🔴The Ministry of Defence has said service personnel are banned from travelling to Ukraine amid reports British soldiers have gone absent without leave to fight Russia.
🔴5,000 residents fled the besieged city of Sumy yesterday, the Ukrainian government has announced, with the humanitarian corridor to stay open today telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴760 visas have been granted so far for Ukrainians to come to the UK, Cabinet minister Grant Shapps has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
The Ukraine-Russia morning briefing:
1⃣4 British soldiers may have gone to fight Russia
2⃣Pentagon pours cold water on Poland's jet idea
3⃣Russia claims it will 'observe a regime of silence'
4⃣Nuclear agency 'has lost contact with Chernobyl'
🔴At least 10 people were killed in a Russian military attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Severodonestk, a local official for the Luhansk region said in a statement telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴The number of people fleeing Ukraine since the Russian invasion began has probably now reached 2.1-2.2 million people, the head of the United Nation's refugee agency UNHCR has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Civilians in private cars have started leaving Sumy after a "humanitarian corridor" was established for a second successive day, Mayor Oleksandr Lysenko has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Russia and Ukraine have agreed a day-long ceasefire around a series of evacuation corridors to allow civilians to escape the fighting, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Ukrainian biathlete Anastasiia Laletina was forced to pull out of the middle distance sitting event at the Beijing Winter Paralympics after her father was captured by Russian forces telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴The EU has agreed to add more Russian oligarchs and officials to its sanctions blacklist, tighten controls on cryptocurrency transfers and target the maritime sector over Moscow's war in Ukraine, diplomats have said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
The purpose of Russia's "military operation" in Ukraine is not to overthrow the central government, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Kamala Harris will travel to Poland today to discuss how to provide "military assistance" for Ukraine telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Heat, water, power supplies, and phone connections are working normally in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Deputy Mayor Mykola Povoroznyk has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴 NEW: Russian troops not tasked with 'overthrowing' Kyiv government
🔴Russian forces have disconnected the Chernobyl nuclear plant from the national power grid, the Ukraine state power grid has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Zelensky has said the international community would be responsible for a mass "humanitarian catastrophe" if it did not agree a no-fly zone to protect his country telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴 NEW: Radioactive substances could be released from Chernobyl after power switched off
🔴Russia did not attend World Court case because of the "absurdity" of the suit, Russia's foreign ministry has said on Twitter telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Any decision to give fighter jets to Ukraine must be taken jointly by all Nato countries, Poland's prime minister has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🎙️Why is Britain handling the Ukrainian refugee crisis so badly?
🔴Members of Russia's National Guard have detained more than 400 people in Ukraine's Kherson Oblast who protested against the occupation of their hometowns, Ukraine’s military high command has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
Ukraine-Russia lunchtime briefing:
1⃣Zelensky says no-fly zone needed to avert catastrophe
2⃣Radioactive substances could be released from Chernobyl
3⃣12-hour ceasefire agreed
4⃣MiG jets a 'matter for Poland and the US'
5⃣Kamala Harris heads to Poland telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴The European Union has agreed to add 146 members of Russia's upper house of parliament and 14 Kremlin-linked oligarchs and relatives to its sanctions list
⚠️Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said Russia must urgently observe a temporary ceasefire to allow repairs on a power line to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
🔴The UN atomic watchdog says it sees "no critical impact on safety" from the loss of power at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Minister Dmytro Kuleba has accused Russia of holding 400,000 residents of Mariupol hostage by shelling the city telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴Chechen fighters and Kremlin-funded mercenaries are being deployed because the Russian military is “struggling to assemble” a large enough force to capture Kyiv, defence analysts have said.
⚠️Russian forces have damaged the high-voltage power line connecting Chernobyl and Kyiv and cut off electricity to the infamous Chernobyl power station, raising fears of radioactivity leaks telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🚨BREAKING: Children are 'under rubble' after Russian air strike on a Mariupol hospital, the country's president Volodymyr Zelensky has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🇷🇺The Russian army has admitted for the first time that conscripts are taking part in Moscow's military advance in Ukraine.
🔴The US has seen indications that Russia's military is bombing Ukraine using so-called "dumb" bombs that are not precision-guided and would have limited ability to hit targets precisely telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
📽️A video posted by President Zelensky, filmed from inside a maternity hospital, showed wards reduced to a wreckage, walls collapsed, rubble covering medical equipment, windows blown out and shattered glass everywhere telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🚨Britain will send the world’s most advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine.
Ben Wallace told Parliament Britain will supply Starstreak High-Velocity Missile systems to bolster the fight against Russia telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/0…
🔴Russia's air strike on a children's hospital in Mariupol was during an agreed ceasefire period that was meant to allow the evacuation of civilians, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🗣️The Prime Minister has condemned Russia's air strike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, describing the attack as “depraved”.
🇷🇺Russian police have been accused of stopping commuters in Moscow and demanding to check their phones, amid a crackdown on any sign of dissent telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/0…
🧃Russians should not worry about top Western brands such as Coca-Cola ceasing operations in the country and instead turn to local alternatives such as the traditional fermented yeast drink “kvass”, officials have said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
“Where is the humanity? Where is the morality?”
Families face another day of chaos at a UK visa office in Poland, where even a Home Office official admits process ‘is unacceptable’ telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
Latest developments:
🔴Maternity hospital destroyed by Russian bombing
🔴Moscow admits sending conscripts to fight in Ukraine
🔴UK to send anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine
🇺🇦Any rented fighter jets will be a significant boost to Ukraine.
But even if Ukraine manages to take delivery of the 28 MiG-29 fighters offered by Poland, it will take some time for the jets to be as effective as they need to be.
🇺🇦Members of Odesa's renowned opera and ballet companies are filling sandbags and dishing out rations to defence volunteers.
Some are even learning how to strip down and assemble Kalashnikov rifles to prepare for possible urban fighting telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
⚠️Western officials have warned of their "serious concern" that Putin could use chemical weapons in Ukraine.
An "utterly horrific" attack on Kyiv could come as Russian forces overcome the logistical issues suspected of delaying attacks telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🗣️🇺🇸The White House has slammed the "barbaric" use of force against civilians after an apparent Russian air strike on a children's hospital in Ukraine telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
⚠️The UN nuclear watchdog's systems monitoring nuclear material at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine have stopped transmitting data to its headquarters.
❌Beer giant Heineken and cigarette maker Imperial Brands have joined a growing list of firms to halt operations in Russia telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🚨The United States has closed the door on supplying combat aircraft to Ukraine.
The Pentagon said that the intelligence community assessed it would be a "high risk" move that could be mistaken by Russia as an escalatory step telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🇺🇦Around 48,000 Ukrainians have been evacuated through humanitarian corridors, Interfax Ukraine news agency has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
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🔴Russian military commanders as well as people at the very top of the Russian government will be held to account for any war crimes in Ukraine, Britain's armed forces minister has said telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴The Polish Border Guard said on Thursday that 1.43 million people have entered Poland from Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🚨Britain is set to send the world’s most advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine, the Defence Secretary has announced.
Designed to destroy fighter jets and helicopters, Starstreak is the fastest short-range surface-to-air missile developed 🧵👇 telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/0…
🔴Ben Wallace on Wednesday told MPs he is looking at providing the Starstreak High-Velocity Missile systems to the Ukrainians, stepping up the UK’s military assistance to Kyiv
➡️The missile uses three dart-like projectiles allowing multiple hits on the target.
It can be fired from the shoulder, from a lightweight multiple launcher or from armoured vehicles
Hopes are growing that the mobilisation of Russian mothers unwilling to watch their sons dispatched to their deaths could alter the course of this terrible war
🇷🇺It is no coincidence that yesterday, on International Women’s Day, Putin directly addressed the mothers of soldiers