Moscow/Kyiv | Jagran News Desk: The US president Joe Biden framedcalled the war in Ukraine as the 'battle of a generation in the fight for democracy', adding that the world must prepare for 'long fight ahead'. In a direct attack on Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden said, 'For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power'.
Meanwhile, a total of 7,331 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Friday, a senior official said, more than double the 3,343 who managed to escape the previous day. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post that 2,800 people had left the besieged city of Mariupol using private transport.
Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east as Ukrainian forces went on the offensive to recapture towns outside the capital Kyiv. In the first big sign that Western sanctions on Moscow were impacting investment from China, sources said state-run Sinopec Group, Asia's biggest oil refiner, halted talks on a petrochemical investment and a venture to market Russian gas.
Here are the TOP developments from the BIG story:
- A senior US defence official told reporters that the Pentagon has seen indications of Russia sending troop reinforcements from "Georgia" to Ukraine to support its offensive in the Donbas region.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.
- A total of 7,331 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Friday, a senior official said, more than double the 3,343 who managed to escape the previous day. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post that 2,800 people had left the besieged city of Mariupol using private transport.
- European Union leaders urged Russia on Friday to fully respect its obligations under international law and abide by recent order by international court of justice under which told Russia to withdraw from Ukraine. "Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine grossly violates international law and is causing massive loss of life and injury to civilians," the leaders of the 27-nation EU said in a joint statement.
- Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Friday said he hoped Russia will accept to sit at a peace table before the total destruction of Ukraine. "The best way to show that you want peace is to cease hostilities and sit at the table. If you don't do this it means that you are hoping to gain ground. At some point a peace table will surely come, but let's hope it comes before the total destruction of Ukraine," he said.
- About 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week on a Mariupol theater that was being used as a shelter, Ukrainian authorities said Friday in what would make it the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet.
- Russia said earlier on Friday that the first phase of its military operation was mostly complete and it would focus on completely "liberating" Ukraine's breakaway eastern Donbass region. The announcement appeared to indicate Moscow may be switching to more limited objectives after running into fierce Ukrainian resistance in a month of war.
- The United States assesses that Russia is prioritizing eastern Ukraine's Donbass, as opposed to Kyiv, in what could be an effort to build leverage in negotiations and cut off Ukrainian forces in the east from the rest of the country, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday