Thread: Russia launches Ukraine invasion

Originally Posted by bsnub

It is, and it shows how incompetent the Russian military is. A lot has been learned from this conflict so far. The first being that Russia is no threat to NATO. As I have said before, a couple squadrons of A-10s and AC-130 gunships would make fast work of that convoy.

This was Russia's air coverage in Europe before the war. You simply have no idea wtf you are talking about

Imran Khan strikes huge trade deal with Russia despite international outcry over war



Prime minister Imran Khan has struck a deal to import natural gas from Russia – despite outcry over the invasion of Ukraine.

As countries impose sanctions and seek to isolate Vladimir Putin, Khan became the first leader to sign a new trade deal with Russia since the attack.

He said the pair had “great discussions” on his visit to Moscow last week, which took place as Putin launched the invasion.

They signed a bilateral agreement and Khan also agreed to import two million tons of wheat from Russia.

He defended the deal in a televised speech to the nation, saying Pakistan had needed it.

“We have signed agreements with them to import natural gas because Pakistan’s own gas reserves are depleting,” he said.

“Inshallah (God willing), the time will tell that we have had great discussions.”

Khan has expressed concern over the invasion of Ukraine, but fallen short of denouncing it.

A post-meeting statement said Khan told Putin he “regretted the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine” and had hoped “diplomacy could avert a military conflict.”

Now, the top diplomats of 22 countries have called on Pakistan to support a resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in the United Nations General Assembly.

Last week, Russian state media broadcast images of Mr Khan and Mr Putin shaking hands and sitting down together in Moscow, hours after Putin gave a televised address effectively declaring war on Ukraine.

Mr Khan arrived in Moscow late on Wednesday, going ahead with a planned trip on the eve of the invasion.



Imran Khan has agreed to work with Russia, despite the deadly invasion of Ukraine

The prime minister was heard in a video clip telling Russian officials on his arrival that it was a time of “so much excitement”.

“What a time I have come... so much excitement,” Mr Khan can be heard saying in the clip shared on social media.

The US reacted angrily to the news of Mr Khan’s visit even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, saying the onus was on every “responsible” country to voice objection to Mr Putin’s actions.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/imran-khan-strikes-huge-trade-095103492.html

Ukraine says its forces foiled assassination plot against Volodymyr Zelensky




says its armed forces have foiled an assassination plot against President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Officials said that a unit of elite Chechen special forces, known as Kadyrovites, were involved in the plot against the country’s leader and had been “eliminated”.

Mr Zelensky said after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that he was Russia’s top target for assassination, and warned that “sabotage groups” were already in Kyiv hunting for him and his family.

“We are well aware of the special operation that was to take place directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president,” said Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council chief Oleksiy Danilo.

He added that the Chechens had been divided into two, with one group eliminated in Gostomel and the other “under fire”.

And he said that Ukrainian authorities were tipped off about the plot by members of Russia’s Federal Security Service, who he claimed do not support the invasion.

Earlier, five people died in a Russian airstrike that damaged Kyiv’sTV tower, as Moscow urged the capital’s residents to flee ahead of what it claimed would be “high-precision strikes”.


The Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs said television channels would be off-air for a while after the explosion in the Shevchenkivs’kyi district, which took place near a memorial site commemorating the victims of Babyn Yar, one of the biggest single massacres of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust.

Exxon Mobil also announced that it would shut down its Russian oil production after the attack on Ukraine.


The Texas-based energy company announced that it would end its involvement in a large Russian oil and gas project, following companies such as BP and Shell in quitting the country.

Exxon had been developing the project on the eastern Russian island of Sakhalin along with the state-controlled company Rosneft, as well as partners from India and Japan.

Ukraine says its forces foiled assassination plot against Volodymyr Zelensky

‘The Convoy Is Stalled’: Logistics Failures Slow Russian Advance, Pentagon Says

A 40-mile column of Russian invaders has stalled on the way to Kyiv, opening itself to attack by Ukrainians, a senior defense official told reporters Wednesday.


“We believe that the convoy is stalled,” the official said. “They are not moving at any rate that would lead one to believe that they've solved their problems,” which still include a lack of food, fuel, and spare parts.


Some Ukrainian troops have also targeted the convoy, although in limited fashion, the official said.


On Wednesday, Ukraine’s security service posted a video of a captured Russian soldier who says he and his unit were sent across the border with only three days’ food.


“Putin expected to capture Ukraine in three days,” Ukraine’s security service wrote above the video, which could not be independently verified. “By the order of the top Russian leadership, the phones and documents were taken from the fire brigades, removed food and water for three days and sent to war with Ukraine,” the agency said, according to the English translation of the post.


Insufficient food is among the missteps that have slowed the Russian advance, and perhaps edged Russia into more ferocious and indiscriminate use of missiles and airstrikes. As of Wednesday, Pentagon officials had counted roughly 450 such strikes on Ukrainian targets.


The senior defense official said Pentagon leaders expect the invasion to accelerate as Russia adjusts and gets provisions to its forces inside Ukrain

The fighting and air strikes have been deadly for both sides, although it was impossible to verify casualty numbers. Russia state media RIA Novosti reported Wednesday that 498 Russian soldiers had been killed and 1,597 wounded as of Wednesday; the Ukrainian defense ministry said those numbers were far higher.


In televised remarks Wednesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “in six days of war—this is without counting the losses of the enemy last night—6,000” had died, Zelensky said. “To get what? Get Ukraine? It is impossible.”


Ukrainian officials also said 2,000 civilians had been killed through Wednesday, but did not say how many Ukrainian soldiers had died. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal captured video of Russian ambulances bringing wounded Russians to aid in Belarus.


Russia has inserted about 82 percent of the forces it had arrayed along Ukraine’s border, the official said, and around some Ukrainian cities, seemed to be positioning for a longer-term siege.


Those logistical and planning challenges seemed to reveal that Russian president Vladimir Putin kept almost all of his senior leaders, even his generals—who would have overseen the logistical needs—in the dark about his complete plans for Ukraine, several experts told Defense One on Tuesday.


“It’s pretty clear the nature of this operation was kept secret from all but a close handful of people,” said RAND Corporation senior political scientist Sam Charap.


U.S. observers are also surprised that Russia has not engaged in the fully integrated warfare tactics it has aggressively trained on as it modernized its military forces.


“They don't appear to be integrating their combined arms capabilities to the degree that you would think they would do for an operation of this size and scale and complexity,” the official said. “We've been talking for weeks about the combined arms capabilities, armor, artillery, infantry, special operations, combat, aviation, logistics sustainment…the integration of these elements appears to be lacking.”

‘The Convoy Is Stalled’: Logistics Failures Slow Russian Advance, Pentagon Says - Defense One

Ukraine asks China to mediate ceasefire with Russia


Ukraine has asked China to use its ties with Moscow to convince Russia to stop its invasion of the country.

Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba made the request of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a phone call on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Ukrainian foreign ministry.

The statement said that China’s Foreign Minister told Mr Kuleba that Beijing was ready to make every effort to help end the war through diplomacy.

A Chinese readout, that cites Mr Kuleba, said: “Ukraine is willing to strengthen communications with China, and it looks forward to China playing a mediation role in achieving a ceasefire.”

Mr Wang was also said to have been “extremely concerned about the harm to civilians” in the ongoing conflict.

China has grown closer with Moscow in recent years while also maintaining cordial diplomatic ties and strong trade links with Ukraine. The country has refused to condemn Russia’s attack on the country or to call its actions an invasion.

The call between the two is the first to have been reported since Russia’s attack on its neighbour last Thursday. It was initiated by Mr Kuleba, according to China’s foreign ministry.

Mr Wang repeated China’s call for a solution to the crisis through negotiations, saying it supported all international efforts that could help achieve a political resolution, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping marked 30 years of ties with Ukraine, hailing the “deepening political mutual trust” between them.

Ukraine is a hub in the Belt and Road Initiative, a sprawling infrastructure and diplomatic undertaking that binds China closer with Europe.

Ukraine asks China to mediate ceasefire with Russia



Also-

Russia Needs China's Help to Turn Its IMF Reserves Into Cash for War


Russia’s narrow path for turning its $24 billion in International Monetary Fund reserves into cash hinges on Chinese authorities and may face additional constraints as it looks for resources to defend the ruble and fund its war effort.

Full Article- https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/ru...193118907.html


Pretty obvious who the real Winner from this war is gonna be.

Janes has a good report on their website.

Janes | The trusted source for defence and security intelligence

NATO Countries Pour Weapons Into Ukraine, Risking Conflict With Russia

BRUSSELS — The Dutch are sending rocket launchers for air defense. The Estonians are sending Javelin antitank missiles. The Poles and the Latvians are sending Stinger surface-to-air missiles. The Czechs are sending machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols and ammunition.


Even formerly neutral countries like Sweden and Finland are sending weapons. And Germany, long allergic to sending weapons into conflict zones, is sending Stingers as well as other shoulder-launched rockets.


In all, about 20 countries — most members of NATO and the European Union, but not all — are funneling arms into Ukraine to fight off Russian invaders and arm an insurgency, if the war comes to that.

At the same time, NATO is moving military equipment and as many as 22,000 more troops into member states bordering Russia and Belarus, to reassure them and enhance deterrence.


The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought European countries together, minds concentrated by the larger threat to European security presented by the Russia of President Vladimir V. Putin.


“European security and defense has evolved more in the last six days than in the last two decades,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm, asserted in a speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday. Brussels has moved to “Europeanize” the efforts of member states to aid Ukraine with weapons and money and put down a marker for the bloc as a significant military actor.

MORE MSN

Swedish Defence Minister Calls Russian Violation of Airspace 'Unacceptable'

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Four Russian fighter jets briefly entered Swedish territory over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, the Swedish Armed Forces said, sparking a swift condemnation from Sweden's defence minister.


Two Russian SU27 and two SU24 fighter jets briefly entered Swedish airspace east of the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, Sweden's Armed Forces said in a statement, adding that Swedish JAS 39 Gripen jets were sent to document the violation.

"The Russian violation of Swedish airspace is of course completely unacceptable," Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told news agency TT. "It will lead to a firm diplomatic response from Sweden. Swedish sovereignty and territory must always be respected."


Sweden's Armed Forces said the situation was under control and that the incident showed preparedness was good.


"In the light of the current situation we view this event very seriously," it said on its website,

Sweden on Sunday said it would send military aid, including 5,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, the first time since 1939 that Sweden has sent weapons to a country at war.

Swedish Defence Minister Calls Russian Violation of Airspace '''Unacceptable''' | World News | US News

Originally Posted by sabang

Imran Khan strikes huge trade deal with Russia despite international outcry over war

Given the recent news about Pakistan's endemic corruption, Khan has not covered himself in glory, but those ruble notes he was probably rolling around the bed with are worth less than he thought they were.

Originally Posted by misskit

Swedish Defence Minister Calls Russian Violation of Airspace 'Unacceptable'

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Four Russian fighter jets briefly entered Swedish territory over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, the Swedish Armed Forces said, sparking a swift condemnation from Sweden's defence minister.

So join NATO you stupid fuck.

Aeroflot seeking somewhere with decent weather to park aircraft long term?

Breaking news. Justin Trudeau just said he will be imposing sanctions on president Poutine.

On March 4, Russia set to impose martial law – Ukraine’s NSDC secretary

Martial law tomorrow?

On the Beeb, its a disgrace that the people who run these orgs have to be told to do the right thing. They were going to allow them to compete until they were globally lambasted and even the IOC told them they were wrong.

Russia and Belarus banned from 2022 Paralympics


Athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to compete at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the International Paralympic Committee has said.

Summary from the Beeb live-feed

If you're just joining us, here's an update of what we know on day eight of Russia's invasion of Ukraine


In Kyiv:


Four major explosions in the past few hours have been captured on video by witnesses, but it’s unclear what the targets were of if there were casualties, BBC correspondents say the blasts could be heard from two storeys underground in their bunker

A US defence official says a massive convoy of Russian military vehicles close to Kyiv has "stalled" due to fuel and food shortages

In the south:


Russian forces have seized control of the key port city of Kherson, according to local officials. It's the first major Ukrainian city to be taken since the invasion began


In the port city of Mariupol, hundreds of people are feared dead following hours of sustained shelling, the city's deputy mayor says. Ukraine's military claims the city remains in Ukrainian hands

In the NorthEast


There has also been heavy shelling of the country's second city, Kharkhiv

In other developments:


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a late-night video, praising the courage of citizens in defending their country

More than one million people have now fled Ukraine since the start of the invasion, the UN says, with the number rising rapidly

An investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine has been launched by the International Criminal Court in The Hague

Russia has for the first time said it sustained heavy military casualties during its attack on Ukraine, with 498 troops killed and a further 1,597 injured. Ukraine has claimed that far more Russian troops have been killed. The BBC cannot independently verify these claims.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

Russia and Belarus banned from 2022 Paralympics

Links help in the News Forum

Winter Paralympics 2022: Russia and Belarus athletes unable to compete at Games - BBC Sport

^ It was breaking news on a scrolling live feed at the time Dave. Thanks for updating.

Ukraine refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege ports

KYIV (AP) — More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, in the swiftest refugee exodus this century, the United Nations said Thursday, as Moscow said it was ready for more talks to end fighting even as its forces pressed their assaults on the country’s second-largest city and two strategic seaports.


The tally the U.N. refugee agency reached Wednesday and amounts to more than 2% of Ukraine’s population being forced out of the country in seven days. The mass evacuation could be seen in Kharkiv, a city of about 1.5 million people where residents desperate to escape falling shells and bombs crowded the city’s train station and pressed onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed.


With a column of tanks and other vehicles apparently stalled for days outside the capital of Kyiv, fighting continued on multiple fronts across Ukraine. A second round of talks aimed at ending the fighting was expected later Thursday in neighboring Belarus — though the two sides appeared to have little common ground.

“We are ready to conduct talks, but we will continue the operation because we won’t allow Ukraine to preserve a military infrastructure that threatens Russia,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that it would let Ukrainians to choose what government they should have.


Lavrov said that the West has continuously armed Ukraine, trained its troops and built up bases there to turn Ukraine into a bulwark against Russia — repeating Russian claims that it has used to justify its operation in Ukraine.


The U.S. and its allies have insisted that NATO is a defensive alliance that doesn’t pose a threat to Russia. And the West fears Russia’s invasion is meant to overthrow Ukraine’s government and install a friendly government.


Russian forces continued their pressure. Britain’s Defense Ministry said Mariupol, a large city on the Azov Sea, was encircled by Russian forces. The status of another vital port, Kherson, a Black Sea shipbuilding city of 280,000, remained unclear.


Russia’s forces claimed to have taken complete control of Kherson, which would be the biggest city to fall in the invasion thus far. Britain’s Defense Ministry said that was possible, though not yet verified. The mayor said there were no Ukrainian forces in the city — but he said the Ukrainian flag was still flying over it.


Overnight, Associated Press reporters in Kyiv heard at least one explosion before videos started circulating of apparent strikes on the capital.


Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had knocked out a reserve broadcasting center in the Lysa Hora district, about 7 kilometers (4 miles) south of the government headquarters. It said unspecified precision weapons were used, and that there were no casualties or damage to residential buildings.


A statement from the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces didn’t address the strikes, saying only that Russian forces were “regrouping” and “trying to reach the northern outskirts” of the city.


“The advance on Kyiv has been rather not very organized and now they’re more or less stuck,” military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told the AP in Moscow.


At least 227 civilians have been killed and another 525 wounded since the invasion began, according to the latest figures from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Earlier, Ukraine said more than 2,000 civilians have died, a figure that could not be independently verified.

The U.N. office uses strict methodology and counts only confirmed casualties, and admits its figures are a vast undercount.


Still, the tally eclipses the entire civilian casualty count from the fighting in 2014 in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces — which left 136 dead and 577 injured.


Lavrov voiced regret for civilian casualties, insisting that the military is only using precision weapons against military targets, despite abundant evidence of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals. However, he tacitly acknowledged that some Russian strikes could have killed civilians, saying that “any military action is fraught with casualties, and not just among the military but also civilians.”


In his latest defiant videotaped address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to keep up the resistance. He vowed that the invaders would have “not one quiet moment” and described Russian soldiers as “confused children who have been used.”


Moscow’s isolation deepened when most of the world lined up against it at the United Nations to demand it withdraw from Ukraine. The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible war crimes. And in a stunning reversal, the International Paralympic Committee banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Winter Paralympic Games.


Felgenhauer said with the Russian economy already suffering, there could be a “serious internal political crisis” if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not find a way to end the war quickly.


“There’s no real money to run to fight this war,” he said, adding that if Putin and the military “are unable to wrap up this campaign very swiftly and victoriously, they’re in a pickle.”


Several parts of the country were under pressure.


Ukraine’s military said Russian forces “did not achieve the main goal of capturing Mariupol” in its statement, which did not mention the another important port, Kherson, whose status was unclear.


Putin’s forces claimed to have taken complete control of Kherson, and U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Thursday that it was “possible — it’s not verified yet — that Russia is in control” there.


A senior U.S. defense official earlier disputed the Russians controlled the city.


“Our view is that Kherson is very much a contested city,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


]The mayor of Kherson, Igor Kolykhaev, said Russian soldiers were in the city and came to the city administration building. He said he asked them not to shoot civilians and to allow crews to gather up the bodies from the streets.


“We don’t have any Ukrainian forces in the city, only civilians and people here who want to LIVE,” he said in a statement later posted on Facebook.


The mayor said Kherson would maintain a strict 8 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and restrict traffic into the city to food and medicine deliveries. The city will also require pedestrians to walk in groups no larger than two, obey commands to stop and not to “provoke the troops.”


“The flag flying over us is Ukrainian,” he wrote. “And for it to stay that way, these demands must be observed.”


Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said the attacks there had been relentless.


“We cannot even take the wounded from the streets, from houses and apartments today, since the shelling does not stop,” he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.


Russia reported its military casualties for the first time in the war, saying nearly 500 of its troops have been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. Ukraine did not disclose its own military losses.


Ukraine’s military general staff said in a Facebook post that Russia’s forces had suffered some 9,000 casualties in the fighting. It did not clarify if that figure included both killed and wounded soldiers.


In a video address to the nation early Thursday, Zelenskyy praised his country’s resistance.


“We are a people who in a week have destroyed the plans of the enemy,” he said. “They will have no peace here. They will have no food. They will have here not one quiet moment.”


He said the fighting is taking a toll on the morale of Russian soldiers, who “go into grocery stores and try to find something to eat.”


“These are not warriors of a superpower,” he said. “These are confused children who have been used.”


Meanwhile, the senior U.S. defense official said an immense Russian column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles appeared to be stalled roughly 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Kyiv and had made no real progress in the last couple of days.


The convoy, which earlier in the week had seemed poised to launch an assault on the capital, has been plagued with fuel and food shortages, the official said.


On the far edges of Kyiv, volunteers well into their 60s manned a checkpoint to try to block the Russian advance.


“In my old age, I had to take up arms,” said Andrey Goncharuk, 68. He said the fighters needed more weapons, but “we’ll kill the enemy and take their weapons.”


Around Ukraine, others crowded into train stations, carrying children wrapped in blankets and dragging wheeled suitcases into new lives as refugees.


In an email, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams told the AP that the refugee count surpassed 1 million as of midnight in central Europe, based on figures collected by national authorities.


Shabia Mantoo, another spokesperson for the agency, said that “at this rate” the exodus from Ukraine could make it the source of “the biggest refugee crisis this century.”

Ukraine refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege ports | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

Ukraine Pounded and Exodus Mounts as Russia Seizes Key City

Russian troops seized Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall in a war that has drawn global outrage and driven one million civilians from their homes, ahead of ceasefire talks Thursday.


With the diplomatic and economic costs mounting for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky extolled his own people's "heroic" resistance.


He said that around 9,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since the invasion began eight days ago. Announcing its own toll for the first time, Moscow said it had lost 498 troops.


"We are a nation that broke the enemy's plans in a week," President Zelensky said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging service.


"Plans written for years: sneaky, full of hatred for our country, our people."

However, after a three-day siege that left Kherson short of food and medicine, Ukrainian officials conceded the loss of the Black Sea city of 290,000 people.


While a huge military column is stalled north of Ukraine's capital Kyiv, Russian troops have been advancing on the southern front, and are besieging the important port city of Mariupol east of Kherson.

The Russians "just wanted to destroy us all," Mariupol's mayor Vadym Boychenko said, accusing their forces of shooting at residential buildings.


Ukraine's military authorities said residential and other areas in the eastern city of Kharkiv had been "pounded all night" by indiscriminate shelling, which UN prosecutors are investigating as a possible war crime.


Oleg Rubak's wife Katia, 29, was crushed in the rubble of their family home in Zhytomyr, 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of Kyiv, by a Russian missile strike.


"One minute I saw her going into the bedroom, a minute later there was nothing," Rubak, 32, told AFP, standing by the ruins in jogging bottoms and a fleece.


"I hope she's in heaven and all is perfect for her."


He sobbed, apologized, and continued: "I want the whole world to hear my story."


Junk status


The UN says the war has displaced more than one million people, after Putin launched his offensive in a bid to demilitarize Ukraine and depose Zelensky's Western-leading government.


But the Russian president now finds himself an international pariah, his country the subject of swingeing sanctions that sent the ruble into further freefall on currency markets Thursday.


Russia's central bank — whose foreign reserves have been frozen in the West — imposed a 30-percent tax on all sales of hard currency, following a run on lenders by ordinary Russians.


The unfolding financial costs were underlined as ratings agencies Fitch and Moody's slashed Russia's sovereign debt to "junk" status.

Its sporting isolation worsened as the International Paralympic Committee staged an abrupt U-turn and banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Beijing Winter Games.


The UN General Assembly voted 141-5 to demand that Russia "immediately" withdraw from Ukraine. Only four countries supported Russia — Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria — while China abstained.


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western politicians of considering nuclear war, saying it was in their heads "that the idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly, and not in the heads of Russians."


The invasion has triggered a dramatic realignment of security policy in Europe, with NATO reinforcing its eastern flank and Germany planning a big increase in military spending.


The German government is planning to deliver another 2,700 anti-air missiles to Ukraine, a source said.


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the human costs were already "staggering," accusing Russia of attacking places that "aren't military targets."


"Hundreds if not thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded," said Blinken, who will travel to eastern Europe next week to shore up support for Ukraine — and for efforts to secure a ceasefire.


Kyiv is sending a delegation to Thursday's ceasefire talks, at an undisclosed location on the Belarus-Poland border but has warned it will not accept "ultimatums."


A first round of talks on Monday, also in Belarus, yielded no breakthrough.


Leaving everything behind


Many Ukrainians have now fled across the border into neighboring Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, according to the UN refugee agency's rapidly rising tally.


"We left everything there as they came and ruined our lives," refugee Svitlana Mostepanenko told AFP in Prague.


"They're bombing even civilian houses where there are kids, small kids, children, they die now."


Nathalia Lypka, a professor of German from the eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, fled to Berlin with her 21-year-old daughter.


"My husband and son stayed... My husband already served in the army, and he had to return to duty," she said, before boarding a train for Stuttgart where friends are waiting to take them in.


"We thank Europe for its support."


Putin's long-telegraphed invasion has frequently appeared hamstrung by poor logistics, tactical blunders and fierce resistance from Ukraine's underpowered and outgunned military — and from ever-swelling ranks of volunteer fighters.


Scores of images have emerged of burned-out Russian tanks, the charred remains of transporters and of unarmed Ukrainians confronting bewildered occupying forces.


U.S. officials say the massive column of Russian military vehicles amassed north of Kyiv has "stalled" due to fuel and food shortages.


Russian authorities have imposed a media blackout on what the Kremlin euphemistically calls a "special military operation".


The Ekho Moskvy radio station — a symbol of new-found media freedom in post-Soviet Russia — said it would shut down after being taken off air over its coverage of the invasion.


But Russians have still turned out for large anti-war protests across the country, in a direct challenge to Putin's 20-year rule.


Thousands of anti-war demonstrators have been detained, including several dozen in rallies in Moscow and Saint Petersburg on Wednesday.


"I couldn't stay at home. This war has to be stopped," student Anton Kislov, 21, told AFP.

Ukraine Pounded and Exodus Mounts as Russia Seizes Key City - The Moscow Times

Russia's Lavrov Accuses West of Fixating on 'Nuclear War'

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused Western politicians of fixating on nuclear war, one week after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.


"It is clear that World War Three can only be nuclear," Lavrov said in an online interview with Russian and foreign media.


"I would like to point out that it's in the heads of Western politicians that the idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly, and not in the heads of Russians," he said.

"Therefore I assure you that we will not allow any provocations to throw us off balance," Lavrov added.


On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's nuclear forces be put on high alert, accusing the West of taking "unfriendly" steps against his country.

Moscow has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and a huge cache of ballistic missiles which form the backbone of the country's deterrence forces.

Russia's Lavrov Accuses West of Fixating on 'Nuclear War' - The Moscow Times

Originally Posted by misskit

Russia's Lavrov Accuses West of Fixating on 'Nuclear War'

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused Western politicians of fixating on nuclear war, one week after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Someone needs to tell the stupid old twat who brought up the subject. What a fucking imbecile.

^ Thought so, too. Bring your nuclear forces to standby, then blame the other side for being fixated on nukes. Almost as if it were intentional.