Ukrainian and Russian officials will meet for talks at a venue on the Belarusian border with Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said on Sunday. Russian troops on Sunday entered Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin defied mounting sanctions and recriminations from the West as the country’s military pushed deeper into Ukraine on Thursday, attacking strategic airfields and advancing toward major cities.
According to reports, Russian forces reached the outskirts of Kyiv on Friday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the invading troops were targeting civilians and explosions could be heard in the besieged capital.
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No radiation leak after missile hits radioactive waste containment site in Kyiv
Ukraine has notified the IAEA that missiles hit a radioactive waste disposal site in Kyiv, but there were no signs of a radioactive leak, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Sunday.
“Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that missiles hit the site of a radioactive waste disposal facility in Kyiv overnight but there were no reports of damage to the building or any indications of a radioactive release,” Grossi said in a statement.
He noted that “while these disposal sites do not contain high-level radioactive waste, the stored and disposed radioactive waste can still cause a serious radiological impact event, underlining the necessity to protect them.”
Sputnik News
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Putin's nuclear move could make situation 'much, much more dangerous’
Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to put Russian nuclear forces on high alert during his invasion of Ukraine is an escalation that could make things "much, much more dangerous," a senior US defence official said on Sunday.
Read the full story here.
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Oil could jump back above $100 a barrel as traders assess the Russia SWIFT ban
A DECISION by Western allies on Saturday to block certain Russian banks from the SWIFT payments system is likely to lift oil prices well above $100 a barrel as risks with trading Russian oil spike, analysts say.
SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a secure messaging system that facilitates rapid cross-border payments, making international trade flow smoothly.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Hungary will not send weapons to Ukraine because all of them are needed domestically.
“The Hungarian position will not change, as the Hungarian armed forces need all their weapons to be able to defend the country's borders, therefore, unlike Italy and Germany, we will not send weapons to Ukraine,” Orban said in an interview with M1 broadcaster.
At the same time, the Hungarian prime minister stressed that Budapest will support the Russian sanctions agreed upon in the EU and called all reports to the contrary “disinformation”.
Sputnik News
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU is shutting its airspace to "Russian-owned, Russian-registered, and Russian-controlled aircraft."
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Germany advises citizens against travel to Russia
Germany advises its citizens against travelling to Russia, the foreign ministry said on Sunday, as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine enters day four.
The ministry said the use of non-Russian credit cards in Russia was currently limited.
Earlier on Sunday, the German transport ministry said it would close its airspace to Russian planes and airlines for three months.
Reuters
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#UPDATE Ukraine says it will hold talks with Russia at its border with Belarus -- near the Chernobyl exclusion zone -- after a phone call between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko pic.twitter.com/A4dLmWuu1N
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 27, 2022
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A protester in Russia says he is "burning with shame" over his country's invasion of Ukraine.
The man was speaking at an anti-war protest in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg on Saturday, where at least 69 people were arrested.
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Ukraine and Russia agree to talks ’without preconditions’
Ukrainian and Russian officials will meet for talks at a venue on the Belarusian border with Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said on Sunday.
The talks, the first since Russia unleashed a full scale invasion of Ukraine last week, would be held without preconditions and are the result of a phone call between Zelenskiy and the Belarusian president, Zelenskiy said, citing a Reuters report.
"We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River," he said in a statement.
Russia denied on Sunday that talks with Ukraine had begun but said the two sides were arriving at the destination for negotiations, Interfax news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying.
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⚡️⚡️⚡️BREAKING: Ukraine confirms peace talks with Russia today.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
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UN nuclear watchdog to hold emergency meeting on Ukraine
The U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday about Ukraine, where war is raging in a country with four operational nuclear power plants and various waste facilities including Chernobyl.
Board members Canada and Poland called the meeting at the request of Ukraine, which is not on the Board, diplomats said. International Atomic Energy Agency member states that are not on the Board, like Ukraine, can call a Board meeting but the possible range of topics is wider if a Board member calls one.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict could last a "number of years" and the world needs to be prepared for Moscow "to seek to use even worse weapons", British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned Sunday.
"I fear this will be a long haul, this could be a number of years," Truss told Sky News.
Read more here.
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Zelensky says Russia striking residential areas in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Moscow was bombarding residential areas in Ukraine as its invading forces sought to push deeper into the pro-Western country.
"The past night in Ukraine was brutal, again shooting, again bombardments of residential areas, civilian infrastructure," Zelensky said in an address posted online.
Read the full story here.
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Zelensky ready to talk with Russia, but not in Belarus
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday Ukraine was willing to hold talks with Russia, but rejected convening them in neighbouring Belarus as it was being used as a launchpad for Moscow's invasion.
"Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku. We proposed all of them," Zelensky said in an address posted online.
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Russian troops enter Ukraine's second city, fighting under way: regional chief
Russian troops have entered Ukraine's second city Kharkiv and fighting was under way on Sunday, the head of the regional administration said on the fourth day of Moscow's invasion of the pro-Western country.
"The Russian enemy's light vehicles broke into the city of Kharkiv," Oleg Sinegubov said in a Facebook post, urging residents not to leave shelters.
"The Ukrainian armed forces are eliminating the enemy."
While fighting raged in Kharkiv, the city administration in Kyiv, 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the west, said the capital remained completely under the control of Ukrainian forces despite clashes with "sabotage groups".
Read the full story here.
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SWIFT, the global finance arm that the West can twist
Exclusion from SWIFT, a very discreet but important cog in the machinery of international finance, is one of the most disruptive sanctions the West has deployed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The move had been threatened in recent weeks by the United States, the European Union and other Western allies as a means of escalating punishment of Russia for its aggressions against its ex-Soviet neighbour.
Read the full story here.
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Finland to close airspace to Russian planes: minister
Finland will close its airspace to Russian planes, joining other European countries in ramping up sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the government announced early Sunday.
Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia, "is prepared to close its airspace to Russian air traffic," Transport Minister Timo Harakka wrote in an overnight tweet.
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War Continues Throughout Ukraine, Russia Trying To Overtake Capital
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The invasion of Ukraine was inevitable: Understanding Russian concerns and the folly of Western diplomacy
OPINION: We do not want war. We should do all we can to avoid war. Unfortunately, given the failure by Western leaders to understand and resolve Russia’s concerns and the pitiful folly of their empty and ineffectual threats, the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February was inevitable, writes Professor Arthur Mutamabara.
Developing the future of knowledge involves understanding the ‘relationship between what we know and what will happen, for the purpose of improving both’.
This endeavour demands a contrarian mindset that challenges conventional wisdom. It requires a festival of ideas that cherishes the diversity of views – a crucible for new knowledge and thought leadership.
Read the full story here.
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What could happen to SA if the Russia and Ukraine tensions escalate
Earlier this week Russia launched attacks on Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying the “military operation” was to defend separatists in the east from “genocide”.
He also warned the West of “horrible consequences” if it interferes.
Professor Emeritus of International Law Professor André Thomashausen spoke to IOL on the impact of the tension on South Africa and what would happen if it escalated.
“There will be a price explosion in all energy markets if Russian gas supplies shift away from Europe to be redirected to China. China is welcoming large additional LNG supplies at a low price level to reduce their own dependency on coal and achieve better CO2 reduction targets and secure lower input costs for their industries.
Moscow ordered its troops to advance in Ukraine "from all directions" while the West responded late Saturday with sanctions that sought to cripple Russia's banking sector.
Ukrainian officials said 198 civilians, including three children, had been killed since Russia invaded on Thursday, and warned Russian saboteurs were active in Kyiv where explosions forced residents to flee underground.
Read the full story here.
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Sporting world condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked widespread reaction in the sports world, with athletes condemning Moscow's actions while calls increase for the country to be isolated from international competition.
Read the full story here.
IOL