Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, March 9: Tempers seems to be cooling down on both the sides with Russia denying any move to overthrow the Volodymyr Zelensky government and promising to achieve its “goal of ensuring neutrality of Ukraine” through talks and the Ukraine dropping the idea of becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), one of the major bone of contention between the two countries.
In a significant progress made in improving the war scenario in the battleground Ukraine, the two countries agreed on an additional day of ceasefire and forming yet another “humanitarian corridor” on Wednesday for more evacuation of the civilian population. Ukraine is trying to evacuate civilians through six “humanitarian corridors” on Wednesday, including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk said. She added that Russian armed forces have agreed to hold fire along humanitarian corridors from 9 am to 9 pm local time (7 am-7 pm GMT).
Russia said the country’s military was not working towards toppling or overthrowing the government in Ukraine. Further, Russia also said the negotiations with officials in Kyiv to resolve the ongoing war in Ukraine were making headway. The development came as the two countries agreed upon establishing day-long evacuation corridors in Ukraine.
The corridors would open from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, Enerhodar to Zaporizhzhia, Sumy to Poltava, Izyum to Lozova, Volnovakha to Pokrovsk and from several other towns around Kyiv which were identified as Vorzel, Borodyanka, Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel to the capital.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would achieve its goal of ensuring Ukraine’s neutral status and would prefer to do that through talks. Moscow’s aims did not include overthrowing the Kyiv government and it hopes to achieve more significant progress in the next round of talks with Ukraine, Zakharova told a briefing, adding that Russia’s military operation was going strictly in line with its plan.
In a clear demonstration of a climb down, the Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia’s stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbour. In another apparent nod aimed at placating Moscow, Zelensky said he was open to “compromise” on the status of two breakaway pro-Russian territories that President Vladimir Putin recognised as independent just before unleashing the invasion on February 24.
“I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that … NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelensky said in an interview aired on Monday night. “The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia,” the President added. Referring to NATO membership, Zelensky said he did not want to be President of a “country which is begging something on its knees.”
Russia has said it did not want neighbouring Ukraine to join NATO, the transatlantic alliance created at the start of the Cold War to protect Europe from the then Soviet Union. In more recent years the alliance has expanded further and further east to take in former Soviet bloc countries, infuriating the Kremlin. Russia sees NATO enlargement as a threat, as it does the military posture of these new Western allies on its doorstep.
Russia warned the West on Wednesday that it was working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the West’s most sensitive areas. “Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses,” Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry’s department for economic cooperation, said.
Infuriated over Polish offer to Ukraine to deliver Mig-29 fighter jets via a US airbase, the Kremlin on Wednesday said such a move could lead to a “dangerous scenario,” as Russian troops continued their advance into Ukraine. “This is a highly undesirable and a potentially dangerous scenario,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The United States, however, had rejected the Polish offer saying the proposal raised “serious concerns” for the entire NATO alliance. Under the proposed scheme, those jets could then be deployed to Ukraine, while the Polish air force would receive F-16 fighters as replacements.
On the war front, the Russian aircraft Tuesday night bombed residential areas around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and Zhytomyr, to the west of Kyiv, and its military also stepped up its shelling of Kyiv’s suburbs, the Ukrainian emergency services said. In Malyn, a town of 25,000 near Zhytomyr, the bombing killed at least five people, including two children, and destroyed a textile factory and seven homes, the agency said. Two people died, including a 7-year-old, in the bombing in Chuhuiv, near Kharkiv.
An air alert was declared Wednesday morning in and around Kyiv, with residents urged to get to bomb shelters as quickly as possible. “Kyiv region- air alert. Threat of a missile attack. Everyone immediately to shelters,” regional administration head Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.
Ukrainian officials also reported dire conditions in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel, Irpin, Vyshhorod and Borodianka, including bodies of the dead that couldn’t be buried. The mayor of Lviv said the city in far western Ukraine was struggling to feed and house the more than 2,00,000 people who have fled there. The displaced are being housed in the city’s sport halls, schools and other buildings. In the nearly two weeks since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion, his forces have captured a swath of southern and coastal Ukraine but have seen their advances stopped in many areas, including around Kyiv.
Even as at least 10 people were killed in a Russian military attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Severodonestk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said he told the Ukrainian President in a call that Canada would send Ukraine another shipment of highly-specialized military equipment. Trudeau said in a tweet that he also invited Zelensky to address Canada’s parliament.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) informed there have been a total of 1,335 civilian casualties in Ukraine, 474 people have been killed and 861 injured, between Feb 24 and March 7. Additionally, the OHCHR said most of the civilian causalities were from airstrikes and explosive weapons used by the Russian forces. It added that hundreds of residential buildings in many cities, including Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mariupol and Kyiv have been damaged or destroyed. “This situation is really apocalyptic for people, it is getting worse, they are running out of essential supplies,” said Ewan Watson, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The number of people fleeing Ukraine since the Russian invasion began has probably now reached 2.1-2.2 million, the head of the United Nation’s refugee agency UNHCR said on Wednesday. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a news conference that “the time is now to try to help at the border” rather than discussions on the division of refugees between countries.
Official sources said the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was no longer transmitting data to the UN’s atomic watchdog, the agency said, as it voiced concern for staff working under Russian guard at the Ukrainian facility. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi “indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chernobyl NPP had been lost”, the agency said in a statement
As US-based McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Starbucks have suspended their operations in Russia, the European Union has agreed to add more Russian oligarchs and officials to its sanctions blacklist, tighten controls on crypto currency transfers and target the maritime sector over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, diplomats said Wednesday.
President Zelensky has urged British MPs to designate Russia as a “terrorist state” after President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military operation against his nation and called for tougher sanctions on Moscow to “make sure our skies are safe”.
Oil rose towards $130 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by concern of a potential supply shock as the United States banned Russian oil imports and amid signs that some buyers are already steering clear. The United States on Tuesday imposed a ban on Russian oil imports, Britain said it would phase them out and Shell said it would stop buying Russian crude. JP Morgan estimated around 70% of Russian seaborne oil was struggling to find buyers.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $1.4 billion in emergency support for Ukraine to finance expenditures and shore up the balance of payments, Central Bank Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko said in a statement on Wednesday. Ukraine has turned to financing from allies and international institutions to support its economy after the Russian invasion began on February 24. “We are immensely grateful to the IMF for its prompt response to our request. We look forward to completing all required procedures as soon as possible,” Shevchenko said. “It is vital for Ukraine now that it has been going through such a horrible time.”
The US Congress too is close to passing a $10 billion Bill providing emergency aid to Ukraine. The Bill moves to provide assistance on humanitarian, security and economic levels to Ukraine.