#War #Ukraine #Developments
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– Residents urged to flee the city of Donbass –
Ukrainian officials are urging civilians to evacuate Sloviansk as a matter of urgency while Russian troops step up their bombardment of the city in a bid to capture Donetsk’s Donbass region.
At least two people were killed and seven others injured in Sloviansk on Tuesday when rockets slammed into a market square and surrounding streets, bringing the number of people killed in Russian attacks to at least eight since Sunday.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko has repeatedly called for the evacuation of residents.
The British Ministry of Defense predicted in an intelligence note that “the battle for Sloviansk will be the next key battle in the battle for Donbass” after the fall of the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysyhansk.
– Russia hits out over leaked Putin-Macron call –
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reacted angrily to the release of a phone call between President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the eve of the war, calling it a violation of “diplomatic etiquette”.
The details of the confidential February 20 call were revealed by broadcaster France 2 in a documentary on the French president’s handling of the conflict, which will air on Thursday.
In the exchange in which Putin cheers himself up for an ice hockey game, Putin describes the 2014 Euro-Maidan revolution that brought pro-Western leaders to power in Ukraine as a coup and accused Zelensky of refusing to speak with pro -to engage in dialogue with Russian separatists.
However, at Macron’s urging, he agrees in principle to the idea of a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Geneva.
Four days later he sent troops to Ukraine.
Lavrov said Russia should not be ashamed of the content of the conversation.
– No NATO troops planned in Sweden, Finland –
NATO tells AFP it has no plans to send troops to Sweden and Finland once they complete the accession process that began this week.
“We are not planning an additional presence in either country, they have massive national forces. They are capable of defending themselves,” Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said in a phone interview.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that if NATO deploys troops and infrastructure in the Nordic countries, Moscow will “react symmetrically”.
– Ukraine, allies agree on ground rules for reconstruction –
Ukraine and its allies agree on a set of principles for rebuilding the war-torn country, including the need to root out corruption and uphold the rule of law, at a conference in Switzerland.
The former Soviet state has long been ranked by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal estimates the cost of reconstruction at $750 billion.
Social Tags:
#War #Ukraine #Developments
