- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said air-raid sirens sounded almost across Ukraine on Tuesday night, reiterating his call for a modern, effective air defense system.
- Attacks took place in Khmelnitsky Oblast in western Ukraine, central Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Sumy border region and the Black Sea port city of Nikolayev, he said.
- Russian troops are fighting fiercely to try to enter the Ukrainian-held Donetsk region, the governor of Luhansk said, adding that a large amount of equipment was being sent to Donetsk.
- At least two people were killed and seven wounded when Russian troops stormed a market and residential area in Sloviansk, Donetsk state, on Tuesday, local officials said.
- A two-day meeting aimed at helping Ukraine recover from the Russian war has ended in Lugano, Switzerland, with top U.S. diplomats urging allies to help the war-torn country meet its “urgent and urgent” needs, not just is a long-term reconstruction.
Which forces control the different regions of Ukraine?
Russian troops continue unsuccessful offensive in northern Kharkiv; Kyiv plans to launch counter-offensive in southern part of the city where Russian troops are small (Al Jazeera)
Here are the latest updates：
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Russia’s Lavrov calls for efforts to protect international law
The Russian foreign minister called on all parties in the world to work to protect international law because “the world is developing in a complex way”.
Lavrov made the remarks during a meeting in Hanoi with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, at a time when Western countries accuse Russia of violating international law by invading Ukraine.
“Vietnam is an important partner of (Russia) in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and the relationship between the two countries is based on history and the common struggle for justice,” Lavrov told the meeting.
Vietnam and Russia have close ties dating back to Soviet times, and Hanoi has so far refrained from condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation.” Lavrov’s visit to Hanoi coincides with the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries.
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Swiss leader warns against using frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine
The Swiss president has warned Western allies of the legal complications of using frozen Russian assets to help pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction, saying “property rights are a fundamental right, a human right”.
Ignazio Cassis made comments to reporters at the end of Ukraine’s reconstruction meeting after Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal expressed a desire to lock in and use a valuation of $300 billion to $500 billion that has been frozen by many Western banks of Russian assets to help pay for rebuilding Ukraine.
The Swiss leader said that fundamental rights could sometimes be violated, as has happened in some cases at the height of the pandemic, “We must first create a legal basis for such measures. You must ensure that citizens are not subject to state power. influences.”
Switzerland froze 6.3 billion Swiss francs ($6.5 billion) in Russian assets.
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U.S. seeks attention to Ukraine’s ‘urgent’ needs at Swiss conference
A top U.S. diplomat has urged Ukraine’s allies to help the war-torn country meet its “urgent and urgent” needs, not just long-term reconstruction. Dozens of countries wrapped up a two-day meeting aimed at helping Ukraine recover from Russia’s war.
U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Scott Miller added a sense of urgency to a Ukrainian reconstruction conference in Lugano, a day after Ukraine’s prime minister presented a $750 billion plan to help his country in Immediate and post-war and long-term reconstruction where possible.
Many participants pointed out that reconstruction could take many years and would need to be carried out in several stages. Some have called for support for Ukraine in line with the post-World War II U.S. Marshall Plan for Europe, hinting at a big, long-term project.
“While we recognize the importance of preparing for Ukraine’s future, all of us must also deliver on our commitment to meeting Ukraine’s immediate and urgent needs,” said Miller, one of many who condemned the Russian war and detailed their countries’ commitment to Ukraine. One of the supported government envoys.
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Residents: Many in Lisichansk remain in basement after fighting
Lisichansk, once a city of 100,000 people in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, was unusually quiet on Tuesday, with charred buildings, overturned vehicles and scattered rubble attesting to the brutality of the fighting it endured.
Lisichansk resident Tatiana Grushenko, 45, told Reuters that people, including children and the elderly, were still in basements and bomb shelters.
Grushenko said she and her family decided to stay in the city out of concerns for the safety of the rest of Ukraine.
“The whole of Ukraine was shelled: western Ukraine, central Ukraine, Dnipro, Kyiv, everywhere. So we decided not to risk our lives, to stay here, at least at home,” she told Reuters.
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Diplomat: Blinken seeks G20 pressure on Russia to open sea lanes, warns of China’s stance on Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will this week call on G20 nations to pressure Russia to support U.N. efforts to reopen sea lanes blocked by the conflict in Ukraine, diplomats said, and again warned China not to support Moscow’s war effort.
Blinken traveled to Asia on Wednesday to attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali on Friday. His visit will include his first meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi since October, but is not expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Commercial Affairs Ramin Torui told reporters that Blinken will present energy security and U.N. initiatives to try to get Ukrainian and Russian food and fertilizer back into global markets.
Meanwhile, Daniel Krittenbrinker, the U.S. chief diplomat for East Asia, said he expected to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday for a “candid” exchange on Ukraine. “This will be another opportunity to express our expectations for what China does and does not do in Ukraine’s situation,” he said.
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Lavrov West: Wants to turn Ukraine into a neo-Nazi state
Moscow’s foreign minister was quoted by state news agency TASS as saying the West was trying to turn Ukraine “into an openly Russia-phobic neo-Nazi state and military stronghold” that would threaten Russia’s security.
TASS said Lavrov had informed Mongolian leaders “in detail” of what the Kremlin called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“We are interested in providing the wider international community with facts about what the representatives of the Kyiv regime have been doing in Ukraine,” Lavrov said.
“Unfortunately, the West is doing everything it can to stop the work of the media that provide objective information about what is going on,” he said, without providing any evidence.
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Russian foreign minister visits Mongolia for support
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met the leader of Mongolia, a country that is diplomatically isolated from the West and subject to punitive sanctions, during a trip to Asia seeking support.
According to Mongolian state media, Lavrov met with Mongolian Foreign Minister Battseg on Tuesday and paid a courtesy call on President Khurilsukh.
Mongolia, a landlocked country sandwiched between Russia and China, seeks to maintain friendly relations with both neighbors while also maintaining close ties with the United States, which has become increasingly strained with Moscow and Beijing.
Mongolian and Russian state media did not provide any details of discussions on the conflict in Ukraine, while emphasizing strong bilateral ties. The two sides have signed a series of trade agreements and are building a pipeline to transport Russian gas to China through Mongolian territory.
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Mitsui and Mitsubishi shares fall after Medvedev hints Japan is losing Russian oil and gas supplies
Shares in Japanese trading firms Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corporation fell more than 4 percent on Wednesday after comments from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatening to no longer supply oil and gas to Japan.
Commenting on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s proposal to cap Russian oil prices at around half current levels over the weekend, Medvedev said on social media that Japan “will not have any more oil and gas from Russia, nor will it participate in Sakha. Lin 2 Natural Gas Pipeline Project”.
Mitsui and Mitsubishi hold 12.5% and 10%, respectively, in the Sakhalin-2 project.
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Zelensky: Air raid sirens sounded almost all over Ukraine on Tuesday
Zelensky said air raid sirens went off almost across Ukraine on Tuesday night, renewing his call for a modern anti-missile system.
“Before this, air raid sirens hadn’t been sounded in the capital and parts of the country for some time, and some people were even particularly anxious because of the unusual silence. They were thinking too much, feeling scared, looking for some explanation – as if the occupation The person is preparing for something,” he said in his evening speech.
“You shouldn’t look for logic in the actions of terrorists. The Russian army has no rest. Its mission is to take people’s lives and terrorize people. So even a few days without air raid sirens has become like part of an act of terror. Air raid sirens were heard in Kyiv and almost all of Ukraine tonight,” he added.
Zelensky said air strikes took place in western Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky Oblast, the central region of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the border area of Sumy and the Black Sea port city of Nikolayev. “Some missiles were shot down by our air defenses. In order for Ukraine to acquire a sufficient number of modern anti-missile systems, we have not and will not reduce a day of diplomacy.”
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Governor: Russians enter Ukraine’s Donetsk
The governor of the Luhansk region said Russian troops were fighting fiercely and trying to enter the Ukrainian-held Donetsk region after taking control of the last two towns in the vicinity of Luhansk.
Sergey Heyday said the Russian army suffered heavy losses in the long process of capturing the twin towns of Severo-Donetsk and Lisichansk, but they were struggling to move south.
“Heavy fighting is taking place on the edge of the Luhansk Oblast. All units of the Russian army and reserves have been transferred there. They are suffering heavy losses,” Haidai told Ukrainian television.
“A lot of equipment is being sent to the Donetsk region. Of course, after Luhansk Oblast, Donetsk is their first choice.”
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Russian State Duma President: Ukraine is a ‘terrorist’ state
The head of Russia’s lower house of parliament told lawmakers at a plenary meeting that Ukraine had become a “terrorist state,” according to remarks posted on the State Duma’s website.
The report quoted Vyacheslav Volodin as saying that Zelensky was the head of a “criminal regime”.
Since Moscow launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian officials have tried to paint their neighbor as controlled by anti-Russian fascists and “neo-Nazis”, but have not acknowledged the idea of it being viewed as a terrorist state.
Ukraine and the West say Russia’s claims are baseless propaganda used to justify land grabs.
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Officials: Two dead, seven injured in Slovensk on Tuesday
At least two people were killed and seven wounded after Russian troops stormed a market and a residential area in Slovensk on Tuesday, local officials said.
Reuters reporters at the scene saw yellow smoke coming from an auto supply store, which engulfed rows of market stalls as firefighters tried to put out the blaze.
It is not clear which ammunition was used to attack the city on the front line of Donetsk Oblast, or how many people were on the market at the time of the attack.
“The Russians are again deliberately targeting areas where civilians are congregating,” Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kirilenko wrote in a Facebook post detailing damage from Tuesday’s attack. “This is pure terrorism,” he said.
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