Thread by @AJEnglish

Russia attacks Ukraine: 28 Feb updates ⤵️

It's day five of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as Russian forces “continue shelling in almost all directions”, says Ukraine's military.

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The Mayor of Bucha just outside Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has posted a video showing burned military vehicles on the road.

Earlier there were reports of fighting there with Russian troops trying to advance on Kyiv ⤵️

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352 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, says Ukraine’s health ministry.

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Amid Russia’s deepening international isolation, there are growing signs that China’s willingness to throw its strategic partner an economic lifeline may only go so far ⤵️ aje.io/veznf7

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from Ukraine's city of Lviv, says talks between Kyiv and Moscow are due to begin in about 'two hours':

"We don’t know who makes up these delegations but they are described as fairly high-level."

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“Once business opens in Vladivostok no one in the world will want to buy roubles."

Russian rouble plunges to record low amid outrage over Ukraine invasion aje.io/ws53zf

“We left dad in Kyiv.”

A Ukrainian boy fights back tears as he tells of being separated from his father.

Families have been torn apart as women and children flee the fighting, and men aged 18-60 are ordered to stay behind to fight the Russian invasion ⤵️

NATO member states are “stepping up” their support for Ukraine by providing Kyiv with air-defence missiles and anti-tank weapons, says Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

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"Sanctions will hurt ordinary people as well."

Russians denounce ‘collective punishment’ for Putin’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine aje.io/r8k9vp

Pakistan’s foreign ministry says it has evacuated at least 499 of the country’s citizens from Ukraine in recent days.

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Talks between Ukraine and Russia have started at the Belarussian border, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has told the Reuters news agency.

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“Not easy [decision] from the moral point of view.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has authorised the release of convicts with combat experience to help fight the Russian invaders ⤵️ aje.io/vnec2z

Hundreds of thousands people take to the streets across the world in protests, denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

— in pictures aje.io/hb6zw6

EU defence ministers are set to discuss plans later to jointly finance deliveries of weapons worth 500 million euros ($560m) to Ukraine, says bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

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“There's been a lot of segregation and racism.”

As hundreds of thousands of people flee Ukraine, African nationals are taking to social media to share their accounts of racial discrimination while trying to evacuate ⤵️

A video shared by the National Guard of Ukraine on Twitter appears to show a fighter dipping bullets in pig fat, to be used against Muslim Chechens fighting alongside Russian forces ⤵️

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President Vladimir Putin denounces the West an 'Empire of Lies'

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Ukraine reports dozens of people have been killed by Russian rocket attacks on the eastern city of Kharkiv aje.io/3fz9qw

Russia has a system that can replace the SWIFT global payments system internally, the governor of the country’s central bank says.

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More than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine into Poland and other neighbouring countries in the wake of Russia’s invasion, UNHCR says.

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Even with escalating sanctions, experts warn that these measures may not be enough to curb President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

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The International Olympic Committee calls for Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to be banned from sporting events.

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Ukraine’s health ministry said on Sunday that 352 civilians, including 14 children have been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion on February 14.

It is not clear how many Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have died so far aje.io/he8ed2

Switzerland’s president says his country, which is traditionally neutral, will adopt all of the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia.

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In call with Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron demands Russia ends its offensive.

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“Energy will not be out of this conflict, like it or not.”

Cutting energy dependence on Russia is an ‘existential’ issue, EU’s Borrell says.

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Russian rocket attacks kill 11 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, regional official says

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Video shared on social media shows explosions in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Ukraine’s military said that Russian attacks in residential areas had killed dozens of people and left hundreds wounded ⤵️

The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association warns of bias in Western coverage.

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Russia continues to advance into Ukraine, but experts say it’s been met with heavy resistance and logistical problems. We look at what’s happened so far and what it could mean for the war.

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Ukraine applies to join European Union.

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Thousands of people in several cities across the globe taken to public squares and Russian embassies to protest President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

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FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian football teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, from participation in both competitions until further notice.

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US slaps sanctions on Russia’s central bank.

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Which countries are sending military assistance to Ukraine? aje.io/my3e72

"If Ukraine does not survive, we cannot be surprised if democracy fails next.”

UN holds first emergency session in decades on Ukraine.

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Ukraine makes an offer to Russian soldiers, saying they will receive full amnesty and monetary compensation if they lay down their weapons.

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Russians have been queuing outside banks and ATMs amid fears that new Western sanctions on Russian banks over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine would trigger cash shortages ⤵️

The EU agreed for the first time to jointly finance weapons deliveries to a third country to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion ⤵️

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