Page 55 - Russia Ukraine Conflict

Russia to flood Asia with fuels as Europe ramps up sanctions: Report

Moscow plans to raise taxes on energy sector to the tune of $50 bn in 2023-25

Four Ukraine separatist regions plan votes to join Russia, says report

Russian-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans Tuesday to start voting this week to become integral parts of Russia. The concerted and quickening Kremlin-backed efforts to swallow up four regions could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war following Ukrainian successes on the battlefield. The scheduling of referendums starting Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions came after a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the votes are needed and as Moscow is losing ground in the invasion it began nearly seven months ago, increasing pressure on the Kremlin for a stiff response. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin, said referendums that fold regions into Russia itself would make redrawn frontiers irreversible and enable Moscow to use any means to defend them. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced the votes as a sham

The world is in 'great peril': UN secretary-gen warns global leaders

Stressing that cooperation and dialogue are the only path forward, he warned that "no power or group alone can call the shots"

Russia triggers plan to formally annex occupied Ukrainian regions

Four Russia-occupied regions announce referendum plans; votes will be held on whether to become part of Russia; Ukraine and the West regard votes as sham and illegal

G20 trade ministerial: WTO reforms, supply chains may dominate agenda

Minister Goyal is expected to hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from member countries

Russia likely to flood Asia with fuel as Europe ramps up sanctions

India and China took a combined 2.7 million barrels a day of Russian crude and products last month, 54% higher than a year earlier

Russia war, virus and climate hurting world's poorest, warns OECD

Russia's war against Ukraine, the lingering coronavirus pandemic and the damage of climate change are putting intense pressure on the world's poorest, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Monday. The Paris-based OECD reported that 60 states, territories and locations fell last year into the category of fragile contexts'' meaning they were exposed to economic, environmental, social and political risks that they didn't have the capacity to absorb. And that was before Russia invaded Ukraine and intensified their burdens. Monday's report designated the most places in such dire straits since the OECD began issuing its States of Fragility report in 2015. The 60 account for 24% of the world's population, 73% of those living in extreme poverty, 80% of those who died in conflicts and the vast majority of the world's hunger hotspots.'' And they are home to 95% of the record 274 million people the United Nations says need humanitarian assistance. We are in an era

European Union seeks emergency powers to prevent supply-chain crisis

The proposal is expected to face strong pushback from businesses and some EU countries

Zelenskyy vows no let-up as Ukraine troops cross key river in northeast

Crossing the Oskil River is another important milestone in Ukraine's counter-offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region

Russia's recent losses in Ukraine may make Middle East think on realignment

Advance of Ukrainian forces into Russian-held territory in Ukraine has most probably led several Middle East countries, to rethink a possible re-alignment towards Russia and relations with US

Amid Ukraine war China makes subtle shift in relations with Russia

Beijing still undoubtedly wishes to redirect the evolution of the global order, but has decided not to trumpet that it is working with Russia to do so.

Nations' leaders meet at UN amid rising global turbulence, war, food crisis

Facing a complex set of challenges that try humanity as never before, world leaders convene at the United Nations this week under the shadow of Europe's first major war since World War II a conflict that has unleashed a global food crisis and divided major powers in a way not seen since the Cold War. The many facets of the Ukraine war are expected to dominate the annual meeting, which convenes as many countries and peoples confront growing inequality, an escalating climate crisis, the threat of multiple famines and an internet-fuelled tide of misinformation and hate speech all atop a coronavirus pandemic that is halfway through its third year. For the first time since the United Nations was founded atop the ashes of World War II, European nations are witnessing war in their midst waged by nuclear-armed neighbouring Russia. Its Feb 24 invasion not only threatens Ukraine's survival as an independent democratic nation but has leaders in many countries worrying about trying to preserve

RBI policy: MPC may raise repo rate 35-50 bps, shows Business Standard poll

Many expect the RBI to lower the GDP growth estimate to 7%

Russia's secret gem sales fracturing diamond trade from Mumbai to New York

Many in the industry refuse to deal in Russian gems following the invasion of Ukraine and after mining giant Alrosa PJSC was hit with US sanctions

Russia may step up Ukraine civilian target attacks, says Britain

Russian shelling hit cities and towns across a wide stretch of Ukraine during the night, officials said Sunday, and the British Defence Ministry warned that Russia is likely to increase its attacks on civilian targets as it suffers battlefield defeats. In the last seven days, Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate military effect, the ministry said in an online briefing. As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government." Overnight shelling hit a hospital in the city of Mykolaiv, a significant Black Sea port, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said. He also said shelling hit other parts of the region, wounding two people. Three people were wounded in nighttime shelling of the city of Nikopol, which is across the river from Europe's largest nuclear power station, regional governor

BS Views of the week: Rice export curbs, freebies, climate change, and more

Business Standard's opinion pages this week focused on climate change, rice export curbs, freebies, Putin's ill-judged war on Ukraine, and much more

Putin can't achieve Ukraine goal, says Pentagon's intelligence chief

Russia's setbacks and stretched resources in Ukraine show its forces are incapable of achieving President Vladimir Putin's initial aims in invading the country as things stand now, the Pentagon's intelligence chief said on Friday. We're coming to a point right now where I think Putin is going to have to revise what his objectives are for this operation, Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, told an intelligence and national security conference outside Washington. Because it's pretty clear right now that he's ... not going to be able to do what he initially intended to do. Putin sent troops into neighbouring Ukraine in February with what US officials say was the objective of unseating Ukraine's Western-friendly government. Ukrainian forces drove Russian fighters from their positions around Ukraine's capital earlier in the war. And Russia suffered another major setback last week, when a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced its troops back from large swaths

Ukraine carries out mass exhumations from 440 forest graves in Izyum

Ukrainian authorities have carried out mass exhumations of more than 440 bodies buried in a forest located at the edge of Izyum city, recently liberated from Russian occupation

Ukrainian president Zelenskyy says burial site contains torture victims

Investigators searching through a mass burial site in Ukraine have found evidence that some of the dead were tortured, including bodies with broken limbs and ropes around their necks, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said Friday. The site near Izium, which was recently recaptured from Russian forces, appears to be one of the largest of its kind discovered in Ukraine. Zelenskyy spoke in a video he rushed out just hours after the exhumations began, apparently to underscore the gravity of the discovery. He said more than 400 graves have been found at the site but that the number of victims isn't yet known. Digging in the rain, workers hauled body after body out of the sandy soil in a misty pine forest near Izium. Protected by head-to-toe suits and rubber gloves, they gently felt through the decomposing remains of the victims' clothing, seemingly looking for identifying items. Associated Press journalists who visited the site saw graves marked with simple wooden crosses.Flowers h

This era not of war, PM Narendra Modi tells Vladimir Putin at SCO meet

Russian prez says he understands India's position, concerns