Russia’s communications regulator accused 10 local media outlets on Saturday of falsely depicting what Russia calls a special military operation in Ukraine and distributing false information about events there.

Among those sent warning letters were Echo Moskvy, a popular radio station, and Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the government whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded a Nobel Peace prize last year.

Roskomnadzor, the regulator, ordered the media to delete the offending information or face restricted access to their websites and media resources.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week, saying it needed to demilitarize its neighbor.
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine could force as many as 4 million Ukrainians to flee their country, the United Nations said this week, spawning one of the worst refugee crises in Europe in more than 70 years.

According to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, as of Saturday morning, more than 150,000 Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries, with an estimated 75,000 crossing into Poland.

Grandi tweeted Saturday morning the number of internally displaced refugees within Ukraine “is also growing but the military situation makes it difficult to estimate numbers and provide aid.”

Poland – along with Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary – have relaxed COVID-19 border controls to allow in Ukrainians fleeing Russian violence. The Polish government declared open borders and said it would not require official documents.

“We will help everyone. We will not leave anyone without help,” the Polish border agency said.

According to the AP, the line of cars at the Medyka, Poland-Ukraine border crossing stretched back 15 kilometers.

Maia Sandu, the president of Moldova, tweeted Thursday, “The govt has deployed temporary placement centers near Palanca and Ocnița. Our borders are open for Ukrainian citizens who need safe transit or stay.”

The refugees are primarily women, children and the elderly because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy banned earlier this week men of military age from leaving the country.

In the U.S., the Biden administration has asked Congress to provide $6.4 billion to Ukraine, some of which will go toward humanitarian aid.  

U.S. Senator Chris Coons, the chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Committee, which overseas humanitarian aid, told reporters Friday he supported emergency spending of at least $10 billion to support the Ukrainian military and refugees.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, is scaling up programs for millions of children in Ukraine threatened by Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, is under attack. Russian forces have entered the country from multiple directions.  Deaths and injuries reportedly are growing. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his invasion of the country Thursday, the dangers to civilians have risen exponentially.

UNICEF regional director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan warns the war is posing an immediate threat to Ukraine’s 7.5 million children.

“As we speak, there have been major attacks in Kyiv that have created great fear and panic among the population, with families really scared, moving alongside their children into subways and shelters.  And this is clearly a terrifying moment for children across the country,” Khan said.

UNICEF has been providing humanitarian assistance to millions of children and families in Ukraine for eight years.

The agency has been particularly active in the Russian-backed searatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, where it has been trucking safe water to areas affected by conflict.

UNICEF has placed health, hygiene, and emergency education supplies in areas near the contact line. That is the 500-kilometer zone separating Russian-backed territories from the rest of Ukraine. The agency also has provided psychosocial support for traumatized children living in the volatile area.

Khan says needs are increasing with the escalating crisis.  She says fuel is in short supply, as is the cash needed to buy emergency supplies of medicines, hygiene kits and other essential relief for people in the Donbas region and across the country.

“Obviously, Kyiv and the West have not suffered the same consequences.  And now, as a result of the critical situation families and children are finding themselves in, we see an increased risk of fear, trauma, the need for shelter, the need for cash. And we will see an increasing need for additional supplies,” Khan said.  

UNICEF says the needs of children and families are escalating in line with the conflict. The agency is seeking $66.4 million to increase access to basic services for up to 7.5 million children inside Ukraine.  

It says the appeal will provide water and sanitation, immunization and health care, schooling, and learning.  The agency says it aims to expand the number of mobile teams currently moving around the country providing psychosocial support to traumatized children. Boosting this service, it says, will allow it to keep pace with a fast-rising number of requests for psychological support, and care for children.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Refugee Agency warns that up to 4 million people may flee to other countries in Europe if the crisis escalates. Given this reality, Khan says UNICEF, with the refugee agency, and other U.N. agencies will issue a flash appeal in the coming days to support an influx of refugees in surrounding countries.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, more than 150,000 Ukrainians have already crossed into neighboring countries.
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French sea police seized a ship on Saturday that authorities suspect belongs to a Russian company targeted by European Union sanctions over the war in Ukraine, a government official told Reuters.

The cargo vessel transporting cars, which was headed for St. Petersburg, is “strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions,” said Captain Veronique Magnin of the French Maritime Prefecture.

The ship was diverted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. (0200-0300 GMT), Magnin said, adding ongoing checks were being carried out by customs officials and the ship’s crew was “being cooperative.”

The Russian Embassy in France is seeking an explanation from authorities over the seizure, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted the embassy as saying.

French newspaper La Voix Du Nord, which first reported the news, said the vessel was the Baltic Leader, which, according to website marinetraffic.com, sails under a Russian flag.

The company that owns the ship belongs to a Russian businessman who is on the EU’s list of sanctioned people, Magnin said.

EU states on Friday agreed to freeze European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister to punish Russia for the attack on Ukraine. A wider list of sanctioned people was put in place earlier this month.
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Explosions and gunfire could be heard Saturday in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as Russian and Ukrainian forces battled for control of the city.

Ukrainian officials are urging the country’s citizens to help defend Kyiv against the Russian forces.  An army base in the capital was attacked, but Ukraine’s military said that attack was repelled.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had predicted the attacks on Kyiv would become more intense Saturday.

“Kyiv requires special attention,” he said Saturday. “We cannot lose the capital.”

Russian forces advancing on Kyiv and other key cities as part of a plan to “decapitate” Ukraine’s government appear to have lost some momentum, U.S. and Western officials said Friday, as they and Moscow ramped up information operations to keep up with fighting on the ground.

Explosions and gunfire Friday continued to rock areas near Kharkiv in the north and Kherson in the south, as Russian forces continued a slow march farther into Ukraine.

A senior U.S. defense official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence, said the Russian forces had unleashed a barrage of more than 200 ballistic and cruise missiles since the invasion began, most of them targeting the Ukrainian military.

But the official said intelligence indicated the operation is not going as smoothly as Russian commanders might have hoped.

“The Russians have lost a little bit of their momentum,” the official said. “They are not advancing as far or as fast as we believe they expected they would.”

The Russian advance on Kyiv, in particular, seems to have gotten bogged down.

“They’re meeting more resistance than they expected,” the U.S. official said, adding that Russian forces had yet to establish air superiority despite a numerical advantage and efforts to eliminate Ukrainian air defenses.

Ukraine’s command and control “is intact,” the official added.

In Kyiv, Zelenskyy sought to rally the nation, rejecting rumors that he had fled the city and insisting he and other government officials “are all here, defending our independence, our state.”

Russian claims

Russian officials countered Friday that their forces had made solid progress in what they described as an effort to eliminate a terrorist threat.

In one social media post, Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov said his country’s forces had disabled more than 200 Ukrainian military facilities and dozens of air defense batteries and radar stations, while destroying a handful of Ukrainian combat planes, helicopters and military vehicles.

Russia’s military also said Friday it took control of the strategic Hostomel airport northwest of Kyiv.

Russia’s claim was not immediately confirmed, but Ukrainian authorities reported heavy fighting there.

On the ground in Ukraine

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, meanwhile, denounced what he called “horrific rocket strikes” on the city, some of which hit civilian areas.

Separately, Kyiv’s mayor, former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, said the city has gone into a defensive phase and warned that Russian saboteurs were on the loose.

Western officials, despite praising Ukrainian forces, cautioned the situation was fluid, and noted that things could change rapidly, especially given that about two-thirds of the 190,000 Russian troops along the Ukrainian border had yet to take part in the fighting.

They also warned of Russian attempts to use disinformation to cloud the situation on the ground and scare Ukraine’s forces into submission.

“Our information indicates Russia is creating a disinformation campaign by publicizing false reports about the widespread surrender of Ukrainian troops,” a U.S. official said Friday.

“Our information also indicates that Russia plans to threaten killing the family members of Ukrainian soldiers if they do not surrender,” the official added.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby praised the Ukrainian forces Friday, even as Russian troops move deeper into the country from the north and the south.

“We see clear indications that Ukrainian armed forces are fighting back and bravely,” he told reporters. “[The Russians] have experienced some setbacks.”

Kirby also said the United States was continuing to find ways to help Ukraine defend itself “both from a lethal and nonlethal perspective.”

NATO response

The Pentagon voiced support for NATO’s decision to activate the NATO Response Force Friday, citing Russia’s aggression.

“It’s not entirely clear if Mr. Putin has designs beyond Ukraine, and it’s because that’s not perfectly clear that we continue to look for ways to bolster our NATO capabilities and to reassure our allies,” Kirby said.

NATO on Friday vowed to continue to support Ukraine’s government and military and warned it had taken unprecedented action to ensure the security of alliance members.

“We are deploying elements of the NATO Response Force on land, at sea, and in the air to further strengthen our posture and to respond quickly to any contingency,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels following a virtual meeting of alliance heads of state.

“There must be no space for miscalculation or misunderstanding,” he said of NATO activating the 40,000-strong force for the first time. “We will do what it takes to protect and defend every ally and every inch of NATO territory.”

Opening for talks

After meeting Friday with foreign ministry officials from the separatist-controlled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Russia was “ready for talks at any moment” once Ukrainian forces “stop their resistance and lay down their arms.”

Ukraine’s Office of the President said earlier it is ready to open negotiations with Russia to agree on “neutral status,” but it wanted security guarantees in return. “We should stop this war,” an adviser to the president said.

In response to Ukraine’s offer, the Kremlin said Friday that Russia is ready to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with Ukrainian officials. Ukraine countered that it wanted to hold the talks in Poland.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Friday that Russia’s offer for talks with Ukraine was an attempt to conduct diplomacy “at the barrel of a gun.” He said if Russia is serious about diplomacy, it must stop bombing Ukraine.

The United Nations Refugee Agency warned Friday the two-day assault by Russian forces already has forced more than 50,000 people to flee their homes.

U.S. officials said many have been trying to make their way to the Polish border, estimating tens of thousands of Ukrainians are on the move.

At the United Nations, Security Council members voted Friday on a resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and reaffirming the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Russia, a Security Council member, vetoed the measure, as expected.

The vote was 11-1, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining. The draft measure is expected to be taken up next by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly.

White House correspondent Anita Powell, U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, VOA refugee correspondent Heather Murdock in Slovyansk and Jamie Dettmer in Kyiv contributed to this report.

Some information in this report came from Reuters. 
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, all times EST:

2:33 a.m.: Kazakhstan denies Russia’s request for troops, NBC News reports.

1:57 a.m.: “Kyiv requires special attention,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday. “We cannot lose the capital.”

1:33 a.m.: Syrian president praises Russian actions, Al Jazeera reports.

1 a.m.: Protests against Russia continue in Australia.

12:39 a.m.: The BBC reports that missiles are being launched at Ukraine from the Black Sea.

12:26 a.m.: The Associated Press reports that street fighting is under way.

12:05 a.m.: Russia blocked a move Friday in the U.N. Security Council to condemn and halt its invasion of Ukraine, but several nations said they would seek accountability from the full U.N. membership in the General Assembly. VOA’s Margaret Besheer has the story.

12:01 a.m.: Agence France-Presse has a timeline of major events in the conflict:

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Following an emergency meeting Friday, NATO triggered its Response Force for the first time to defend the eastern flank of the alliance as Russian forces continue their invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv has again urged its Western allies to provide military help. More from Henry Ridgwell.
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NATO triggered its Response Force for the first time Friday to defend the eastern flank of the alliance, as Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine.

“In response to Russia’s massive military buildup over the past months, we have all of us strengthened our deterrence and defense,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. “We are deploying elements of the NATO Response Force on land, at sea and in the air, to further strengthen our posture and to respond quickly to any contingency.”

“There must be no space for miscalculation or misunderstanding. We will do what it takes to protect and defend every ally and every inch of NATO territory,” Stoltenberg said.

High alert

Several NATO allies have reinforced their presence in Eastern Europe in recent days, with troops, fighter jets and warships on high alert across the region.

NATO’s priority is the defense of its members, said Claudia Major of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “European countries and NATO countries have to prepare for the repercussions of the war in the military domain, so assuring the defense of their own countries, [while] supporting Ukraine as much as they can,” Major said. “They have to get prepared for the nonmilitary repercussions, like refugees, for example.”

Ukraine plea

Ukraine’s president again urged his country’s Western allies to provide more military assistance. Wearing military fatigues, Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a televised address Friday as Russian troops and armor advanced on Kyiv.

“This morning we are defending our state alone, as we did yesterday,” he said. “The world’s most powerful forces are watching from afar. Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this is not enough. Foreign troops are still trying to become more active in our territory.”

The Ukrainian president has vowed to remain in the capital despite acknowledging that he is a prime target for invading Russian forces.

Comprehensive sanctions

Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia have announced wide-ranging sanctions against Russia aimed at blocking its banks from accessing funds and freezing the Kremlin out of Western financial markets.

Earlier this week, Russia’s currency hit an all-time low against the dollar and its stock market plunged 40%. But that’s unlikely to influence Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Nora Muller, executive director of international affairs at the Korber Foundation in Berlin.

“If we look at Putin’s actions so far and the kind of decision-making that we can analyze, then he always put a higher priority to security considerations than he put to economic considerations,” Muller told VOA.

Existential threat

Ukraine wants direct military support, which NATO has explicitly ruled out. Britain’s Armed Forces Minister James Heappey explained his government’s position to lawmakers Friday.

“British and NATO troops should not, must not, play an active role in Ukraine,” Heappey said. “We must all be clear what the risk of miscalculation could be and how existential that could very quickly become if people miscalculate and things escalate unnecessarily.”

Western intelligence assessments say Ukraine’s armed forces have slowed the Russian advance, aided by weapons from Kyiv’s allies, including the United States and Britain. But there is a limit to the military aid that the West can deliver, analyst Muller said.

“You cannot just deliver arms, especially when it’s like complicated military systems and say, ‘Here it is and you do with it whatever you like.’ You do have to train people. And we may be beyond that stage already,” Muller said.

Loud protests

Outside NATO headquarters, demonstrators called for tougher action. “We are fighting for the whole democratic world here. If we don’t stop them in Ukraine, they will go next to the European Union,” said Artemii Sattarov, a Ukrainian national living in Brussels.

Anger at Russia’s actions — and frustration at the Western response — have triggered protests in cities around the world, from London to Pretoria, Amman to Buenos Aires, Taipei to Tel Aviv. In Russia itself, thousands of people have been arrested in recent days following anti-war protests in dozens of cities.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris and Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate were among landmarks lit up in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag. Kyiv has welcomed the gestures of support but says it needs weapons, not words.
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Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn Thursday televised address, social media users living in countries near Ukraine began setting up online networks to support refugees.

By Friday evening, at least 100,000 people had signed up to various groups on Facebook and other platforms, offering their homes, money and carpools to Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, crossed into Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia as of Friday as Russian missiles pounded the capital of Kyiv and men of fighting age were told to remain.

Malgorzata Krentowska was one of many Poles who joined a 3,500-member Facebook group, “Ukraine, I’m helping you!,” to advertise an unused apartment in southern Poland.

“My grandmother was born there in 1912, and my mother used to tell me Russian fairy tales which I still remember fondly,” she wrote. “If anyone would like to stay there I can share the keys. There is cold running water and electricity.” 

Another Facebook group, “Aid to Ukraine,” has gained close to 104,000 members since it was set up by Polish entrepreneur Marta Lisowska a day earlier.

Lisowska told Reuters her mother’s death had prompted her to help people, and she soon hoped to welcome refugees into her old flat in Gdansk, on the Baltic coast.

Her friend Witold Wodzynski, who helps manage the group along with his wife, Sylwia, said Ukrainians had been positively surprised that so many Polish people wanted to help.

“Host a Sister,” a network that helps members accommodate one another for free, added 10,000 new members in the last week, according to the group’s Facebook page, as women from neighboring countries rushed to offer their homes. 

Meanwhile in Poznan, a 700-member group called “Kejterski Patrol” offered help to people fleeing with their dogs by temporarily housing and walking the animals. 
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U.N. aid agencies are increasing humanitarian operations to help Ukrainians whose lives have been upended since Russia invaded the country.

The Russian offensive has thrown the country into turmoil. Aid agencies are scrambling to assess the dangers and priority needs and to help millions of people in an environment of extreme insecurity.

Preliminary figures of casualties are daunting. As of February 24, the U.N. human rights office says it has received reports of at least 127 civilian casualties, including 25 killed and 102 injured. Most of those casualties were reported in government-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine’s separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Shabia Mantoo is a spokeswoman for UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency. She says there has been substantial displacement and movement within the country and across borders since the offensive began.

“There are more than 100,000 people who we estimate have left their homes and maybe are displaced inside the country. And we are also aware of several thousand who have crossed international borders in the region. And we have seen those really just happening since the onset of the situation.”

The UNHCR warns up to four million people may flee to other countries if the situation escalates.

The World Health Organization representative in Ukraine, Jarno Habicht, was traveling when the Russian invasion started. He is stuck in Spain because the airspace in Ukraine is closed to civilian traffic.

He has lived in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, for three years and says he is personally concerned for the safety, health, and well-being of people across the country.

He says just one week ago, WHO staff was scaling up its COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Ukraine. He says inroads were being made in halting a recent polio outbreak and reforms to the country’s health system was gathering pace.

“Now, our priorities have shifted to trauma care, ensure access to services, continuity of care, mental health, and psycho-social support, but also moving forward all the reforms. So, humanitarian response is our top critical area now where we need to ensure also that our health and humanitarian response is protected.”

In response to the crisis, the WHO has released $3.5 million from its emergency contingency fund to purchase and deliver urgent medical supplies.

In addition, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has allocated $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund.

Earlier this year, the U.N. appealed for $190 million to assist 1.8 million vulnerable people in government and non-government areas in eastern Ukraine.
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South Korean officials reiterated Friday that they willl implement U.S. and European sanctions on Russian exports but that Seoul will not impose its own. The sanctions were imposed this week in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“As a responsible member of the international community, the Korean government will support and join [its] efforts, including economic sanctions, to curb [Russia’s] armed invasion and resolve the situation peacefully,” the foreign affairs ministry said Friday in a Twitter post. That echoed remarks made a day earlier by President Moon Jae-in, who argued for a resolution through dialogue and negotiation, not war.

Semiconductors, electronics, and automobiles, South Korea’s top exports to Russia, could all be affected by the latest export controls announced by the U.S. Commerce Department. They will require companies that use U.S.-origin technology in products, such as semiconductors, computers and aircraft parts, to receive Washington’s approval before sending them to Russia.

“Between our actions and those of our allies and partners, we estimate that we will cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday in announcing the new curbs.

Although a few Asia-Pacific states, including Japan and Australia, have announced their own sanctions against Russia, South Korea said it has no plans to do the same, for now.

“What we’re saying is that we will naturally abide by the sanctions as they are issued by the U.S. and European nations,” presidential spokesperson Park Soo-hyun said in a radio interview on Friday.

“We also have to keep in mind that our trade relations with Russia are growing,” he said.

On Wednesday, a presidential official who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters multiple options were on the table, and that Seoul’s position could be adjusted depending on the duration of the crisis, its direction and other countries’ responses.

Seoul’s position stands in contrast to that of Japan, which extended it sanctions Friday to include semiconductors and other high-tech goods, as well as a freeze on Russian banks’ assets. Previously, it had banned new travel permits for individuals from the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, after Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to recognize those Ukrainian territories earlier this week.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday characterized Russia’s invasion as a “unilateral attempt to change the status quo … with ramifications for the international order, not just in Europe but Asia and beyond.”

South Korea’s response so far has largely been inward-looking — setting up a government task force with affected businesses as well as around-the-clock monitoring of global risks, such as the price of oil and natural gas.   

Moon urged the full use of current nuclear power plants at an energy supply chain inspection meeting on Friday, marking an apparent reversal from his administration’s hallmark nuclear phase-out policy. The global flow of LNG is expected to be disrupted by the crisis unfolding in Ukraine.

‘Strategic Ambiguity’ with a friendly disposition

Russia is South Korea’s 10th-largest trading partner, accounting for 1.6% of South Korea”s exports and 2.8% of its imports, according to the Korea International Trade Association’s 2021 data.  

The scale may pale in comparison to that of China and the United States, Seoul’s two top trading partners, but the Russia relationship holds growth potential and plenty of amicable history, according to international relations professor Ahn Se Hyun at the University of Seoul.

“Russia was instrumental in South Korea’s joining of the United Nations in 1991,” Ahn told VOA. “And unlike the nature of Russia’s relationship with Japan since the Cold War, which is akin to that of enemies, South Korea’s relationship with Russia has been one of strategic cooperation.”

Tokyo and Moscow have yet to agree to a post-World War II peace treaty, divided by an ongoing territorial dispute over a chain of islands between them. 

For South Korea, Russia holds significance not only in the past, but also for the future.

“Since our trade reliance on China is so high, Russia offers an alternative to diversify; it can also serve as a springboard into the European market,” Ahn said. Russia is also one of few countries that support the reunification of the two Koreas, he said.

Implications for the Korean peninsula

South Korea’s top two presidential candidates, who are locked in a close race with 12 days until the vote, condemned Russia Thursday. 

While the liberal frontrunner, former provincial Governor Lee Jae-myung, said the Ukraine situation shows the importance of preserving peace, the leading conservative candidate, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, went a step further.

In a statement, Yoon noted the situation facing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has made largely unsuccessful appeals for international help. 

“As a country that is surrounded by global powers, we need to draw a lesson for ourselves,” Yoon said, underscoring Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in 1994 in exchange for security assurances from the U.S., U.K. and Russia, per the Budapest Memorandum.

“Memoranda between nations can become mere scraps of paper under the weight of great-power politics,” said Yoon, who has campaigned on a tougher posture against nuclear-armed North Korea.
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Hundreds of Australians of Ukrainian descent joined those with Russian heritage to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in downtown Sydney on Friday.

It was an act of solidarity many thousands of kilometers away from the conflict in Ukraine.

Protesters held signs urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the killing.

The Australian government has joined the international condemnation of the Russian attack.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also condemned China for undermining Western sanctions against Russia.

In early February, China’s president, Xi Jinping, and Putin agreed to boost trade ties.

Australia insists the agreement was aimed at undermining the United States’ network of global alliances and any sanctions that it would impose on Russia.

Morrison urged China to act responsibly.

“You don’t go and throw a lifeline to Russia in the middle of a period when they are invading another country,” he said. “That is simply unacceptable from the reports that we have seen, and I would urge all nations to say this is not a time to be easing trade restrictions with Russia. We should all be doing the exact opposite.”

A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson suggested Thursday the attack should not be called an “invasion” because Russia was only targeting Ukrainian military bases.

Morrison had previously described Russian invaders as “thugs” and “bullies.”

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton has said that China’s President Xi might be one of the few global leaders who could persuade his Russian counterpart to halt the invasion.

The Australian government will send medical supplies, financial support and military equipment, but not weapons, to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia.

The Russian embassy in the Australian capital, Canberra, has said sanctions imposed by Australia were “xenophobic.”
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International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan on Friday expressed his concern over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and said his court may investigate possible war crimes in the country.

“I have been closely following recent developments in and around Ukraine with increasing concern,” Khan said in a statement.

“I remind all sides conducting hostilities on the territory of Ukraine that my office may exercise its jurisdiction and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within Ukraine.”

Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the subsequent fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces, Ukraine accepted ICC jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on its territory since February 2014.

In December 2020, the office of the prosecutor announced it had reason to believe war crimes and other crimes were committed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The preliminary examination was closed, but a formal request to judges to open a full investigation has not been filed yet.

Judges must agree before an investigation can be opened.

In December last year, Khan said there was no update on the case when asked about progress of the examination.

Russia is not a member of the ICC and has opposed the ICC case.

However, the court can investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Ukraine regardless of the nationality of the alleged perpetrators.
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Explosions were heard over Ukraine’s capital early Friday, the second day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

The New York Times reported that it had “verified” video of the blasts showing “fiery debris” falling on Kyiv. The Times also said the video “appeared to show at least two surface-to-air missiles being fired near Kyiv before the explosion.”

Sirens were also heard in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border, where many foreign embassies had temporarily relocated.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday evening that Russian troops, entering from Belarus, had advanced to within 32 kilometers of Kyiv.

In northern Ukraine, Russian troops took control of the Chernobyl power plant Thursday. “This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe,” Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said.

Chernobyl is the site of the world’s worst nuclear power plant explosion. Chernobyl and its surrounding area have remained uninhabitable since the 1986 disaster.

Anti-war protesters staged demonstrations across Russia, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, on Thursday. Officials say at least 1,700 people were arrested.

U.S. President Joe Biden slapped another round of sanctions on Russia Thursday, hours after the invasion.

“[Russian President Valdimir] Putin is the aggressor,” Biden said at the White House after meeting virtually Thursday with leaders of the G-7 nations and NATO. “Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

The new U.S. sanctions target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors and also include export controls. Biden said these measures will “squeeze Russia’s access to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come.”

NATO allies, including Britain and the European Union, also imposed more sanctions Thursday.

The effect was felt almost immediately on global markets, where stocks slumped and commodity prices surged. Biden acknowledged that Americans will see higher gasoline prices.

However, Biden said, “This aggression cannot go unanswered. America stands up for freedom. This is who we are.”

He rebuked Putin for saying in recent weeks that he was interested in negotiating with the United States and its allies over his security concerns. Putin repeatedly said the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, formed after World War II, poses a threat to Russia and demanded that Ukraine be barred from joining the alliance.

“This was never about security,” Biden said. “This was always about naked aggression, about Putin’s desire for empire.”

Now, Biden said, “Putin will be a pariah on the world stage.”

But Zelenskyy said Friday that it is clear sanctions have not swayed Russia’s decision to attack Ukraine.

The invasion

This invasion is the biggest test of Europe’s security since the end of World War II. In a pre-dawn television address from the Kremlin, Putin termed it a “special military operation” aimed at the “demilitarization and denazification” of its neighbor, once a Soviet republic but an independent country since 1991.

The first volley struck at Ukrainian forces in the country’s east early Thursday and was followed by rocket strikes at several airports. As night fell in Europe, Ukraine’s Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said 57 Ukrainians had been killed and 169 wounded.

According to U.S. officials, the Russian offensive, still in its initial phase, targeted Ukrainian defense positions with more than 160 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and airstrikes from fixed-wing aircraft.

On Thursday, the usually active center of Kyiv — an ancient city known for its gold-domed cathedrals, wide boulevards and elegant architecture — was mostly deserted. In residential districts, lines formed at banks and outside food stores. Main roads leading out of the city were clogged with traffic headed west.

From Kyiv, VOA’s Jamie Dettmer reported that a military airport west of the capital was struck early Thursday by attack helicopters. He added that a top official had told him that “Russian military forces broke through into Ukraine in the Kyiv region at the Vilcha checkpoint,” which is on the border with Belarus, a Russian ally where Putin has massed troops in recent weeks, saying they were conducting military exercises.

A senior U.S. defense official told Pentagon reporters that the fighting appeared to be most intense in the second-largest city, Kharkiv, where additional soldiers also appeared to move into the city. Russian troops have also been moving toward the southern city of Kherson in what the defense official said appears to be an effort to capture key population centers and “decapitate” Ukraine’s government.

“It does seem that their goals are fairly maximalist, probably including wholesale regime change in Kyiv,” said Simon Miles, an assistant professor of public policy at Duke University. “The ability of the Ukrainian military to resist that, I think, remains to be seen. And they want to have this wrapped up before any kind of sort of partisan force can get into formation. And that is much easier said than done.”

The defense official said, “We have seen indications that some Ukrainian units are fighting back.”

They will not be joined by American forces, though, Biden reiterated, stressing that U.S. forces have been moved only into NATO countries near Ukraine. He committed the U.S. military to fighting alongside NATO allies if Putin advances his attacks past Ukraine and into any of the 30 NATO countries. The Pentagon announced it was deploying 7,000 more U.S. troops to Germany to bolster NATO’s force in Europe.

Calls for more sanctions

For now, NATO allies are countering with harsh words and what they say are ever-harsher sanctions on the Russian leader and his inner circle. Sanctioning Putin’s personal assets remains a possibility if warfare escalates further, Biden said.

For weeks, Biden had been pushing for a diplomatic solution. On Thursday, he said there was a “total rupture” in U.S.-Russia relations.

The United States and several allies had imposed a first tranche of sanctions Tuesday, after Putin declared the disputed eastern Ukraine regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states, much as he appropriated Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called Russia’s attack “amongst the darkest hours for Europe since the end of World War II.” Speaking to reporters Thursday, Borrell said Ukraine needed “urgent assistance” and that the EU would “respond in the strongest possible terms.”

Biden said he discussed the situation in a phone call with Zelenskyy, who asked him to “call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against President Putin’s flagrant aggression and to stand with the people of Ukraine.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Thursday that the international community needs to respond with “devastating sanctions on Russia” and send weapons, military equipment, financial assistance and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called Russia’s attack a “grave breach of international law.

“We stand with the people of Ukraine at this terrible time,” he said. “NATO will do all it takes to protect and defend all allies.”

Lithuania, a NATO member, declared a state of emergency Thursday and ordered its army to deploy along its border with Belarus.

The next move?

NATO leaders plan to meet Friday, and the alliance has activated its defense plans for member states in the region.

At the United Nations, Security Council members plan to vote Friday on a resolution that would condemn Russia for invading Ukraine and reaffirm the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. It will also call on Russia to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw troops from Ukraine.

A senior U.S. official said they expect Russia to use the veto power it holds as a permanent council member. Diplomats are expected to then move quickly to the General Assembly, where it could be adopted without a threat of veto and with strong moral backing — but would not be legally binding.

As a new day arrived in Kyiv on Friday, the White House said it was closely watching Putin’s next move. A reporter asked what Putin’s endgame is.

“I’m not going to make a prediction of that,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “But we certainly think he has grander ambitions than Ukraine.”

White House correspondent Anita Powell, Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer, State Department bureau chief Nike Ching, VOA refugee correspondent Heather Murdock in Slovyansk and Jamie Dettmer in Kyiv contributed to this report.

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters.
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The British government has decided to expand a program allowing some Hong Kong residents to settle in the U.K., providing a potential lifeboat for thousands of young people seeking to escape increasingly repressive Chinese rule in the former British colony.

The British Nationals Overseas, or BNO, plan that gives millions of Hong Kong residents the chance of British citizenship, was launched 13 months ago. The move came after the Chinese government imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, which critics say has restricted the city’s freedoms.

Previously, only Hong Kong residents born before 1997 — when the city was handed back to China from Britain — were eligible to apply for citizenship through the plan.

But following a parliamentary meeting Thursday, British Immigration Minister Kevin Foster outlined in a written statement the changes, which are expected to go into effect in October.

“It is right and important to address this, so the Government has made the decision to enable individuals aged 18 or over who were born on or after 1 July 1997 and who have at least one BN(O) parent to apply to the route independently of their BN(O) parent,” part of the statement read.

Approximately 5.4 million residents were eligible for the BNO plan prior to Thursday’s amendment, with more than 100,000 applications received since January last year. Successful applicants can work and study in Britain for up to five years, after which they can apply for citizenship.

But a campaign backed by senior British politicians and the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, urged British lawmakers to open the plan to Hong Kong’s younger residents.

Britain-based Hong Kong Watch, a nonprofit organization monitoring human rights and freedoms, released a statement welcoming the news.

“We are delighted that the Government has taken the bold and moral step to expand the BNO Visa for those brave young Hong Kongers who are not currently covered by the scheme.”

Benedict Rogers, Hong Kong Watch chief executive, praised the move.

“This is a very significant development, which will provide a lifeline to many young Hong Kongers whose only option until now was applying for asylum. It sends a clear message that the U.K. will honor its responsibilities to Hong Kongers and that Hong Kongers are very welcome in the U.K.,” he told VOA.

VOA has contacted the Hong Kong chief executive’s office for comment but has yet to receive a response.

In 2019, Hong Kong saw widespread anti-government protests that sometimes turned violent as demonstrators opposed a controversial extradition bill and called for further freedoms. Many demonstrators were either students or in their 20s.

Beijing responded by passing the national security law for Hong Kong in June 2020. It strictly prohibits acts deemed as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson then announced that his government was launching the BNO program to aid residents in the former British colony because the security legislation threatened Hong Kong’s unique freedoms.

China has not recognized the BNO passport for Hong Kong residents since Jan. 31, 2021.

The lifeboat plan, however, has already contributed to thousands leaving, data suggest. According to data released by Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong’s population declined 1.2% by mid-2021, equating to approximately 89,200 people, the biggest decrease in Hong Kong’s population in 60 years, Agence France-Presse reported.

A government spokesperson has defended the decline, insisting the figures are due to a lack of new arrivals into the city.

Joseph Cheng, a political analyst formerly of Hong Kong but now in New Zealand, said the amendment is a boost for younger Hong Kong residents.

“This is going to be a major help to the young people in Hong Kong who want to emigrate, especially for those who do not have the wealth. The U.K. has been the most favored destination for Hong Kong people who plan to leave,” he told VOA.

“The exodus reflects the general disappointment with the government on the part of the Hong Kong society,” Cheng added.

An initial assessment by the British government previously estimated that by 2026, up to 300,000 could apply to emigrate via the BNO plan. As of Dec. 31, 2021, 103,900 applications had been received.

Ernie, a 20-year-old student in Hong Kong, told VOA he would now consider applying for the plan.

“I feel positive that the U.K. government is finally stepping up, helping the young adults in Hong Kong. [The] Hong Konger community in the U.K. is huge and growing. It would be easier for Hong Kong people to settle,” he said.

Ernie is considering moving to Britain because of health and political measures in Hong Kong.

“[Hong Kong is] too strict in pandemic measures. [And the] political environment keeps evolving. The idea that a lot of people who you support three, four years ago, before any protest begin, are being prosecuted and jailed right now for whatever reason seems frightening,” he said.

Michael Mo, a former district councilor in Hong Kong who now resides in Britain, said many who emigrate will be students needing financial support for their studies.

“The next step of the U.K. government, if they change the rules, should allow BNO visa holders to be treated as home fee students at universities. “Home fees are capped by the Government and generally lower than international fees,” according to the House of Commons Library website.

Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement that would see the city enjoy a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years. But critics have said Beijing has since broken this agreement by tightening its grip on the city’s political and lawful affairs.

Hong Kong’s national security law has had a dramatic effect on the city. Street protests and slogans have been banned. Hundreds of dissidents have been arrested, including dozens of democratic lawmakers, and media outlets also have been forced to close.
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Security forces in Russia have broken up anti-war protests in several cities across the country. In Moscow, protesters chanted “no to war” after Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine early Thursday.
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President Joe Biden condemned what he has called Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified” military attack on Ukraine and launched another round of sanctions against Moscow. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
Producer: Barry Unger
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In the week after the Nazis began attacking Poland, the U.S. weekly newsmagazine Time declared in its September 11, 1939, edition, “World War II began last week at 5:20 a.m. (Polish time) Friday, September 1, when a German bombing plane dropped a projectile on Puck, a fishing village and air base in the armpit of the Hel Peninsula.”

France and the United Kingdom, allies of Poland, had declared war on Germany on September 3.

In the hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine — although no country has declared war on Russia — many are asking: “Is this the start of World War III?”

“No, it’s not,” according to Joshua Pollack, editor of The Nonproliferation Review and a former consultant to the U.S. government on issues related to weapons of mass destruction, including proliferation, arms control and deterrence. “The real question is whether it’s the start of Cold War II. The answer may depend on the longevity of Putin’s regime.”

Plenty of previews

Naoko Wake, Michigan State University associate professor of history, concurs.

“This appears to be one of the beginnings of a second Cold War, which we have been seeing so many manifestations of around the globe in the recent decade,” she says.

“We’re far from World War III but a lot closer than we were 24 hours ago,” says Kenneth Weinstein, a Hudson Institute distinguished fellow. “But if NATO is forced to invoke Article V by a Russian attack on the Baltics, Poland or other alliance members, and the Chinese move simultaneously and massively on Taiwan, while Iran launches a blistering attack on Saudi Arabia, we’d be there.”

That scenario is “unthinkable but not impossible,” adds Weinstein, who was former President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Bryan Clark, a Hudson Institute senior fellow and a former director at the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group, states, “This isn’t the start of World War III, at least in terms of how previous world wars played out. Russia can manage its operations in Ukraine to keep the conflict from escalating out of control, and the U.S., NATO and EU have reconciled themselves to not intervening militarily.”

This could be, however, “the start of a long-term, slow-motion global confrontation between Russia and its Western neighbors, which could be complemented by conflict between China and its eastern neighbors,” Clark says.

Democracies vs. authoritarians

It is premature to call this a new world war, according to Brett Bruen, who runs the Global Situation Room consultancy.

“Nonetheless, there clearly is a worldwide war being waged on a range of fronts between democracies and authoritarian regimes. While they may not be fighting on the battlefield, they certainly are squaring off online and through regional conflicts in places like Ukraine and Afghanistan,” says Bruen, a former White House global engagement director.

“Regardless of how the situation is resolved, it would engender a bitter divide between Russia and the West, triggering a new Cold War,” according to Vishnu Prakash, India’s former ambassador to Canada and South Korea.

“If NATO were to intervene militarily, all bets are off and could even precipitate the Third World War,” Prakash says.

Time magazine’s early reference to World War II — what we now call World War I was known simply as the World War or the Great War until the bloody sequel — prompted U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to begin using the term, although the government did not officially adopt that name for the six-year conflict until September 1945, a month after the Japanese surrendered.

Ankit Panda, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also views World War III terminology as premature.

“The concern is that this becomes a larger-scale European conflict,” he says, observing “a small possibility that other states could seize on a distracted West amid this crisis to pursue escalation elsewhere. But there’s no evidence this is likely.”

‘Death knell’ of postwar order

What is clearer among the people who make a living thinking about such questions is that a new era is beginning this week, regardless of what it ends up being labeled.

“Putin’s invasion may well signal the death knell of the postwar global order and the rise of a revanchist global alliance of Russia, China and Iran, undeterred by the rule of law and laser-focused on kinks in the Western alliance system,” Weinstein says.

“This act of war is intended to rewrite history, and more concerning, upend the balance of power in Europe,” said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy in a statement Thursday.

Asked by a reporter on Thursday whether we are seeing the start of a new Cold War, President Joe Biden responded “that depends,” adding what is more certain is “it’s going to be a cold day for Russia.”
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Russian police detained more than 1,300 anti-war protestors in 50 Russian cities Thursday, according to OVD-Info, an independent Russian human rights group.

Anti-war rallies broke out after a military operation targeting Ukraine was announced. The human rights organization said most of the detentions, 660, were in Moscow.

The group said arrests were also made in Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and other cities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used a televised address to announce what he called a “special” military operation in eastern Ukraine, in response to what he termed Ukrainian threats. He warned other countries not to intervene, declaring they will face “consequences they have never seen” if they do.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the government was introducing martial law throughout the country after “Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in the World War Two years.”

NATO is bolstering its military presence to defend allied countries in eastern Europe, if necessary, the military alliance said hours after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the people of Ukraine were suffering “an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” adding, “The world will hold Russia accountable.”
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has so far been met with diplomatic silence in Africa, except for a comment made by Kenya’s ambassador to the UN earlier this week. Analysts say that while many Africans disagree with Russia’s use of force, the continent’s governments are aware of Russia’s power on the world stage.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Kenya, Andrii Pravednyk, spoke to reporters in Nairobi and appealed to the international community to help his country against Russia’s invasion.

“Today, the future of Europe and the future of the world is at stake. Today Ukraine calls on the international community to take the following actions, to implement devastating sanctions on Russia now without any delay,” he said.

But so far, African governments have said nothing about the Russian aggression. One exception is Kenya, whose ambassador to the U.N., Martin Kimani, condemned the prospect of an invasion Monday, three days before Russian forces entered Ukraine.

“Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression,” he said.

Separately, South Africa issued a statement Wednesday urging Ukraine and Russia to find a way to de-escalate tensions.

Steven Gruzd is the head of the Russia-Africa Program at the South African Institute of International Affairs. He says African states are well aware of Russia’s power in the international system.

“African countries are mindful of the role Russia plays in international politics. It is a supporter without asking governance questions, without asking [about] the internal affairs of countries,” he said.

“There was a big Africa-Russia summit in 2019 in Sochi where 43 African leaders went. Russia is definitely wooing the continent and that may weigh on how critical countries are going to be,” he said.

But Grudz says in principle, African government oppose the idea of rearranging borders by force.

“We were left with colonial borders at the end of the 19th century and when our countries became independent, we decided that we would respect those borders even though they cut off ethnic groups and language groups and so on. Otherwise, it’s a recipe for total disaster. So, I think the fact that there is some political affinity between Russia and African countries would probably make the statement more muted but African countries will stand for their principles and one of those is territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he said.

Kenyan international relations expert Kizito Sabala says he doubts the Kenyan ambassador’s words at the U.N. will affect Nairobi’s relationship with Moscow.

“Russia is going to ignore this statement just like any other from the U.S. or any other partner. They are just going to proceed with what they want to do and what they think is right but in terms of relations, I don’t think it is going to adversely affect Kenya-Russia relations,” he said.

Russia has exerted increasing influence in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Mali and Libya in recent years. Some governments have used Russian mercenaries to battle insurgent groups.

The mercenaries are accused of widespread abuses against civilians. The Russian government denies any link to the mercenaries.
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