Live Updates | UN: Many Ukrainian children lack food, water

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. children’s firm says nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have fled their homes throughout the six weeks since Russia’s invasion, and the United Nations has verified that 142 children have been killed and 229 injured though these numbers are most likely lots bigger.

Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s emergency packages director who returned from Ukraine ultimate week, knowledgeable the U.N. Safety Council on Monday that of the three.2 million children estimated to have remained of their homes “almost half could also be vulnerable to not having sufficient meals,” and assaults on water system infrastructure and power outages have left an estimated 1.4 million of us throughout the nation with out entry to water.

He said the situation is worse in cities like Mariupol and Kherson throughout the south, which have been besieged by Russian forces the place children and their households have spent weeks with out working water, sanitation or a every day present of meals.

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“Tons of of colleges and academic amenities have been attacked or used for army functions,” Fontaine said. “Others are serving as shelters for civilians.”

He said school closings are affecting the education of 5.7 million school-age children and 1.5 million school college students in bigger education.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

— Ukrainian defenders dig in as Russia boosts firepower

— Biden, Modi to speak as US presses for exhausting line on Russia

— Ukrainian nuns open their monastery doorways to the displaced

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— US doubts new Russian battle chief can end Moscow’s floundering

— Evaluation: Battle, financial system may weaken Putin’s place as chief

— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for further safety

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Family of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica are fearful that the historic previous is repeating itself throughout the battle in Ukraine.

Tons of of ladies who misplaced their sons, husbands and totally different relations throughout the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 of us throughout the japanese Bosnian metropolis, on Monday demanded that each one those who devoted battle crimes be delivered to justice.

An affiliation of the relations of the Srebrenica victims, the Moms of Srebrenica, has been full of life in defending the memory alive of the Bosnian Serb execution of the Bosniak males and boys — who’re largely Muslim — throughout the late months of the 1992-95 Battle in Bosnia.

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Sehida Abdurahmanovic says “we spent all these years working to stop this Srebrenica (killings) from occurring to anybody else.” However, she gives, “we’re actually unhappy to say, however in right now’s Europe its occurring once more – Srebrenica is occurring once more.”

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LONDON — The World Financial establishment says Ukraine’s financial system will shrink by 45% this 12 months because of Russia’s invasion, which has shut down half of the nation’s corporations, choked off imports and exports, and damaged an unlimited amount of important infrastructure.

Unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to the battle, within the meantime, are plunging Russia proper right into a deep recession, lopping off better than a tenth of its monetary progress, the Washington-based lender said in a report Sunday.

The report said monetary train just isn't attainable in “giant swathes of areas” in Ukraine on account of productive infrastructure like roads, bridges, ports and follow tracks have been destroyed.

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Ukraine performs a critical place as a world supplier of agricultural exports like wheat nonetheless that’s in question now on account of planting and harvesting have been disrupted by the battle, the report said. The battle has decrease off entry to the Black Sea, a key route for exports, along with 90% of Ukraine’s grain shipments.

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WARSAW, Poland – The mayor of Warsaw says a disputed compound administered by Russia’s diplomatic mission is being taken over by city and can most likely be made accessible to the Ukrainian group.

Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was on the internet web site Monday and said {{that a}} bailiff had entered the two apparently empty buildings, dubbed “spyville” by Warsaw residents, to check their scenario and to mark them as seized by the City Corridor.

“It is extremely symbolic that we’re closing this process of a few years now, on the time of Russia’s aggression” on Ukraine, Trzaskowski said on Twitter.

Russia’s Embassy, which had the tall home blocks constructed throughout the Seventies, has been refusing courtroom docket orders to pay lease or helpful it over. As quickly as busy, the buildings turned empty throughout the Nineteen Nineties, after Poland shed its communist rule and dependence from Moscow and after the Soviet Union dissolved.

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Ever since, Poland has been saying that lease on the plot of land had expired and demanded it’s returned.

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BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary plans to alter its pure gasoline contract with Russian energy agency Gazprom with a objective to satisfy a requirement by President Vladimir Putin that Russian gasoline be paid for in rubles.

Hungarian International Minister Peter Szijjarto knowledgeable a info conference on Monday that the subsidiary of Hungary’s energy group MVM, CEE Vitality, would pay its gasoline funds in euros to Russia’s Gazprombank, which could convert the funds into rubles and change them to the gasoline provider Gazprom Export.

Putin, in retaliation over sanctions in opposition to Russia by the European Union, has demanded that nations pay for Russian gasoline in rubles or risk having their present shut off.

Whereas Hungary has voted with the European Union on most sanctions in opposition to Russia, it has lobbied carefully in opposition to blocking Russian energy imports, arguing which will cripple its financial system.

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Szijjarto said that modifying Hungary’s contract with Gazprom ensured the nation’s energy present whereas staying based on the EU’s sanctioning protection.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Danish Well being Authority said Monday it should buy 2 million iodine tablets in case of “a nuclear accident in our rapid space.”

The COVID-19 pandemic “has proven us that it is very important be ready,” whereas the battle in Ukraine displays that “the world is unpredictable,” the effectively being authority said, together with it had based its recommendation on suggestion by the Danish Emergency Administration Company along with impression calculations for the prospect of a nuclear incident in Denmark’s fast house.

The tablets would cowl the prospect group which contains these as a lot as age 18, effectively being and emergency personnel under the age of 40, and pregnant and breastfeeding girls.

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BUCHAREST, Romania — The Republic of Moldova acquired on Monday in Luxembourg a questionnaire from the European Fee to judge the small nation’s readiness to alter right into a European Union member, authorities said.

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“A interval of exhausting work is forward beginning right now,” International Minister Nicu Popescu wrote on-line.

The earlier Soviet republic of spherical 2.6 million of us is one in every of Europe’s poorest nations. Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova has pushed to hurry up changing into a member of the EU since Russia launched its assaults on Ukraine in late February.

Changing right into a EU member will take years and be contingent on reforms, along with cleaning up widespread corruption.

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VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte on Monday turned the newest Western chief to go to Ukraine to particular help to the nation under Russian assault,

“At the moment, my go to in Ukraine began in Borodyanka. No phrases might probably describe what I noticed and felt right here,” Simonyte wrote on Twitter. She moreover posted photos of her attempting on the on the blackened hole in a high-rise home developing in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

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Throughout the unannounced go to, she is anticipated to fulfill with the Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy, who plans to cope with the Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday.

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia has denied its S-300 air safety missile system it transported to Ukraine has been destroyed by the Russian armed forces.

“Our S-300 system has not been destroyed,” Lubica Janikova, spokeswoman for Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger said in a press launch despatched to The Related Press.

She said one other declare is simply not true.

Earlier on Monday, the Russian military said it destroyed a cargo of air safety missile system provided by the West on the southern outskirts of city of Dnipro.

The Russian side said Ukraine had acquired the air safety system from a European nation that he didn’t determine. Final week, Slovakia said it has handed over its Soviet-designed S-300 air safety packages to Ukraine, which has pleaded with the West to supply it further weapons, along with long-range air safety packages.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Latvia has arrested a citizen of Belarus, who’s suspected of spying for Belarusian explicit service by allegedly gathering particulars in regards to the Baltic nation’s Armed Forces and demanding infrastructure facilities, info report said Monday.

The Baltic Information Service, the world’s basic new firm, said Latvia’s State Safety Service (VDD) and the Army Intelligence and Safety Service detained the particular person in February.

The Belarusian suspect had been secretly filming and taking photos, BNS said, together with that the state security service had seized technical instruments and data carriers.

Latvian public broadcaster LSM said jail proceedings have been initiated on Feb. 15.

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ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatia is expelling 24 Russian diplomats and totally different embassy employees, changing into a member of various European nations which have accomplished so.

The Croatian International Ministry on Monday said they’ve summoned Russia’s ambassador in Zagreb and conveyed the “strongest condemnation of the brutal aggression on Ukraine and quite a few crimes which were dedicated.”

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The Russian side has been urged to halt military actions, withdraw its troops and assure evacuation of civilians and provide of humanitarian help, the Croatian ministry said. Croatia expects that these accountable of crimes be delivered to justice, said the assertion.

Numerous EU nations have expelled Russian diplomats following the killings in Bucha and totally different Ukrainian cities.

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VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says a Ukrainian and a Russian family will most likely be amongst these taking turns carrying a cross as part of the traditional Good Friday procession presided over by Pope Francis on the Colosseum.

The Vatican launched some particulars on Monday regarding the torchlit Means of the Cross ceremony on the historic space that pulls tens of lots of of pilgrims and vacationers in Rome all through Holy Week.

The meditations composed for this 12 months’s nighttime procession “have been impressed by the life of each family,’’ the Vatican said. The households embody a Ukrainian nurse and a Russian nurse who work on the same hospital in Rome, Italian state TV said.

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Repeatedly decrying the lack of civilian life, the pope has sounded an increasing number of anguished requires an end to what he calls “the folly of conflict” in Ukraine and for a return to negotiations.

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BRUSSELS — Eire’s worldwide minister says the European Union should take note of imposing sanctions on Russia’s oil commerce nonetheless cautions that it’s most important for the 27-nation bloc to remain unified.

Numerous EU nations are relying on Russian oil and gasoline imports. After lots debate, the bloc agreed ultimate week to an element in of restrictions on imports of coal over Moscow’s battle on Ukraine.

Irish International Minister Simon Coveney says that “we have to take a maximalist method to sanctions to supply the strongest attainable deterrents to the continuation of this conflict and brutality.”

Talking as EU worldwide ministers gathered Monday in Luxembourg, Coveney said “that ought to embody, in our view, oil. We all know that that’s very tough for some member states and we now have to maintain a united place throughout the EU.”

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The EU’s govt arm, the European Fee, is assessing what further will likely be accomplished with a latest bundle of sanctions.

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MOSCOW — The Russian military says it has destroyed a cargo of air safety missile packages provided by the West.

Russian Protection Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the military used sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles to destroy 4 S-300 air safety missile launchers on the southern outskirts of city of Dnipro. He said about 25 Ukrainian troops have been moreover hit by the strike on Sunday.

Konashenkov said in a press launch Monday that Ukraine had acquired the air safety packages from a European nation that he didn’t determine. Konashenkov’s declare couldn’t be independently verified.

Final week, Slovakia said it had handed over its Soviet-designed S-300 air safety packages to Ukraine, which has pleaded with the West to supply it further weapons, along with long-range air safety packages.

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Slovakia’s prime minister office issued a press launch late Sunday calling the knowledge that the S-300 system given to Ukraine was destroyed “disinformation.” It was unclear, nonetheless, whether or not or not all sides are referring to the similar airstrike. The Russians have targeted missile safety packages in three utterly totally different areas in newest days.

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SEOUL, South Korea — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday known as for South Korea to supply military arms to help his nation wrestle once more in opposition to invading Russian forces.

Zelenskyy’s video cope with to South Korean lawmakers received right here hours after Seoul’s Protection Ministry confirmed it rejected a Ukrainian request for anti-aircraft weapons. The ministry cited the federal authorities’s principle on limiting military help to non-lethal gives.

“The Republic of Korea has tanks, ships and varied tools that may block Russian missiles and we’d be grateful if the Republic of Korea might assist us struggle again in opposition to Russia,” Zelenskyy said, referring to South Korea’s formal determine.

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Zelenskyy thanked South Korea for participating in U.S.-led monetary sanctions in opposition to Moscow nonetheless said sanctions alone aren’t enough.

“Russia is aiming to remove Ukraine independence and separate the nation. It’s making an attempt to remove the tradition and language of the Ukrainian nation,” Zelenskyy said.

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BRUSSELS — Austria’s worldwide minister says Chancellor Karl Nehammer is taking “very clear messages of a humanitarian and political form” to a gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

International Minister Alexander Schallenberg said Monday that Nehammer decided to make the journey after meeting in Kyiv on Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and following contacts with the leaders of Turkey, Germany and the European Union.

Schallenberg said ahead of a gathering collectively along with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg that “we don’t need to depart any alternative unused and should seize each probability to finish the humanitarian hell in Ukraine.”

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He added that “each voice that makes clear to President Putin what actuality seems to be like exterior the partitions of Kremlin is just not a wasted voice.”

Schallenberg said that Nehammer and Putin will meet one-on-one with out media alternate options. He insisted that Austria has accomplished all of the issues to make it possible for the go to isn’t abused, “and I believe he (Putin) himself ought to have an curiosity in somebody telling him the reality and actually discovering out what’s happening exterior.”

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BRUSSELS — European Union worldwide ministers are meeting to weigh the effectiveness of the bloc’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine amid concern about Moscow’s preparations for a critical assault throughout the east.

The ministers will preserve talks with the Worldwide Prison Court docket’s Prosecutor-Common Karim A.A. Khan as Western pressure mounts to hold to account these accountable for any battle crimes in Ukraine.

EU worldwide protection chief Josep Borrell, who’s chairing Monday’s meeting in Luxembourg, says extra EU sanctions in opposition to Russia “are at all times on the desk.”

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He says he’s “afraid the Russian troops are massing on the east to launch an assault on the Donbas,” space throughout the east after Moscow withdrew its forces from throughout the capital Kyiv ultimate week.

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LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Protection says Ukraine has overwhelmed once more various assaults by Kremlin forces throughout the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, ensuing throughout the destruction of Russian tanks, vehicles and artillery.

In an intelligence change launched Monday morning, the ministry says Russian shelling throughout the two japanese areas is steady.

“Russia’s continued reliance on unguided bombs decreases their potential to discriminate when concentrating on and conducting strikes, whereas drastically growing the chance of civilian casualties,” the ministry said.

The ministry moreover said Russia’s “prior use” of phosphorus munitions throughout the Donetsk space raises the prospect they might be utilized in Mariupol as a result of the battle for city on Ukraine’s south coast intensifies.