• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home World

IN BRIEF: Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

28 April 2022, 9:25 PM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
A military sapper inspects remains of a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 fighting aircraft hit by Ukrainian Armed Forces during Russia's invasion in Kyiv Region, Ukraine April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Mykola Tymchenko

A military sapper inspects remains of a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 fighting aircraft hit by Ukrainian Armed Forces during Russia's invasion in Kyiv Region, Ukraine April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Mykola Tymchenko

Image: Reuters

A military sapper inspects remains of a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 fighting aircraft hit by Ukrainian Armed Forces during Russia's invasion in Kyiv Region, Ukraine April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Mykola Tymchenko

UN doing all it can to make evacuation from Ukrainian steel plant possible – Guterres

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after talks in Kyiv on Thursday (April 28) that his organisation was doing all it could to enable the evacuation of a steel plant where fighters and civilians are holed up in the city of Mariupol.

“At the present moment I can only tell you we are doing everything we can to make it happen. I’m not going to enter into any comment that could undermine that possibility,” he said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy.

The meeting with Zelenskiyy followed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday (April 26) where the latter agreed “in principle” to U.N. and International Committee for the Red Cross involvement in evacuating the Azovstal plan.

Guterres called the situation in Mariupol “a crisis within a crisis”, adding that civilians “need an escape route out of the apocalypse.”

Referring to the possibility of a United Nations and ICRC-coordinated humanitarian corridor for the hundreds of civilians believed to still be in Azovstal, Guterres said: “As we speak, there are intense discussions to move forward on this proposal to make it a reality.”

On April 21, nearly two months into the siege of the strategic port city, Russia declared victory in Mariupol although remaining Ukrainian forces were holding out in a vast underground complex below Azovstal, where civilians were also sheltering.

The United States accused Russia of planning to stage fake independence votes to justify its conquest of territory in Ukraine, as Russian forces stepped up an assault on the east.

The US mission to the OSCE said the Kremlin might attempt”sham referenda” in southern and eastern areas it had captured since the Feb. 24 invasion, using “a well-worn playbook that steals from history’s darkest chapters”.

WESTERN AID

United States  President Joe Biden asks Congress for $33 billion to support Ukraine as well as new legal tools to tighten sanctions and syphon assets from Russian oligarchs.

“The cost of this fight – it’s not cheap – but caving to aggression is going to be more costly,” said Biden at the White House.

NATO is ready to maintain support for Ukraine for years in the war against Russia, including help for Kyiv to shift from Soviet-era weapons to modern Western arms and systems, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Putin warns of retaliation to any interference in Ukraine:

FIGHTING

“The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions,” Ukraine’s military command said.

Ukraine fired three rockets at the centre of the southern city of Kherson but Russian occupying forces shot down two of them, RIA news agency cited a security source as saying.

Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a pro-Ukraine rally in the occupied city of Kherson, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said, as Moscow tightened its grip over the southern region.

Two powerful blasts were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, two witnesses told Reuters. It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts.

Western countries are openly calling on Ukraine to attack Russia and the West should take Moscow seriously when it says strikes on Russian territory will lead to a response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

Reports of battlefield developments could not be immediately verified by Reuters.

DIPLOMACY

Ukraine’s lead negotiator said no agreement had been reached for the Ukrainian and Russian presidents to discuss the war despite efforts by Turkey to arrange talks.

HUMAN AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

The bodies of 1,150 civilians have been recovered inUkraine’s Kyiv region since Russia’s invasion and 50-70% of them have bullet wounds from small arms, Kyiv police said.

Real disposable incomes in Russia dropped 27.8% in the first quarter of 2022, the official statistics service said,pointing to a slide in purchasing power since the Ukraine conflict began.

QUOTES

“The situation is difficult, but we’re going to battle and fight for as long as we have to,” said Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander in Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, from the besieged steel works in Mariupol.

Russia launched a missile attack in Kyiv.

“Innocent civilians were living in these buildings, they were paying the highest price for a war which they have not contributed to at all,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is visiting the formerly Russian-occupied Kiev Suburbs of Borodyanka and Bucha.

“I am here to say to you, Mr. President & to the people of Ukraine: We will not give up.”

At press conference with @ZelenskyyUa, @antonioguterres says UN will keep pushing for ceasefire while working on immediate steps to save lives & reduce suffering. https://t.co/QCa2eT6DvD pic.twitter.com/e7oIjTq7EN

— United Nations (@UN) April 28, 2022

“The war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil.”

In Ukraine, @antonioguterres says war is unacceptable and stresses that civilians are paying the highest price. https://t.co/DrCucY7eEv pic.twitter.com/DsTCCBERJg

— United Nations (@UN) April 28, 2022

War is evil. pic.twitter.com/LUKYqLTnyB

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 28, 2022

Share article
Tags: United StatesRussiaUkraineConflictNatoJoe Biden
Previous Post

Lawyer representing Advocate Teffo says he’s at Hillbrow Police Station waiting for details on arrest

Next Post

The Weeknd, Universal Music Group expand global partnership

Related Posts

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

‘Give us wings’, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy pleads on European tour

8 February 2023, 8:38 PM
Members of the Algerian rescue team and Syrian army soldiers search for survivors at the site of a damaged building, in the aftermath of the earthquake in Aleppo, Syria February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

SA’s Ambassador to Syria condemns harsh sanctions imposed by Western countries

8 February 2023, 2:06 PM
Rescuers carry a woman after she was evacuated from under a collapsed building following an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 7, 2023.

WHO estimates death toll from Türkiye and Syria quake at 20 000

8 February 2023, 8:41 AM
US President Joe Biden

American democracy, while bruised, has remained unbroken: Biden

8 February 2023, 5:44 AM
An aerial view shows collapsed and damaged buildings after an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 7

Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 7 800

8 February 2023, 5:20 AM
People look amid rubble as the search for survivors continues following an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 7, 2023.

Rescuers in race against time as Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 5,000

7 February 2023, 3:36 PM
Next Post
The Weeknd performs during the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

The Weeknd, Universal Music Group expand global partnership

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • Green comet to be visible from SA next week
  • SA Weather Service warns of maximum temperatures in Cape Town
  • VIDEO: Mabuza resigns as SA Deputy President
  • Budding Stellenbosch FC star reportedly stabbed to death
  • Several areas in Gauteng without water
  • Parts of the Northern Cape to be exempted from rolling blackouts
  • Green comet to be visible from SA next week
  • Registration at Unisa closes on Friday, but management says no need to panic
  • VIDEO | St Benedict College’s Matric learner gets 11 distinctions
  • Limpopo matriculant from child-headed household attains diploma pass
  • Several areas in Gauteng without water
  • ‘Sisulu should be fired for her unacceptable behaviour’
  • Zuma vs Ramaphosa heads to the ConCourt
  • Gauteng’s Health Department confirms a third case of cholera in Johannesburg
  • Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 7 800

LATEST

The multi-stakeholder group believes there are solutions to the power crisis that do not have to include the declaration of a national state of disaster.  
  • SONA 2023
  • South Africa

Legal battle on horizon if Ramaphosa declares a national state of disaster over Eskom crisis


Gavel seen in a courtroom
  • South Africa

E Cape Health exempts from making upfront lump sum payment in case of medico-legal claim


Soldiers guard positions near the Naaba Koom military base in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. (File)
  • Africa

Gunmen kill two MSF workers in west Burkina Faso


Power lines
  • Eskom rolling blackouts
  • Business

Six Eskom power stations identified as primary cause of rolling blackouts


Shopping cart loaded with grocery.
  • SONA 2023
  • Business

CEOs of CGCSA-member companies highlight rising cost of doing business in SA


  • SONA 2023
  • Politics

Disruptions to President’s SONA will be firmly dealt with: Mapisa-Nqakula


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2023

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Lawyer representing Advocate Teffo says he’s at Hillbrow Police Station waiting for details on arrest
Next The Weeknd, Universal Music Group expand global partnership