Kyiv/Washington/Moscow: In face of the purported Russian threats of using nuclear weapons, Washington today warned that Russia would pay a severe price for the use of weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, chemical, biological weapons.
“We have spoken to our Allies. We have done contingency planning within our own government. And we have communicated directly to the Russians. And I’m not going to speak further to it here, the National Security Advisor of the United States of America, Jake Sullivan, told media persons in Washington today.
The United States President Joe Biden was expected to give a “major address” in Warsaw tomorrow that will speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression. He’ll also talk about the context and history of this conflict and where he sees it going from here.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier discussed at length the progress in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Putin expressed regret over the “slowness of the Ukrainian side” in the ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine today said Russia had captured the Mariupol, the second-largest in Donetsk Oblast with a population of 431,859. The Head of Donetsk Regional Military Administration claimed that Russian invaders continued to kill civilians in the Donetsk region. “Russian artillery/aviation strikes continue in Mariupol, Avdiivka and Mariinka areas. On March 25, reports came in of several injured civilians and the death of a child,” he claimed.
Incidentally, while the Head of Regional Military Administration claimed that the Ukrainian government and the Armed Forces of Ukraine still controlled all large key cities in Donetsk region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the Russians had opened the headquarter of the United Russia party in Mariupol. “They distribute party newspapers, Russian cellphone cards and spread Russian propaganda,” it claimed while mentioning that Mariupol was bombed to the point of near-destruction, with about 80-90% infrastructure demolished.
The Human Rights Commissioner of The Parliament of Ukraine stated that Russian forces continued forcibly deporting people from Mariupol to Russia. “Ukrainians are passed through ‘filtration camps’, where the Russian FSB compiles lists of ‘unreliable persons’,” the Commissioner stated.
The Mariupol city council today claimed that at least 300 people died when Russian aviation bombed the Mariupol Drama Theatre on March 17, 2022. The premise had acted as a refuge for around 1000 women, children and the elderly.
Also read: Russia continues to attack civilians in Ukraine
The Mariupol city council today further claimed that today the Russian occupiers destroyed the Children’s Rehabilitation Centre, completed in autumn 2021 together with the European Investment Bank.
Meanwhile, the United States President Joe Biden was on way to Rzeszów in Poland today where he would meet with his Administrator of the USAID, Samantha Power, and a range of different humanitarian experts and leaders who will give him a briefing on the humanitarian assistance efforts both into and around Ukraine. Biden will also visit with troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, who have been deployed to Poland to reassure the NATO Ally and to deter further aggression on the eastern flank. The US President will also get a briefing from the commanders of those units who will have the chance to layout for him the various tasks and missions that the American troops stationed at the airfield here have been undertaking and continue to undertake.
The US has 10,500 troops in Poland as part of 100,000 strong U.S. forces contingent across the continent as a whole. And a significant number of those forces here in Poland were FLOT forward — brigade combat team, tactical aviation, a Stryker unit — “to ensure that we have robust deterrence and assurance in the face of Russian aggression and to fulfil the President’s commitment that we’ll defend every inch of NATO territory”, the White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, told media persons in Washington today.
Biden will meet with President Andrzej Duda of Poland in Warsaw tomorrow. The US President will also meet with Ukrainian refugees and with American humanitarians who are there trying to help feed and respond to the material needs of the refugee population in Warsaw. Incidentally, Duda could not meet Biden in Rzeszów as a defect caused his Polish Air Force aircraft to return to Warsaw.
– global bihari bureau
