Russian armored vehicles on the streets of Kherson in southern Ukraine, March 2, 2022

See also Why A “Neutral” Ukraine Is A Non-Starter

See also Ukraine’s Cities Prepare for Putin’s War of Destruction

UPDATE 1745 GMT:

A Ukrainian negotiator has said that Ukraine and Russia have agreed on joint provision of humanitarian corridors for evacuation of civilians.

The negotiator said the two sides, who met on the Ukraine-Belarus border, have agreed to hold a third round of talks soon.

UPDATE 1740 GMT:

At a news conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the international community to deliver more military aid, “If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes!”

Zelenskiy warned that Vladimir Putin will not stop with the attempt to conquer Ukraine: “If we are no more then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next.”

UPDATE 1719 GMT:

Vladimir Putin is speaking on Russian TV.

He praised Russian soldiers as “real heroes….acting bravely”, while accusing Ukrainian forces of using civilians as “human shields”.

Declaring that Ukrainians are “one people” with Russians, he said they are “threatened and brainwashed”.

UPDATE 1705 GMT:

Russian oil giant Lukoil has called for an immediate halt to the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

The company said in a statement, “[The board] expresses its concern over the ongoing tragic events in Ukraine and its deepest sympathy to all those affected by this tragedy. We stand for the immediate cessation of the armed conflict and fully support its resolution through the negotiation process and through diplomatic means.”

UPDATE 1655 GMT:

At least 33 civilians have been killed in Russia’s shelling of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine today.

The bodies of the victims were recovered from rubble, according to Russian emergency services. Rescue work was suspended because of the fear of further attacks.

The governor of Chernihiv region said earlier that two schools and private houses were struck.

UPDATE 1510 GMT:

IKEA has suspended operations in Russia and Belarus and is donating €40 million to help Ukrainian refugees.

Volkswagen has shut production at two Russian factories and halted exports to Russia.

UPDATE 1440 GMT:

An Estonian-owned cargo ship, the MV Helt, has sunk off the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa on the Black Sea after an explosion, with four crew members missing and two in a life raft at sea.

Earlier today, a crew member on a Bangladeshi-owned cargo ship was killed by a Russian bomb or missile (see 1100 GMT).

UPDATE 1425 GMT:

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Vladimir Putin that he is deluding himself about the Ukraine Government and is making a “major mistake” with a war that will cost Russia dearly in the long term.

Putin called Macron, reiterating that he will obtain the “neutralization” and disarmament of Ukraine, by force or by diplomacy. The Russian leader put out his narrative about the “denazification” of the country.

A Macron advisor said, “There was nothing in what President Putin said that could reassure us.”

The official recounted Macron’s words to Putin, “You are lying to yourself. It will cost your country dearly, your country will end up isolated, weakened and under sanctions for a very long time.”

UPDATE 1420 GMT:

At least nine people have been killed and four wounded after a Russian airstrike hit two schools and private houses in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine on Thursday, according to the regional governor.

UPDATE 1310 GMT:

Rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s have downgraded Russia’s sovereign debt by six notches to “junk” status.

S&P lowered Russia’s rating to junk status last week.

Fitch said the only previous six-notch reduction was on South Korea in 1997.

On Wednesday, index providers FTSE Russell and MSCI to announce on Wednesday that they will remove Russian equities.

The rouble sank to a historic low of 118.15:1 v. the US dollar on Thursday morning, despite the Russian Central Bank raising the interest rate to 20% from 9% earlier this week.

UPDATE 1250 GMT:

Amnesty International has established that three Russian attacks are “possible war crimes” which killed at least nine civilians, including children, in Kharkiv on 28 February.

One of the attacks included Russian-manufactured 300mm rockets with cluster munitions.

Another attack with a 300mm rocket on the city’s central Klochkivska Street fatally wounded a woman who had gone shopping during a break in the curfew, blowing her leg off.

UPDATE 1230 GMT:

As Russia’s offensive runs into difficulties, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has declared that Moscow will enter genuine negotiations with Ukraine.

Lavrov maintained the Kremlin’s pretense that its invasion was necessary for “denazification” and “demilitarization”.

His statement came as a Ukrainian delegation is en route to meet Russian officials on the Ukraine-Belarus border.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov shifted the Kremlin’s wider position, saying it is now prepared for talks with the West on security guarantees, “We are prepared for dialogue on these issues, as well as on issues related to strategic stability.”

In the run-up to the invasion, Vladimir Putin and Lavrov insisted that discussions must be solely about guarantees for Moscow.

UPDATE 1200 GMT:

Another Russian businessman has lost his super-yacht amid international sanctions.

French customs seized the yacht of Igor Sechin, the head of the Russian oil giant Rosneft, as the ship tried to leave the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat.

The 88-meter Amore Vero arrived in La Ciotat on January 3 and planned to remain until April 1 for repairs.

On Wednesday, German authorities impounded the $600 million luxury yacht owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.

UPDATE 1120 GMT:

With their city surrounded by Russian forces, the council in Mariupol has warned of the prospect of mass killing.

The council in the southern Ukraine city on the Sea of Azov said the Russians are constantly and deliberately shelling civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian southern port, cutting off water, heating, and power and preventing evacuation of residents.

They are breaking food supplies, setting us up in a blockade, as in the old Leningrad.

Deliberately, for seven days, they have been destroying the city’s critical life-support infrastructure. We have no light, water or heat again.

We are being destroyed as a nation. This is genocide of Ukrainian people.

UPDATE 1115 GMT:

Residents and plant workers have formed a barrier between Russian forces and a nuclear plant in the city of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine.

The crowd, some holding Ukrainian flags, has assembled around barricades of cars, trucks, tires, and sandbags.

Russian forces occupied the area around the Zaporizhzhia plant on Wednesday. The complex is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, with six of Ukraine’s 10 reactors.

UPDATE 1105 GMT:

A sign of the downturn and possible collapse of Russian markets….

UPDATE 1100 GMT:

A crew member on a Bangladeshi-owned cargo ship has been killed by a Russian bomb or missile.

The Banglar Samriddhi was trapped at the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Olvia by the Russian invasion. Efforts are underway to rescue the other 24 crew members, who are unhurt.

UPDATE, 0940 GMT:

Germany has approved a shipment of 2,700 Soviet-era “Strela” anti-air missiles to Ukraine, according to government sources.

The latest delivery follows the historic decision by Berlin to send military aid to another country under attack. Last weekend, the Government approved supply of 500 US-made surface-to-air Stinger missiles and 1,000 anti-tank weapons.

UPDATE, 0745 GMT:

The global price of oil continues to rise in its highest level since 2011.

The price of Brent crude oil reached $116.80 early Thursday, an increase of 3.4%.

Commodities such as aluminum (2.62%), iron ore (7.75%), copper (1.6%), and wheat (7%) are also costing more. Analysts cited tighter supplies and bulk buying by China.

ORIGINAL ENTRY:On Day 8 of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, Russian forces have captured the southern city of Kherson.

The city is the second to fall to the Russians. Melitopol, to the east of Kherson, was seized last weekend. Odessa, the port city of 1 million on the Black Sea, lies to the west of Kherson.

The southern coast along the Black Sea and Sea of Azov is the one area where Russian forces have been successful. At the eastern point of the 250-km (155-mile) strip, Russian forces and their proxies are threatening airstrikes on Mariupol, with 430,000 people, unless it surrenders.

Kherson’s mayor Igor Kolykhaiev wrote on Facebook on Wednesday:

There were armed visitors in the city council today.

My team and I are peaceful people, we had no weapons or aggression on our side.

We don’t have Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city, only civilians and people who want to LIVE here!

He said of the Russian troops, “I made no promises to them. I just have nothing to promise. I am only interested in the normal life of our city! I just asked not to shoot people.”

A curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. has been imposed. Pedestrians have been instructed to “walk one by one, maximum two” and not to confront the Russians.

Elsewhere, Putin continued to be frustrated in his attempt to conquer key cities and topple the Zelenskiy Government, despite intensified Russian bombardment. There were reports early Wednesday of Russian paratroopers in Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine near the Belarus border, but no follow-up signs indicating a sustained Russian entry.

Moving towards the tactic of levelling the cities, Russia used cruise missiles as well as rockets. One of the strikes damaged Kharkiv’s university and police center.

The number of Ukrainian refugees has passed 1 million according to the UN. The High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, tweeted:

Ukrainian emergency services said more than 350 civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 civilians wounded.

Those remaining in their cities are sheltering underground. Hospital basements have been transformed into maternity wards.

Ukrainian officials claimed almost 7,000 Russian troops have been killed since last Thursday’s invasion. Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged the deaths of 498 troops and wounding of 1,597.

More Pressure on Putin

The international community responded to the escalating Russian attacks with more sanctions and pressure on financial institutions and businessmen. German authorities seized the $600 million superyacht, the large motor yacht in the world, of billionaire Alisher Usmanov in a Hamburg shipyard. Roman Abramovitch is selling his stake in London’s Chelsea Football Club after 19 years, writing up £1.5 billion ($2 billion) in loans to the team.

The Russian stock market is closed for a fourth day as international funds dump Russian holdings and say they are “uninvestable”.

With the rouble at a historic low after losing 1/3 in value this week, Russia’s Central Bank has imposed a 30% commission on foreign currency purchases by individuals.

Facing the risk of economic decline and protests, the Kremlin is tightening its grip on Russia’s political and media space. The latest detained protesters include Yelena Osipova, an activist who survived World War II siege of Leningrad, and two women and five children holding a poster “No to War” outside the Ukraine Embassy in Moscow.

Following bans on leading outlets TV Rain and Ekho Moskvy Radio, Russian officials have instructed teachers not to refer to “war”, instead using the term “peacekeeping operations”.

The US State Department noted, “Russia’s government is also throttling Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram platforms that tens of millions of Russia’s citizens rely on to access independent information and opinions.”

The UN General Assembly voted 141-5, with 35 abstentions, to deplore Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to call for the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces.

The General Assembly convened in the emergency session, its first in 40 years, after Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning its attacks.

The non-binding resolution, co-sponsored by 94 countries, demanded that “the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine” and “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces”.

On the legal front, the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine after 39 countries formally referred reports of atrocities.

Russian and Belarusian athletes have been barred from the Winter Paralympics. Yesterday the International Paraolympic Committee had said the athletes could compete under a neutral banner, with neither Russia nor Belarus in the medal table.