NATO nations can send jets to Ukraine; ban on imports of Russian oil being discussed: Live updates
NATO nations can send jets to Ukraine; ban on imports of Russian oil being discussed: Live updates
March 06, 2022
Hawaii
passage for civilian evacuations.
►TikTok said it will start labeling content from accounts used by state-controlled media and will suspend livestreaming and new content to its video service as it examines the meaning of Russia’s new “fake news” law.
►The State Department is urging Americans to leave Russia immediately, citing the “unprovoked and unjustified attack” against Ukraine and the potential for harassment of U.S. citizens by Russian government security forces.
►Gas in the U.S. has topped $4 a gallon for the first time in over a decade as the price continues to soar in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The national average of a regular gallon of gas is $4.009, according to AAA, up 8 cents from Saturday and up 40 cents from last week.
diplomacy in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Israel is one of few countries that has good working relations with both Russia and Ukraine.
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Ukraine defense minister: ‘Myth’ of Russian might destroyed
Ukraine Defense Minister Alexei Danilov said his country has survived the first wave of Russia’s large-scale offensive but Russia is preparing a second wave. Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Odesa remain strategically important cities for Russia’s war, he said. Russian troops want to encircle key cities, bleed the Ukrainian army and create a humanitarian catastrophe, Danilov said.
“The myth of Putin’s most modern and powerful army in the world has been destroyed and burned on the roads of Kyiv and Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mykolaiv,” Danilov said. “But the enemy is still dangerous.”
American Express suspends operations in Russia
American Express said Sunday that it is is suspending all operations in Russia “in light of Russia’s ongoing, unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine.” Globally issued American Express cards will no longer work at merchants or ATMs in Russia. Additionally, cards issued in the country by Russian banks will no longer work outside of Russia on the American Express global network. The company said it is also terminating all business operations in Belarus.
On Saturday, Visa and Mastercard said they will drop any cards issued by Russian banks off their networks and not allow their cards issued outside of Russia to work with Russian vendors or ATMs.
More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine
Over 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine into neighboring nations, the U.N. refugee agency said, making it the worst such crisis in Europe since World War II. The Polish prime minister’s office said 922,400 people had crossed its border alone since fighting began 11 days ago. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Moldova to discuss security and humanitarian assistance for the refugees, said officials have seen “very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians” that could constitute war crimes.
Blinken said the U.S. is investigating and documenting the reported attacks to determine whether war crimes are being committed.
Thousands of people are fleeing the fighting in Ukraine. Here’s who is trying to get in.
taken into custody in Moscow and faces drug-smuggling charges after being found with vape cartridges in her carry-on luggage. Russian Federal Customs Service said it detained a “professional basketball player, a member of the US National Basketball Association, a two-time Olympic basketball champion in the US team,” identified as Griner by the Russian news agency TASS.
“Brittney Griner has the WNBA’s full support and our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States,” the WNBA said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports on Saturday.
– Scooby Axson
Blinken pledges American support in Moldova
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Moldova pledging America’s support to the small, Western-leaning former Soviet republic that is coping with an influx of refugees from Ukraine and warily watching Russia’s intensifying war with its neighbor.
Blinken was meeting on Sunday with senior Moldovan officials who are appealing for international assistance in dealing with more than 120,000 refugees from Ukraine that it is now hosting, while also seeking security reassurances against potential Russian aggression. More than 230,000 people have fled into Moldova from Ukraine since the war began 11 days ago.
Blinken said Moldova’s welcoming of refugees is an inspiration to the world.
“We admire the generosity of hospitality, the willingness to be such good friends to people who are in distress, and indeed, I want to do everything we can to help you deal with the burden that this has imposed,” he said.
Russia already has troops in the country of 2.6 million that are stationed in the disputed territory of Transnistria and are being closely watched as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses ahead with the invasion of Ukraine. Although it has no plans to try to become a member of NATO, Moldova formally applied to join the European Union just three days ago in a fast-track bid to bolster its ties with the West.
Radio Free Europe suspends operations in Russia
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is suspending operations in Russia because of government pressures since the start of the war in Ukraine.
RFE/RL, which describes itself as an editorially independent media company supported by a grant from Congress and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, issued a statement late Saturday saying it had stopped operating in Russia “after local tax authorities initiated bankruptcy proceedings against RFE/RL’s Russian entity on March 4 and police intensified pressure on its journalists.”
The media entity also referenced a law signed Friday by Russian President Vladimir Putin that could subject journalists to prison sentences if they deviate from Kremlin-approved descriptions of the war. It said RFE/RL journalists would “continue to tell the truth about Russia’s catastrophic invasion of its neighbor,” reporting on developments from outside Russia.
“This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime’s assault on the truth,” President and CEO Jamie Fly said.
Russia’s federal communications agency announced Friday that it would block the websites of RFE/RL, the BBC, Voice of America and other foreign outlets for spreading what it termed “fake” information.
RFE/RL, which has maintained a physical presence in Russia since 1991, said nine of its Russian language websites have been blocked in the last week after it refused to comply with demands to delete information about the invasion of Ukraine.
