Russia Ukraine War March 14 Latest News: A high-voltage power line to Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant was damaged by Russian forces, grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement on Monday, reported Reuters. Meanwhile, Speaking at a press conference in Skopje, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that more than 2,400 civilians have been killed in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol since Russia invaded the country last month. Borell said that more than 2.6 million people have fled Ukraine and the number of refugees may rise to 4-5 million. On the other hand, the continuous shelling destroyed the premises of an underground gas storage facility in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. As the war enters day 19 today, here are top 10 developments that you should know:
1: In what can only be termed as a quid-pro-quo, Russia on Tuesday announced sanctions and banned the entry of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top officials from entering the country. Their names, together with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA chief William Burns, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and others, were included on a list of 13 individuals banned from Russia in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also named on the “stop list”.
2: In a virtual interaction with all stakeholders including embassy officials engaged in the Ukrainian evacuation, PM Narendra Modi said that after an extremely challenging evacuation operation around 23,000 Indians have returned to the country from Ukraine. He further added that India has also evacuated nationals of 18 other countries from the war-torn country and sent over 90 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its neighbouring countries. Also, Ministry of External Affairs has informed that three Indians who were stranded in Kherson, Ukraine, have been evacuated via Simferopol and Moscow. The Embassy of India in Russia facilitated their transit and accommodation and they boarded their flight back to India from Moscow on Tuesday.
3: There has been no let up in the Russian attacks. Latest reports suggest that Russian forces fired artillery strikes on Kyiv suburbs and Lyiv. Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel have been the worst-hit areas as the Russian forces continue their assault to capture Kyiv.
4: The Ukrainian authorities and other rescue mission says that over two million have fled the country since the Russian assault began on February 24 last month. Officials in Ukraine said that 2,000 civilian vehicles have left the besieged city of Mariupol on an evacuation route.
5: In Kyiv’s northern area, the Antonov airport has become the latest target of Russian shelling. It is the most critical international cargo airport for Ukraine. It also serves as a military airbase.
6: Despite Moscow’s claim that civilian areas were not being attacked and the shelling was strictly restricted to military areas, new images coming from Kyiv showed a residential building on fire. Local officials say that two persons died and other three were taken to nearby hospital after the strikes hit the residential block in morning today.
7: While the bombing of key metro cities continue, Ukraine today claimed that its armed forces have stuck down four combat jets belonging to Russia. It also claimed that Ukraine is now retaliating the shelling with strikes on Russian field bases.
8: There’s a growing outrage over reports of American journalist Brent Renaud’s death in Irpin. Renaud was shot dead on Sunday. He is the first foreign reporter to be killed in the ongoing conflict.
9: Meanwhile, the UK has said that in the Russian naval forces are now in control of the Black Sea coast. This means that Ukraine has been cut off from maritime trade with this major move.
10: After the Indian and other nations, the US embassy in Kyiv has issued an advisory urging the US citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. The latest statement says that the security situation in Ukraine is “violent and unpredictable”.