Moscow/ Kyiv | Jagran News Desk: Russia on Sunday appointed a new Ukraine war commander. One of Russia’s most experienced military officers, Gen. Alexander Dvornikov has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria, according to U.S. officials.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it was seeking another round of European Union sanctions against Moscow and more military aid from its allies as it braces for a major Russian offensive in the east of the country. Russian attack helicopters have destroyed a convoy of Ukraine’s armoured vehicles and anti-aircraft warfare, the news agency Interfax reported on Sunday, citing Russia’s defence ministry, Reuters reported.
Here are the top developements:
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday said, the USA will provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to Ukraine defend itself against Russia, as Ukraine seeks more military aid from the West.
President Joe Biden will meet virtually with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the White House said, at a time when the United States has made clear it does not want to see an uptick in Russian energy imports by India.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered fresh financial and military support during a surprise visit to Ukraine and walked around on the streets of wa-torn countries with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and met with people on the way.
Russian forces fired rockets into Ukraine's Luhansk and Dnipro regions, Ukrainian officials said, completely destroying an airport and wounding at least five people.
Two people were killed and several injured in the Ukrainian town of Derhachy in the northeastern Kharkiv region, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said.
British military intelligence said Russia was seeking to strengthen troop numbers with personnel discharged from military service since 2012, as losses mount from the invasion.
Residents of the besieged region of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine will have nine trains to use on Sunday for evacuation, Luhansk regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had held spoken on the phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the possibility of additional sanctions on Russia.
Pope Francis on Sunday called for an Easter truce in Ukraine, and in an apparent reference to Russia, questioned the value of planting a victory flag "on a heap of rubble".
The head of Russia's Orthodox Church called on people on Sunday to rally around the authorities as Moscow pursues its military intervention in Ukraine.
Around 600 pro-Russian protesters in a 350-car motorcade set off on a demonstration in Hanover in the north of Germany, where there was also a counter-demonstration of around 700 people supporting Ukraine in the city centre, local police said.
Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia, one of its key trading partners before the war with annual imports valued at about $6 billion, and called on other countries to follow and impose harsher economic sanctions.
Russian bank VTB can no longer exercise any control over its European subsidiary in the wake of new sanctions, German regulator BaFin said.
(With Input from Agencies)