UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine recaptures territories around Kyiv as it gears up for more Russian strikes

April 02 2022 - 17:00

A Hundred Firms Pull $45 Billion of Deals Since War in Ukraine

At least a hundred companies worldwide have delayed or pulled financing deals worth more than $45 billion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

These include initial public offerings, bonds or loans and acquisitions.

-©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

April 02 2022 - 15:55

Kyiv Warns of New Front, Landmines Left Behind

Russian troops are slowly leaving parts of Ukraine’s north, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that warned of the dangers of landmines left by departing forces.

Ukraine’s military said Russia is deploying more forces to Moldova’s Transnistria, close to Odesa. The breakaway region denied the assertions; Moscow hasn’t commented.

-©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

April 02 2022 - 14:50

Death toll rises to 35 from strike on government building in Ukraine's Mykolaiv -Governor

At least 35 people have been confirmed killed as a result of Tuesday's rocket strike on the regional administration building in Ukraine's southern port city of Mykolaiv, Governor Vitaliy Kim said in an online post on Saturday.

Rescue workers have continued to dismantle the rubble and search for victims after the strike blasted a hole through the side of the building in central Mykolaiv.

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 14:30

Ukraine faces big battles in eastern and southern regions, says senior official

Heavy battles are coming up in Ukraine's eastern and southern regions and for the besieged city of Mariupol in particular, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Saturday.

Speaking on national television, Arestovych said Ukrainian troops around Kyiv had retaken more than 30 towns or villages in the region and were holding the front line against Russian forces in the east.

"Let us have no illusions - there are still heavy battles ahead for the south, for Mariupol, for the east of Ukraine," he said.

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 14:00

Russia, Kazakhstan urge deal for neutral, nuclear-free Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev agreed during a phone call on Saturday that it was vital for an agreement to be reached for a neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free Ukraine, Kazakhstan's presidential office said.

In a readout of the call, it said that Putin had briefed Tokayev on the progress of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. 

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 13:00

Pope Francis for the first time implicitly criticises Putin over Ukraine

Pope Francis came the closest he has yet to implicitly criticising President Vladimir Putin over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying on Saturday a "potentate" was fomenting conflicts for nationalist interests.

Moscow says the action it launched on Feb. 24 is a "special military operation" designed not to occupy territory but to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour.

Francis has already rejected that terminology, calling it a war.

"From the east of Europe, from the land of the sunrise, the dark shadows of war have now spread. We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past," the pope said in an address to Maltese officials after arriving on the Mediterranean island nation for a two-day visit.

"However, the icy winds of war, which bring only death, destruction and hatred in their wake, have swept down powerfully upon the lives of many people and affected us all," he said.

"Once again, some potentate, sadly caught up in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and fomenting conflicts, whereas ordinary people sense the need to build a future that, will either shared, or not be at all," he said.

The pope has already strongly condemned what he has called an "unjustified aggression" and denounced "atrocities" in the war. But he has only referred to Russia directly in prayers, such as during a special global event for peace on March 25.

"Now in the night of the war that is fallen upon humanity, let us not allow the dream of peace to fade!" he said on Saturday.

Earlier, Francis said he was considering a trip to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 12:00

Pope says he is considering trip to Kyiv

Pope Francis said on Saturday that he was considering a trip to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Asked by a reporter on the plane taking him from Rome to Malta if he was considering an invitation made by Ukrainian political and religious authorities, Francis answered: "Yes, it is on the table".

He gave no further details.

Francis has been invited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Ukraine's Byzantine-rite Catholic Church and Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash.

He has spoken on the phone with Zelenskyy and Shevchuk.

Since the invasion, which Russia calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine, the pope has strongly condemned what he has called an "unjustified aggression" and denounced "atrocities."

But he has only referred to Russia directly in prayers, such as during a special global event for peace on March 25.

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 11:00

Russia says cooperation in space only possible once sanctions are lifted

Russia's space director said on Saturday that the restoration of normal ties between partners at the International Space Station (ISS) and other joint space projects would be possible only once Western sanctions against Moscow are lifted.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said in a social media post that the aim of the sanctions is to "kill Russian economy and plunge our people into despair and hunger, to get our country on its knees".

He added, "they won't succeed in it, but the intentions are clear".

"That's why I believe that the restoration of normal relations between the partners at the International Space Station (ISS) and other projects is possible only with full and unconditional removal of illegal sanctions," Rogozin said

The European Space Agency said last month it was suspending cooperation with Roscosmos over the ExoMars rover mission to search for signs of life on the surface of Mars.

British satellite venture OneWeb said last month it had contracted with Elon Musk's SpaceX to send its satellites into orbit after calling off a March 4 launch of 36 satellites from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan because of last-minute demands imposed on it by Moscow.

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 10:00

Ukraine expects good news over weekend regarding Mariupol evacuations - presidential adviser

Ukraine expects good news over the weekend regarding evacuations of people from the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelesnskyy said on Saturday.

"Our delegation has reached an agreement in Istanbul (during Ukraine-Russia peace talks) to provide evacuations," Oleksiy Arestovych told Ukraine's television.

"I think that today or maybe tomorrow we'll hear good news regarding the evacuation of the inhabitants of Mariupol."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent a team on Friday to lead a convoy of about 54 Ukrainian buses and other private vehicles out of the city, but they turned back, saying conditions made it impossible to proceed. They were due to try again on Saturday.

Encircled since the early days of Russia's five-week-old invasion, Mariupol has been Moscow's main target in the southeastern region of Donbas. Tens of thousands of people are trapped in the city with scant access to food and water.

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 09:15

Ukraine says seven humanitarian corridors planned for evacuations on Saturday

Seven humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from Ukraine's besieged regions are planned for Saturday, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

The planned corridors include one for people evacuating by private transport from the city of Mariupol and by buses for Mariupol residents out of the city of Berdyansk, Vereshchuk said.

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 08:15

Russian missiles strike several Ukrainian cities - local officials

Russian missiles hit two cities in central Ukraine early on Saturday, damaging infrastructure and residential buildings, the head of the Poltava region said.

"Poltava. A missile struck one of the infrastructure facilities overnight," Dmitry Lunin wrote in an online post. "Kremenchuk. Many attacks on the city in the morning."

Lunin later said at least four missiles hit two infrastructure objects in Poltava while, according to preliminary information, three enemy planes attacked the industrial facilities of Kremenchuk.

Poltava city is the capital of the Poltava region, east of Kyiv, and Kremenchuk one of the area's major cities.There was no immediate information about possible casualties, Lunin said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.Russia denies targeting civilians in the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Feb. 24, calling the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two "special military operation".

In the Dnipro region in southwestern Ukraine, missiles hit an infrastructure facility, wounding two people and causing significant damage, Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the region, said in an online post.

In the city of Kryvyi Rih a petrol station has been shelled, causing fire, he added

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 07:55

Ukraine continue to advance against Russian forces near Kyiv, UK says

Ukrainian forces continue to advance against withdrawing Russian forces in the vicinity of Kyiv, British military intelligence said on Saturday.

Russian forces are also reported to have withdrawn from Hostomel airport near the capital, which has been subject to fighting since the first day of the conflict, Britain's Ministry of Defence said in a regular bulletin.

"In the east of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have secured a key route in eastern Kharkiv after heavy fighting," the ministry added.Reuters could not immediately verify the report. 

-Reuters

April 02 2022 - 07:00

Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

• A Red Cross convoy heading to Mariupol will try again to evacuate civilians from the besieged port as Russian forces looked to be regrouping for new attacks in the southeast.

• Ukraine recaptured more territory around Kyiv from Russian soldiers who left shattered villages and their own abandoned tanks as they moved away from the capital. 

• The US military, seeking to lower nuclear tensions with Russia, cancelled an intercontinental ballistic missile test that it had initially aimed only to delay, the Air Force told Reuters.

• In the Russian border city of Belgorod, a logistics hub for its war effort, Moscow said Ukrainian helicopters struck a fuel depot, causing a huge fire. Ukraine denied responsibility.

• Zelenskyy said the military situation in eastern Ukraine remained extremely difficult and Russia was preparing for new strikes there.

• Zelenskyy said sanctions imposed by the US and other countries on Russia are working and need to be increased. 

• The US added 120 Russian and Belarusian entities, mostly companies linked to the military, to the list of those restricted from receiving US supplies and goods. 

• Sanctions by the US and its allies are pushing Russia into recession and starting to turn it back into a closed economy, a senior U.S. Treasury official said.

• Europe vowed to stay united against Russia's demand that they pay for its gas in roubles, as the threat of an imminent supply halt eased.

• China told the EU it would seek peace in Ukraine but on its own terms, deflecting pressure for a tougher stance towards Russia.

-Reuters