On Thursday, the Kremlin defended the bombing of a Ukrainian hospital until a high-level talks reached an agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire aimed at protecting Ukrainian cities affected by brutal Russian attacks.
In Poland, Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirmed US commitment to NATO and the protection of its members is “iron.” During a joint press conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Harris said that America deeply appreciates Poland’s efforts to help refugees fleeing the massacre in Ukraine.
“This is a moment that requires severe and rapid consequences for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” Harris said. “What is at stake at this very moment is one of NATO’s guiding principles.”
The meeting came after the Biden administration rejected Poland’s plan to involve the United States in the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine. U.S. defense officials also distanced themselves from Ukraine’s requests to establish a no-fly zone over the country.
GET UPDATED UKRAINE:We will send you the latest news once a day
Visual materials:Mapping and tracking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
In Turkey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the most pressing issue of the southern port of Mariupol. The city suffered from a two-week incessant bombing, which made it difficult for residents to find food, water, shelter and other necessities. Several rounds of talks aimed at protecting Ukraine’s civilian population have also failed.
Ukrainian authorities say the bombing of a hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday killed at least three people, including one child. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the statement on Thursday, saying the hospital had been cleared of patients and used as a base for extremists.
“This is not the first time we have seen pitiful cries about the so-called atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces,” Lavrov said. “Our delegation at the meeting of the UN Security Council cited facts that show that the maternity hospital has long been seized by fighters of the Azov Battalion and other radicals. They kicked out all the patients, all the nurses and all the staff. ”
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the building was a hospital and called the attack a “brutality.”
Recent events:
►Ukrainian learned that his family had been killed from graphic images distributed on Twitter. Sergei Perabiynis told The New York Times that he first recognized the luggage in the photo, where the lifeless bodies of his wife and two children lay on the ground after being hit by shrapnel from Russian mortar fire on Sunday.
►The Biden administration warns that Russia may be signaling its intention to further escalate the conflict. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Russia’s latest statements have raised concerns that it could “use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or create an operation under a false flag using them.”
►USA intensifies economic pressure on Russia: House of Representatives votes overwhelmingly to enact a law banning US imports of Russian oil and energy products that President Joe Biden introduced to punish Moscow. He also gave Ukraine $ 13.6 billion in aid under a larger spending bill.
CIA chief: Putin can’t “infuse the truth indefinitely”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has disguised the cost of Ukraine’s invasion of his own country through the dominance of state media and the “suppression of independent media,” but will not be able to endlessly hide the truth, according to CIA Director William Burns. Burns, a former ambassador to the Russian Federation, told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that many Russians have virtual private network accounts and retain access to YouTube and other independent sources of independent information.
As the damage grows, Burns said Putin’s propaganda bubble would be burst by the number of soldiers killed and wounded, the economic consequences of the global trade embargo and the horrific bombings of hospitals and schools.
“I do not believe that he will be able to completely separate the Russians from the truth,” Burns said. “I don’t think he can keep the truth indefinitely.”
“Bart Jansen.”
Harris: The UN will investigate Russia’s attack on the hospital
Vice President Kamala Harris says Russian air strikes on hospitals were “Atrocities of unimaginable proportions” and said the United Nations has a review and investigation process to investigate such attacks. The World Health Organization says at least 18 attacks have been carried out on medical facilities since the February 24 invasion began.
Harris noted that “the eyes of the world are focused on this war and what Russia has done in terms of this aggression and these atrocities.”
Ukraine said on Wednesday Russian bombs severely damaged a maternity and children’s hospital complex in the besieged city of Mariupol, killing at least three people, including a child, and injuring at least 17 others.
“The Russians are committing war crimes,” said Polish President Duda.
Mayor of Kiev: Half of the city fled
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Thursday that about 2 million people – half of the capital’s metropolitan area – had fled the city amid constant bombings by the Russian military. But he said the spirit of the city remains strong. The fighting is fierce and the city has become a fortress, he said.
“Everyone says, ‘Nothing will happen, we won’t give up our city,'” Klitschko said. – I can repeat these words: the city stood, people stand. They will not give up. And the enemy will not pass.
The world champion, the British national team, owned by the Russians, has been sanctioned
Roman Abramovich’s attempt to sell British football to Chelsea was stopped after the British government came under sanctions against the Russian oligarch. Last year, Forbes magazine estimated Chelsea’s value at $ 3.2 billion. Abramovich put the team up for sale last week, shortly before his assets were frozen.
The team cannot sell game tickets or goods. The British government allows the team to play their games, including the one scheduled for Thursday night. Ticket holders will be allowed to attend matches and staff will be paid. Abramovich, who got rich on oil and aluminum, did not condemn the Russian invasion.
The suffering of Ukrainians is increasing
Ukrainian leaders say civilians are increasingly suffering and dying Russia’s attack on Ukraine comes the third week. Several hospitals were shelled, more than 2.3 million people have fled the country, and even more are struggling to leave the country. On the outskirts of Kiev, hundreds of residents of Russian-occupied cities fled on Wednesday. Some said they had not eaten for several days, while others told the painful stories of the war.
“The occupiers came to our house and they were ready to shoot us,” said Yulia Bushynskaya, a resident of Vorzel. – They took away our house, car, documents. So you need to start your life from the beginning. We went through something I never felt in my life. “
Among those who volunteered to fight in Ukraine are US citizens
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given the embassy of a smaller country in Washington an unexpected role: a recruiting center for Americans wishing to join the struggle.
Diplomats working at the embassy, in a townhouse near Georgetown, are making thousands of proposals from volunteers seeking to fight for Ukraine, even as they work on a much more pressing issue of providing weapons to protect against increasingly brutal Russian onslaught.
“They really feel that this war is unfair, unprovoked,” said the military attache of Ukraine, Major General Boris Kremenets. “They feel they have to go and help.”
American volunteers are only a small group of foreigners seeking to fight for Ukraine, which in turn make up only a small portion of the international aid that has arrived in the country. However, it is a reflection of the passion that is growing in the age of social media that the attack and the rise of civilian casualties has aroused.
“These are not mercenaries who go to work,” Kramyanetsky said. “These are people of good will who come to help Ukraine fight for freedom.”
The US government denies Americans to fight in Ukraine, which raises issues of legal and national security.
– Associated Press
