Ukraine

Reuters reports: At least 39 people were killed and 87 wounded on Friday when two rockets hit a railway station in eastern Ukraine packed with evacuees, Ukrainian authorities said, as the region braced for a major Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said thousands of civilians had been at the station at the time the rockets struck, …

Sky News reports: Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has admitted a “significant” loss of Russian troops since the invasion of Ukraine began, telling Sky News their deaths are a “tragedy”. Dmitry Peskov, in his first broadcast interview with Western media, also said Russia hopes “this operation” will reach its goals “in the coming days”. He told Sky News’ Mark Austin that “we’re …

Global News reports: The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from its human rights body. The vote to remove Russia from the Human Rights Council comes several weeks after the country invaded Ukraine and just days after reports of a massacre of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, Ukraine. The vote count was 93 in favour of the resolution, …

Axios reports: Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Facebook says it has removed “tens of thousands of accounts, Pages and Groups” around the world for spreading misleading content about the conflict to build audiences and bring in cash. Spammers switched user names repeatedly to trick people into following them. They would then push their followings to other websites …

Der Spiegel reports: The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence service, has acquired gruesome new insights into the atrocities committed by Russian military forces in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. DER SPIEGEL has learned that the BND intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which the murder of civilians in Bucha was discussed. Some of the intercepted …

The Washington Post reports: Finnish Customs has seized artwork en route to Russia as part of sanctions imposed by the European Union. The paintings, sculptures and antiquities are worth 42 million euros ($46 million), the agency said. Finnish Customs stopped three shipments headed to Russia at the Vaalimaa border crossing, the agency said in a news release. The artwork was …

Ars Technica reports: Roskomnadzor, Russia’s censorship authority, issued another demand on Tuesday for Wikipedia to remove what it called “unreliable socially significant information.” The agency warned that failure to comply could lead to fines of up to 4 million rubles ($50,000). A March 3 statement on the Wikimedia website declared that “we will not back down in the face of …

“The war. What is more opposite of music? The silence of ruined cities and killed people. Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died, and we will never see them drawing. “Our parents are happy to wake up in the morning in bomb shelters, but alive. Our loved ones don’t …

Reuters reports: Ukraine on Sunday accused Russian forces of carrying out a “massacre” in the town of Bucha, while Western nations reacted to images of dead bodies there with calls for new sanctions against Moscow. Russia’s defence ministry denied the Ukrainian allegations, saying footage and photographs showing bodies in Bucha were “yet another provocation” by the Ukrainian government. The defence …

Axios reports: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced what he called Russia’s attempt to eliminate “the whole nation” during an appearance Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” saying, “this is genocide.” As Ukrainian forces retook the Kyiv region on Saturday, officials and independent photographers have reported bodies of civilians — some with their hands tied behind their backs — strewn in …

CNN reports: The lifeless bodies of at least 20 civilian men line a single street in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital. Some lie face down on the pavement while others are collapsed on their backs, mouths open in a tragic testament to the horrors of Russian occupation. The hands of one man are tied behind his back …

Euronews reports: Pope Francis offered his most pointed condemnation of the war in Ukraine, calling out “infantile and destructive aggression” on Saturday during a trip to Malta. In words that appeared to directly call out President Vladimir Putin, the pope said that “some potentate” caught up in “anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and fomenting conflicts”. “We had thought …

The Daily Beast reports: Several hundred Russian soldiers were forced to hastily withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after suffering “acute radiation sickness” from contaminated soil, according to Ukrainian officials. The troops, who reportedly dug trenches in a contaminated Red Forest near the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history, are now being treated in a …

The Associated Press reports: As the United States prepares to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees following Russia’s invasion of their country, existing communities in cities like Sacramento and Seattle are already mobilizing to provide food, shelter and support to those fleeing the war. “No refugee is waiting for you to be ready for them,” said Eduard Kislyanka, senior pastor …

Reuters reports: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia’s annual spring draft, but the defence ministry said the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. The issue of conscripts’ involvement in the war is highly sensitive. On March 9, the defence ministry acknowledged that some …

The Associated Press reports: Russia’s military said Tuesday it would “fundamentally” cut back operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, potentially a significant concession by Moscow since it invaded its neighbor more than a month ago. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the move was meant “to increase trust” in talks aimed at ending fighting, as negotiators met face-to-face …

The New York Times reports: Novaya Gazeta, the Russian newspaper that helped define fearless journalism in the post-Soviet era and whose editor shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year, suspended publication on Monday, leaving Russia without any major media outlets critical of the Kremlin as it wages war in Ukraine. The newspaper, led by Dmitri A. Muratov, the Nobel-winning editor, …

The Independent reports: Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning after a meeting in Kyiv at the start of March, according a report in the Wall Street Journal. The Russian oligarch and at least two senior members of the Ukrainian delegation developed symptoms that included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their …

Reuters reports: Ukraine and Russia were preparing on Monday for the first face-to-face peace talks in more than two weeks, with Kyiv insisting it would make no concessions on Ukraine’s territorial integrity as battlefield momentum has shifted in its favour. Ukrainian officials played down the chances of a major breakthrough at the talks, due to be held in Istanbul after …

Reuters reports: Russia wants to split Ukraine into two, as happened with North and South Korea, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said on Sunday, vowing “total” guerrilla warfare to prevent a carve-up of the country. A local leader in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic said on Sunday the region could soon hold a referendum on joining Russia, just as happened in …