Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses more support with US leader Joe Biden as Russia’s attacks on Ukraine intensify
US president Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to discuss ongoing efforts to impose sanctions on Russia and speed up US military, humanitarian and economic assistance. The White House said during the call the pair also discussed talks between Russia and Ukraine, but offered no additional details.
Zelenskiy also spoke to SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk, announcing the country will receive more of its Starlink satellite internet terminals this coming week.
Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson has issued a six-point plan in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is urging other leaders to endorse it in efforts to ensure Russia fails in its apparent attempt to take over its democratic neighbour.
US-based credit card giants Visa and Mastercard have announced they will suspended their Russian business operations.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces continue to focus on Kyiv while moving ahead with assaults on Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and the creation of a land corridor with Crimea, in its latest operational report. The report said aircraft from airports in Belarusian territory were involved in air strikes on military and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv and Zhytomyr.
Russia has dropped powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, according to a regional official. Vyacheslav Chaus posted a photo of what he said was an undetonated FAB-500, a Soviet-designed 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) air-dropped bomb of the kind usually used against military-industrial facilities and fortified structures.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, briefly stepped onto Ukrainian soil for a meeting with the foreign minister, Dymtro Kuleba, who predicted Russia would be defeated but appealed for more military assistance. Blinken also visited a welcome centre set up by Polish authorities where about 3,000 refugees are taking shelter.
The humanitarian situation in the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol is “catastrophic” and it is vital that civilians be evacuated, a senior official from the NGO Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières MSF) has warned.
The International Monetary Fund has announced it could approve $1.4 billion emergency funding as early as next week as the body warns of war’s ‘severe impact’ on the global economy.