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Ukraine War: Zelensky adviser resigns over Dnipro remarks

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Oleksiy Arestovych, a presidential adviser for Ukraine, has submitted his resignation after alleging that Kiev shot down a Russian missile that struck a building in Dnipro and killed 44 people.

Mr. Arestovych expressed regret and admitted to having made a “basic error.” The original comment incited intense resentment throughout the nation, and Russian officials used it as an excuse to accuse Ukraine.

The adviser is well-known due to his regular YouTube updates, which are viewed by millions of people. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has yet to respond to Mr. Arestovych’s resignation.

Mr. Arestovych initially stated that it looked that the Russian missile had fallen on the structure after being shot down by Ukrainian air defences hours after Saturday’s missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro. The structure was allegedly struck by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which Ukraine claimed was exceedingly inaccurate and beyond its ability to shoot down.

When Mr. Arestovych made his original remarks, the Ukrainian public responded strongly, with some claiming he had strengthened the position of Russian propagandists. A petition advocating for Mr. Arestovych’s dismissal as a government official was signed by certain Ukrainian lawmakers. Later, he published a statement announcing his retirement and admitting that he had committed a “fundamental error.”

“I offer my sincere apologies to the victims and their relatives, the residents of Dnipro and everyone who was deeply hurt by my prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile striking a residential building,” he wrote in a longer post on Telegram.

One of the war’s most well-known Ukrainian faces is Mr. Arestovych, who regularly holds debates on the conflict on his YouTube channel. His videos frequently receive more than 200,000 views, and the channel has more than 1.6 million subscribers. He speaks in Russian instead of Ukrainian, which is unusual for Ukrainian officials.

Before he offered to leave, Russian authorities had used his words to attribute the strike to Kiev.

Russian attacks “do not damage residential buildings,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who also claimed that “certain officials of the Ukrainian side” had come to the same conclusion.

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Ukraine war: Civilians flee Kherson as Russian attacks intensify

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Nika Selivanova, 13, formed a heart shape with her hands as she waved goodbye to her closest friend Inna, who was leaning against the glass wall separating the waiting room from the entry hall of Kherson’s train station.

They had just hugged while their eyes were filling with tears. Asia, a tan dachshund puppy carried by Nika in her arms and covered in a warm blanket, had received a kiss from Inna. When they might meet one another again was unknown to the females.

The family of Nika was evacuating Kherson while unsure of their ultimate destination. For the time being, they were travelling to Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine in the hopes that they would find assistance there. The past few days in Kherson had simply been too much for Nika’s mother Elena.

“Before, they [Russian forces] shelled us seven to 10 times a day, now it’s 70-80 times, all day long. It’s too scary.” Elena said. “I love Ukraine and my dear city. But we have to go.”

More than 400 people, including Elena and her three daughters, have evacuated Kherson since Christmas Day as a result of a substantial escalation in the Russian military’s bombardment of the city.

A hospital’s maternity ward was shelled on Tuesday. Although nobody was wounded, the situation has increased people’s concern. In an evacuation made possible by the Ukrainian authorities, Elena departed via train. A line of automobiles containing horrified bystanders is forming at the checkpoint leading out of Kherson while hundreds of individuals leave on their own.

We approached Iryna Antonenko’s car to speak with her, but she was in tears. We are at our breaking point. The shelling is really heavy. We believed it would last the entire time we were here.

The gateway to Crimea, or Kherson, is a strategically significant area. Many commentators claim that Russia has now been compelled to take a defensive stance in this situation.

It’s difficult to understand what it wants to achieve by pummeling Kherson. In addition to mortar shells, we have also witnessed the employment of incendiary weapons, which shower down burning sparks on the city in an effort to ignite objectives.

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Ukraine war: Russians start leaving Ukraine’s Kherson city

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According to the local leader established by Russia, tens of thousands of citizens and Russian-appointed officials are being evacuated from the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson ahead of an invasion by Ukraine. All Russian-appointed agencies and ministries, according to Vladimir Saldo, would cross the Dnieper River.

He had stated that between 50 and 60,000 civilians would also depart in a “organised, progressive relocation.” Residents are being urged by Ukraine to disregard the Russian action. The regional administrator of Kherson claimed that Russia wants to kidnap residents and use them as human shields. A war crime is regarded to be the transfer or deportation of civilians from an occupied territory by an occupying power.

Vladimir Putin of Russia announced in a separate development that he had signed an order imposing martial law on four regions of Ukraine, including Kherson, which Moscow annexed last month in a move that was deemed unlawful by the international community.

He explained to Russia’s Security Council that it would allow local officials more authority to uphold social order and protect crucial infrastructure.

Text messages advising Kherson residents to leave right away in order to avoid Ukrainian military shelling residential areas began to arrive on Tuesday night.

Transport across the Dnipro River would be accessible beginning at 7:00 on Wednesday, according to the texts.

One resident told the BBC, requesting anonymity, “They are told to flee because the nasty Ukrainians are going to shell the city.”

“People are panicking because of propaganda.”

Russian TV footage on Wednesday showed a number of people gathering near the west bank of the Dnieper. As they queued for boats, it was not clear how many were leaving.

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Ukraine war: We’ve retaken 6,000 sq km from Russia, says Zelensky

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According to the president of the nation, Ukrainian forces are continuing their counteroffensive and have taken additional Russian land. According to Volodymyr Zelensky, forces have now liberated more than 6,000 sq km (2,317 sq miles) of territory in the east and south from Russian rule in September.

Some military experts believe that Russia’s admission that it lost important cities in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine could be a turning point in the war. Moscow refers to its recent troop pullout from the area as a “regrouping” with the intention of concentrating on the Luhansk and Donetsk areas in eastern Ukraine. Even in Russia, where many social media users have mocked the idea, the purported pullout has been called “shameful.”

Later on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces had made “substantial progress,” but cautioned that it was still too early to determine the outcome.

According to Mr. Blinken, “The Russians continue to utilise extremely considerable forces, as well as equipment, ammunition, and munitions, against not just the Ukrainian armed forces, but also against civilians and civilian infrastructure.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine completely. About a fifth of the country is still under Russian control. In his late-night video message on Monday, President Zelensky stated: “Our fighters have already liberated more than 6,000 sq km of the territory of Ukraine from the beginning of September till today.

The counteroffensive seems to have started quickly. President Zelensky claimed on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had retaken 1,000 square kilometres, but by Sunday, that claim had increased to 3,000 square kilometres.

Several Ukrainian brigades that participated in the counteroffensive were thanked by Mr. Zelensky, who called their soldiers “real heroes.” He withheld the names of the liberated Ukrainian towns and villages.

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Ukraine war: Russians ‘outnumbered 8-1’ in counter-attack

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According to Russia’s top occupation official there, Ukrainian forces outnumbered Russian ones eight to one during the counterattack last week in the Kharkiv region.  According to Vitaly Ganchev, who appeared on Russian television, the Ukrainian army had taken settlements in the north and reached the Russian border.

In a potential turning point in the six-month war, Ukraine claims to have reclaimed control over 3,000 sq km (1,158 sq miles) of land. The Ukrainian army claims that during its ongoing counteroffensive in the country’s northeast, 20 villages have been retaken in the last 24 hours alone.

Additionally, it said that its troops had taken control of almost 500 square kilometres in the southern Kherson region of the nation.

The success of the Ukrainian army, according to UK defence sources, will have “major ramifications” for Russia’s broader military strategy.

However, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, remained unfazed and declared that operations in Ukraine will continue “until all the tasks that were initially established” had been accomplished. He continued that President Vladimir Putin was regularly informed of the most recent events.

Russia said that its soldiers were conducting strikes in the recent retaken Ukrainian territory. This included the Izyum and Kupiansk targets that Ukraine captured on Saturday. Russia declared that its troops had left both towns and that this would give them time to “regroup.”

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Ukraine condemns Russia’s ‘humiliating death’ tweet after prison attack

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After the Russian embassy in the UK tweeted that Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov battalion deserved to die a “humiliating death” by hanging, Ukraine branded Russia a “terrorist state.” The post from the embassy occurred after more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) detained by Russia died, purportedly including Azov soldiers.

They perished in an assault on the Russian-controlled Olenivka prison in eastern Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine each lay blame for the attack that killed the detainees. The message from the Russian Embassy in the UK was left up by Twitter since it violated their anti-hate standards, but it was not taken down. Along with the Ukrainian government, a sizable number of Twitter users condemned the remark. According to Twitter, keeping the post accessible might be in the public interest.

The self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, which has Russian support, is in charge of the Olenivka prison camp (DNR). Unknown is what occurred there on Friday. Unconfirmed Russian video footage from the scene depicts a jumble of demolished bunk beds and severely burned victims.

The Russian embassy in the UK tweeted during the incident that Azov “Since militants aren’t actual troops, they should be hanged rather than put to death by firing squad. They should be executed in humiliation “. The tweet includes a video clip of a couple in a destroyed structure claiming that Azov forces shelled their house. The individual in the video repeats what is stated in the embassy’s call for execution.

The attack, according to Russia’s defence ministry, was carried out with US-produced Himars artillery, and Ukraine was charged with having “deliberately perpetrated” the provocation. The ministry displayed pieces of what it claimed to be Himars system rockets.

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At the Brussels conference, EU leaders will support Ukraine as a candidate

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At a session in Brussels on Thursday, the European Commission is expected to accept Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the EU. Days after the Russian invasion in February, Ukraine submitted an application, and the procedure has since advanced at a record pace. According to its envoy to the EU, it would provide Ukrainians a psychological lift.

However, Vsevolod Chentsov acknowledged that “true integration” couldn’t begin until the conflict was done. The first official step toward EU membership is candidate status, and France stated last week that there was “complete accord” on Ukraine. However, joining can take a long time, and success is not guaranteed.

Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia are Western Balkan nations that have been candidate nations for years—in some cases, for more than a decade. Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted a candidacy application in 2016, but has yet to be accepted.

Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, said it was good that Ukraine was granted candidate status as he arrived for an EU summit with Western Balkan leaders, but Kyiv should not be deceived: “North Macedonia is a candidate [for] 17 years if I have not lost count, Albania eight, so welcome to Ukraine.” Although it is not anticipated, several member states are lobbying for Bosnia to receive candidate status.

In exchange for prerequisites being met before accession talks can start, including as judicial and anti-corruption reforms, some EU member states have agreed to support Ukraine’s candidacy.

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Ukraine moves step closer to EU membership

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Ukraine’s attempt to join the European Union has been boosted significantly by a proposal that it be granted candidate status. However, the European Commission has stated that the government needs reform in areas such as the rule of law, oligarchs, human rights, and corruption. Ukrainians have demonstrated that they are “willing to die” for their European dreams, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The group cautioned that the country needed to make reforms in the areas of the rule of law, oligarchs, human rights, and corruption. It comes after four European politicians visited Kyiv on Thursday and publicly backed Ukraine’s membership bid. Ukraine also claims that Russia is preparing an assault on the eastern city of Slovyansk, as battle for control of Severodonetsk continues.

“Europe can construct a new history of freedom precisely because of the bravery of the Ukrainians,” Mr Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, “and ultimately remove the grey zone in Eastern Europe between the EU and Russia.” “Ukraine has gotten closer to the EU than at any other moment since independence,” he remarked, hinting at “positive news” on the way.

Ukraine would be the EU’s largest country by area and fifth most populous if entered. All three candidates are significantly poorer than any existing EU member, with per capita income roughly half that of Bulgaria, the poorest.

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Ukraine war: Putin warns Finland joining Nato would be ‘mistake’

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President Vladimir Putin of Russia has warned Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila that joining Nato and abandoning its neutral status would be a “mistake.”

He assured Sauli Niinistö that Finland’s security was unaffected.  The conversation took place during a phone call by Finland’s president, ahead of a formal request that Finland is expected to make soon.

Finland and Russia share a 1,300-kilometer (810-mile) border. To avoid antagonising its eastern neighbour, it has stayed out of Nato until now. Mr Putin did not directly threaten retaliation in response to Finland’s move, but the Russian foreign ministry has indicated that retaliation will occur.

However, Russia’s decision to halt electricity supplies to Finland is being interpreted as a precursor. RAO Nordic, a Russian energy supplier, mentioned payment issues in its statement.

Reima Paivinen, the head of Finland’s national grid, told the BBC that the Russian suspension had caused no problems.
He claimed that Russian imports made up about 10% of the country’s supply, but that they could be replaced with alternative sources.

The Kremlin said after Mr Niinistö’s phone call with Mr Putin on Saturday that the Russian leader had stressed that “ending the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake because there is no threat to Finland’s security.” “Such a shift in the country’s political orientation could have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations, which have been built over many years in a spirit of good neighbourliness and cooperation between partners,” it continued.

Mr Niinistö said he told Mr Putin about how Russia’s recent actions, combined with the invasion of Ukraine, “have changed the security environment of Finland.”

“The conversation was direct and to-the-point, and it was carried out without a hitch. The importance of avoiding tensions was emphasised “he said.

Turkey could be a stumbling block to Sweden and Finland joining Nato, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused both countries of harbouring “terrorist organisations” and said he did not support their membership applications.

It was interpreted as a reference to the PKK, which Turkey considers to be a terrorist organisation. The PKK has been fighting Turkey for a Kurdish homeland for decades.

In 1949, Nato, a Western military alliance, was formed in part to counter the Soviet Union’s threat.

One of the reasons for the invasion of Ukraine, according to President Putin, is Ukraine’s desire to join the alliance.

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At a meeting, Roman Abramovich was allegedly poisoned

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According to sources close to Roman Abramovich, he experienced symptoms of suspected poisoning while attending peace talks on the Ukraine-Belarus border earlier this month.

The Chelsea FC owner reportedly suffered from sore eyes and peeling skin, but has since recovered. According to reports, two Ukrainian peace negotiators were also harmed.

According to one report, the alleged poisoning was planned by Russian hardliners who wanted to derail the talks.

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Reuters quoted an unnamed US official as saying that intelligence indicated the men’s symptoms were caused by “environmental” factors rather than poisoning. Later, Ihor Zhovkva, a spokesman for Ukraine’s president, told the BBC that while he hadn’t spoken to Mr Abramovich, members of the Ukrainian delegation were “fine” and one had said the storey was “false.”

However, as BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner points out, it’s not surprising that the US would want to downplay claims that anyone – particularly Russia – used a chemical weapon in Ukraine, as this could lead to retaliatory action that the US is hesitant to take.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Abramovich’s and the Ukrainian negotiators’ conditions have improved since the March 3 incident, which included Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov. According to a source close to Mr Abramovich, he has recovered and is continuing to negotiate to end the war in Ukraine. The incident sheds light on Mr. Abramovich’s alleged role as a middleman in Ukraine-Russia talks. His exact role is unknown, but a spokesman for the oligarch previously stated that his influence was “limited.”

Mr. Abramovich was sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom earlier this month for alleged ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he denies.

Mr Zelensky, on the other hand, is said to have asked the US to hold off on sanctioning Mr Abramovich because he could help negotiate a peace deal with Moscow.

Mr Abramovich played an early role in peace talks, according to the Kremlin, but the process is now in the hands of the two countries’ negotiating teams.

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