News Trending War

Ukraine: Russian troops seize control of Kherson, a key city

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According to the mayor, Russian forces have taken control of a key port city in southern Ukraine. Kherson is Russia’s first major city to be taken after heavy fighting since its invasion a week ago.

Igor Kolykhaev, the city’s mayor, said Russian troops had stormed the city council building and imposed a curfew on residents. Several cities have been heavily shelled, with Wednesday being one of the most destructive days of the fighting. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has opened an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine.

According to Ukraine, over 2,000 civilians have died since the invasion began last Thursday. According to the UN, the conflict has also forced over a million people to flee Ukraine.

Mr. Kolykhaev said on Facebook that Russian forces had taken control of Kherson, a port on Ukraine’s southern Black Sea coast with a population of more than 280,000 people. He urged Russian soldiers not to shoot at civilians, claiming that no Ukrainian forces were present in the city.

Mariupol, a key Ukrainian port city, is “nearing a humanitarian catastrophe” after more than 15 hours of continuous bombardment by Russian forces, according to the city’s deputy mayor.

“The Russian army is testing all of its weapons here, including artillery, multiple rocket launch systems, aeroplanes, and tactical rockets. They are attempting to demolish the city “Serhiy Orlov stated

According to Mr. Orlov, Russian forces were several kilometres away from the city on all sides and had launched strikes on key infrastructure, cutting water and power supplies to parts of the city. He claimed that one densely populated residential district on the city’s left bank had been “nearly completely destroyed.”

Ukraine’s army has so far held off Russian forces in key areas of the country, but increased aerial bombardment of cities has raised fears that Russia is changing tactics.

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Netflix has put future projects in Russia on hold

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Streaming behemoth Netflix has announced a halt to all future Russian projects and acquisitions.

The company stated that it was assessing the impact of Ukraine’s current invasion. The production of the Russian language series Zato will be halted. Oracle, a cloud computing company, has also announced the suspension of its operations in Russia. The two companies are the most recent US technology firms to take action against Russia as the number of attacks on Ukrainian cities has increased.

Apple also announced on Tuesday that it would suspend sales in Russia. Oracle’s Twitter announcement came three hours after Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation tweeted the company, requesting assistance. In recent days, global brands such as Shell, Nike, H&M, and Boeing have severed ties with Russia or temporarily suspended sales.

Moscow has responded to foreign companies withdrawing from Russia by temporarily restricting foreign asset sales in Russia.

On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin met with the president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs to discuss how the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs would attempt to mitigate the impact of the sanctions announced thus far.

Netflix declined to comment on the number of people who use its streaming service in Russia.

However, it confirmed earlier this week in a Hollywood Reporter report that it would not carry Russian state channels.

“Given the current situation, we have no plans to add these channels to our service,” said a Netflix spokesperson in a statement to the magazine.

According to a law that took effect on March 1, “audiovisual services” in the country with more than 100,000 users will be required to carry 20 major state television channels.

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Entertainment News Trending

Ukraine Conflict: Disney, Warner Bros., and Sony have halted the release of films in Russia

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Following the invasion of Ukraine, Warner Bros., Disney, and Sony have halted the release of films in Russian theatres.

The announcements mean that major films such as The Batman, Turning Red, and Morbius will not be released in the country as planned. They come at a time when governments around the world are tightening sanctions against Moscow.

Global corporations, including automakers and energy behemoths, have severed ties with Russia in recent days.

The Batman, a Warner Bros. blockbuster, was set to be released in Russia on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Russian release of the Pixar animated film Turning Red has been postponed by Disney.

The entertainment conglomerate also stated that it would collaborate with its non-governmental organisations to provide “urgent aid and other humanitarian assistance to refugees.”

Sony has also halted the release of Morbius, its Marvel adaptation, in the country.

Meanwhile, Netflix has stated that it will not comply with new Russian regulations requiring it to carry state-sponsored channels.

Tech platforms Twitter and Facebook have also moved to limit the presence of Russian state-backed news outlet information on their platforms as these have been accused of spreading misinformation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Meta, which owns Facebook, said it would restrict access in the European Union to state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik.

Twitter also said it would add warnings to tweets that share links to Russian state-affiliated media.

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Why Ukraine: Know The Back Story…..

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By invading Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has provoked one of Europe’s worst security crises since World War II, with missiles and artillery barrages accompanying troops as they entered the nation from various directions. In a video by WION YouTube Channel, Palki Sharma Upadhyay pointed out her view point about the matter ‘Why putin wants Ukraine’.

The Ukraine-Russia problem does not begin in 2021 or 2014; rather, it begins in the ninth century. Once these two countries were united. Ukraine used to hand over its nuclear weapons to Russia. But what happened now that they ready for the war.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a military assault against Ukraine. The armies entered Ukraine from multiple routes, sparking fears of a European conflict over Russia’s demands for a stop to NATO’s eastward expansion.

WHAT IS NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, often known as the North Atlantic Alliance, is a military alliance made up of 28 European and two North American countries. The organisation was founded in the aftermath of World War II to carry out the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on April 4, 1949.

For months, Putin denied that he was plotting an invasion. In a televised statement, he said he had ordered “a special military action” to safeguard Russian citizens who had been victims of “genocide” in Ukraine.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have existed for many years. Tensions rose in 2021, however, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed US President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to join NATO. Ukraine is a democratic country with a population of 44 million people and a history dating back over 1,000 years. It is also, after Russia, the largest country in Europe by area.

It voted for independence from Moscow after the demise of the Soviet Union. Putin sees Ukraine as a man-made country ripped out of Russia by adversaries. He has also referred to Ukraine as a Western puppet. Russia was enraged by Zelensky’s request to join NATO, and it began stationing troops along the Ukraine border. The US observed unexpected Russian army movements near the Ukrainian border on November 10, 2021. On November 28, Ukraine announced that Russia has amassed about 92,000 troops in preparation for an attack in late January or early February.

Moscow, on the other hand, denied it and accused Kyiv of conducting its own military build-up. President Biden warned in December that if Russia invaded Ukraine, he would face heavy consequences. Putin has insisted on assurances from the West and Ukraine that the country will not join NATO.

This isn’t the first time that relations between Russia and Ukraine have risen. In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and occupied the Crimean peninsula. President Putin’s backed rebels captured significant swaths of eastern Ukraine and fought the army. When its pro-Russian president was overthrown, the attack began. Since then, the battle has taken the lives of over 14,000 people.

He claims that contemporary Ukraine was totally built by communist Russia and that it is now a puppet state under Western influence. President Putin has also said that if Ukraine joins NATO, the alliance will attempt to reclaim Crimea.

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News Technology Trending

Ukraine Invasion: Facebook Access Restricted by Russia

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During the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has restricted access to Facebook due to the platform’s stance on the accounts of several Moscow-backed news outlets. Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator, accused the network of “censorship” and violating “Russian citizens’ rights and freedoms.”

Facebook stated that it would not stop fact-checking and labelling content from state-owned news outlets. The announcement came just one day after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. It’s unclear what the regulator restrictions mean or how much Facebook parent company Meta’s other platforms – WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram – are affected. The regulator had demanded that Facebook remove the restrictions it imposed on state news agency RIA, state TV channel Zvezda, and pro-Kremlin news sites Lenta.Ru and Gazeta.Ru on 24th February.

Many state-owned Russian media outlets have painted a largely positive picture of Russia’s military advances in Ukraine, describing the invasion as a “special military operation” forced on Moscow. On 24th February, Meta announced the establishment of a “special operations centre” to monitor content related to the Ukrainian conflict.

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Russians Close In on Kyiv but Are Met With Stiff Resistance

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Russian assaults on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have been met with fierce resistance, with the Ukrainian military claiming to have repulsed several attacks. In a Facebook post early 26th February, the military stated that an army unit was able to repel Russian forces near its base on a major city street.

President Zelensky had previously warned that Russia would attempt to “storm” Kyiv. The city government confirmed that there was fighting on the streets and urged residents to remain at home. According to Interfax-Ukraine, the government issued a statement urging people to stay in shelters and away from windows if they were at home. However, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, told Ukrainian news site Lb.ua that the army was “in control” of the situation.

Late last night, the sound of artillery fire could be heard in the distance, indicating that Russian forces were attempting to weaken the city’s defences. However, the attack on Kyiv, which President Zelensky predicted last night, does not appear to have occurred. As the sun rises this morning, the city appears mostly silent, with few sounds to indicate the fierce battles that have been going on in more than one direction.

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Can Alexei be equated to Lenin

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Recently, certain intellectuals likened the return of Alexei Navalny, the critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the return of Lenin to Moscow ahead of the 1917 October Revolution, which overturned the history of the country.

Can Alexei be equated to Lenin is the big question at this juncture.

It is true that the popularity of Mr. Navalny outside Moscow has considerably increased lately. Earlier, Mr. Navalny was a leader whose influence was considered to the four wall of the capital city of Russia, Moscow.

It is also an undisputed fact that the acceptance of Mr. Navalny has grown outside the circle of youngsters. Earlier, the prime supporters of this opposition leader were youngsters who were angry with the authoritarian way they were ruled. The presence of people from all age groups in the protest developed in the aftermath of the arrest of the leader points to a fact that Mr. Navalny is no longer a leader of youth but is a leader who enjoys the support of all age groups.

Mr. Navalny is a very young leader. He has years before him. The graph of his political career has been steadily increasing since he entered into the turbulent platform in the year 2000.  

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Russia begins crackdown on allies of Navalny

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The European country of Russia has begun a crackdown on the allies of Alexei Navalny, who was recently arrested by the Russian police in connection with a politically motivated case.

Mr. Navalny is the most powerful opposition leader in the European country of Russia. He recently suffered a serious poison attack.

He was poisoned while he was travelling to Moscow in a domestic air. Initially, when he was treated by Russian doctors, the possibility of the poison attack was ruled out. But when he was moved out of the country to Germany, it was confirmed that he was attacked with an unknown poisonous substance.

While he was in Germany, some serious cases were registered against him. His supporters alleged that the cases were intended to prevent the return of the leader.

Anyway, the cases could not prevent the return of the leader. He was arrested as soon as he returned to his homeland.

The latest crackdown is the latest among the actions the Russian government has initiated in the recent past to reduce the strength of the opposition of the country.

Russia is at present ruled by an authoritarian style system. It cannot tolerate dissent. It simply implies the government likes not to give space to the opposition.

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Navalny to remain in Russian prison for ten days

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is likely to remain in the Russian custody for at least thirty days.

The Russian government has not yet responded to the appeal made by the International community demanding the release of the opposition leader.

Last day, several western countries particularly France demanded the immediate release of Mr. Navalny, who is a fearless critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Navalny was arrested by the Russian police after he had returned to his country.

Last year, the Russian opposition leader was poisoned while he was travelling towards Moscow in a domestic flight.

He was shifted to Germany immediately, as his supporters accused the Russian leader for the incident.

The Russian government recently filed several charges against the opposition leader allegedly to prevent his return to the country.

It is alleged that Vladimir Putin does not wish to allow the return of the opposition leader, who is capable to threaten the domination of the Russian president over the country.

Anyway, the Russian government faces serious pression from the global community to release the opposition leader.

In the coming days, the community is expected to step up its pressure over the country.    

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Russia arrests opposition leader Alexei Navalny

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The Russian government, led by Vladimir Putin, has arrested opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has returned to his home country from Germany – where he was taken after he had been found poisoned in his home country.

The airport, in which the flight carrying the opposition leader has landed, has witnessed several dramatic sequences.

A video has been releasing showing the disrespectful manner in which he has been informed about the arrest by an officer who has reached the venue to arrest the opposition leader.

Another airport, in which the flight carrying the leader was supposed to land, has seen violence, as the police has tried to forcefully disperse the crowd who has gathered there to greet the retuning opposition leader. Several people have been arrested in connection with the incident by the Russian police.

The arrest of the Russian opposition leader has triggered a serious outrage across the world. Several western countries including France have demanded the immediate release of the opposition leader.

The European Union has also voiced its unhappiness in the arrest of Mr. Navalny, who accused the Russian president for the poisoning attack against him.

Recently, the Russian government has charged several cases against the opposition leader, who is the most vocal critic against the Russian President.

Mr. Navalny’s supporters have dismissed the charges as politically motivated.   

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