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Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Wednesday said that Russia agreed to a cease-fire lasting from from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. local time along six key routes, none of which left Ukraine. Russia, meanwhile, promised a new ceasefire to allow the evacuation of civilians from five cities — Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol — state media reported. It was not immediately clear whether Ukraine or Russia agreed to the routes the other side outlined. Russia has previously proposed evacuating civilians to Russia or its ally, Belarus, which Ukraine has said would be unacceptable.
Vereshchuk said Ukraine was liaising with the International Committee of the Red Cross to “confirm” the ceasefire agreements. She made a special appeal to Russia to keep its obligations, citing “a negative experience" so far. Local officials in the northeastern Sumy region, from which 5,000 people were able to evacuate a day earlier, said people were leaving in private cars and that they planned to load 22 buses with people, prioritizing pregnant women, women with children, older people and people with disabilities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the British Parliament on Tuesday via video, receiving a standing ovation for a speech that recalled a stirring address by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II. “We will fight in the forests, on the shores, in the streets," Zelensky said. His wife, Olena Zelenska, in an open letter to the global media, condemned the “mass murder” of Ukrainian civilians, including children.
Here’s what to know
Ukrainian air defenses appear to have had ‘considerable success,’ U.K. says
Return to menuUkrainian air defenses appear to have had “considerable success” against Russia’s modern warplanes, preventing Moscow from obtaining air superiority, the British Defense Ministry said in its intelligence update on the war in Ukraine on Wednesday.
The ministry’s assessments come as Russia’s air force — despite its upper hand in size and strength — has yet to establish air superiority for unclear reasons.
Before the war, analysts expected Russia’s military to defeat Ukrainian forces quickly, especially in the air. Russia had 1,391 military aircraft, while Ukraine had 132, according to figures compiled by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Russia’s air force modernization had also given it 350 state-of-the-art warplanes since 2010.
But the Russian air force has been largely missing, despite its land forces struggling to overwhelm Ukrainian resistance. This has triggered suspicion among defense analysts that Russia lacks the ability to conduct large, complex air operations.
“The continued absence of major air operations now raises serious capability questions,” wrote Justin Bronk, a research fellow for air power at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London. “Russian fast jets have conducted only limited sorties in Ukrainian airspace, in singles or pairs, always at low altitudes and mostly at night to [minimize] losses from Ukrainian man-portable air [defense] systems and ground fire.”
Ukraine’s overmatched air force also appears to be surviving. It has a “significant majority” of its aircraft still available, a senior U.S. defense official said last week. And there have been independent eyewitness accounts of Ukrainian jets flying.
Ukraine has also been receiving man-portable air defense systems such as Stinger surface-to-air missiles from NATO member countries. The Ukrainians’ possession of Stingers appears to have been one reason Russian planes fly mostly at night, Bronk wrote.
Ukrainian media on Wednesday said the country’s armed forces have shot down 49 Russian planes and 81 helicopters, citing Ukrainian military sources. Outside observers have said 20 of the Kremlin’s warplanes have been shot down, based on their estimates of visual evidence.
IAEA says it’s lost contact with nuclear monitoring systems at Chernobyl site
Return to menuThe International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that it had lost contact with monitoring systems at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which transmit data on nuclear material.
“The Director General … indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl NPP had been lost,” the IAEA said in a statement, using its own spelling for the plant. “The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also tweeted on Wednesday that the IAEA had “unexpectedly lost connection" with the monitoring systems, calling it an “extremely dangerous situation.”
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, then under Soviet Union control, became infamous as the scene of a 1986 disaster, when a series of explosions and fires sent a huge radioactive cloud over parts of Europe and left contaminated soil and other fallout, which remains dangerous. The catastrophe ranks as the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident.
Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces had taken control of the area near the power plant site as part of Russia’s wider invasion of Ukraine, sparking global alarm.
The IAEA has unexpectedly lost connection with the Chornobyl monitoring systems of guarantees. At the moment no one understands what is happening in Chornobyl and what is threatening the region. An extremely dangerous situation.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 9, 2022The U.N. nuclear watchdog also reiterated an offer to both sides for the IAEA to travel to Chernobyl or other sites to help protect nuclear facilities in Ukraine amid the conflict.
Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi also said that Ukrainian authorities had told the IAEA that it was “increasingly urgent” for the 210 technical staff and guards who have been working at the plant since Russian forces took control, to be rotated out to ensure the “safe management” of the plant amid “worsening” conditions.
“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety,” Grossi said. “I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there.”
Fitch downgrades Russia’s credit rating and says default is ‘imminent,’ as sanctions take hold
Return to menuFitch Ratings said it was downgrading Russia’s credit rating to “C,” junk status, from “B” and that a default was “imminent,” as the West’s sanctions continue to bite.
“Fitch Ratings has downgraded Russia’s Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘C’ from ‘B,’ ” it said in a statement Tuesday, a classification that shows major concern for Russia’s ability and willingness to service its debt.
On the Fitch Ratings scale, AAA denotes the lowest expectation of default risk and an “exceptionally strong” capacity for payment of financial commitments. A “C” rating is an indication that a default process has begun or that “payment capacity is irrevocably impaired,” according to the company.
“The ‘C’ rating reflects Fitch’s view that a sovereign default is imminent,” Fitch said, pointing to “developments” that have “further undermined Russia’s willingness to service government debt.”
“The further ratcheting up of sanctions, and proposals that could limit trade in energy,” the firm added, “increase the probability of a policy response by Russia that includes at least selective nonpayment of its sovereign debt obligations.”
The Biden administration on Tuesday said it would ban the importation of oil and natural gas from Russia, expanding already sweeping economic sanctions. The European Union also promised to cut its use of Russian gas by two-thirds this year and has put in place wide-ranging sanctions on Russia’s economy. A multitude of global businesses have also announced their intention to pull out of the Russian market.
For the downgrade, Fitch pointed to sanctions on the country’s central bank, “technical barriers to servicing debt,” such as through clearing systems or transferring funds, as well as a Russian presidential decree on March 5 that it said could force a re-denomination of foreign-currency sovereign debt payments into local currency for creditors in specified countries.
On March 16, Russia is due to pay $107 million in interest across two bonds, though it has a 30-day grace period to make the payments, according to Reuters.
Britain pledges to expedite visas for refugees from Ukraine
Return to menuBritain’s process for accepting refugees from Ukraine should be quicker, and the country will do more to help those fleeing Ukraine, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said Tuesday in an interview with the BBC.
Wallace said the number of refugees that Britain is able to accept is “very generous,” and he pledged to help the home secretary in balancing Britain’s security when admitting refugees. Establishing people’s identities should be done quickly, and he noted that it was done “very quickly in Afghanistan,” he said.
“We could do more to make that processing much, much quicker,” he said.
Wallace said 17,000 people have started the visa process under a plan launched Friday for refugees to reunite with family members in Britain. Five hundred Ukrainian refugees have been granted visas so far under this plan, Immigration Minister Kevin Foster said in Parliament on Tuesday.
People of all faiths flock to U.S. Ukrainian churches in acts of solidarity
Return to menuThe diverse group showed up, one after another, so that when the pews were full, people spilled into the aisles at St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma, Ohio.
“It was a standing-room crowd that came to pray and show unwavering solidarity,” said Lee C. Shapiro, regional director of the American Jewish Committee’s Cleveland chapter.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago, Ukrainian churches in the United States have been filled with Americans of all faiths — and some who have no religious affiliation — in a show of support for and solidarity with the besieged nation.
Venezuela frees 2 Americans, signaling potential thaw as U.S. seeks to isolate Putin
Return to menuThe Venezuelan government has released at least two Americans detained in the country for years, according to five people with knowledge of the situation, days after a U.S. delegation made a rare trip to the socialist state.
Among those released on Tuesday was Gustavo Cárdenas, one of the six executives of Citgo Petroleum who were arrested during a business trip to Caracas in November 2017 and later charged with corruption. The other was Jorge Alberto Fernández, a tourist who was detained and accused of terrorism for flying a drone early last year, according to a human rights defender in Venezuela with knowledge of the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing developments.
The conditions of the release of the two U.S. citizens were not immediately clear. State Department officials declined to comment.
The release comes after a group of senior U.S. officials traveled to Caracas on Saturday for a meeting with President Nicolás Maduro to discuss the possibility of easing sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports as the Biden administration weighed banning imports of Russian oil. The delegation also called for the release of imprisoned Americans, including the “Citgo 6,” two former Green Berets who were accused in a plot to remove Maduro, and a former Marine who was arrested while traveling along the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.
The long-sought release of the Americans signals a potential thaw in the relationship between the Biden administration and the Maduro regime, Russia’s most important ally in South America, and comes as the U.S. government tries to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin after the invasion in Ukraine.
U.S. all-but declines Poland’s offer to give Ukraine its old warplanes
Return to menuThe United States all-but declined an offer from Poland on Tuesday to deliver an unspecified number of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine so that the warplanes could be used against invading Russian forces.
“We do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
The unusual public offer, posted on the website of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, blindsided U.S. officials who said they were not consulted by the Polish government ahead of the proposal.
Poland has sought to equip Ukraine with aircraft to fight Russia even as Moscow has warned that any country hosting Ukraine’s military aircraft would be considered a party to the ongoing armed conflict there.
In its statement, Poland said it is “ready to deploy — immediately and free of charge — all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America.” Ramstein is an American military facility located in eastern Germany.
Biden sends Harris to Poland and Romania amid global crisis
Return to menuAs chaos spreads in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden is dispatching Vice President Harris to Eastern Europe on an urgent mission this week to reinforce Western unity, reassure allies of U.S. protection and promise aid as more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees flee their homes.
Harris will meet with leaders in Poland on Thursday and their counterparts in Romania a day later, in what amounts to an extension of her recent trip to a global security conference in Germany. There, in the earliest days of the Russian invasion, Harris met with an array of European and world leaders, including NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an effort to hold the Western alliance together.
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