Residents leave Irpin, northwest of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, following days of Russian attacks, March 8, 2022 (Felipe Dana/AP)

Tuesday’s Coverage: Civilians Trapped by Russia’s Deadly “Medieval” Shelling

UPDATE 0015 GMT:

The Pentagon has confirmed that it has killed off the plan to transfer warplanes from Poland to Ukraine via the US.

Spokesman John Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken to his Polish counterpart and “stressed that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time, and therefore had no desire to see them in our custody either”.

Kirby continued with the US rationalization of its rejection:

First, we believe the best way to support Ukrainian defense is by providing them the weapons and the systems that they need most to defeat Russian aggression, in particular, anti-armor and air-defense. We, along with other nations, continue to send them these weapons and we know that they’re being used with great effect. The slow Russian advance in the north and the contested airspace over Ukraine is evidence alone of that….

We assess that adding aircraft to the Ukrainian inventory is not likely to significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force relative to Russian capabilities. Therefore, we believe that the gain from transferring those MIG-29s is low.

Finally, the intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in a significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO.

UPDATE 2355 GMT:

Speaking in Ukrainian and Russian, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has addressed the bombing of a children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol in the south of the country.

Zelenskiy said in Russian:

A children’s hospital, a maternity ward. How did they threaten the Russian Federation? What is this country, the Russian Federation, that is afraid of hospitals, maternity wards and is destroying them? Were there little Banderovites? Were pregnant women going to shoot on Rostov? Did anyone in the maternity ward humiliate Russian speakers? Or was it de-Nazification of a hospital?

The President then said in Ukrainian that the bombing was “beyond atrocity”.

Europeans, Ukrainians, Mariupol residents, we have to stand united in condemning Russia for this crime that reflects all evil that the invaders have brought on us, on all destroyed cities: Volnovakha, Izyum, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Okhtyrka, Borodyanka, Hostomel, Zhytomyr and tens of our Ukrainian cities that never posed any threat to Russia.

Hospitals and schools are destroyed. Churches and ordinary buildings are destroyed. People are killed. Children are killed. Air bombing on a children’s hospital is the ultimate evidence that genocide of Ukrainians is happening.

UPDATE 2350 GMT:

The International Monetary Fund has approved $1.4 billion in emergency financing for Ukraine.

“The Russian military invasion of Ukraine has been responsible for a massive humanitarian and economic crisis,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement after the meeting which approved the support. “Financing needs are large, urgent, and could rise significantly as the war continues.”

UPDATE 1945 GMT:

Ukrainian official David Arakhamia says more than 40,000 civilians were evacuated across the country today; however, there were difficulties moving people away from conflict around Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol.

UPDATE 1943 GMT:

Russia’s stock market is shut again on Thursday, although the foreign exchange market will operate from 10 a.m. Moscow time.

UPDATE 1935 GMT:

The world’s largest food group Nestle is suspending business in Russia, following the lead of companies like Procter & Gamble and Unilever.

Tobacco brand Philip Morris is scaling down manufacturing, while Imperial Brands is halting all production.

UPDATE 1605 GMT:

Russian airstrikes have severely damaged a children’s hospital in besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine, with children and women in labor in the rubble.

Officials said 17 civilians are wounded.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy broke the news on Twitter.

His advisor added:

UPDATE 1505 GMT:

“Humanitarian corridors” in some areas of Ukraine have allowed evacuations, but Russian shelling has prevented any departures from town of Izyum in the eastern Kharkiv region, according to regional governor Oleh Synehubov.

Synehubov said buses are still waiting at the entrance to the town. Negotiations are being conducted, with the support of the Red Cross, with the Russian forces.

UPDATE 1342 GMT:

After scenes of Ukrainians singing and playing music in underground shelters, the Kyiv Classic Symphony Orchestra held an above-ground concert in Maidan Square today.

UPDATE 1337 GMT:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to modify visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees.

The Home Office has only authorized 300 visas, but Johnson told the House of Commons, “We’ve already got 1,000 people in under the existing scheme, that number will climb very sharply. No-one has been turned away.”

Johnson tried to justify existing requirements by claiming that purported Ukrainian refugees might be Russian agents: “We know how unscrupulous Putin can be in his methods, it would not be right to expose this country to unnecessary security risk and we will not do it.”

UPDATE 1330 GMT:

As Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says 430,000 residents of besieged Mariupol are being “held hostage”, Deputy Mayor Sergiy Orlov speaks of a city where genocide is occurring under “continuous Russian shelling”.

Orlov said 1,170 people have been killed, with 47 buried today in a mass grave. He reiterated that there is No water, heat, power, or gas. Residents are drinking snow and burning firewood.

“It’s medieval,” Orlov summarizes.

The mayor explained that the Russian army shelled the “humanitarian corridor”, mined the road, and put in a check point. As a result, only 2,000 to 3,000 of 200,000 prospective evacuees had moved out of the city each day.

Video shows the devastation in the city in southern Ukraine:

UPDATE 1325 GMT:

The mayor of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine said a convoy of civilians — mainly women, children, and the elderly — have been evacuated after a temporary ceasefire.

Enerhodar is near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex, occupied by Russian forces last week.

UPDATE 1320 GMT:

The Ukrainian military says more than 400 residents who protested against the occupation of Kherson by Russian forces have been detained.

Kherson is in a corridor in southern Ukraine which has been the most significant advance by the Russian offensive.

UPDATE 1146 GMT:

In his daily address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that the international community will be responsible for a mass “humanitarian catastrophe” if it does not agree a no-fly zone.

Russia uses missiles, aircraft and helicopters against us, against civilians, against our cities, against our infrastructure. It is the humanitarian duty of the world to respond.

Zelenskiy said 18,000 civilians are being evacuated from Kyiv but pledged that resistance will continue in the capital against the Russian invasion.

UPDATE 1138 GMT:

Russia’s Central Bank is preventing Russians with foreign currency accounts from withdrawing more than $10,000 until September 9.

Any withdrawal above that amount will be converted to roubles at the official exchange rate.

The Bank also told commercial institutions to stop selling hard currency to clients.

UPDATE 1130 GMT:

The brewer Heineken is halting the production and sale of beer in Russia “to stop the flow of monies, royalties and dividends” out of the country.

Mothercare is also suspending business in Russia, which accounts for 20% to 25% of its sales.

Lumen Technologies, which allows data to move through the structure of the Internet, is barring Russia because of an “increased security risk”.

Another US firm, Cogent Communications, said on Friday that it cutting Internet service to Russian clients.

UPDATE 1020 GMT:

European Union members have agreed new sanctions against Russian leaders and businessmen.

The measures will be formally adopted by the EU Summit on Thursday and Friday in Versailles, France.

They include travel bans and asset freezes on about 100 individuals, restrictions on cryptocurrencies, the exclusion of three Belarus banks from the SWIFT global transactions system, and steps over the maritime sector.

UPDATE 0935 GMT:

The Ukraine Government has banned exports of rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sugar, salt, and meat until the end of 2022.

The measure will put further pressure on commodity prices, particularly for poorer countries who rely heavily on Ukrainian and Russian agriculture.

Wheat prices are already at their highest since 2007-2008.

Russia and Ukraine account for 30% of the world’s wheat and barley exports.

UPDATE 0922 GMT:

The Polish Government has modified its proposal to send warplanes to Ukraine, following rejection by the US Defense Department.

An advisor to President Andrzej Duda said, “The USA does not want these planes to come to Ukraine from American bases. Poland is ready to act, but only within the framework of the alliance, within the framework of NATO.”

UPDATE 0913 GMT:

An Amnesty International investigation concludes that a Russian airstrike on Chernihiv killing 47 civilians as they lined up for bread, may be a war crime.

At least eight unguided bombs struck the queue and nearby buildings in Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, last Thursday at about 12:15 p.m.

Mother-of-three Yulia Matvienko, who suffered a head injury, recounted:

I was walking along the corridor and hadn’t even made it into the kitchen when I was suddenly deafened – I didn’t understand what was happening.

Everything started to suddenly crumble and fall. The children screamed. For several seconds, it was like there was silence and time stood still. Then I dragged my children out from under the rubble. Blood was flowing down me, and I dragged my children out.

Everything was destroyed, and the door [to the building] was knocked off. Not a single window was left, and some balconies were totally torn off. There is not a scratch on the children. It’s a miracle…only my blood on them.

UPDATE 0910 GMT:

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said the number of Ukrainian refugees is now between 2.1 million and 2.2 million.

UPDATE 0845 GMT:

The UK has announced new sanctions on Russia aviation.

Authorities are empowered to detain Russian aircraft entering UK airspace, and to impound aircraft belonging to sanctioned individuals and companies.

The export of aviation and space-related goods and technology is banned, and UK companies cannot provide insurance and re-insurance services for them.

UPDATE 0810 GMT:

The International Atomic Energy Agency has lost contact with data systems at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

IAEA head Rafael Mariano Grossi expressed concern about the well-being of 210 technical personnel and guards at the plant, seized by the Russians soon after their invasion on February 24. He said the IAEA can only communicate by e-mail and staff have not been rotated out of the facility.

I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there.

Grossi said the agency is “looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine”.

Ukraine Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko echoed Grossi’s warning, saying Ukrainian authorities do not know the radiation levels at Chernobyl and have no control over the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia complex with six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors.

Ukrainian officials added that Russian forces have disconnected Chernobyl from the power grid.

However, the IAEA reassured that there is no immediate crisis over safety, “Heat load of spent fuel storage pool and volume of cooling water at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sufficient for effective heat removal without need for electrical supply.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Pentagon has blocked a plan for Poland to transfer warplanes to Ukraine via the US, calling the proposal “untenable”.

After days of negotiations, the Polish Government announced on Tuesday night that it was “ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America”.

About 28 Soviet-era MiG-29s would then be given to Ukraine for defense against Russia’s invasion, with the US providing American F-16 jet fighters to Poland.

But the Pentagon said the proposal for the MiG-29s “to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire Nato alliance”.

Spokesman John Kirby told reporters, “We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”

With the US and NATO rejecting a no-fly zone over Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had appealed for the warplanes in statements to the nation.

The Pentagon bolstered the defense of Poland, a NATO ally, with the announcement that two Patriot anti-missile batteries stationed in Europe will be despatched to the country.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reinforced the existing military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, with the warning to Russia that any strike on supply lines will be considered an escalation of the conflict.

“An attack on NATO territory, on NATO forces, NATO capabilities, that would be an attack on NATO,” Stoltenberg said.

Squeezing Russia’s Oil Exports

While checking the supply of warplanes, the US sharply stepped up economic pressure on Russia with President Joe Biden’s announcement of a ban on imports of Russian oil, gas, and coal.

Biden said the ban was “to inflict further pain” on Russian leader Vladimir Putin over his war on Ukraine, adding that the US was prepared to bear the “further cost” of the measure.

The UK announced a phased ban on Russian oil, to be completed by the end of 2022. The Johnson Government is considering a ban on Russian gas, which makes up 4% of British supply.

Some European countries have said they are considering similar steps, while others are reportedly opposed.

Russian Foreign Ministry official Dmitry Birichevsky asserted, “Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses.”

Another flurry of international companies suspended business in Russia on Tuesday. They include McDonalds, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, KFC, and Starbucks.

The New York Times has left Russia for the first time in more than a century, following a Russian threatening up to 15 years in prison for any reporting on the war or sanctions.

Zelenskiy’s Churchillian Speech

In an impassioned speech by video link to UK MPs, Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy invoked World War II and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he declared, “We do not want to lose what we have, what is ours, our country Ukraine.”

We will not give up and we will not lose.

We will fight til the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets….

We are looking for your help, for the help of western countries.

MPs gave Zelenskiy a standing ovation.

Two Humanitarian Corridors Proceed, Russia Blocks Another

Humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians were established in two areas of northern Ukraine on Tuesday, but Russia blocked exit from the besieged southern city of Mariupol for the third time.

Residents were moved out of Sumy, where a Russian strike killed at least 19 adults and three children hours earlier. They also left Irpin, where eight people — including a family of four — were slain on Sunday.

About 5000 people in 1000 cars left Sumy, which has a population of about 265,000.

An image from Sumy (Anadolu/Getty):

Evacuees from Sumy, Ukraine (Anadolu/Getty)

However, the movement from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia was soon suspended, following Russian shelling of evacuees on Saturday and Sunday.

Ukraine Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said eight trucks and 30 buses had tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol, with a population of 430,000, and to transfer residents.

Mariupol is at the eastern end of a 250-km (155-mile) corridor along the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, where Russia’s ground offensive has had its most notable success in the two-week invasion. It has been cut off for days, with no heat or electricity and shortages of food.

Russia’s Defense Ministry declared that it will “observe a regime of silence” from 10 a.m. on Wednesday for evacuations from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk later said that Russian forces have agreed to stop firing in areas with humanitarian corridors from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (0700-0900).