Second round of talks begin
KYIV/MOSCOW/NEW DELHI, Mar 3: Russian forces today have seized a strategic Ukrainian seaport and besieged another as part of efforts to cut the country off from its coastline.
The Russian military said it had control of Kherson, and local Ukrainian officials confirmed that forces have taken over local Government headquarters in the Black Sea port of 280,000, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago.
Elsewhere, the Russians pressed their offensive on multiple fronts, though a column of tanks and other vehicles has apparently been stalled for days outside the capital of Kyiv. Heavy fighting continued todayon the outskirts of another strategic port city on the Azov Sea, Mariupol, plunging it into darkness, isolation and fear. Electricity and phone connections are largely down, and homes and shops are facing food and water shortages.
Without phone connections, medics didn’t know where to take the wounded.
In just seven days of fighting, more than 2% of Ukraine’s population has been forced out of the country, according to the tally the U.N. Refugee agency released to The Associated Press. The mass evacuation could be seen in Kharkiv, a city of about 1.4 million people and Ukraine’s second-largest. Residents desperate to escape falling shells and bombs crowded the city’s train station and pressed onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed.
At least 227 civilians have been killed and another 525 wounded in that time, according to the latest figures from the office of the UN High Commis-sioner for Human Rights. It acknowledges that is a vast undercount, and Ukraine earlier said more than 2,000 civilians have died. That figure could not be independently verified.
In Kherson, the Russians took over the regional administration headquarters, Hennady Lahuta, the Governor of the region, said today – while adding that he and other officials were continuing to perform their duties and provide assistance to the population.
Kherson’s Mayor, Igor Kolykhaev, previously said that the national flag was still flying, but that there were no Ukrainian troops in the city. Britain’s defense secretary said it was possible the Russians had taken over, though not yet verified.
The Mayor said the city would maintain a strict curfew and require pedestrians to walk in groups no larger than two, obey commands to stop and not to “provoke the troops.”
“The flag flying over us is Ukrainian,” he wrote on Facebook. “And for it to stay that way, these demands must be observed.”
Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian land forces have stalled and Moscow is now unleashing air attacks, but that they are being parried by Ukrainian defense systems, including in Kherson.
“Kyiv withstood the night and another missile and bomb attack. Our air defenses worked,” he said. “Kherson, Izyum – all the other cities that the occupiers hit from the air did not give up anything.”
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, the Commanding General of the Russian 7th Airborne Division, was killed in fighting in Ukraine earlier this week.
His death was confirmed by a local officers’ organisation in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.
Sukhovetsky, who was 47, began his military service as a platoon commander after graduating from a military academy and steadily rose through the ranks to take a series of leadership positions.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office says a second round of talks with Russia about the war in Ukraine has begun in neighbouring Belarus.
A video released by Zelenskyy’s office Thursday showed the informally dressed Ukrainian delegation walking into the meeting room where they shook hands with Russian delegates in suits and ties.
The talks are aimed at stopping the fighting that has sent more than 1 million people fleeing over Ukraine’s borders, but the two sides appeared to have little common ground.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin’s demand for its “demilitarisation” and declare itself neutral, formally renouncing its bid to join NATO.
Meanwhile, a total of 30 flights have been operated and around 6,400 people brought back under Operation Ganga that was launched to evacuate Indian nationals in Ukraine, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in New Delhi today.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the number of Indians who have left Ukraine since advisories were issued was nearly 18,000.
“The pace of Operation Ganga continues to accelerate. During the last 24 hours, 15 flights landed in India, bringing back more than 3,000 Indians,” he said at a media briefing here.
“With this, it takes the total number of flights under operation Ganga to 30. So, we have brought back around 6,400 Indian citizens,” Bagchi said this evening.
During the next 24 hours, 18 flights have been scheduled, of these three would be C-17 Indian Air Force flights and the other flights are commercial, he said.
In terms of the departure points from Europe, there will be seven flights from Bucharest (Romania), five from Budapest (Hungary), three from Rzeszow (Poland) and one from Košice (Slovakia), Bagchi said.
A new location has been identified near the Romanian border in the city of Suceava (Romania) from where two flights will be operated in the next 24 hours, he said, adding that this would make it easier for Indians and save them from undertaking the long drive to Bucharest. (Agencies)
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