World
Russia-Ukraine war: Shelling and evacuation efforts ongoing
Efforts are ongoing to coordinate safe routes of escape for Ukrainian civilians out of besieged cities as the Russian invasion rounds out its second week.
In the time since Russian forces swept into the country, some 2 million people have fled Ukraine, nearly half of them children with most people fleeing to neighboring Poland. Russian troops have captured swaths of territory in the south, but have faced fierce Ukrainian resistance in other regions.
Ukrainian officials say pregnant women, women with children and others will be able to leave the city of Sumy on Wednesday through a humanitarian corridor Russia and Ukraine agreed to. Some 5,000 civilians, including many foreign students, were able to flee the city on Tuesday in buses marked with a red cross logo.
Life has become increasingly desperate in cities cut from electricity and facing food and medicine shortages. In the port city of Mariupol, which has been without water, heat, sanitary systems and phone service for several days, bodies laid uncollected in the streets.
Read:With Ukraine war, Europe's geopolitical map is moving again
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that his country would fight Russia’s invasion in its cities, fields and riverbanks.
ARE CIVILIANS BEING SAFELY EVACUATED?
Civilian evacuations are expected Wednesday during a 12-hour-long window from the northeastern border city of Sumy to the city of Poltava. Nearly two dozen buses carrying aid to the city will pick up people seeking to flee, Ukrainian officials say.
A senior Ukrainian official says 5,000 people, including 1,700 foreign students were evacuated from Sumy on Tuesday.
Ukrainian officials say they will not accept Moscow’s offer to establish safe corridors for civilians to head toward Russia, saying they will only agree to the safe exits leading westward.
Other evacuation efforts stalled or were thwarted by Russian shelling on Tuesday. The planned evacuation of civilians from Mariupol failed because Russian troops fired on a Ukrainian convoy carrying humanitarian cargo to the city on Tuesday, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.
Russia insists it is ready to provide humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave five Ukrainian cities. The two sides blame one another for previous failed attempts.
Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers are meeting in Turkey on Wednesday on the sidelines of a forum.
WHAT HAS THE AP DIRECTLY WITNESSED OR CONFIRMED ELSEWHERE IN UKRAINE?
In the encircled port city of Mariupol, women and children gathered in a basement shelter as outgoing artillery fire blazed in the distance. A Ukrainian soldier is seen telling people to remain united as a store is raided for essential items. “You don’t need to panic. Please don’t steal everything. You will live here together. This is your home,” he's heard saying.
In the capital, Kyiv, families with small children continue to seek refuge inside a subway station to escape chaos and the sounds of war above. One university student told the AP that people go home from time to time to shower and get food only.
Russian artillery has pounded the outskirts of Kyiv for days, destroying homes and other buildings.
WHAT ARE UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS SAYING?
Ukrainian officials say two people, including a child, were killed by Russian firepower in the town of Chuhuiv just east of the country's second largest city of Kharkiv late Tuesday.
In the city of Malyn, to the west of Kyiv, at least five people, including two children, were killed in a Russian air strike, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian officials say Russian shelling made it impossible to evacuate the bodies of five people who died when their vehicle was fired upon near Kyiv and the bodies of 12 patients of a psychiatric hospital there, where around 200 patients remain without food and medicine.
In the northern city of Chernihiv, Russian forces are placing military equipment among residential buildings, a top Ukrainian military official said. He said Russians dressed in civilian clothes are advancing on the city of Mykolaiv in the south.
Ukraine’s energy minister says Ukrainian staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, are physically and emotionally exhausted. He said about 500 Russian soldiers and 50 pieces of heavy equipment are inside the station, which the Russians took control of in an attack last week.
WHAT IS THE VIEW FROM INSIDE RUSSIA?
Increasingly isolated, Russia has cracked down on independent reporting and blocked access to Russian-language journalism by multiple foreign news outlets. Scattered protests against the war continue in the country, but sources of information about what is happening are diminishing for Russian audiences.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday the U.S. would ban all Russian oil imports, even if it will mean rising costs for Americans, particularly at the gas pump. Shell also said it will stop buying Russian oil.
McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and General Electric all announced Tuesday they’re temporarily suspending business in Russia. Some companies, such as McDonald’s, say they will keep paying wages for now to their workers in Russia.
Read:Air alert declared in Kyiv as fighting continues
Russia’s Central Bank sharply tightened currency restrictions in ways not seen since Soviet times. It ordered the country’s commercial banks to cap the amount clients can withdraw from their hard currency deposits at $10,000 in U.S. dollars. Any withdrawals above that amount would be converted to rubles at the current exchange rates.
A senior Russian diplomat overseeing North American issues at the Foreign Ministry slammed U.S. actions against Russia, saying it had brought relations between the two nations “to the point of no return”.
CIA Director William Burns testified before Congress Monday, saying some 13,000-14,000 Russians have been arrested since the start of the invasion for opposing the war and that it will be “an ugly next few weeks” as Putin doubles down in Ukraine.
With Ukraine war, Europe's geopolitical map is moving again
Even though Russia has lost influence and friends since the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989, the nuclear superpower still holds sway over several of its neighbors in Europe and keeps others in an uneasy neutrality.
The Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine and the humanitarian tragedy it provoked over the past two weeks have raised a Western outcry of heartfelt support and spawned calls for a fundamental rethink of how the geopolitical map of Europe should be redrawn in the future.
To anchor that in the reality of 2022 is far more difficult than may appear at first sight. Nudging Ukraine, Europe's second-biggest country, fully into the Western fold against the will of Moscow poses massive problems.
Read:Air alert declared in Kyiv as fighting continues
And European Union leaders will confront them together head on during a two-day summit at Versailles just outside Paris starting Thursday — forced into the assessment by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he amazingly signed an official request to become an EU member last week.
“The European Union is going to be much stronger with us. So that’s for sure,” Zelenskyy said in an emotional live transmission to the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Piling on the pressure, he said, "So do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you indeed are Europeans.”
Compounding the EU's problem, Moldova and Georgia, two smaller nations who also fear the expansive reach of Russia, followed tack within days and also asked for membership.
The violence of the Russian invasion also spooked historically neutral countries like Sweden and Finland, which now see a surge in support for joining NATO and in Helsinki's case unshackling itself from a Russian influence so heavy that it became a political moniker — “Finlandization.”
Within days, conventional knowledge of who belongs where on the geopolitical map of the continent has been badly shaken.
Despite the thrill of opportunity, progress could be slow.
Many nations fear an enlargement of the bloc and a reshaping of traditional spheres of influence would put the continent on the brink of a full-fledged war. And there is no better example than Ukraine’s aspirations to join the 27-nation EU that could tilt the balance of blocs in Europe.
“There is no doubt that these brave people who defend our values with their lives belong in the European family,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, choosing her words carefully and avoiding an outright promise of membership.
Even if support for Ukraine is overwhelming among the EU member states, granting membership is anything but automatic. The leaders of eight eastern member states officially said Ukraine “deserves receiving an immediate EU accession perspective.”
But others range from cautious to skeptical, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying that “every country in Europe is free to ask for it,” and immediately listed the immense bureaucratic hurdles ahead.
“It is extremely sensitive. The member states are not all on the same page," a high-level EU official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about political discussions happening behind the scenes.
There could quickly be political fallout in Versailles.
Read:Suffering goes on in encircled Mariupol as evacuation fails
"The discussion about Ukraine’s accession to the EU could also easily become overheated, providing euroskeptics with a perfect opportunity to spread fear among voters,” said Pawel Zerka of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Several nations indicate it isn't good to give Ukraine immediate hope with any rash decision taken in the heat of battle. Calls for a fast-track move to grant membership clash with institutional and political objections and some common sense.
In the past, membership applications have taken years, sometimes decades. Turkey applied to join in 1987 and is nowhere close to membership. Four others are candidate countries now, but the EU has shown an extreme reluctance to expand further eastward. To allow Ukraine to leapfrog over the others would stir passions in the Western Balkans where several are awaiting a nod.
For the European Commission to just assess whether a nation could be a candidate to start membership talks with often takes a year to 18 months.
And to be admitted, potential newcomers would also need to absorb all EU regulations, from rule of law principles to trade and fertilizer standards — about 80,000 pages of rules. Over the past years, the EU has often pointed out that Ukraine’s anti-corruption measures still lacked teeth.
And to top it off, any candidate needs the unanimous approval of current members, often allowing one nation to decide on the fate of the whole process.
In comparison, a move toward NATO membership, especially for nations like Sweden and Finland, would be easier, since the two already have very close cooperation with the military alliance.
A formal step though would surely raise the wrath of Moscow and be seen as a geopolitical power play.
“It’s obvious that if Finland and Sweden join NATO, which is first of all a military organization, it will entail serious military-political consequences, which would require retaliatory steps by the Russian Federation,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
But, somehow, that Nordic neutrality might already be slipping.
“Sweden and Finland have effectively ended their neutrality by sending military aid to Ukraine (lethal aid in the case of Sweden),” said Ed Arnold of Royal United Services Institute.
Red Cross hopes evacuation corridors improve
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross says he hopes that corridors to evacuate civilians from under-fire cities in Ukraine will begin to work better after a sputtering start.
ICRC President Peter Maurer told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio on Wednesday that his organization has been working for days to bring the warring parties together and encourage them to hold detailed military-to-military talks on enabling civilians to flee.
Maurer said it’s important that agreements succeed “because the military units stand close to each other and the smallest uncertainty, as we have seen in recent days, leads instantly to exchanges of fire, and that makes the escape routes impossible.”
Read: Air alert declared in Kyiv as fighting continues
He added: “We hope that it will work better today; in any case, we are talking to the parties and, above all, the parties are talking to each other — that is the most important thing at the moment.”
But, pressed on how confident he is, he added: “I really can’t speculate. But we hope that today a large number can at least get to safety at least from some cities. I wouldn’t venture to speculate how the day will develop in eastern Ukraine in particular.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry says its operation thwarted a large-scale plot to attack separatist-held regions of eastern Ukraine.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov on Wednesday cited from what he claimed was an intercepted Ukrainian National Guard document laying out plans for a weekslong operation targeting the Donbas region.
Konashenkov said in a televised statement: “The special military operation of the Russian armed forces, carried out since Feb. 24, preempted and thwarted a large-scale offensive by strike groups of Ukrainian troops on the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, which are not controlled by Kyiv, in March of this year.”
Read: Suffering goes on in encircled Mariupol as evacuation fails
He did not address Russia’s shelling, airstrikes and attacks on Ukrainian civilians or cities, Russian military casualties or any other aspect of its bogged-down campaign.
Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation,” and official statements about the war have focused almost exclusively on fighting and evacuations in the separatist-held regions, where Russian-backed forces have been fighting Ukraine’s military since 2014.
Russians pressure Ukrainian cities as fighting continues
Kyiv residents awoke Wednesday to an air raid alert urging them to get to bomb shelters as quickly as possible over fears of incoming Russian missiles, while the strategic port city of Mariupol remained encircled as a humanitarian crisis grew.
Kyiv regional administration head Oleksiy Kuleba issued the air raid alert saying there was a “threat of a missile attack” on the Ukrainian capital. “Everyone immediately to shelters,” he said, later lifting the alert as the all-clear was given.
For days, as Moscow’s forces have laid siege to Ukrainian cities, the fighting has thwarted attempts to create corridors to safely evacuate civilians.
Air raid alerts are common, though irregular, keeping people on edge. Kyiv has been relatively quiet in recent days, though Russian artillery has pounded the outskirts.
Kuleba said the crisis for civilians was growing in the capital, with the situation particularly critical in the city’s suburbs.
“Russia is artificially creating a humanitarian crisis in the Kyiv region, frustrating the evacuation of people and continuing shelling and bombing small communities,” he said.
Read: Ukraine war highlights internal divides in Mideast nations
Across the country, thousands of people are thought to have been killed, both civilians and soldiers, in nearly two weeks of fighting. Russian forces have seen their advances stopped in certain areas — including around Kyiv — by fiercer resistance than expected from the Ukrainians.
But Russian troops have advanced deep along Ukraine’s coastline in what could establish a land bridge to Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
The city of Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian soldiers for days and a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the encircled city of 430,000.
Corpses lie in the streets of the city, which sits on the Asov Sea. Hungry people break into stores in search of food and melt snow for water. Thousands huddle in basements, trembling at the sound of Russian shells pounding this strategic port city.
“Why shouldn’t I cry?” Goma Janna demanded as she wept by the light of an oil lamp below ground, surrounded by women and children. “I want my home, I want my job. I’m so sad about people and about the city, the children.”
Tuesday brought no relief: An attempt to evacuate civilians and deliver badly needed food, water and medicine through a designated safe corridor failed, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces had fired on the convoy before it reached the city.
Mariupol, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, is in a “catastrophic situation.”
In other developments in the Russian invasion:
— Poland offered to give all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S., apparently agreeing to an arrangement that would allow them to be used by Ukraine’s military. But Pentagon press secretary John Kirby later said the plan is not “tenable” and raises serious concerns for the NATO alliance. He said the U.S. would discuss it further with Poland.
Read: Air alert declared in Kyiv as fighting continues
— U.N. officials said that 2 million people have now fled Ukraine.
— Russia’s economic isolation deepened as U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil imports and Shell said it will no longer buy oil and natural gas from the country. Also, Adidas and McDonald’s said they are suspending their operations in Russia.
For days, as Moscow’s forces have laid siege to Ukrainian cities, attempts to create corridors to safely evacuate civilians have stumbled amid continuing fighting and objections to the proposed routes. Ukraine has rejected Moscow’s offers of corridors that lead civilians to Russia or its ally Belarus.
The Russian military has denied firing on convoys and charged that the Ukrainian side is blocking evacuation efforts.
One evacuation did appear successful Tuesday, with Vereshchuk saying that 5,000 civilians, including 1,700 foreign students, had been brought out via a safe corridor from Sumy, an embattled northeastern city of a quarter-million people where overnight strikes killed 21, including two children.
Natalia Mudrenko, the highest-ranking woman at Ukraine’s U.N. Mission, told the Security Council that the people of Mariupol have “been effectively taken hostage,” by the siege. Her voice shook with emotion as she described how a 6-year-old died shortly after her mother was killed by Russian shelling. “She was alone in the last moments of her life,” she said.
Authorities in Mariupol planned to start digging mass graves for all the dead. The shelling has shattered buildings, and the city has no water, heat, working sewage systems or phone service.
Theft has become widespread for food, clothes, even furniture, with locals referring to the practice as “getting a discount.” Some residents are reduced to scooping water from streams.
With the electricity out, many people are relying on their car radios for information, picking up news from stations broadcast from areas controlled by Russian forces or Russian-backed separatists.
Ludmila Amelkina, who was walking along an alley strewn with rubble and walls pocked by gunfire, said the destruction had been devastating.
“We don’t have electricity, we don’t have anything to eat, we don’t have medicine. We’ve got nothing,” she said, looking skyward.
Xi holds virtual summit with leaders of France, Germany
Chinese President Xi Jinping had a virtual summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday.
Xi pointed out that the combined impact of major global changes and the pandemic, both unseen in a century, has brought multiple global challenges that need to be addressed through global cooperation.
Noting that China and the EU share much common understanding on promoting peace, seeking development and advancing cooperation, Xi said that we need to shoulder our responsibility to bring more stability and certainty to a turbulent and fluid world.
Xi said it is important for the two sides to enhance dialogue, stay committed to cooperation, and promote steady and sustained progress of China-EU relations.
China's development will create broader space for China-EU cooperation, Xi said, adding that the two sides must, under the principle of mutual benefit and win-win, further deepen green and digital partnerships as well as practical cooperation in various fields.
The two sides need to continue upholding multilateralism and advancing major global agenda, he added.
Macron and Scholz congratulated China on its successful hosting of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, saying that the world faces many challenges, and each country acting on its own will only make things worse.
Read: Air alert declared in Kyiv as fighting continues
The European side values the important and positive role of China in global affairs, and is willing to engage in close cooperation with China to jointly tackle climate change, public health and other major global challenges, they said.
The two leaders said the European side is ready to work with China for a successful EU-China summit, and to move forward France-China, Germany-China and EU-China relations.
The leaders exchanged views on the key issue of the current situation in Ukraine.
Macron and Scholz shared their assessment and positions on the current situation in Ukraine, saying that Europe is facing the worst crisis since World War II.
France and Germany support reaching a settlement through negotiation and giving peace a chance, they noted.
The two leaders thanked China for its initiative on the humanitarian situation and said the two countries are ready to strengthen communication and coordination with China to promote talks for peace, and prevent further escalation of the situation that may worsen the humanitarian crisis.
Xi stressed that the current situation in Ukraine is worrisome, and the Chinese side is deeply grieved by the outbreak of war again on the European continent.
China maintains that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be fully observed, the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously, and all efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis must be supported, he said.
The pressing task at the moment is to prevent the tense situation from escalating or even running out of control, Xi stressed.
China commends the mediation efforts by France and Germany on Ukraine, he said, adding that China will stay in communication and coordination with France, Germany and the EU and, in light of the needs of the parties involved, work actively together with the international community.
Read: Ukraine war highlights internal divides in Mideast nations
Xi emphasized that we need to jointly support the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and encourage the two sides to keep the momentum of negotiations, overcome difficulties, keep the talks going and bring about peaceful outcomes.
We need to call for maximum restraint to prevent a massive humanitarian crisis, Xi said, adding that China has put forward a six-point initiative on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, and stands ready to provide Ukraine with further humanitarian aid supplies.
We need to work together to reduce the negative impact of the crisis, Xi said, adding that relevant sanctions will affect global finance, energy, transportation and stability of supply chains, and dampen the global economy that is already ravaged by the pandemic. And this is in the interest of no one.
We need to actively advocate a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, Xi said.
China supports France and Germany in promoting a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework for the interests and lasting security of Europe, and by upholding its strategic autonomy, he said.
China will be pleased to see equal-footed dialogue among the EU, Russia, the United States and NATO, Xi added.
The leaders also exchanged views on the Iranian nuclear issue.
Ukraine war at 2-week mark: Russians slowed but not stopped
Two weeks into its war in Ukraine, Russia has achieved less and struggled more than anticipated at the outset of the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War II. But the invading force of more than 150,000 troops retains large and possibly decisive advantages in firepower as they bear down on key cities.
Moscow’s main objective — toppling the Kyiv government and replacing it with Kremlin-friendly leadership — remains elusive, and its overall offensive has been slowed by an array of failings, including a lack of coordination between air and ground forces and an inability to fully dominate Ukraine’s skies.
The Pentagon on Tuesday estimated that Russia retains about 95% of the combat power it has deployed in Ukraine, accounting for weapons and vehicles destroyed or made inoperable as well as troops killed and wounded. Those losses, while modest at first glance, are significant for two weeks of fighting.
Read: Air alert declared in Kyiv as fighting continues
Two weeks of war have created a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine that has accelerated in recent days. The United Nations estimates that 2 million Ukrainians have fled their country, and the number is expected to grow.
Russia likely has had between 2,000 and 4,000 troops killed thus far, said Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, adding that his agency has “low confidence” in its estimate.
With no sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin backing away, the war appears likely to drag on. CIA Director William Burns told a congressional panel Tuesday that Putin is frustrated and likely to “double down” in Ukraine. He said that could mean “an ugly next few weeks” as the fighting intensifies.
Whether and how the conflict might expand is a major concern in the West, not least because Putin has said he will not tolerate unlimited U.S. or NATO arms supplies to Ukraine. NATO in turn has warned against the Russian conflict spilling over Ukraine’s border into a NATO country like Poland or Romania. Poland on Tuesday offered to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to U.S. control at an air base in Germany, presumably leaving to Washington the question of whether and how to get the planes to Ukraine. The Pentagon quickly shot down the idea, calling it untenable in light of Ukraine’s contested airspace.
Some worry that a frustrated Putin could escalate the conflict in dangerous ways. A few days into the war, he invoked the prospect of nuclear war by announcing he had put his nuclear forces on heightened alert, although U.S. officials detected no threatening changes in Russia’s nuclear posture.
“As he weighs an escalation of the conflict, Putin probably still remains confident that Russia can militarily defeat Ukraine and wants to prevent Western support from tipping the balance and forcing a conflict with NATO,” Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told Congress on Tuesday.
Although a detailed picture of the unfolding war is difficult to acquire, American and European officials and analysts say the Russians started slowly and have since been hobbled by a combination of inadequate planning, flawed tactics and possibly an erosion of spirit among troops not ready to fight.
Air alert declared in Kyiv as fighting continues
An air alert was declared Wednesday morning in and around Kyiv, with residents urged to get to bomb shelters as quickly as possible.
“Kyiv region – air alert. Threat of a missile attack. Everyone immediately to shelters,” regional administration head Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.
Nearly two weeks into the invasion, Russian troops have advanced deep along Ukraine’s coastline. The city of Mariupol, which sits on the Azov Sea, has been surrounded by Russian soldiers for days and a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the encircled city of 430,000
Ukraine war highlights internal divides in Mideast nations
In a neighborhood of Iraq’s capital, a gigantic poster of Vladimir Putin with the words, “We support Russia,” was up for few hours before a security force arrived and hurriedly took it down. Then came the security directive: All public displays of Putin’s pictures shall be banned.
In Lebanon, the powerful Hezbollah militia railed against the government’s condemnation of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, calling for neutrality.
Such wrangling shows the deep divisions over the Ukraine war in the Middle East, where Moscow has embedded itself as a key player in recent years, making powerful friends among state and non-state actors while America’s influence waned.
Political elites closely allied with the West are wary of alienating Russia or the U.S. and Europe. But other forces — from Shiite militia factions in Iraq, to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Houthi rebels in Yemen — vocally support Russia against Ukraine.
These groups are considered to be Iran’s boots on the ground in the so-called anti-U.S. “axis of resistance.” Putin won their backing largely because of his close ties with Tehran and his military intervention in Syria’s civil war in support of President Bashar Assad.
Read: Suffering goes on in encircled Mariupol as evacuation fails
They see Putin as a steady, reliable partner who, unlike the Americans, does not drop his allies. In their circles, they even have an affectionate nickname for Putin — “Abu Ali” — which is a common name among Shiite Muslims and meant to portray a certain comaraderie.
Meanwhile, governments are walking a tightrope.
“Iraq is against the war but has not condemned it nor taken a side,” said political analyst Ihsan Alshamary, who heads the Political Thought Think Tank in Baghdad. Iraq needs to remain neutral because it has shared interests with both Russia and the West, he said.
He said Iran’s allies in the region are outspokenly with Russia “because they are anti-American and anti-West and believe that Russia is their ally.”
Russia has invested up to $14 billion in Iraq and the northern Kurdish-run region, mainly focusing on the energy sector, Moscow’s ambassador Elbrus Kutrashev told the Iraqi Kurdish news agency Rudaw in a recent interview.
Among the major oil companies operating in the country are Russia’s Lukoil, Gazprom Neft and Rosneft.
Iraq also maintains close ties with the U.S., but Western companies have steadily been plotting to exit from Iraq’s oil sector.
Iraq’s strongest move so far came after its central bank advised the prime minister against signing new contracts with Russian companies or payments in light of U.S. sanctions. The decision will impact new Russian investment in the country, but little else, Russian industry officials said.
Last week, Iraq was among the 35 countries that abstained from a U.N. General Assembly vote to demand that Russia stop its offensive and withdraw troops from Ukraine. Lebanon voted in favor, while Syria, where Russian ties run deep, voted against. Iran also abstained.
In Lebanon, an unusually blunt Foreign Ministry statement denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused an uproar and upset the Russians, forcing the minister to clarify that Lebanon did not intend to take sides and would remain neutral.
“They distance themselves and claim neutrality where they want, and they interfere and condemn where they want,” Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Moussawi wrote on Twitter, taking aim at the Foreign Ministry. “What foreign policy does Lebanon follow, and what is Lebanon’s interest in that? Please clarify for us, foreign minister.”
Hezbollah, which also sent thousands of fighters to neighboring Syria to shore up Assad’s forces, has seized on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to portray it as an inevitable result of U.S. provocations and yet another betrayal by the United States of its allies – in this case, Ukraine.
Read: Pentagon says Poland’s jet offer for Ukraine ‘not tenable’
In Syria, where Russia maintains thousands of troops, billboards proclaiming, “Victory for Russia” popped up in areas of Damascus this week. In opposition-held areas, which still get hit by Russian airstrikes, residents hope pressure will ease on them if Russia gets bogged down in fighting in Ukraine.
In Iraq, the Ukraine war is highlighting divisions in an already fractured landscape during stalled efforts to form a new government, five months after parliament elections were held.
The huge billboard in support of Putin was briefly put up in a Baghdad neighborhood considered a stronghold of powerful Iranian-backed militias. After it was removed, the Russian Embassy in Baghdad tweeted an image of it.
“The poster was provocative, I am against it,” said Athir Ghorayeb, who works at a nearby coffee shop. Iraq is only just emerging from decades of war and conflict, he said. “Why do they insist on involving us in new problems?”
Many Iraqis see in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine echoes of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait and subsequent years-long economic sanctions placed on Iraq. It was only a few days ago that Iraq finished paying reparations to Kuwait which totaled more than $52 billion.
On social media, Iraqi pages on Facebook with millions of followers have posted news of what is happening in Ukraine, sharing their views. “Our hearts are with the civilians, as those who have tasted war know its catastrophes,” posted one user, Zahra Obaidi.
“We have tents for refugees and internally displaced people, so you’re welcome to come use them,” Hafidh Salih posted.
Toby Dodge, a professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, said Iraq’s moves — abstaining from the U.N. vote while limiting economic activity — were prudent, managing the short-term risks without taking an ideological stance.
But the longer the war drags on, the harder it will be to maintain this strategy.
“Iraq is deeply divided politically amongst players between pro-Iran and those that are anti-Iran trying to assert autonomy. The Ukraine becomes another performance, another example of where either side can burnish their credentials,” he said.
Pentagon says Poland’s jet offer for Ukraine ‘not tenable’
The Pentagon on Tuesday rejected a surprise announcement from Poland that it would give the United States its MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine, a rare display of disharmony as NATO allies seek to boost Ukrainian fighters while avoiding getting caught up in a wider war with Russia.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Poland’s declaration that it intended to deliver the 28 jets to the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany raised the concerning prospect of warplanes departing from a U.S. and NATO base to fly into airspace contested with Russia in the Ukraine conflict.
“We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” Kirby said in a statement.
The proposed gift of more warplanes would be a morale booster for Ukrainians now under Russian assault for nearly two weeks. But it also raises the risk of the war expanding beyond Ukraine.
Russia has declared that supporting Ukraine’s air force in this way would be tantamount to participating in the war, and would possibly spur retaliation.
White House officials were blindsided by the Polish government announcement on the MiGs. The proposal did not come up during talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he was recently in Poland, according to a U.S. official familiar with the talks.
The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said White House officials did not think the proposal would easily solve the logistical challenges of providing aircraft to Ukraine.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told lawmakers at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Ukraine crisis Tuesday she learned of Poland’s plans only while driving to the hearing.
“To my knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us,” Nuland told senators.
Read: Suffering goes on in encircled Mariupol as evacuation fails
Ukraine has been pleading for more warplanes as it puts up a tough resistance against stronger Russian forces. Washington has been looking at a proposal under which Poland would supply Ukraine with the Mig29s and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss. Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly the Soviet-era fighter jets.
The Polish Foreign Ministry announced the plan in a statement, which said the jets would be delivered to Ramstein free of charge.
“At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities,” it said.
Suffering goes on in encircled Mariupol as evacuation fails
Corpses lie in the streets of Mariupol. Hungry people break into stores in search of food and melt snow for water. Thousands huddle in basements, trembling at the sound of Russian shells pounding this strategic port city.
“Why shouldn’t I cry?” Goma Janna demanded as she wept by the light of an oil lamp below ground, surrounded by women and children. “I want my home, I want my job. I’m so sad about people and about the city, the children.”
A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in this encircled city of 430,000, and Tuesday brought no relief: An attempt to evacuate civilians and deliver badly needed food, water and medicine through a designated safe corridor failed, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces had fired on the convoy before it reached the city.
Nearly two weeks into the invasion, the Russians have advanced deep along Ukraine’s coastline in what could establish a land bridge to Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. Mariupol, which sits on the Azov Sea, has been surrounded by Russian soldiers for days.
Mariupol, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, is in a “catastrophic situation.”
In other developments in the Russian invasion:
— Poland offered to give all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S., apparently agreeing to an arrangement that would allow them to be used by Ukraine’s military. But Pentagon press secretary John Kirby later said the plan is not “tenable” and raises serious concerns for the NATO alliance. He said the U.S. would discuss it further with Poland.
Read: Civilians flee Ukrainian city as 1 safe corridor opens
— U.N. officials said that 2 million people have now fled Ukraine.
— Russia’s economic isolation deepened as U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil imports and Shell said it will no longer buy oil and natural gas from the country. Also, Adidas and McDonald’s said they are suspending their operations in Russia.
For days, as Moscow’s forces have laid siege to Ukrainian cities, attempts to create corridors to safely evacuate civilians have stumbled amid continuing fighting and objections to the proposed routes. Ukraine has rejected Moscow’s offers of corridors that lead civilians to Russia or its ally Belarus.
The Russian military has denied firing on convoys and charged that the Ukrainian side is blocking evacuation efforts.
One evacuation did appear successful Tuesday, with Vereshchuk saying that 5,000 civilians, including 1,700 foreign students, had been brought out via a safe corridor from Sumy, an embattled northeastern city of a quarter-million people where overnight strikes killed 21, including two children.