02/03/2022
Russia-Ukraine live news: Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariupol attacked
Russia claims to have captured Kherson, in the south, as its forces pound Mariupol and northeastern Kharkiv.
By David Child, Mersiha Gadzo, Farah Najjar and Zaheena Rasheed
Published On 1 Mar 2022
1 Mar 2022
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Updated:
19 minutes ago
Russia claims its forces have captured Kherson, in Ukraine’s south.
Local authorities deny Kherson has fallen, but say Russian troops have encircled the city.
Deaths mount as Russian attacks pound several cities, including northeastern Kharkiv and Mariupol, in the southeast.
The UN says more than 870,000 people have fled Ukraine in search of safety in other countries.
An enormous Russian military convoy is now about 25km north of the capital, Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Moscow is aiming to “erase” Ukraine.
INTERACTIVE Russia-Ukraine map Who controls what in Ukraine MAP DAY 7 KHERSON
KEEP READING
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: List of key events from day seven
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Russian airborne troops land in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, clashes erupt
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Many deaths as Russia intensifies bombardment of Ukraine cities
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Deadly blast at Kyiv TV tower as Russia warns Ukrainian capital
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Here are all the latest updates:
1 min ago (16:31 GMT)
Ukrainian minister draws standing ovation at UN rights body
Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister has received a standing ovation at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva after calling for support for a draft resolution to set up a UN investigation into alleged crimes committed by Russia.
“We are under inhumane attack,” Emine Dzhaparova said.
More than 100 diplomats walked out during an address by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday.
52 mins ago (15:40 GMT)
India urges its students to immediately leave Kharkiv
India’s foreign ministry has issued a new advisory urging Indian students to immediately leave Kharkiv.
“We have issued this advisory based on inputs that the Russian side has given,” foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi told reporters in New Delhi. He did not specify how many Indian students were currently in Kharkiv.
The advisory said students must reach nearby cities and settlements by any means of transport or on foot by 16:00 GMT, “under all circumstances”, for their own safety.
It was issued a day after an Indian student was killed by Russian shelling in Kharkiv.
Before Moscow launched its attack, Indian nationals made up about a quarter of the 76,000 foreign students in Ukraine, by far the largest number, according to Ukrainian government data.
55 mins ago (15:37 GMT)
EU sanctions 22 Belarus officers over Ukraine invasion
The European Union has imposed sanctions on 22 senior Belarusian military officers over what it said was Minsk’s role in aiding Russia’s invasion.
The six generals and 16 colonels were added to the EU blacklist because “Belarus is participating in a Russian unprovoked invasion against Ukraine by allowing military aggression from its territory,” the official sanction document said.
The blacklist bans travel into the bloc and imposes asset freezes.
1 hour ago (15:10 GMT)
Amid war, an independent Russian radio station goes silent
One of Russia’s best-known radio stations has gone silent.
On Tuesday night, listeners who tuned in to Echo of Moscow, one of the handful of independent news outlets remaining in the country, heard nothing but the hissing noise of static.
It was the latest development in an intense squeeze by Moscow on domestic reporting of its war in Ukraine.
Read more here.
2 hours ago (14:50 GMT)
WHO says first medical aid for Ukraine to arrive in Poland Thursday
A first shipment of medical aid for Ukraine will arrive in Poland on Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Six tonnes of trauma care and emergency surgery supplies will be delivered to meet the needs of 1,000 patients, and other health supplies to meet the needs of 150,000 people, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing in Geneva.
He also stressed the need for a humanitarian corridor to be created to ensure the supplies reached the people most in need.
A doctor is seen taking shelter in a basement in Kyiv
Ukraine is facing problems distributing medicines to pharmacies and hospitals due to the Russian invasion, the country’s health minister has said [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]
2 hours ago (14:34 GMT)
Do not call Ukraine invasion a ‘war’, Russia tells media, schools
The Kremlin has been working hard to promote its version of events as Russia’s bloody assault on Ukraine continues.
Read more on Moscow’s efforts to control the narrative here.
2 hours ago (14:28 GMT)
Reports of ‘heavy casualties’ in Mariupol: AJE correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Zaporizhzhia, a city in southeastern Ukraine, says there are reports of “heavy casualties” in Mariupol, a key port city in the country’s south.
“The mayor … is alleging that Russian forces are blocking the exit of civilians from the city,” Stratford said.
“We know that there was a large tank column and a lot of Russian weapons moved into positions to the west of the city over the last couple of days,” he added.
“We also know that there has been a lot of shelling on the east of the city as well, since this war started.”
Stratford said the Russians appeared to be “desperately trying to create a land corridor” linking the northern part of the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, with the self-proclaimed, Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
“And it certainly looks as if there has been so far today what can only be described as an escalation as Russia tries to push further forwards in multiple locations around the country,” he added.
3 hours ago (14:02 GMT)
EU bans RT, Sputnik banned over Ukraine disinformation
Russian state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik will be banned in the EU with immediate effect for promoting what the bloc says is systematic disinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The unprecedented move means that EU operators will be prohibited from broadcasting, facilitating or otherwise contributing to the dissemination of any RT and Sputnik content.
3 hours ago (13:40 GMT)
‘We burned our clothes to stay warm’: Somali details Ukraine exit
Mustafa Mohamed, a Somali national, has described to Al Jazeera his ordeal to find refuge in Poland following Russia’s invasion.
After 10 years in Ukraine, he left behind his life in Vinnytsia when a blast hit the city, in west-central Ukraine, and headed for the border.
Along the way, he found hardship and despair among the throngs of crowds attempting to reach safety elsewhere.
Click here to read his account.
3 hours ago (13:21 GMT)
Kyiv asks pope to talk to Putin about humanitarian corridors
Ukraine has asked the pope to talk to Putin about allowing humanitarian corridors to assist civilians affected by Moscow’s incursion, the country’s deputy prime minister has said.
“I hope the conversation will take place,” Iryna Vereshchuk said on live television in Ukraine.
3 hours ago (13:16 GMT)
UK PM says Putin guilty of ‘war crime’
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that he believes Russia’s actions in Ukraine qualify as a “war crime”.
“What we have seen already from Vladimir Putin’s regime in the use of the munitions that they have already been dropping on innocent civilians … in my view already fully qualifies as a war crime,” Johnson told the United Kingdom’s Parliament.
3 hours ago (13:05 GMT)
The humanitarian situation: What we know
The numbers of dead and wounded are incredibly difficult for anyone to verify, given the chaotic events on the ground.
Ukraine’s emergency services said on Wednesday that more than 2,000 civilians had been killed since the invasion began on February 24.
“Children, women and defence forces are losing their lives every hour,” it said in a statement.
Russia has not commented in detail on casualties, either in terms of Ukrainian civilians or losses among its troops.
Emergency service workers are seen carrying a victims body on a stretcher in Kharkiv
Emergency service workers carry away a body in central Kharkiv [Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters]
On Monday, the UN said 136 people, including 13 children, had been killed.
However, the world body did warn the real figure was likely to be “much higher”.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the death toll.
Meanwhile, more than 870,000 people have now fled Ukraine in search of safety in other countries, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
4 hours ago (12:44 GMT)
Russians to compete as ‘neutral athletes’ at Winter Paralympics
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has said Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete as neutrals at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing.
The IPC added that athletes from the two countries will compete under the Paralympic flag and will not be included in the medal table. It said it would not hold events in either country “while the present situation continues”.
“What we have decided upon is the harshest possible punishment we can hand down within our constitution and the current IPC rules,” IPC President Andrew Parsons said in a statement.
4 hours ago (12:27 GMT)
Ukraine needs humanitarian corridor, health minister says
Ukraine is facing problems distributing medicines to pharmacies and hospitals due to the Russian invasion and wants to establish a humanitarian corridor for them, Health Minister Oleh Lyashko says.
Lyashko also raised the issue of supplying medical oxygen to coronavirus patients, but added that there were still enough stocks for the moment.
4 hours ago (12:24 GMT)
Russian cruise missile strikes Kharkiv city council building, official says
Russian forces have fired a cruise missile into the city council building in Kharkiv, the deputy governor of the region, Roman Semenukha, says.
A key Russian target, Kharkiv has come under intense shelling over the past two days.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify Semenukha’s claim.
4 hours ago (12:15 GMT)
Ukrainian official claims Kherson not captured by Russia
An adviser to Ukraine’s president has denied Russia’s claims that its forces have captured Kherson.
Oleksiy Arestovych said street fighting is conyinuing in the city, which is home to about 300,000 people and sits at the Dnieper River’s exit into the Black Sea.
“The city has not fallen, our side continues to defend,” he said.
5 hours ago (11:24 GMT)
More than 870,000 people have fled Ukraine, UN says
More than 870,000 people have now fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion, according to the UNHCR.
Many have fled into neighbouring Poland, which has received more than 450,000 people so far.
The overall number has risen rapidly since Moscow started its onslaught and is expected to continue to climb quickly.
5 hours ago (11:04 GMT)
UAE reimposes visa requirements on Ukrainians
The Ukrainian embassy in the United Arab Emirates says the Gulf country is reimposing visa requirements on Ukrainians.
The embassy posted on its page that the measure, which means any Ukrainian passport holders wanting to visit the UAE will now need a visa first, had taken effect from Tuesday.
The energy-rich UAE, which relies on Russian and Ukrainian wheat exports, is home to some 15,000 Ukrainian residents among its roughly eight million foreign residents and one million Emirati citizens.
Like other Gulf Arab states, it does not recognise individuals fleeing war and has not permitted refugees from Syria, Iraq and other wars to seek asylum or seek resettlement.
Last week, it abstained during a UN Security Council vote condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
6 hours ago (11:01 GMT)
Lavrov says Russia will not let Ukraine obtain nuclear weapons: Report
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Moscow will not allow Ukraine to obtain nuclear weapons, according to a report by the country’s TASS news agency.
Lavrov’s reported remarks came a day after he alleged at a Geneva disarmament meeting that Kyiv has been seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
“Ukraine still has Soviet technologies and the means of delivery of such weapons,” he told the Conference on Disarmament in a pre-recorded address. “We cannot fail to respond to this real danger.”
Lavrov delivered his speech to a thin crowd after diplomats from many countries staged a walk-out to protest against Russia’s invasion. Moscow has moved to put its own nuclear forces on high alert in recent days.
INTERACTIVE- Nuclear warheads per country
6 hours ago (10:50 GMT)
‘Four killed’ as Russia raids pound Kharkiv
Emergency services and the mayor of Kharkiv say four more people have been killed in the city as Russian air and rocket attacks continue.
Nine others have been wounded, they said.
“Kharkiv is a Russian-speaking city. Every fourth person in Kharkiv has relatives in the Russian Federation. But the city’s attitude to Russia today is completely different to what it ever was before,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a video posted online.
“We never expected this could happen: total destruction, annihilation, genocide against the Ukrainian people – this is unforgivable.”
There was no immediate comment on the allegations from Russia, while Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the figures provided.
6 hours ago (10:40 GMT)
Russian police allegedly detain children for taking anti-war signs to Ukraine’s embassy in Moscow
Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s leading independent newspaper, has reported that children have been detained by Russian police for laying flowers and anti-war signs at the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow.
“In the Presnensky police department, children and their parents are left overnight,” the newspaper tweeted in Russian, alongside a photo of the children and their parents.
“The police detained them when they laid flowers at the Ukrainian embassy,” it added.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify Novaya Gazeta’s reporting.
6 hours ago (10:35 GMT)
Kyiv mayor says Russia is massing troops closer to the capital
Russia is gathering troops closer and closer to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital’s mayor says.
“We are preparing and will defend Kyiv,” Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on Facebook. “Kyiv stands and will stand.”
He also reminded the city’s residents to continue obeying a city-wide curfew in effect from 8pm to 7am each day.
INTERACTIVE Russia-Ukraine map Who controls what in Kyiv MAP DAY 7
6 hours ago (10:24 GMT)
Russia says it’s ready for more talks today
The Kremlin has said Russian officials are ready to hold a second round of talks with Ukraine later today, but added it was not clear if Ukrainian officials would turn up.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there was contradictory information regarding the talks. A meeting between delegations from the two countries on Monday ended without any agreement except to keep talking.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Russia must stop bombing Ukrainian cities before further discussions could take place.
6 hours ago (10:10 GMT)
Navalny spokeswoman calls for daily anti-war protests in Russia
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny’s spokeswoman has called for daily anti-war protests in Russia.
“The most important [thing]: to spread information. If you are afraid of reposting (although it’s late for fear) – at least spread it among your acquaintances by word of mouth … No war,” Kira Yarmysh tweeted.
Yarmysh called for protesters to stage daily demonstrations at 7pm local time in the main squares of all Russian cities, and for rallies to be held at 2pm local time on weekends.
Several rounds of anti-war protests have already taken place in cities across Russia. More than 6,800 people have been arrested for taking part in the demonstrations, according to protest monitoring group OVD-Info.
6 hours ago (10:03 GMT)
Russia cancelled Black Sea passage bid of four warships: Turkey
Russia has cancelled a bid to send four of its warships through Turkish waters into the Black Sea at Turkey’s request, according to the Turkish government.
Read more here.
7 hours ago (09:49 GMT)
EU approves new sanctions against Belarus
EU diplomats have approved new sanctions against Belarus for its supporting role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the French Presidency of the EU Council says.
The sanctions will target Belarusian figures alleged to have played a role in the assault, the French Presidency said on Twitter, and will also hit “some economic sectors, and in particular timber, steel and potassium”.
The presidency of the EU Council rotates among the bloc’s member states every six months.
7 hours ago (09:40 GMT)
Why hasn’t Russia mobilised its vast air power against Ukraine?
Before Russia’s invasion, the United States had predicted Moscow would launch a blistering assault that would quickly mobilise its vast air power to dominate Ukraine’s skies.
But recent days have seen those expectations confounded, with Russia acting far more delicately with its air power.
Read more here.
7 hours ago (09:27 GMT)
Empty shelves, spy hunt: Kyiv residents brace for Russian assault
In the Ukrainian capital, residents and servicemen alike hunt for Russian spies in the Ukrainian capital while supermarkets struggle to keep their shelves stocked.
All of this while an enormous Russian military convoy lumbers towards the city, raising fears of an imminent uptick in fighting there.
Read more here.
A woman is seen looking at empty shelves in a Kyiv shop
A woman stares at empty shelves at a store in the capital [Carlos Barria/Reuters]
Ukrainian forces are seen on a road in the centre of Kyiv
Tension in Kyiv is increasing as a miles-long Russian military convoy edges towards the city [Carlos Barria/Reuters]
People line up in front of a pharmacy in Kyiv
Except for queues in front of essential stores, such as pharmacies, Kyiv’s streets are largely empty [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]
7 hours ago (09:24 GMT)
EU Commission proposes temporary residence rights for Ukrainian refugees
The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, has proposed that the bloc grant temporary residence rights to people fleeing Ukraine.
Designed to deal with mass arrivals of displaced persons inside the EU, the new legislation will provide the same level of protection to Ukrainians in all 27 of the bloc’s member states and allow them to obtain residence permits as well as access to employment and social welfare.
The proposal will be discussed by EU interior ministers on Thursday.
7 hours ago (09:20 GMT)
Zelenskyy adviser says more Russia talks being considered
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has said that Kyiv is discussing whether to hold more negotiations with Russia.
A meeting between delegations from the two countries on Monday ended without any agreement except to keep talking.
Podolyak told the Reuters news agency that a “substantial agenda” was needed for any follow-up meeting.
7 hours ago (09:03 GMT)
Russian attacks ‘aimed at depriving Ukraine access to Black Sea’: AJE correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine, says there appears to be a “pattern of Russian attacks aimed at depriving Ukraine of access to its Black Sea coast”.
“The Russians are said to be in control of Kherson and are also encircling Mariupol, a much bigger port city down on the Black Sea coast between Crimea and the breakaway regions,” he said, citing the DPR and LPR in eastern Ukraine.
INTERACTIVE- Ukraine Russia head-to-head
8 hours ago (08:49 GMT)
‘Nothing is normal any longer in Ukraine’
Kateryna Shynkaruk, a Ukrainian political scientist and lecturer at the Kyiv-based National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, says “nothing is any longer normal in Ukraine” following Russia’s invasion.
“It has been such a dramatic change,” Shynkaruk told Al Jazeera from the western city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, where she fled to on Tuesday from the capital.
“And all these circumstances have brought to light things that were debated for decades – about whether Ukraine belongs in Europe or not … and what kind of state Russia is,” she added. “It is a terrorist state.”
8 hours ago (08:43 GMT)
Mariupol under heavy shelling, mayor says
Mariupol is under constant shelling from Russian forces, its mayor says.
“We are fighting, we are not ceasing to defend our motherland,” Vadym Boichenko said live on Ukrainian TV.
The intensity of the attacks meant it was proving impossible to evacuate those who had been wounded, he added.
Paramedics are see moving a patient in Mariupol
Mariupol has come under intense shelling from Russian forces in recent days [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP]
8 hours ago (08:32 GMT)
Russian paratroopers land in Kharkiv, clashes erupt
The Ukrainian military says immediate clashes have erupted after Russian paratroopers landed in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on the seventh day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
“Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv … and attacked a local hospital,” the army said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
“There is an ongoing fight between the invaders and the Ukrainians,” it added.
Read more here.
8 hours ago (08:25 GMT)
‘Russian soldiers seen on the streets of Kherson’: AJE correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from Lviv, says there are reports of “Russian soldiers being seen on the streets of Kherson”.
“This is a strategic city because it links the annexed Crimean Peninsula to the mainland of Ukraine,” Simmons said.
He added Russian forces were now trying to take control of Mariupol.
“There is a colossal fight going on there,” Simmons said.
8 hours ago (08:20 GMT)
Ukraine has enough for current spending despite war, finance minister says
Ukraine has enough funds to cover all current spending, the country’s finance minister has said, noting the scale of international support amid Russia’s assault.
“We have huge international support … We carry out all social payments, pensions, salaries and financial support for the army,” Sergiy Marchenko told Ukrainian TV in an interview, adding the ministry would continue issuing domestic war bonds.
9 hours ago (07:47 GMT)
Russia aims to ‘erase us’, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy has claimed that nearly 6,000 Russians have been killed during Moscow’s invasion and warned the Kremlin it will not be able to take control of Ukraine with bombs and air raids.
In a video address, the Ukrainian president said a Russian missile strike in the capital on Tuesday which hit a Holocaust memorial complex “proves that for many people in Russia our Kyiv is absolutely foreign”.
“They don’t know a thing about Kyiv, about our history. But they all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all,” he added.
Russia has not publically declared how many of its troops have been killed and Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the figures provided by Zelenskky.
9 hours ago (07:29 GMT)
Russia claims capture of Kherson: Report
Russia’s defence ministry says the country’s armed forces have captured the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to a report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
If the city has fallen, it would be the largest to be captured by Russian forces since Moscow launched its offensive.
Local authorities deny Kherson has fallen, but say Russian troops have encircled the city.
10 hours ago (07:00 GMT)
People leaving Russia limited to carrying $10,000 as sanctions bite
Russian residents are no longer allowed to leave the country with more than the equivalent of $10,000 as the Kremlin tries to keep capital inside the country.
The rule affects the movement of foreign currency, too, and seems designed to make sure that people attempting to leave Russia – as sanctions are slapped on the country – don’t take all of their hard currency with them.
Long queues are now common at cash machines that still have bank notes as people try to withdraw their holdings, against the backdrop of a rouble that is rapidly losing most of its value in light of the sanctions. Prices of imported goods are shooting up and people are trying to purchase some items, like new phones, before they become unaffordable.
Vendors count Russian ruble banknotes at a market in Omsk
Russia’s rouble has plummeted in value amid a flurry of Western sanctions [File: Alexey Malgavko/Reuters]
10 hours ago (06:45 GMT)
Germany is prepared if Russia stops gas exports: Economy minister
Germany is prepared should Russia stop exporting gas to the country, which is Europe’s largest economy, Economy Minister Robert Habeck has said.
Asked by radio station Deutschlandfunk what the government would do if Russia stops gas exports, Habeck replied: “We are prepared for that. I can give the all-clear for the current winter and summer.”
“For the next winter, we would take further measures,” he added, pointing to planned new legislation to ensure gas storage is full for winter.
“So we are also taking precautions for the worst case, which has not happened yet because the Russians are delivering,” he said, adding that in a worse-case scenario Berlin could keep “coal-fired power plants in reserve, maybe even keep them running,” but that it was committed to moving to renewables in the medium term.
10 hours ago (06:36 GMT)
At least 21 killed, 112 wounded in shelling of Kharkiv: Ukrainian official
At least 21 people have been killed and 112 wounded in shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in the last 24 hours, regional governor Oleg Synegubov has said.
The authorities said Russian missile attacks hit the centre of Ukraine’s second-largest city, including residential areas and the regional administration building.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the figures provided.
10 hours ago (06:29 GMT)
More than 450,000 people have fled to Poland, minister says
More than 450,000 people have fled to Poland from Ukraine since the Russian invasion started, Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker has said.
Szefernaker also told private radio station Radio Zet that the number of people entering Poland fell slightly on Tuesday to 98,000 from a record number of more than 100,000 a day earlier.
