Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, March 17: The Ukrainian authorities on Thursday were struggling to determine the fate of hundreds of civilians feared trapped in a theatre smashed by a Russian airstrike in the besieged city of Mariupol even as Russia rejected the order of the United Nation’s International Court of Justice to immediately suspend the military operations in Ukraine.
While the United States president Joe Biden is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday to discuss the Russian invasion into Ukraine, Russia claimed that its talks with Ukraine was continuing via video link. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the parties were discussing military, political and humanitarian issues.
Kremlin press secretary described as “unacceptable and unforgivable rhetoric” Biden calling the Russian president Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.” Biden has also announced that the US would be sending more anti-aircraft, anti-armour weapons and drones to Ukraine to fight against the Russian forces. The U.N. Security Council will meet later on Thursday at the request of six Western nations that sought an open session on Ukraine ahead of an expected vote on a Russian humanitarian resolution.
Ukraine officials said Russian artillery Thursday destroyed more civilian buildings in another frontline city. A photo released by Mariupol’s city council showed an entire section of the 3-story theatre — where the civilians had taken shelter — collapsed after the strike on Wednesday evening. However, some hope emerged as one of the officials said some people had managed to survive the strike, but the fate of many other were still not known. At least one person was killed and three wounded after the remains of a downed missile hit a residential building in the Ukranian capital, Kyiv, Ukraine’s emergency service said Thursday.
Rejecting the UN top court’s ruling that ordered Russia to immediately suspend military operations in Kyiv, The Kremlin on Thursday said it could not accept a “one-sided” decision. “We cannot take this decision into account,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that both parties — Russia and Ukraine — had to agree for the ruling to be implemented. “No consent can be obtained in this case,” Peskov said.
The UN’s International Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that Moscow should “immediately suspend military operations that it commenced on February 24 on the territory of Ukraine” saying it was “profoundly concerned” by Moscow’s use of force.
The Ukrainian authorities claimed that Russia on Wednesday had carried out massive air strikes over Ukraine including shelling the theatre providing shelter to over a thousand people most of them children. They claimed that the theatre was bombed despite “children” was written in bold letters in Russian language on both sides of the walls and rooftop of the theatre clearly visible from the sky.
The British ministry of defence claimed that the Russian forces have made “minimal progress” on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses. In its latest Defence Intelligence Update posted on social media, the MoD said while the Russian invasion had largely stalled, the Ukrainian resistance remained well-coordinated. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts,” the MoD intelligence update reads. “Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses. Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated. The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands,” it adds.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invoked 9/11 during an urgent appeal to the US Congress for more weapons to stem the Russian assault. US President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million for Ukraine’s military.
Official sources said Biden would speak Friday with Jinping about issues including Russia’s war in Ukraine. Beijing has refused to condemn its close ally Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while blaming the United States and NATO’s eastward expansion for worsening tensions. “The two leaders will discuss managing the competition between our two countries as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern,” the White House said in a statement.
China is under intense diplomatic pressure from the United States and its European allies to pull its lifeline from an isolated Russia. But three weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has shown few signs of abandoning its friends in the Kremlin. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s chief diplomat, met in a Rome hotel this week for what a White House readout described as a “substantial” session. The United States later expressed concern about what it called “alignment” between Russia and China.
Moscow and Beijing have drawn closer in what Washington sees as an increasingly hostile alliance of the authoritarian nuclear powers. The US-China discussions in Rome aimed to test the depth of China’s commitment to Russia as it struggles to vanquish Ukraine, with images of bomb-scarred buildings and refugees fleeing in their millions horrifying the world. Since the war erupted, China has refused to condemn Putin’s actions — or even describe the invasion as a war. Instead, as recently as last week Beijing called the partnership between the two countries “rock-solid.”
The White House said the US was also in touch with Indian leaders and continues to encourage them to work closely with it to stand up against the Russian invasion. At her daily news conference on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked how the world’s largest and oldest democracies are working together to bring peace in the region amidst the war in Ukraine. “As you know, we remain in touch through a range of channels from our national security team with leaders in India and continue to encourage leaders to work closely with us — to stand up against President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” Psaki told reporters
Britain, however, said it was “very disappointed” with India’s stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but still regards it as an important trading partner, trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said on Thursday. Asked if India’s stance would impact trade talks with Britain, Trevelyan said, “We are very disappointed. We continue to work with Indian partners.”
“India is an incredibly important trading partner for the UK … we will continue to work with countries around the world to make sure that Putin is unable to fund this war in the future,” she told reporters.
The war in Ukraine is already resulting in rising food prices and a shortage of staple crops in parts of central Asia, the Middle East and north Africa, the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Thursday. The Russian invasion of Ukraine last month has severely curtailed shipments from the two countries, which jointly account for around 25% of world wheat exports and 16% of world corn exports, leading to surging prices for the grains on international markets. “These are now trickling down to retail food prices in some of the world’s poorest countries, IFAD president Gilbert F. Houngbo said. He warned that hikes are set to cause escalating hunger and poverty, with dire implications for global stability.