Moscow strikes a military base in western Ukraine, killing at least 35, Ukrainian officials say.
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- Authorities in Lviv say the Russian military launched a deadly air strike targeting a Ukrainian base in Yavoriv near the Polish border, killing at least 35 people.
- People in Kyiv are scrambling to escape with the bulk of Russian ground forces about 25km (16 miles) from the centre of the Ukrainian capital.
- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia might use chemical weapons in Ukraine and that such a move would be a war crime.
- The United States has said it would rush up to $200m in additional small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine.
- Russia has said its troops could target supplies of Western weapons in Ukraine.
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list of 4 items
‘Shameful’: UK’s response to Ukraine refugee crisis criticised
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: List of key events from day 18
Russia-Ukraine war military dispatch: March 12, 2022
Russia’s bioweapon conspiracy theory finds support in US
end of list
Here are the latest updates:
Ukraine human rights ombudswoman accuses Russia of using phosphorus munitions
Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman accused Russia of using banned phosphorus munitions in an overnight attack on the town of Popasna in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. The statement could not be verified.
The ombudswoman, Liudmila Denisova, shared a photograph purporting to show the alleged attack, but did not say if Ukraine had concrete evidence.
“The bombing of a civilian city by the Russian attackers with these weapons is a war crime and a crime against humanity according to the Rome convention,” she said in an online statement.
Bus full of Ukrainian refugees overturns in Italy; one dead
A bus carrying about 50 Ukrainian refugees overturned on a major highway in northern Italy at dawn on Sunday, killing one person, Italian firefighters said.
Italian state TV said there were also five people injured, but none of the injuries was serious, in the accident on the A14 autostrada near Forli’, a town in the Emilia-Romagna region in northeastern Italy. It said the rest of those aboard were safely evacuated.
Italy’s Interior Ministry said the bus had set out from Ukraine and was heading south to Pescara, an Adriatic port city, when it overturned. Some 35,000 Ukrainians refugees who fled war in their homeland have entered Italy, most of them through its northeastern border with Slovenia.
What caused the bus to overturn was under investigation.
More than 250 detained in Ukraine protests across Russia
Russia detained more than 250 people for protesting against Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
OVD-Info, which monitors arrests during protests, said police had detained 268 people during demonstrations in 23 Russian cities.
An AFP journalist present at a protest in the capital Moscow witnessed at least a dozen arrests and said police were taking away anybody without press papers.
Last weekend, police arrested more than 5,000 protesters across Russia. Protesters risk fines and possible prison sentences by taking to the streets.
Pope calls Ukraine invasion ‘armed aggression’
Pope Francis has issued his toughest condemnation yet of the war in Ukraine, saying the “unacceptable armed aggression” must stop.
Speaking during his Sunday blessing to thousands of people in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City in Rome, Francis also said the bombing of hospitals and other civilian targets was “barbaric” and with “no valid strategic reason”.
“In the name of God I ask you: stop this massacre!” he said, adding that Ukrainian cities risked “being reduced to cemeteries”.
At least 35 people killed in attack on Ukraine base, says Lviv governor
At least 35 people have been killed and 134 wounded in a Russian air strike on a large Ukrainian military training ground near the Polish border, according to the regional governor of the western Lviv region, Maksym Kozytskyy.
The previous death toll announced was nine.
More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted the sprawling training facility that is less than 25km (16 miles) from the closest border point with Poland.
Qatar calls on all parties to ‘exercise restraint’ over Ukraine
Qatar’s foreign minister has called on all parties to “exercise restraint” and to avoid further escalation over Ukraine in a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, according to a Qatari foreign ministry statement.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba that Qatar urged “all parties to exercise restraint, resolve disputes through constructive dialogue and diplomatic methods, and to settle international disputes by peaceful means,” the statement said.
Russia’s Gazprom continues gas shipments via Ukraine
Russian natural gas company Gazprom has said that it was continuing gas shipments via Ukraine.
The shipments’ volume stands at 109.6 million cubic metres, up from 109.5 million a day earlier, the company said.
More than 25 ambulances seen around attacked Ukraine base: Reuters
Nineteen ambulances with sirens blaring have been seen driving from the direction of Ukraine’s Yavoriv military base near the Polish border, Reuters news agency reported, after local officials said the facility was hit by a Russian air strike.
A further seven ambulances were seen driving towards the facility after what appeared to be the westernmost attack of the war.
‘Shameful’: UK’s response to Ukraine refugee crisis criticised
Displaced Ukrainians have reported endless red tape and delays while applying for visas in the United Kingdom.
They say the British government sometimes requires them to wait weeks or travel hundreds of kilometres to centres in Ukraine or neighbouring countries to submit biometric data.
Read more here.
Lviv governor says nine killed in Russian attack on base
The governor of Ukraine’s Lviv region has said that nine people were killed and 57 others were wounded in an air strike on a military facility in the country’s west.
Foreign military instructors worked at the Yavoriv military facility near the Polish border that was hit by the attack, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said, but it was not clear if any were present at the time.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: List of key events from day 18
As Russia’s attempt to invade Ukraine enters its 18th day, we take a look at the main developments that took place in the last 24 hours.
Read more here.
Red Cross: Mariupol residents don’t have access to water
Mariupol in eastern Ukraine has been cut off from the rest of the world for almost two weeks and no one is allowed in or out amid intense fighting, with vehicles full of aid waiting in the outskirts of the city.
Jason Straziuso of the International Committee of the Red Cross told Al Jazeera that there are thousands of families in dire conditions without water in Mariupol.
“Even our team is collecting water from streams … but how does everyone do that … especially if you are elderly,” he said.
Russian army attempt to surround Ukrainian forces in east: UK intelligence
Russian forces are attempting to surround Ukrainian forces in the east of the country as they advance from the direction of Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the south, according to Britain’s defence ministry.
“Russian forces advancing from Crimea are attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west towards Odesa,” the ministry said in an intelligence update posted on Twitter.
NATO chief says Russia may use chemical weapons: German paper
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said Russia might use chemical weapons following its invasion of Ukraine and that such a move would be a war crime, according to an interview in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
“In recent days, we have heard absurd claims about chemical and biological weapons laboratories,” Stoltenberg was quoted by Welt am Sonntag as saying, adding that the Kremlin was inventing false pretexts to justify what could not be justified.
“Now that these false claims have been made, we must remain vigilant because it is possible that Russia itself could plan chemical weapons operations under this fabrication of lies. That would be a war crime,” Stoltenberg was quoted as saying.
Air strike launched on army base near Poland: Lviv authorities
An air strike has been launched on a Ukrainian military base Yavoriv in the west of the country near the Polish border, according to the Lviv regional military administration.
“The occupiers launched an air strike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security. According to preliminary data, they fired eight missiles,” the administration said in a statement.
The centre, less than 25km (16 miles) from the Polish border, did not say whether it had been hit. It said it would release details later.
Zelenskyy warns Russia it will have to raze Kyiv to take it
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned Russian forces they face a fight to the death if they try to occupy the capital Kyiv, as air raid sirens again woke residents on Sunday morning.
“If they decide to carpet bomb and simply erase the history of this region … and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that’s their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves,” Zelenskyy said late on Saturday.
Saying about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed, he urged the West to get more involved in peace negotiations.
Zelenskyy warns against ‘pseudo-republics’
Russia is trying to create new “pseudo-republics” in Ukraine to break his country apart, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in his nightly address to the nation.
Zelenskyy has called on Ukraine’s regions, including Kherson, which was captured by Russian forces, not to repeat the experience of Donetsk and Luhansk. Pro-Russian separatists began fighting Ukrainian forces in those eastern regions in 2014.
“The occupiers on the territory of the Kherson region are trying to repeat the sad experience of the formation of pseudo-republics,” Zelenskyy said. “They are blackmailing local leaders, putting pressure on deputies, looking for someone to bribe.”
City council members in Kherson, a southern city of 290,000, on Saturday rejected plans for a new pseudo-republic, Zelenskyy said.
“Ukraine will stand this test. We need time and strength to break the war machine that has come to our land,” he said.
UK to pay 350 pounds a month to open homes to Ukraine refugees
The United Kingdom will pay people to open their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion as the government moves to deflect anger about its response to the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two.
The new scheme called “Homes for Ukraine” will let refugees from the war come to the UK even if they do not have family ties, the government said.
The country will pay people 350 pounds ($456) a month if they can offer refugees a spare room or property for a minimum period of six months.
Medical train carries Ukrainian children with cancer
About 60 children – cancer patients from Ukraine – have boarded a medical train in a Polish town, bound for hospitals in Warsaw and elsewhere.
Medical workers carried some young patients in their arms, on stretchers and in a wheelchair at a station in Medyka, near the Ukrainian border.
“Some of them will require oxygen, will require some form of intensive care, and some have COVID-19 and have to be kept separate from others,” said Dominik Daszuta, an anaesthetist from Warsaw Hospital. He said the train has transported 120 children with cancer so far.
The UN Refugee Agency says at least 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine in the two weeks since the Russian invasion started.
Ukraine says people who died in Russia attack on convoy not in evacuation corridor
The seven women and children who Ukraine says died when Russian forces attacked a convoy escaping a village in the Kyiv region on Saturday were not as previously stated in an agreed evacuation corridor, the defence ministry said.
Ukraine’s intelligence service initially said those who died outside Peremoha had been in a “green corridor” agreed with Russia.
A defence ministry statement later said people had in fact tried to escape by themselves, “so they began evacuating without the ‘green corridor’ agreed by the parties”.
Inside Story: Is Facebook abandoning its hate speech policy?
Meta Platforms Inc, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, could soon be banned in Russia as an “extremist organisation”.
The Russian move comes in response to Meta announcing a change in its hate speech policy, allowing violent posts in some instances.
There is now a partial exception when the targets are Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Users are even allowed to call for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s death.
But what are the consequences of this change in policy?
Ukraine says Russia plans to control Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant: IAEA
The United Nations nuclear watchdog has said it was told by Ukraine that Russia was planning to take full and permanent control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s biggest, but that Russia had later denied this.
“The President of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant operator Energoatom, Petro Kotin, said in a letter to the Director General that around 400 Russian soldiers were ‘being present full time on site’ [at Zaporizhzhia],” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.
The IAEA said the Ukrainian regulator had also informed it that efforts to repair damaged power lines at the Chernobyl nuclear plant were continuing and that diesel generators were providing back-up power to systems relevant for safety.
Ukraine president says he spoke to Israeli PM, discussed prospects for peace talks
President Zelenskyy said he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and discussed the prospects for peace talks to end the conflict with Russia.
Zelenskyy made the announcement in a tweet and also said he had asked Bennett for help in freeing the mayor of the city of Melitopol, whom Ukraine says was abducted by Russian forces.
Some 13,000 Ukrainians evacuated from cities on Saturday, deputy PM says
About 13,000 people were evacuated from a number of Ukrainian cities on Saturday, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, almost twice the number who managed to get out the previous day.
Vereshchuk said in an online message that no one had managed to leave the besieged city of Mariupol and blamed obstruction by Russian forces. Moscow had earlier accused Ukrainian forces of intentionally trapping people there.
Amsterdam’s Orthodox clergy split from Moscow Patriarch
The clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Dutch city of Amsterdam has announced it will split from the Moscow church because of threats to them over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement posted to its website, it said that after a meeting “the clergy unanimously announced that it is no longer possible for them to function within the Moscow Patriarchate and provide a spiritually safe environment for our faithful”.
It was “with a heavy heart” that the four priests of Saint Nicholas of Myra in Amsterdam had reached their decision, they said.
Sweden official dismisses Russian NATO warning
Sweden’s foreign minister has dismissed fresh warnings from Russia that the Nordic country’s joining NATO would lead to retaliatory measures from Moscow.
Foreign Minister Ann Linde told Swedish news agency TT “Russia has nothing to do with our independent decisions”, referring to Stockholm’s possible move to join NATO.
Russia’s Interfax news agency on Saturday quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry official saying the possible accession of Sweden and neighbouring Finland to NATO would have serious military and political consequences.
Satellite images show fires, severe damage to residential buildings in Mariupol
Satellite images taken on Saturday morning showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a private US company said.
Maxar Technologies said fires were seen in the western section of the Black Sea port city and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings had been severely damaged. The images could not be independently verified.
Mariupol is facing what Ukraine says is a “humanitarian catastrophe”, with more than 1,500 civilians killed over 12 days.
A top Russian officer described the situation in the country in similarly stark language.
“Unfortunately, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is continuing to deteriorate rapidly, and in some cities, it has reached catastrophic proportions,” said the head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, Mikhail Mizintsev.
The UN has cited reports of “looting and violent confrontations” among civilians over the few resources available.
Russia-Ukraine war military dispatch: March 12, 2022
Kyiv is braced for an all-out Russian assault as fighting intensifies on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.
Air raid sirens were sounded in almost all regions of Ukraine on Saturday. The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain surrounded and are under heavy Russian bombardment.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow will treat Western arms shipments to Ukraine as legitimate military targets.
Here were the main military developments on Saturday – the 17th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
US rushing $200m worth of weapons for Ukraine
The US has said it would rush up to $200m in additional small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine, as Ukrainian officials pleaded for more equipment to defend against heavy shelling by Russian forces.
US President Joe Biden on Saturday authorised the additional security assistance, the White House said, paving the way for the “immediate” shipment of fresh military equipment to Ukraine, a senior administration official said.
Biden’s decision brings total US security aid provided to Ukraine to $1.2bn since January 2021, and to $3.2bn since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine, according to senior administration officials.
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
Read all the updates from Saturday, March 12, here.
