Moscow: In less than two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, nearly two million people have left the Eastern European country, half of whom are children, and with each new day the exodus is Europe’s worst since World War II. There is a big refugee crisis. Officials gave this information on Tuesday. The humanitarian situation has worsened in Ukrainian cities surrounded by Russian forces, including Mariupol, where bodies are strewn across the streets and humanitarian aid has not yet arrived. A Ukrainian military official said the country most needed an “air defense system”.
Planet Labs PBC satellite images show Belarusian and suspected Russian helicopters at Machulishchi Air Base outside the Belarusian capital Minsk. Analysts believe the deployment, seen in satellite images north of Kyiv, may have been carried out by the Ukrainian military to counter Russian action.
‘The Associated Press’ saw the scene of devastation …
The devastation caused by the Russian attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, is clearly visible from the corpses lying on the streets, hungry people for several days now breaking the locks of shops in search of food, drinking melted ice to quench thirst. Trembling at the sound of Russian shelling in this strategic port city, thousands of people have taken shelter in cellars to save their lives. Weeping under the light of an oil lamp in the basement among women and children, Goma Jana said, “Why shouldn’t I cry? I want my home back, I want my job back. I am sad for the people and the city.”
The city of Mariupol has a population of about 430,000 and the humanitarian crisis is deepening in the aftermath of the Russian attack. In one video, a Ukrainian soldier is seen urging people to stay united. The soldier said, “Please be united. There’s no need to panic. Don’t steal anything. You’ll be here together.”
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How is the operation to rescue the trapped people going…
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said about 5,000 people had been evacuated from Sumy. At the same time, the Russian army said that 723 people have been evacuated from the city and they have been identified mostly as Indian citizens. The rest are citizens of China, Jordan and Tunisia. Vereshchuk said efforts to rescue people trapped in Mariupol on Tuesday also failed, as Russian forces opened fire on the Ukrainian convoy carrying them before it could reach the city.
Two million Ukrainian refugees have now left the country following the Russian invasion, according to the United Nations, in what experts say could be the largest refugee crisis Europe will see this century. https://t.co/YhSAxYesj5
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) March 8, 2022
Natalia Mudrenko, a UN mission official in Ukraine, accused Russia of taking civilians “hostages” and said the situation in Mariupol and other cities was dire and that world leaders and humanitarian and medical organizations should help immediately. He told a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday afternoon that civilians, mostly women and children, “are not allowed to go and humanitarian aid is not being allowed there.” The Russian military, however, denied firing on the convoy and accused Ukraine of obstructing evacuation efforts.
The ground situation of the war…
Ukrainian emergency services said Russian planes bombed Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv and residential areas around the western part of Kyiv on Tuesday night, and Russian forces have intensified shelling in Kyiv’s suburbs. At least five people, including two children, were killed in the bombing in Malin, a town with a population of 25,000 people near Zhytomyr, and a garment factory and seven houses were destroyed, the agency said. Two people, including a seven-year-old child, were killed in a bombing in Chuhuyev near Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials also reported a serious situation in the Kiev suburbs of Butch, Hostomel, Irpin, Vishhorod and Borodianka.
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How many people have died in the war so far?
Thousands are believed to have died, including both civilians and soldiers. However, the actual figure is not yet clear. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that the US believes Russia underestimated Ukraine’s power before launching its offensive and that it has suffered many casualties.
How much aid did Ukraine get?
After visiting the Pentagon, Ukrainian Embassy official in Washington, Major General Boris Kremenetsky, said on Tuesday that additional air defense capabilities are a first priority for Ukraine. “It could be a ground-based air defense system,” Kremenetsky told the AP. It could be war planes or whatever is possible…..” At the same time, Poland has offered to give all its MiG-29 fighter aircraft to the US to help the Ukrainian army. However, the US Defense Ministry said the proposal raised serious concerns for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and that the plan was “not rational”.
Russia sanctions.
Efforts are on to isolate Russia at an economic level. US President Joe Biden announced sanctions on Russian oil imports, and Shell, a multinational oil and gas company, said it would no longer buy oil and natural gas from Russia. At the same time, several global brands such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and General Electric have announced that they are temporarily suspending their business in Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. (agency)