Washington/Kyiv: As Russia bombs more cities today, the United States today came out with a statement claiming President Joe Biden’s success in re-establishing American leadership at the United Nations and other international organizations, “where our values, security, and prosperity could be protected and advanced”.
The US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken today also talked to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi about Moscow’s “premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified” war against Ukraine, and told him in no uncertain terms that “the world is watching to see which nations stand up for the basic principles of freedom, self-determination and sovereignty”.
Only yesterday, China had accused the US of spreading disinformation and smearing China with the Ukraine issue, and maintained its support to all diplomatic efforts “that are conducive to the political settlement of the Ukraine issue, and support dialogue and negotiation by Russia and Ukraine for a political settlement that accommodates both sides’ legitimate concerns”.
Blinken in his conversation with Yi today underscored that the world was acting in unison to repudiate and respond to the Russian aggression, ensuring that Moscow will pay a high price.
Ned Price, Department Spokesperson at the US Department of State, said in Washington that the US and its partners and allies were raising Russia’s aggression in every corner of the UN system and in related international organizations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, International Civil Aviation Organization, and International Maritime Organization. “Our message in all these bodies is clear: there can be no business as usual so long as Russia wages this brutal war on its neighbour…The success of that effort can clearly be seen in this week’s remarkable series of multilateral actions,” Price said.
The US further elaborated that multilateral diplomacy could at times frustrate even the most determined of diplomats. But, the powerful display of international solidarity and collective action against Russia, it said, demonstrated the unique role and indispensability of multilateral organizations like the United Nations to effectively respond against threats to the rules-based international order.
“This is not only a time to appreciate the role of the United Nations, but it is also an opportunity to strengthen and revitalize the international system to prevent such aggression in the future, Price said and quoted Biden saying, “An overwhelming majority of nations recognize that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is not only attacking Ukraine, he is attacking the very foundations of global peace and security—and everything the United Nations stands for.”
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Notwithstanding such assertions by the US, Russia continued to march ahead in Russia. Putin yesterday had had a telephone conversation with his key ally and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on the progress of the special military operation, and Russia-Ukraine talks.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner, as of March 3, 2022, more than 1,2 million refugees left Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
According to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, 6.5 thousand people were moved from Luhansk and Donetsk regions . “Since February 24, 2022, about 5 thousand people were evacuated from Luhansk region and about 1,500 people from Donetsk region,” said the statement. Earlier, the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office Mykhailo Podoliak noted that about 200 thousand people want to be evacuated from Mariupol and 20 thousand from Volnovakha. Fierce battles were taking place in both cities.
Ukraine claimed Russia broke previous agreements on humanitarian corridors and evacuation of peaceful citizens. The Ukranian Ministry of Defence claimed that Russian airplanes continued “a campaign of terror and civilian deaths by bombing peaceful cities”. Two wounded children died, as ambulances were unable to break through Russian fire to evacuate them from Bucha to Kyiv. Russian occupiers blew up railroad tracks in Irpin city (Kyiv region), disrupting the evacuation of women, children and elderly.
Russian forces today conducted missile strikes and bombings of Mariupol, Volnovakha and other cities. This made evacuation and delivery of humanitarian aid impossible.
The Mariupol City Council claimed that Russian invaders had renewed shelling of the city and its neighboring area, sabotaging the plans for peaceful evacuation. The city council was forced to cancel the humanitarian evacutation and asked city residents to find shelter.
Only 400 people were evacuated from the city of Volnovakha today. The Donetsk Regional State Administration stated a larger evacuation was planned to avert a humanitarian disaster, but Russian forces resumed shelling of the city and nearby villages and the evacuation had to be stopped to protect Ukrainian citizens.
The Office of the President of Ukraine stated: “The Russian invading army has once again broken the ceasefire agreement designed to help with humanitarian crises and evacuation of citizens. They are shelling the city of Volnovakha (Donetsk region), making evacuation impossible.”
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine mentioned that today the Russian aviation bombed 20 residential buildings in Bila Tserkva city. In Irpin city, Russian invaders bombed the railway and train used for evacuating civilians. Besides, 10 more residential buildings were hit by airstrikes in Kharkiv, where the top floors caught on fire. The State Emergency Service reached the spot but the rescue efforts were constantly paused due to continued Russian shelling of the city.
Russian shelling continued in Enerhodar city near Europe’s largest Nuclear Power Plant, thus making evacuation of people from there impossible in the absence of any safe humanitarian corridor. The local authorities said they were setting up patrols in the city and working on restoring heating.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Russia of spreading lies that Ukraine was creating obstacles to the evacuation of its own citizens.
Russian forces unleashed airstrike at Velykodolynske in Odesa Region. According to the preliminary reports, one of the critical infrastructure objects was destroyed. Serhii Bratchuk, the spokesman of the Field Office of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, reported no casualties.
Operational Headquarters of the Odesa Regional Military Administration stated that today Ukrainian air defense destroyed a Russian military plane over Odesa. The Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down another Su-25 Russian jet, this time near Ochakiv (a city on the shore of the Black Sea).
The Mayor of Mykolaiv, a shipbuilding city near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, claimed that three Russian helicopters were shotdown and enemy vehicles were captured in the ongoing defence of the city from Russian armed aggression.
Google reported that their data showed massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against numerous Ukrainian websites including the Ministries of Foreign and Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Google’s specialists were working to protect Ukrainian users and important local services. Google had also expanded its aid to Ukraine to $25 million. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said Ukraine today joined the NATO United Centre for Advanced Cyber Defence Technologies as a member-contributor. 27 members of the organization voted unanimously for Ukraine’s membership.
The advisor to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, said that major rallies against Russian aggression and for Ukraine’s peace and independence are ongoing in Kherson, Zaporizhia, Melitopol and Berdyansk – cities in central, eastern and southern Ukraine affected by Russian invaders. People were taking to the streets with Ukrainian flags.
Meanwhile, under ‘Operation Ganga’, about 3000 Indians were airlifted today by 15 special flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. These included 12 special civilian and 3 Indian Air Force flights. With this, more than 13 thousand 7 hundred Indians have been brought back since the special flights began on February 22, 2022.The number of Indians brought back by 55 special civilian flights goes up to 11728. Till date, the IAF has flown 10 sorties to bring back 2056 passengers, while taking 26 tonnes of relief load to these countries, as part of Operation Ganga.
– global bihari bureau
