The Russia-Ukraine conflict is now in its 392nd day.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
The Russian navy “repelled” a drone attack early on the port of Sevastopol in Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, the Kremlin-backed city governor said.
The peninsula, seized by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, is home to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet and has been hit by a series of drone attacks since the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine.
“In total, three objects have been destroyed,” the Russian-supported governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.
He said sailors had shot at the drones with “small arms” and that “air defence was also working”.
Razvozhayev said there were no casualties and claimed no ships had been damaged but that the explosions blew out windows in nearby buildings.
Follow more updates 
1010 GMT – Russia says US ‘asking for’ countermeasures, warns not to ‘test patience’
Russia has said that the US is “asking for” countermeasures by declaring it would continue flights over the Black Sea, despite Moscow’s implementation of a “special regime” in Ukraine, and warned Washington to not “test its patience.”
“It (the drone) stayed in the area where we introduced a special regime under the special military operation. The Americans demonstratively, cynically and in outright public form deny the legitimacy of these steps and state their intentions to continue actions of this kind.
They are, as the saying goes, ‘asking for’ our countermeasures and we warn them against the attempts to play on nerves and test our patience,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow.
1005 GMT – Poland slams ‘dangerous’ Russia-China ‘axis’
Poland’s prime minister branded the China-Russian alliance “dangerous” after Chinese leader Xi Jinping wrapped up a three-day visit to Moscow.
“The Chinese president’s visit to Moscow makes us anxious, this China-Moscow axis is dangerous,” Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters after hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Warsaw.
Xi left Russia following a summit with President Vladimir Putin that hailed a “new era” in their relations, putting on a display of unity against the West.
0955 GMT – Kremlin dismisses ‘hostile’ reaction to Putin-Xi talks
The Kremlin shrugged off the West’s “hostile” reaction to the summit between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“As for the reaction of the collective West, the fact that on all issues this reaction took on an unfriendly and hostile nature is not news to anyone,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
0930 GMT – Russian drone attack on school kills four in Kiev region
Four people were killed and several more wounded in a Russian drone attack that hit a school in the Kiev region overnight, Ukrainian authorities said.
The emergency services initially said three people had been killed in the strike south of the capital Kiev but police later announced another victim.
“The fourth victim was a 40-year-old driver. The man did not go down to the shelter during the air raid alerts,” said Andrii Nebytov, the head of the Kiev region police.
0857 GMT – Ukraine, IMF agree on $15.6 billion loan package
Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund have agreed on a $15.6 billion loan package aimed at shoring up government finances severely strained by Russia’s attack and at leveraging even more support by reassuring allies that Ukraine is pursuing strong economic policies.
Ukraine’s finance ministry said that the programme will “help to mobilise financing from Ukraine’s international partners, as well as to maintain macrofinancial stability and ensure the path to post-war reconstruction after Ukrainian victory in the war against the aggressor.”
The loan programme will run for four years, with the first 12 to 18 months focusing on helping Ukraine close its massive budget deficit and alleviating pressure to finance spending through printing money at the central bank, the IMF said in a statemen t Tuesday.
0700 GMT – Slovakia gets US helicopter offer after sending jets to Ukraine
The United States has offered to sell Slovakia 12 new Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters at a two-thirds discount after Bratislava sent its retired MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said.
Nad said his government sill had to approve the deal under which it would pay $340 million for a package worth more than $1 billion.
The deal was offered under the US Foreign Military Financing programme, Nad said in his post on Facebook.
0652 GMT – Ukraine war exposed negative attitude of towards Muslim refugees
The year 2022, overshadowed by Russia’s war in Ukraine, overlooked domestic issues including anti-Muslim sentiment in some countries.
It also exposed the “stereotypical perspective” of Europeans with regards to refugees, said a new report on Islamophobia in Europe.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has uncovered the stereotypical perspective of many Europeans vis-à-vis different kinds of refugees, welcoming white, Christian (female) Ukrainians as opposed to the often-violent resistance and rejection of Muslim refugees,” said the European Islamophobia Report 2022, released on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
0645 GMT – Three killed in Russian drone strikes on Kiev region: officials
Three people were killed and another seven wounded in overnight Russian drone strikes on the Kiev region, Ukrainian officials said morning.
The Kiev Regional Military administration reported on its Telegram channel that a “civilian object” had been damaged and that rescuers were still working at the scene.
The Ukrainian military said it had shot down 16 out of 21 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched at Ukraine overnight by Russia.
0600 GMT – Xi, Putin hail ‘new era’ of ties in united front against West
The leaders of China and Russia hailed a “new era” in their relationship, putting on a united front in Moscow.
Putin said he was open to talks on Ukraine and praised Beijing’s 12-point position paper on the conflict, which includes a call for dialogue and respect for all countries’ territorial sovereignty.
“Many of the provisions of the peace plan put forward by China… can be taken as the basis for a peaceful settlement when Kiev and the West will be ready for it,” Putin said after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“However, so far we have not seen such readiness on their part.”
The United States, however, said it does not see China as capable of being an impartial mediator – Washington’s most direct criticism yet of Beijing’s aim to be a middleman in efforts to end the conflict.
0340 GMT – EU to provide other countries besides Ukraine with ‘lethal support’
The European Union’s foreign policy chief said that the bloc will send lethal weapons to other countries besides Ukraine which are “increasingly interested in lethal support”.
Speaking at the Schuman Security and Defence Forum in Brussels, Josep Borrell said Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine has changed the way “we – in Europe – regard our own security and defence agenda.”
At the same time, he said it has also changed the way “you – our partners – regard our agenda” and the opportunities that it may offer.
2110 GMT – Zelenskyy says held ‘productive’ talks with Japan PM
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he held “productive talks” with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on his visit to Kiev.
“I also heard a very concrete willingness of Japan to work together with us to even more actively mobilise the world for international order, to protect against aggression, to protect against Russian terror,” he said.
2100 GMT – IMF reaches staff deal with Ukraine for $15.6B programme
The International Monetary Fund [IMF] has reached a staff agreement with Ukraine for a four-year financing package worth about $15.6 billion.
The agreement follows months of negotiations between IMF staff officials and Ukrainian authorities.
2016 GMT – China should urge end of Russian offensive in Ukraine – US
The US has said it does not want any truce in Ukraine “right now” and if China wants to play a constructive role in Ukraine, its president, Xi Jinping, should urge Russia to end its attack on Ukraine.
Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged from two days of talks on Tuesday with warm words of friendship between China and Russia and joint criticism of the West.
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said the US does not want to see a ceasefire in Ukraine because it would allow Russia to keep its territorial gains and let Putin regroup his forces.
“A ceasefire right now, freezing the lines where they are, basically gives him the time and space he needs to try to re-equip, to re-man, to make up for that resource expenditure,” Kirby said.
For our live updates from Tuesday (March 21), click here.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Live blog: Russian navy ‘repelled’ drone attack on Crimea port
Source: News Achor Trending
0 Comments