WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has established a channel of direct communication with the Russian ministry of defense to avoid unintended conflict related to the war in Ukraine.
A U.S. defense official said the “de-confliction line” was established March 1 “for the purpose of preventing miscalculation, military incidents, and escalation.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the communication line has not been announced.
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UNITED NATIONS — More than 4 million refugees may end up fleeing Ukraine due to Russia's ongoing invasion, the United Nations said.
On Wednesday, the United Nations said that 1 million people have already fled since Russia began invading last week, an exodus without precedent in this century for its speed.
The United Nations says that “while the scale and scope of displacement is not yet clear, we do expect that more than 10 million people may flee their homes if violence continues, including 4 million people who may cross borders to neighboring countries,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday.
Syria, whose civil war erupted in 2011, remains the country with the largest refugee outflows — nearly 5.7 million people, according to UNHCR’s figures. But even at the swiftest rate of flight out of that country, in early 2013, it took at least three months for 1 million refugees to leave Syria.
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BERLIN — The United Nations’ atomic watchdog says Ukraine has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that staff who have been kept at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant since Russian troops took control of the site a week ago are facing “psychological pressure and moral exhaustion.”
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Thursday that the staff must be allowed to rest and rotate so their crucial work can be carried out safely and securely.
Grossi received “a joint appeal from the Ukraine Government, regulatory authority and the national operator which added that personnel at the Chornobyl site ‘have limited opportunities to communicate, move and carry out full-fledged maintenance and repair work,’” the IAEA said in a statement.
Reactor No. 4 at the power plant exploded and caught fire in 1986, shattering the building and spewing radioactive material high into the sky. Even 36 years later, radioactivity is still leaking from history’s worst nuclear disaster.
Ukraine has lost regulatory control over all the facilities in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone to the Russians and asked the IAEA to undertake measures “in order to reestablish legal regulation of safety of nuclear facilities and installations” within the site, the statement added.
Grossi has repeatedly stressed that any military or other action that could threaten the safety or security of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants must be avoided.
“I remain gravely concerned about the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, especially about the country’s nuclear power plants, which must be able to continue operating without any safety or security threats,” he said. “Any accident caused as a result of the military conflict could have extremely serious consequences for people and the environment, in Ukraine and beyond.”
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CHERNIHIV, Ukraine — Video taken in the aftermath of shelling in the city of Chernihiv shows firefighters standing in rubble dousing flames with hoses as rescue crews carried at least one person on a stretcher and another helper assisted a person down a ladder.
Smoke spewed from a high-rise building just behind what appeared to be a children’s swing set, according to video released Thursday by the Ukrainian government.
Ukraine’s state emergencies agency says at least 33 civilians were killed and another 18 wounded in a Russian strike Thursday on a residential area in Chernihiv, a city of 280,000 in Ukraine’s north.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced new sanctions against Russian oligarchs and others in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle as Russian forces continue to pummel Ukraine.
Those targeted by the new sanctions include Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals and a close ally of Putin. The U.S. State Department also announced it was imposing visa bans on 19 Russian oligarchs and dozens of their family members and close associates.
“These individuals and their family members will be cut off from the U.S. financial system; their assets in the United States will be frozen and their property will be blocked from use,” the White House said in a statement announcing the new penalties.
The White House described Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, as a "top purveyor of Putin’s propaganda.”
The property of Usmanov and the others will be blocked from use in the U.S. and by Americans. His assets include his superyacht, one of the world’s largest. Usmanov’s private jet, one of Russia’s largest privately owned aircraft, is also covered by the sanctions.
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PRAGUE — The Czech Republic won’t punish those Czech nationals who decide to join international brigades to help Ukraine fight the invading Russian army.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Thursday he and President Milos Zeman have agreed on the plan.
To serve in a foreign army is punishable by a prison term in the Czech Republic, but Fiala said that such a person would be pardoned by the president, with him co-signing it.
Several hundred Czechs have asked the presidential office and the Defense Ministry for approval to serve in foreign armed forces following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for international brigades of volunteers.
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JUNEAU, Alaska — In a ceremonial vote, the Alaska House of Representatives has approved a measure calling on the United States to supply military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The so-called “sense of the House” vote lacks binding authority. However, some lawmakers say it effectively foreshadows more substantial action, including divesting the state of Alaska's investments in Russian companies.
The measure approved Wednesday also calls on the U.S. to support Ukraine’s membership application to the European Union and to promote energy independence from Russian sources, globally and domestically.
The lone dissenting vote came from state Rep. David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican who declined to answer why he voted that way when asked by the Anchorage Daily News.
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PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that he has again asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to halt attacks on Ukraine, but that Putin won't do it.
“At this point, he refuses,” Macron wrote in Twitter post.
He confirmed that he had spoken to Putin on the phone earlier on Thursday and said he will continue the dialogue to prevent “more human tragedy.”
“We must prevent the worst from happening,” Macron also said in his post. Dialogue has to continue to “protect the (civilian) population, to obtain good will gestures ... to put an end to this war,” Macron said.
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BREST, Belarus — A Ukrainian official who attended talks with Russians on Thursday said that “regrettably, we haven’t reached results we were hoping for,” but emphasized the importance of humanitarian corridors, saying that many cities have been besieged by the Russian troops and are experiencing a dramatic shortage of food and medicines.
The establishment of safe corridors was the Ukrainians’ main demand heading into their second round of negotiations in Belarus, in the Brest region that borders Poland.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhialo Podolyak said that Russia and Ukraine will quickly set the necessary channels of communications and logistics to organize those safe corridors.
Podolyak added that a third round of talks will be held shortly.
GENEVA — The U.N. human rights chief says military operations in Ukraine are “escalating further as we speak” and warned of “concerning reports” of the use of cluster bombs.
Michelle Bachelet said the Ukrainian town of Volnovakha in the eastern Donetsk region, where pro-Russian separatists seized territory in 2014, leading to a drawn-out military conflict, “has been almost completely destroyed by shelling,” with residents hiding in basements.
She spoke Thursday during an “urgent debate” at the Human Rights Council, where country after country spoke out against Russia’s invasion. Many Western envoys sported blue or yellow ties, scarves, jackets or ribbons on their lapels – colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Delegates will vote Friday on a resolution that would create a three-person panel of experts to monitor human rights and report on rights abuses and violations in Ukraine.
U.S. Ambassador Sheba Crocker said her country was “deeply alarmed” by reports of “Russia’s deployment of weapons such as cluster munitions and thermobarics against cities where innocent people are sheltering.” She urged countries to vote for the resolution.
Chen Xu, China’s ambassador, hailed diplomatic talks between Russia and Ukraine but said his country opposed efforts to “politicize” human rights. He said China would vote against the resolution.
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BERLIN — German officials have denied that a superyacht allegedly owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has been seized in the port city of Hamburg.
Business magazine Forbes reported Thursday that German authorities had impounded the “Dilbar,” citing unnamed sources.
But a spokesperson for Hamburg state’s economy ministry said no such decision had yet been taken because it was unclear who the luxury yacht belonged to.
Susanne Meinecke told The Associated Press that the ship is registered to a holding company in Malta.
Still, the yacht is currently being serviced at a Hamburg shipyard and could not be moved even if the owner wanted it to, a German official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Germany’s Economy Ministry said it was in the process of “swiftly and effectively implementing the Russia sanctions” but declined to say publicly which assets had been seized, if any.
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Associated Press Writer Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
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RUKLA, Lithuania — Germany’s president has praised Russians who are speaking out against their country’s attack on Ukraine, saying they deserve respect and support.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose position is largely ceremonial, said Thursday that “many Russians in science, business and culture know what the Russian army is doing in Ukraine and condemn the war.”
“They are demanding an end to fighting and peace,” Steinmeier said. “We admire their bravery, they too deserve our respect and our support.”
Speaking during a visit to German troops in Lithuania, Steinmeier said he expected the sanctions against Russia to prompt businesspeople in the country to consider “when this war can have any advantages for Russia in the long-term.”
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda said the war would have “painful consequences” for Russia” and called for European Union members to support Ukraine joining the bloc.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office says a second round of talks with Russia about the war in Ukraine has begun in neighboring Belarus.
A video released by Zelenskyy’s office Thursday showed the informally dressed Ukrainian delegation walking into the meeting room where they shook hands with Russian delegates in suits and ties.
The talks are aimed at stopping the fighting that has sent more than 1 million people fleeing over Ukraine’s borders, but the two sides appeared to have little common ground.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin’s demand for its “demilitarization” and declare itself neutral, formally renouncing its bid to join NATO. Putin has long contended that Ukraine’s turn toward the West is a threat to Moscow, an argument he used to justify last week's invasion.
The talks came as the Russian military made significant gains in the south of Ukraine as part of an effort to sever the country’s connection to the Black and Azov seas.
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PARIS — A French official says French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken for 90 minutes by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told Macron that military operations in Ukraine are “going according to plan.”
The official at the French Elysee presidential palace said Putin told Macron the conflict would continue “until the end” unless negotiations meet his terms.
Putin said negotiations must center on the “neutralization and disarmament of Ukraine,” according to the French official. Putin reportedly said he would attain that goal by military means, if not by political and diplomatic means.
The official said the two leaders spoke at Putin’s request. The French official could not be named in keeping with Elysee practice.
BRUSSELS — A senior European Union official says that in the wake of Ukraine’s formal application this week to join the bloc, bids for entry are also expected “imminently” from Moldova and Georgia.
The two eastern European countries are already part of EU outreach programs, but a membership request would be a major development in their relations with the 27-nation bloc.
Any membership application and consideration is a process that would take many years and involve fundamental political adjustments, ranging from trade, to rule of law measures and anti-corruption commitments.
The EU official who spoke Thursday asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of recent geopolitical developments after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
— By Raf Casert.
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BERLIN — German automaker Volkswagen says it is halting production of vehicles in Russia until further notice due to the Russian attack on Ukraine.
The VW Group said in a brief statement Thursday on Twitter that “vehicle exports to Russia will also be stopped with immediate effect.”
The company said it takes its “responsibility for the affected employees in Russia very seriously” and all those affected will receive short-time working benefits, paid by Volkswagen.
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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s government says it is in talks with governments of international organizations and nearby countries to send essential medical supplies to Ukraine.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke Thursday by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who requested further help in resisting Russia’s invasion of his country.
South Korea has joined the U.S.-led economic pressure campaign on Moscow over the invasion, banning exports of strategic materials to Russia and supporting efforts to cut off key Russian banks from global payment systems.
Moon’s office said he expressed his condolences for war victims and saluted the courage of Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people.
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DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh officials say a missile has hit one of the country’s cargo ships at the Ukrainian port of Olvia, killing one crew member.
The junior minister for shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, said 29 crew were aboard the vessel, which is owned by the state-run Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.
He said the ship was carrying cement clay and was on its way to Italy.
Hadisur Rahman, an engineer onboard, was struck in the attack late Wednesday and died. The other 28 members were safe, Chowdhury said. It was unclear whether it was a Ukrainian or Russian missile.
PARIS — French authorities say they have seized a yacht linked to Igor Sechin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of European Union sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The French Finance Ministry said in a statement Thursday that customs authorities carried out an inspection of the yacht Amore Vero in the Mediterranean resort of La Ciotat.
The boat arrived in La Ciotat on Jan. 3 for repairs and was slated to stay until April 1. When French customs officers arrived to inspect the yacht, its crew was preparing an urgent departure, even though the repair work wasn’t finished, the statement said. The boat was seized to prevent its departure.
It says the boat is owned by a company that lists Sechin as its primary shareholder. Sechin runs Russian oil giant Rosneft.
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BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s government is insisting it will not allow any arms shipments bound for neighboring Ukraine to cross its territory, as the European Union country receives tens of thousands of refugees from the conflict and frets about the reliability of its energy links to Moscow.
A large Hungarian ethnic minority, around 150,000 people, lives in the western Ukrainian region of Transcarpathia, just across the border.
The prime minister’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, says allowing weapons into Ukraine would endanger that minority.
Gulyas said Thursday that some 120,000 refugees fleeing the conflict have crossed into Hungary so far.
Hungary has agreed to all EU sanctions imposed on Russia, Gulyas said. But he argued against allowing sanctions to affect Hungary’s energy sector, which relies heavily on Russian natural gas.
Gulyas also said that Hungary will not pull out of the planned Russian-backed expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, which will be financed primarily by a Russian state bank.
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BERLIN — A German magazine says it has hired 15 reporters in Ukraine and Russia to cover the war after existing staff waived part of their salaries and the publication received a flood of donations from supporters.
Editor-in-chief Benjamin Friedrich said Katapult magazine is sending its new hires in Ukraine urgently needed equipment such as protective vests, helmets and smartphones to help them do their work. Fourteen of the new hires are women.
“It’s a bit of a wild effort,” Friedrich told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. The magazine hopes to hire a total of 21 staff for the new venture, which will initially be published online in English and Ukrainian, he said.
“Russian would be great too, eventually,” Friedrich said, noting that coverage of the war in Russian media is very limited and not often impartial.
Katapult magazine, a quarterly based in the northeast German town of Greifswald, has made a name for itself in recent years explaining complex social issues with easy-to-understand graphics and charts that are widely shared on social media. It claims to have 150,000 print subscribers.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow is ready for peace talks but will press its effort to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure, which the Kremlin claims is threatening Russia.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that the Russian delegation to the talks submitted its demands to Ukrainian negotiators earlier this week and is now waiting for Kyiv’s response in a meeting set for Thursday.
Lavrov said that Russia will insist on provisions that Ukraine will never again represent a military threat to Russia. He said it will be up to Ukrainians to choose what government they should have.
Lavrov voiced regret for civilian casualties during the Russian action in Ukraine, which started last week, and insisted that the Russian military is using only precision weapons against military targets.
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.”
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BEIJING — China is denouncing a report that it asked Russia to delay invading Ukraine until after the Beijing Winter Olympics as “fake news” and a “very despicable” attempt to divert attention and shift blame over the conflict.
“The New York Times report is purely fake news, and such behaviors of diverting attentions and shifting blames are very despicable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Thursday.
The Times article cited a “Western intelligence report” considered credible by officials, which indicated that “senior Chinese officials had some level of direct knowledge about Russia’s war plans or intentions before the invasion started last week,” the Times wrote.
China also commented on its decision to abstain in Wednesday’s U.N. General Assembly emergency session vote to demand an immediate halt to Moscow’s attack on Ukraine and the withdrawal of all Russian troops.
“Regrettably, the draft resolution submitted to the General Assembly emergency special session for vote had not undergone full consultations with the whole membership, nor does it take into consideration the history and the complexity of the current crisis,” Wang said.
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BERLIN — Activists from the Fridays for Future environmental movement are staging protests in dozens of German cities calling for peace in Ukraine.
The group, which has staged large marches in the past calling for greater action against climate change, said it wants to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine following Russia’s attack.
The demonstrations, including one in front of the German parliament, are scheduled to take place in 35 cities on Thursday.
Separately, churches across Germany are planning to ring their bells at noon for seven minutes, representing the seven days since the start of the war in Ukraine.
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JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister is calling on world leaders to get Russia and Ukraine “out of the battlefield and to the negotiating table” after a week of fighting.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke in English on Thursday at a cyber tech conference in Tel Aviv, less than a day after he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Israel maintains good relations with both countries. It has condemned Russia’s invasion and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but the same time has avoided taking a stance that might anger Moscow. Russia and Israel cooperate on military operations in Syria.
Bennett said of the situation in Ukraine that “things are looking bad on the ground right now, but it’s important to understand that if world leaders don’t act quickly it can get much worse.”
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GENEVA — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is backing calls to investigate potential human rights violations committed by Russia in Ukraine, with a view to holding to account those responsible.
In a video message to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Baerbock said that grave abuses “must be prosecuted.”
“We urgently need a commission of inquiry on Ukraine to investigate all violations of human rights that have been committed by Russia since its military aggression,” she said. “We must stand strong on accountability.”
Baerbock also expressed support for activists in Russia, such as the recently closed human rights group Memorial and imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Hercules C130 transport aircraft with some 2,000 anti-tank missiles for Ukraine has taken off from Norway.
The weapons are to help Ukrainian forces resist Russia’s invasion, which began last week.
Norway’s national news agency NTB said the shipment was being sent from Oslo on Thursday to a third country before being transported to Ukraine.
Also Thursday, Germany’s economy ministry approved sending 2,700 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, the dpa news agency said.
The agency quoted unnamed Economy Ministry officials saying the weapons are Soviet-made, shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles left over from East German army supplies.
Germany reversed its previous refusal to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons last week, following Russia’s attack.
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LONDON — A British military expert says the longer Ukrainian cities can hold out against Russian attacks, the fewer troops Moscow will have at its disposal to encircle Kyiv, its main objective.
Jack Watling, an expert in land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, said Thursday that if cities are able to resist they can draw out the conflict.
“If the conflict protracts, the Ukrainians have more leverage to be able to negotiate,” Watling said.
His assessment came as Russia claimed its troops had taken the southern city of Kherson, even as the head of the local administration said he was working to keep the Ukrainian flag flying over the city.
Russian forces pounded Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, overnight and air raid sirens were heard in the capital, Kyiv.
The next phase of the war will test the Ukrainians’ commitment and their ability to conduct small-scale offensive actions that disrupt and delay the Russian advance, Watling said.
The challenge will be to prevent cities from being surrounded so they aren’t cut off from supplies of food, water and ammunition, he added.
AP
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