid a rising civilian death toll and widespread destruction of property.
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ROME — The head of the World Food Program says the U.N. organization is putting in motion systems to feed from 3 million to 5 million people inside Ukraine.
David Beasley told the Associated Press from Warsaw, Poland that they were putting together teams around Ukraine’s borders to reach “those who can’t get out, and those who are going to be needing food support immediately.” He said they were leasing warehouses, trying to figure out how much food they can potentially buy in Ukraine, how much can be brought from outside.
“No one would ever expect anything like this in Europe in this century,” Beasley said, adding that millions of Ukraine’s 43 million-strong population were either refugees or internally displaced.
He praised the response of Poles, who have been meeting fleeing Ukrainians at the border, ’’making certain they’re getting hot meals, taking them to wherever they need to go,” calling it “really, really quite remarkable."
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UNITED NATIONS — The head of the U.N. nuclear agency says a “projectile” hit a building adjacent to a block of six reactors at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, sparking a fire that didn’t affect its operation, although he stressed there is nothing normal when military forces are in charge of the site.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the IAEA was informed by Russia a few days ago that its military forces were moving to take control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, similar to troops' seizure last week of Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
Grossi said the advance of Russian troops toward the perimeter of the nuclear power plant “was met with opposition and some group of civilians attacking the access to the plant.” Early Friday, he said, the IAEA “got information that a projectile had impact (sic) a building adjacent to the block of reactors, six of them.” He did not say who fired the projectile.
Grossi said Ukraine’s nuclear installations and facilities are important -- four big sites and 15 reactors and associated facilities, plus the site at Chernobyl, which has a giant metal dome covering the destroyed reactor.
The IAEA chief reiterated his readiness to travel to Chernobyl “as soon as practicable” to consult with Ukrainian nuclear authorities and, when necessary, the Russian authorities in charge to ensure that basic principles of safety and security are maintained.
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UNITED NATIONS -- Russia’s U.N. ambassador is rejecting claims that its military forces attacked Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant as “simply untrue” and part of “an unprecedented campaign of lies and disinformation against Russia.” He claimed a “Ukrainian sabotage group” set fire to a training facility just outside the plant.
Vassily Nebenzia told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that the Russian military took control of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant located there on Monday.
After negotiations with the plant’s management, he said, an agreement was reached for the Russian military to guard the facility to ensure its security “to prevent the Ukrainian nationalist or other terrorist forces from taking advantage of the current situation to organize a nuclear provocation.”
Nebenzia said according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on Thursday night a Russian mobile patrol in the area adjacent to the plant “was attacked by a Ukrainian sabotage group in order to provoke return fire.”
He said the patrol was attacked with heavy small arms fire from the windows of several floors of a training complex located just outside the nuclear plant and the Russians returned fire “and suppressed their fire.”
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GENEVA — A top Russian diplomat insisted Friday that his country will not occupy Ukraine.
“The goal is very clear: Denazification and demilitarization,” Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador in Geneva, said of the invasion — which he called a “special military operation.”
“We are not going to stay in Ukraine militarily. We are not going to occupy this country,” he told the U.N. Geneva press association ACANU. “I don’t now all the details of the military plan, but the political goal is as I described it.”
He said the definition of “demilitarization” was being discussed in diplomatic talks between Ukrainian and Russian envoys.
“We want to secure — or to have guarantees — that the threat is not coming from Ukraine against the Russian Federation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to legitimize Russia’s moves in Ukraine by claiming a desire to “denazify" Ukraine, a country with a Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust and who heads a Western-backed, democratically elected government. Historians see Putin's invocation of World War II as disinformation and a cynical ploy to further the Russian leader’s aims.
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MOTYZHYN, Ukraine — Footage shot near Kyiv shows the body of a woman alongside a vehicle, its windows shattered and its windshield wipers still swishing.
Petro Lytvyn, who lives near the site in Motyzhyn, said three people died amid shooting.
“Who was shooting we don’t know,” he said. A medic in town tried to reach the wounded but couldn’t. “We lost three. No one wants to pick them up from the car, maybe there is an explosive inside, so no one wants to approach it,” he said. Another vehicle with broken windows and a shorn-off front bumper holds a victim slumped over.
“I was scared the first three days,” said Olena Dovzhenko, who lives in the town. “Now we hear a little bit where there is shooting, who is fighting back and where. At the beginning, my heart was beating, I had panic attacks.”