Ukraine has accused Russia of seizing 15 rescue workers from a humanitarian convoy that was trying to deliver food and other supplies into the Ukranian city of Mariupol. In other development, Poland had on Friday said that it would officially submit a proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit. However, the decision has not gone down well with Russia. “It would be a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision,” Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said today
As the Russia-Ukraine War completes a month tomorrow, it is very clear that the swift ‘special military operations’ launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin has completely gone off-charts. Various reports from the Western intel agencies have suggested that the Russian offensive is stalled and yet to make any significant gains despite carpet bombing of major Ukrainian cities, something that Europe has not seen since the World War II days. While the port city of Mariupol has been completely turned into ashes, capital Kyiv is still standing with Ukraine claiming that it has retaken nearby areas from the Russian forces. As the world watches the events unfolding, here are top updates on the Russia-Ukraine war that you should know:
Putin’s confidant Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will use nuclear weapons in case it faces an ‘existential threat’. This is not the first time that Moscow has signalled its readiness to use nuclear weapons. Back in February, Putin had also said that Russia will respond to anyone who stands in its way.
An AP report says that Russia has destroyed a lab at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in its latest offensive. The lab was a new addition to the plant that was built to help in managing the radioactive waste in an efficient manner. Ukrainian officials say that the radionuclides at the Chernobyl lab are now in ‘enemy’s hands’. The radionuclides are the unstable atoms of chemical elements that release radiation. Another worrying development is that the radiation monitors installed around the Chernobyl plant are not working.
Latest reports from the UK, US and Germany say that the Russian forces have not been able to move forward due to robust counter-attacks by the Ukrainian forces. Russian troops have not only been stalled in their mission to take over Kyiv but also pushed back from the suburbs. This agonising delay has forced the Russians to fire missiles from the sea. A CNN report said that new assault was carried out from the Sea of Azov.
The latest updates say that Russia has as many as 21 ships in the Black Sea.