The International Organization for Migration or IOM is calling on governments to stop discriminating against third-country nationals trying to flee conflict in Ukraine to neighboring countries.

Nearly 1.4 million Ukrainian refugees have so far reached Poland, Moldova, Hungary, and other European countries, this according to the latest figures from the U.N. Refugee Agency.

Among them are more than 78,800 third-country nationals — migrant workers and students in Ukraine when Russia invaded.

Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the U.N. migration agency, says these third-country nationals, from dozens of countries, face discrimination and other problems as they try to escape.

“We are, of course, deeply concerned about the plight of these people and the verified reports we have received of discrimination, violence and xenophobia directed at them in the course of their journeys both on the Ukrainian side and on the other sides of the borders,” he said.

Dillon said IOM is in touch with the authorities in Ukraine and in other countries about these allegations. He calls on governments to investigate reports of discrimination, physical assaults, and other misconduct.

He also calls on countries to act to ensure those fleeing conflict, including third-country nationals, are treated humanely, and granted access to, and protection on, their territories.

“We are now looking at roughly 138 countries represented amongst those who have left Ukraine. So, clearly this issue of the third-country nationals and their ongoing needs and their continuing needs is going to be one of the things that we will be addressing in the weeks to come,” he said.

Dillon said dozens of countries have contacted IOM asking for help in returning their people home safely.

The U.N. migration agency is appealing for $350 million to respond to the accelerating needs of the Ukrainian crisis on both sides of the border. It says the money will assist thousands of people displaced inside Ukraine, as well as those who have fled to neighboring countries.
…

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi dismissed suggestions his country’s “neutral” stance in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is straining Islamabad’s relationship with the United States or the West at large, in an interview Sunday with VOA.

The South Asian nuclear-armed Muslim country has resisted Western pressure to condemn Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, instead advocating dialogue and diplomacy to end the crisis.

Pakistan has argued that it needs to step back from global bloc politics to improve ties with all countries, including Russia, and to tackle its own domestic economic challenges.

“We do not want to be part of any camp. We have paid a price for being in camps. That is why we are very carefully treading. We don’t want to compromise our neutrality, and that’s why we abstained,” Qureshi told VOA.

“The only sensible course is a diplomatic solution,” Qureshi stressed, while speaking by phone from southern Sindh province, where he was attending a political rally of his ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaaf party.

Pakistan, a key non-NATO ally of Washington, abstained last week from voting from both a U.N. Security Council resolution “deploring” Russia’s aggression against its neighbor and a General Assembly vote condemning the invasion. So did 34 other nations, including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Western diplomatic missions in Pakistan on the eve of the General Assembly vote had collectively urged the host country to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and support international calls for Moscow to immediately stop the war.

Qureshi said that claims that his country has put itself in “Russia camp” were “false” and “misreading” of Islamabad’s stated neutrality in respect to the Ukraine crisis.

“I think our relationship with the United States is a good one. We consider the United States an important partner and we would like continued support from the U.S.,” he noted.

“I have asked for a call with [U.S.] Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken and I was told that he is traveling for the next seven days. But I would be more than happy explain Pakistan’s perspective [on Ukraine] to him,” Qureshi added.

He also contradicted reports that Pakistan’s diplomatic tensions with Washington have increased in the wake of last month’s visit by Prime Minister Imran Khan to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Khan was already in Moscow when Putin ordered his military to attack Ukraine. But the trip reportedly did not go down well in Washington.

“We have briefed the government of Pakistan on the impact that Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine could have on regional and global security,” a State Department spokesperson was quoted on Saturday as telling Pakistani English-language Dawn newspaper. 

Qureshi-Lavrov talk

Qureshi said he spoke to Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov by telephone Saturday and “underlined” Islamabad’s “concern at the latest situation in Ukraine.” He told VOA Lavrov conveyed to him that Moscow was not “averse to the idea of negotiations” with Kyiv “on reaching some sort of a conclusion.”

The chief Pakistani diplomat said his Russian counterpart had “noted” that a “positive outcome” of two rounds of talks with Ukrainian officials was the agreement on establishing a “humanitarian corridor” to allow residents from two Ukrainian cities that were surrounded by Russian forces to evacuate. Qureshi and Lavrov spoke before Russian forces attacked the evacuation corridors.

“We are ready for the third round of talks. Our people are there. In fact, we are waiting for the Ukrainian representatives to come and begin the talks,” Qureshi quoted Lavrov as telling him.

Khan has defended his trip to Moscow, the first by a Pakistani prime minister in 23 years, saying his country’s economic interests required him to do so.

The Pakistani leader avoided criticizing Putin in a statement issued after his meeting with the Russian president. The statement said Khan “regretted the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine and that Pakistan had hoped diplomacy could avert a military conflict.”

Islamabad sided with Washington during the Cold War and played an instrumental role in arming and training U.S.-funded Afghan resistance in the 1980s to the decade-long Soviet occupation of neighboring Afghanistan.

However, Pakistan’s traditionally uneasy relationship with the United States has lately come under increased pressure over allegations that covert support from the Pakistani military helped the Taliban to sustain their insurgency against U.S.-led international forces in neighboring Afghanistan for 20 years and retake power last August. Pakistan rejects those allegations.

Russia and Pakistan, once bitter adversaries, have in recent years moved to restore ties, that analysts say is an outcome of the South Asia country’s frosty relations with the United States.

“A leader of lesser mettle would have thought of abandoning the visit and plunging back into a past of adversity,” Raoof Hasan, a special assistant to Khan on Information, wrote in an article published Friday on the prime minister’s landmark visit to Moscow.

“Instead of backing off, Prime Minister Khan used the opportunity to reiterate his deep belief in peaceful resolution of conflicts,” Hasan said in the commentary published by The News, a local newspaper.

For their part, U.S. officials maintain they view their “partnership with a prosperous, with a democratic Pakistan as critical” to Washington’s interests. They say the United States is Pakistan’s largest trade partner and it considers the South Asian nation “an important regional” country.

U.S. officials acknowledge that Pakistan continues to play a crucial role in assisting international efforts aimed at evacuating Afghans at risk since the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. A dialogue between Washington and Islamabad is also taking place on how to jointly counter terrorism threats emanating from Afghan soil.

Pakistani officials say Khan is preparing to make “important visits” to Western countries after hosting a meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad later this month. But they have not yet disclosed further details about the expected visits.
…

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita urged the United States on Sunday to provide more humanitarian support as the number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine to the small European country hit 120,000.

At the beginning of a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, she said her country of 2.6 million, one of Europe’s poorest, was straining under the weight of those fleeing Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

“As of this morning, we had more than 230,000 people who have crossed the border from Ukraine, and 120,000 stayed in Moldova. 96,000 of them are Ukrainian citizens. For a small country like Moldova, proportionately, this is a very large number,” she told Blinken.

“Everybody has come together to host, to provide shelter, to provide food, to provide assistance to those who are fleeing war,” she said.

“But we will need assistance to deal with this influx, and we need this quickly,” she added.

Blinken, on the third stop of a trip in Europe to shore up unity against the Russian attack, said Moldova “can count on us across the board” for support.

“We admire the generosity, the hospitality, the willingness to be such good friends to people who are in distress. And indeed we want to do everything we can to help you deal with the burden this is imposing.”

In Poland on Saturday, Blinken said the White House was seeking $2.75 billion in funds for humanitarian support related to the war, which has already driven more than one million people from Ukraine. 
…

When Russia invaded her home country of Ukraine, Maria decided she had to get there and help defend it — even if it meant leaving her fiancé behind in Chicago days after getting married.

Maria and her fiancé, David, married Saturday before about 20 people in the backyard of an Oak Park home — the venue offered last minute after Maria asked for advice in a neighborhood Facebook group. The couple met last year and got engaged in October.

On Monday, she plans to fly to Poland, then make her way to the Ukrainian border, ultimately aiming to volunteer to fight for her home country.

“People are running out of there and she is running in,” said a friend at the wedding, Pamela Chinchilla of Lombard.

Seven guests at the wedding brought medical supplies, masks and other items for Maria to take to Ukraine. People hugged each other, and Maria at one point spoke with family members in Odesa.

Maria, who asked that her last name not be published because she fears for her family’s safety in Ukraine and the U.S., said she lived with her parents in Kyiv until 1991 when the family moved to Poland.

For Maria, a previous marriage ended in divorce. She met her ex-husband while studying music in Austria and more than 20 years ago they moved to his hometown of Chicago — which has the second-largest Ukrainian-born population among U.S. cities.

Since the war began, she used messages and calls through Facebook to keep in touch with her parents, who have been sheltering in a parking garage during attacks on Ukraine’s largest port city of Odesa. But she said she has been unable to reach cousins in Kyiv in recent days.

Three days into the invasion, Maria made up her mind to return to Ukraine, determined to find some way to be useful. She said she doesn’t have medical or military training but worries that a Russian takeover of Ukraine will embolden the country to threaten more places around the world.

“I have to go,” Maria, 44, said. “I can’t do protests or fundraising or wave flags. We’ve done this since 2015, Ukrainians, and I just can’t do it anymore.”

Her fiancé refused to stay behind despite Maria’s resistance to him accompanying her. But since David first needs to apply for a passport, she plans to leave Monday and wait in Poland before crossing the border.

“He knows how stubborn I am and knew he’d have no chance to convince me otherwise,” Maria said.

David, 42, said he feels a responsibility to do what he can to keep her safe.

“Because complacency and compliance are pretty much the same thing,” he said. “And you can only turn a blind eye to people being bullied for so long. And if it happens to them, it might be you next.”

He also asked that his last name not be published to avoid endangering Maria’s family.

Ukraine’s forces are outnumbered and outgunned, but their resistance did prevent a swift Russian victory. Ukrainian leaders called on citizens to join in guerrilla war this week as Russian forces gained ground on the coast and took over one major port city.

Associated Press reporters at the border checkpoint in Medyka in southeastern Poland found Ukrainians lining up to return from other countries in Europe in recent days in response to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for volunteers to come assist the country’s military.

The White House has since urged Americans not to travel to Ukraine, but Maria and David said that didn’t change their plans.

The couple had planned to be married at a courthouse on March 5, a nod to Maria’s grandmother’s birthday.

After deciding they would try to reach Ukraine, they accepted the offer to hold a backyard celebration. They also asked people to purchase items needed by Ukrainian troops through an Amazon list that includes rain ponchos, medical supplies and boots rather than wedding gifts.

Maria said she’s not certain what she will have to do after arriving at the Polish border with Ukraine; friends who live near border crossings have told her it’s taking days to get through. Her parents also questioned her decision to volunteer, she said, because they don’t want to be worried about her safety on top of their own.

“If the army doesn’t take us, we’ll be as close as possible,” Maria said Wednesday. “There’s always a need for volunteers. I’m pretty strong, I’m not afraid of blood, I’m good under pressure.”

Natalia Blauvelt, a Chicago immigration attorney who has assisted dozens of clients trying to help family leave Ukraine and Russia in recent weeks, said she hasn’t heard of others seeking to get into Ukraine in order to join the country’s defense.

But she advised that anyone considering it contact the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. and speak with an immigration attorney to talk through plans for returning to the U.S. 
…

Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine   
…

WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was arrested last month at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges.

The Russian Customs Service said Saturday that the cartridges were identified as containing oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The customs service identified the person arrested as a player for the U.S. women’s team and did not specify the date of her arrest. Russian media reported the player was Griner, and her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, did not dispute those reports.

“We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA,” Kagawa Colas said Saturday. “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are not able to comment further on the specifics of her case but can confirm that as we work to get her home, her mental and physical health remain our primary concern.”

On Saturday, the State Department issued a “do not travel” advisory for Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine and urged all U.S. citizens to depart immediately, citing factors including “the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials” and “the Embassy’s limited ability to assist” Americans in Russia.

Griner, who plays for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, has played in Russia for the last seven years in the winter, earning over $1 million per season — more than quadruple her WNBA salary. She last played for her Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg on Jan. 29 before the league took a two-week break in early February for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournaments.

More than a dozen WNBA players were playing in Russia and Ukraine this winter, including league MVP Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley of the champion Chicago Sky. The WNBA confirmed Saturday that all players besides Griner had left both countries.

The 31-year-old Griner has won two Olympic gold medals with the U.S., a WNBA championship with the Mercury and a national championship at Baylor. She is a seven-time All-Star.

“Brittney Griner has the WNBA’s full support and our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States,” the league said in a statement.
…

China has decided to raise its defense spending by 7.1%, which is the largest increase since 2019. The rise is significant because the country’s economy is expected to grow this year at the lowest level in decades at 5.5%.

China’s defense spending is being carefully watched around the world in view of the atmosphere of political uncertainties caused by the Ukraine war. China has refused to pick sides or condemn the Russian attack. Some experts believe China will look for opportunities to invade Taiwan. Beijing regards Taiwan as a rogue province and has often indicated plans to take it over by force.

“While the world’s attention is diverted to Ukraine, an escalation across the Taiwan Straits, in the South China Sea and along the disputed Himalayan borders with India cannot be ruled out,” Mohan Malik, visiting fellow at the Washington-based Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) told VOA.  

“For the Indo-Pacific, this is indeed the decade of living dangerously,” he said.

China will spend $229.47 billion on defense this year, according to estimates presented to the National People’s Congress, the Chinese parliament, by the country’s premier, Li Keqiang. Its defense budget rose 6.8% in 2021 and 6.6% in 2020.

Analysts said that the actual expenditure will be in the region of $270 billion, and a lot more would be spent on military-related infrastructure, like border roads that are shown under non-defense headings in the budget.

“We will enhance military training and combat readiness, stay firm and flexible in carrying out our military struggle, and safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” Li said.  

Making a strong case for the higher defense expenditure, Li said, “Government at all levels must give strong support to the development of national defense and the armed forces, so unity between the military and government and between the military and the people will remain rock solid.” He emphasizes the need to modernize the military’s logistics and build a modern weaponry and equipment management system.

China, which has two aircraft carriers, plans to invest in two more. It has engaged in a sea rivalry with the U.S. Navy, which has 11 of them. The U.S.-China rivalry is evident because the U.S. sent aircraft carrier strike groups and amphibious groups into the South China Sea 13 times last year, according to Beijing-based research group the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.

The Reuters news agency quoted Fu Qianshao, a retired Chinese air force equipment specialist, as saying, “Equipment is needed to fill performance gaps, and aircraft carriers, large warships, stealth fighters, third and fourth generations of tanks are expensive.”

Analysts said China is now forced to spend more on defense-related research and development because the U.S. is cutting off the flow of technology and there are similar actions in some European countries.

China may also reconsider planned arms purchases from Russia, including the proposed acquisition of Ka-52 attack helicopters, because the performance of Russian weapons in Ukraine has reportedly disappointed many arms experts.  

A major area of focus is China’s military behavior in its neighborhood. Most of the country’s neighbors, including countries around the South China Sea, feel threatened by the rise in the strength of the People’s Liberation Army, which represents the land army, the navy and the air force.

Malik said China now spends more on its military than the combined military expenditures of Russia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India and Australia. That is significant because China is engaged in military disputes with Japan and India and wants to take over Taiwan.  

“The growing power gap and military buildup in Asia doesn’t bode well for regional peace and stability at a time of heightened tensions over unresolved territorial and maritime disputes,” he said.
…

U.N. aid agencies are calling for unimpeded access to all areas of Ukraine in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. The call comes amid reported efforts to establish humanitarian corridors in Ukraine.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, welcomes a reported agreement between Ukraine and Russia to facilitate safe passage for civilians out of conflict areas. Delegates from the opposing sides proposed the agreement Monday in Belarus.

However, OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke says U.N. officials have not yet received anything in writing from the two sides on the establishment of humanitarian corridors.  He says people are terrified by the violence unfolding around them across Ukraine, and millions urgently need safe passage and life-saving aid.

“We look to both sides to ensure the passage is organized in a manner that allows for safety, dignity, and protection of those civilians. Humanitarian organizations stand ready to work with the parties to protect and care for the civilians, whether they choose to stay or to leave the concerned areas,” Laerke said.  

The U.N. children’s fund says escalating violence over the past week has forced half-a-million children to flee their homes. UNICEF spokesman James Elder, who is in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, some 60 kilometers from the Polish border, says the scale and speed of the forced displacement is unprecedented.  

“And if the violence, the explosive munitions do not stop, many, many more children will be forced to flee their country in a very short space of time. And we fear many more will be killed. We must also remember those who cannot escape the bombardment currently rocking Ukraine. Tens of thousands of children are in child-care institutions; many of these are disabled,”  Elder said.

U.N. refugee agency media chief Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, who is in the Moldovan city of Palanca, describes the rate of the ongoing refugee exodus from Ukraine as without comparison.

“We have seen the numbers increase not only day on day, but hourly, and I think that …what we are seeing is the devastating toll that over a week of just unabated tragedy is having on people,” Ghedini-Williams said.  

The latest UNHCR figures show more than 1.3 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, and other European countries. The agency is preparing to assist up to 4 million Ukrainian refugees, making this the biggest refugee crisis this century.
…

Two men originally from China are among the 1 million refugees fleeing Ukraine into neighboring countries this week after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.

VOA chronicled the journeys of Ibrahim Abliz, a Uyghur, and Ersin Erkinuly, a Kazakh.

Abliz and Erkinuly were among thousands of Uyghurs and Kazakhs who fled China because of its “anti-terrorism” policy in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where rights groups and some Western countries accuse China of crimes against humanity and arbitrarily detaining more than 1 million people in internment camps in recent years.

Beijing denies the mistreatment as lies and fabrication and says China’s policy in Xinjiang is about fighting extremism and that the facilities are vocational training centers.

Abliz and Erkinuly each found his way to Ukraine and had lived there for several years until everything changed on the day Russian troops entered Ukraine.

Ibrahim Abliz’s story

Abliz, a 31-year-old father, has lived with his toddler son in Ukraine since 2018, with the hope of reuniting with his wife, who has been living in Germany.

Abliz is no stranger to a nomadic life. He said he left China in 2013 and ever since had been looking for a safe place to live, away from China’s reach.

“I first spent almost one and half years in Pakistan and later safely arrived in Turkey where I studied and worked,” Abliz told VOA.

In 2016, he met and married a Uyghur woman living in Turkey who was also originally from China.

Two years later, Abliz lost hope of getting Turkish citizenship. He decided to leave Turkey for Europe in pursuit of a safer country where he could raise his family.

Many Uyghurs in Turkey live in constant fear of being sent back to China. In recent months, Turkey has rejected some Uyghur applications for citizenship citing “national security” and “public order.” Uyghurs see this as an attempt by China to persecute them outside its borders.

“In November 2018, my pregnant wife was able to fly to Germany from Ukraine and seek asylum,” Abliz said.

His 11-month-old son was not allowed to leave Ukraine because the boy had a Turkish ID. Abliz had no choice but to stay behind with his child.

“I had to be with my son in Ukraine and find a way to reunite with my wife,” Abliz said.

After Ukraine denied applications for refugee status for Abliz and his son, he tried to cross the border three times before the war broke out.

“I had to run away from Ukraine after my application was denied,” Abliz said. “But each time we were handed over to Ukraine from neighboring countries like Poland and Slovakia.”

Abliz said over the past three years he and his son have spent four months in detention in a Ukraine facility and two months in a refugee camp because of crossing borders to other countries without permits.

“In November 2021, my application for refugee status was approved thanks to Ukrainian authorities,” Abliz said.

On March 1, Abliz and his son were able to cross the border to Poland. They were reunited with his wife and other son, now 3 years old, who came from Germany to meet them.

“I am so happy that my son and I have met my wife and my second son I had never seen in person,” Abliz said.

Abliz said he is applying for entry into Germany because he is eligible to get a family reunification visa.

Ersin Erkinuly’s story

Erkinuly, a 25-year-old Kazakh refugee from China, arrived in Ukraine from Turkey in 2020.  He too applied for refugee status but did not get it.

“I fled China to Kazakhstan in late 2019 after I had witnessed some people around me disappeared into internment camps,” Erkinuly told VOA.

But in Kazakhstan, according to Erkinuly, he didn’t feel safe and worried about possible deportation to China.

“Kazakhstan has very close relation with China, and I felt insecure and decided to leave for Turkey,” Erkinuly said.

Erkinuly was still not able to secure refugee status in Turkey, so he decided to go to Europe.

“I came to Ukraine and lost my passport and faced deportation to China,” Erkinuly told VOA. “I pleaded on the social media, and after Ukraine got pressured by democratic countries like the U.S. government, the authorities didn’t (deport) me.”

When the fighting started, Erkinuly left Kyiv and traveled for days. He reached the Polish border and was able to cross on March 3.

“I now feel that I am free,” Erkinuly told VOA from Poland. “They gave me a document which states I am allowed to remain in Poland until May.”

What happens after May is still uncertain.  Erkinuly said he’s reached out to human rights group and the U.S. for help, as his search for a permanent safe haven continues.
…

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said that attacking a nuclear power plant is a war crime, after Russia on Friday seized a Ukrainian nuclear facility that is the biggest in Europe.

The statement on the embassy’s Twitter account went further than any U.S. characterization of Russia’s actions in Ukraine since it launched its invasion Feb. 24.

“It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant. Putin’s shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further,” U.S. Embassy Kyiv said in its post.

Russian invasion forces seized Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in heavy fighting in southeastern Ukraine, triggering global alarm, but a blaze in a training building was extinguished and officials said the facility was now safe.

Russia’s defense ministry blamed a fire at the plant on a “monstrous attack” by Ukrainian saboteurs and said its forces were in control.

The State Department sent a message to all U.S. embassies in Europe telling them not to retweet the Kyiv Embassy’s tweet calling the attack a war crime, according to CNN, which said it reviewed the message.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters asking if the Kyiv Embassy’s tweet reflects the position of the entire U.S. government.

Rights groups have alleged violations of international war crimes law in Ukraine, including the targeting of civilians, as well as indiscriminate attacks on schools and hospitals.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden stopped short of calling Russia’s actions war crimes, saying, “It’s too early to say that.”

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Friday declined to answer the question, saying he would leave that determination to the International Criminal Court.

“This just underscores how reckless the Russian invasion has been and how indiscriminate their targeting seems to be. It just raises the level of potential catastrophe to a level that nobody wants to see,” Kirby said in an interview with CNN.

“It is certainly not the behavior of a responsible nuclear power.”

Britain has publicly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government of war crimes.

The ICC, the world’s top war crimes prosecutor, on the request of 39 member states, is investigating reports of cluster bombs and artillery strikes on Ukrainian cities.

Karim Khan, a British lawyer named as the chief prosecutor of the ICC last year, said the crisis in Ukraine is a chance to demonstrate that those committing war crimes would be held to account.

Intentionally targeting civilians and civilian objects is a war crime, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters, adding that it is backing the investigation, particularly Khan’s efforts to preserve evidence of possible atrocity crimes.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has strongly denied claims that Russian forces have struck civilian infrastructure targets or residential complexes.
…

Formed in a fury to counter Russia’s blitzkrieg attack, Ukraine’s hundreds-strong volunteer “hacker” corps is much more than a paramilitary cyberattack force in Europe’s first major war of the internet age. It is crucial to information combat and to crowdsourcing intelligence.

“We are really a swarm. A self-organizing swarm,” said Roman Zakharov, a 37-year-old IT executive at the center of Ukraine’s bootstrap digital army.

Inventions of the volunteer hackers range from software tools that let smartphone and computer owners anywhere participate in distributed denial-of-service attacks on official Russian websites to bots on the Telegram messaging platform that block disinformation, let people report Russian troop locations and offer instructions on assembling Molotov cocktails and basic first aid.

Zahkarov ran research at an automation startup before joining Ukraine’s digital self-defense corps. His group is StandForUkraine. Its ranks include software engineers, marketing managers, graphic designers and online ad buyers, he said.

The movement is global, drawing on IT professionals in the Ukrainian diaspora whose handiwork includes web defacements with antiwar messaging and graphic images of death and destruction in the hopes of mobilizing Russians against the invasion.

“Both our nations are scared of a single man — (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” said Zakharov. “He’s just out of his mind.” Volunteers reach out person-to-person to Russians with phone calls, emails and text messages, he said, and send videos and pictures of dead soldiers from the invading force from virtual call centers.

Some build websites, such as a “site where Russian mothers can look through (photos of) captured Russian guys to find their sons,” Zakharov said by phone from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

The cyber volunteers’ effectiveness is difficult to gauge. Russian government websites have been repeatedly knocked offline, if briefly, by the DDoS attacks, but generally weather them with countermeasures.

It’s impossible to say how much of the disruption — including more damaging hacks — is caused by freelancers working independently of but in solidarity with Ukrainian hackers.

A tool called “Liberator” lets anyone in the world with a digital device become part of a DDoS attack network, or botnet. The tool’s programmers code in new targets as priorities change.

But is it legal? Some analysts say it violates international cyber norms. Its Estonian developers say they acted “in coordination with the Ministry of Digital Transformation” of Ukraine.

A top Ukrainian cybersecurity official, Victor Zhora, insisted at his first online news conference of the war Friday that homegrown volunteers were attacking only what they deem military targets, in which he included the financial sector, Kremlin-controlled media and railways. He did not discuss specific targets.

Zakharov did. He said Russia’s banking sector was well fortified against attack but that some telecommunications networks and rail services were not. He said Ukrainian-organized cyberattacks had briefly interrupted rail ticket sales in western Russia around Rostov and Voronezh and knocked out telephone service for a time in the region of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. The claims could not be independently confirmed.

A group of Belarusian hacktivists calling themselves the Cyber Partisans also apparently disrupted rail service in neighboring Belarus this week seeking to frustrate transiting Russian troops. A spokeswoman said Friday that electronic ticket sales were still down after their malware attack froze up railway IT servers.

Over the weekend, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced the creation of an volunteer cyber army. The IT Army of Ukraine now counts 290,000 followers on Telegram.

Zhora, deputy chair of the state special communications service, said one job of Ukrainian volunteers is to obtain intelligence that can be used to attack Russian military systems.

Some cybersecurity experts have expressed concern that soliciting help from freelancers who violate cyber norms could have dangerous escalatory consequences. One shadowy group claimed to have hacked Russian satellites; Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, called the claim false but was also quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying such a cyberattack would be considered an act of war.

Asked if he endorsed the kind of hostile hacking being done under the umbrella of the Anonymous hacktivist brand — which anyone can claim — Zhora said, “We do not welcome any illegal activity in cyberspace.”

“But the world order changed on the 24th of February,” he added, when Russia invaded.

The overall effort was spurred by the creation of a group called the Ukrainian Cyber Volunteers by a civilian cybersecurity executive, Yegor Aushev, in coordination with Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. Aushev said it numbers more than 1,000 volunteers.

On Friday, most of Ukraine’s telecommunications and internet were fully operational despite outages in areas captured by invading Russian forces, said Zhora. He reported about 10 hostile hijackings of local government websites in Ukraine to spread false propaganda saying Ukraine’s government had capitulated.

Zhora said presumed Russian hackers continued trying to spread destructive malware in targeted email attacks on Ukrainian officials and — in what he considers a new tactic — to infect the devices of individual citizens. Three instances of such malware were discovered in the runup to the invasion.

U.S. Cyber Command has been assisting Ukraine since well before the invasion. Ukraine does not have a dedicated military cyber unit. It was standing one up when Russia attacked.

Zhora anticipates an escalation in Russia’s cyber aggression — many experts believe far worse is yet to come.

Meantime, donations from the global IT community continue to pour in. A few examples: NameCheap has donated internet domains while Amazon has been generous with cloud services, said Zakharov.
…

As Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s cities intensifies, hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing the country. The United Nations has appealed to donor countries for help, as Henry Ridgwell reports from the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Russian forces “are increasingly using brutal methods in Ukraine, including going at civilian populations.”

His comments followed a Russian attack on a Ukrainian nuclear plant — the largest facility of its kind in Europe — that had sparked a fire in a building at the plant compound.

Speaking to reporters before a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Brussels, Blinken said, “We are faced together with what is [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin’s war of choice: unprovoked, unjustified, and a war that is having horrific, horrific consequences.”

“We’re committed to doing everything we can to make it stop,” he added, but ruled out imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying such an action could lead to a broader conflict.

“We have a responsibility to ensure the war does not spill over beyond Ukraine. … A no-fly zone could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe,” he said.

The meeting in Brussels came after Ukraine accused Russia of “nuclear terror” for shelling and starting a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant before taking control of it. The plant is in the city of Enerhodar, in the country’s southeast.

Ukraine’s nuclear inspectorate said that no radiation had leaked at the plant and that personnel were continuing to operate the facility safely. Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control, Ukrainian officials said.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday to discuss the attack at the request of the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Norway and Albania.

“The world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during the meeting. “We’ve just witnessed a dangerous new escalation that represents a dire threat to all of Europe and the world.”

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said a Russian “projectile” hit a training center at the plant.

“This just demonstrates the recklessness of this war,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said of the power plant attack before Friday’s meeting in Brussels with Blinken and EU foreign ministers.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov blamed the attack on a Ukranian “sabotage group” that he said had occupied the plant’s training building, attacked a Russian patrol and set the building on fire as it left. He offered no evidence, and no other country appeared to take the claim seriously.

The Zaporizhzhia facility produces about 25% of Ukraine’s power.

Nuclear safety experts have expressed concern that fighting so close to the power station could cut off the plant’s power supply, which would adversely affect its ability to keep nuclear fuel cool and would increase the possibility of a nuclear meltdown.

On the ground

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Friday that Russian ground forces were attacking a Ukrainian town near Odesa and that the United States was watching to see what it meant for the city.

A Russian convoy outside the capital, Kyiv, was still trying to reach the city, he said, but the “actions by the Ukrainians have in fact stalled that convoy … stopped it in some places.”

Ukraine’s use of its air and missile defenses has been “quite extraordinary,” Kirby said.

On Thursday, local Ukrainian government officials and the Russian military confirmed the seizure of the strategic port of Kherson, but a U.S. defense official said Washington was unable to confirm the development.

Russian troops were besieging the port city of Mariupol, east of Kherson, an attempt Mayor Vadym Boichenko said was aimed at isolating Ukraine.

A Russian diplomat said Friday that Russia had no intention of occupying Ukraine should its invasion be successful, and that its troops would withdraw once it had fulfilled its objective.

Speaking to reporters at U.N. headquarters in Geneva, Russian Ambassador Gennady Gatilov called the invasion a “military operation with limited objectives,” which he said were to “denazify the regime and demilitarize Ukraine.”

Ukraine is a country with a democratically elected Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust. Historians and political observers view Russia’s invocation of World War II as disinformation.

Possibility of more sanctions

Blinken said Friday that the United States was considering additional sanctions against Russia and had not ruled out anything.

“Nothing is off the table. We are evaluating the sanctions every day,” he said.

On Thursday, Washington heaped another round of sanctions on Putin’s inner circle.

“Today I’m announcing that we’re adding dozens of names to the list, including one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, and I’m banning travel to America by more than 50 Russian oligarchs, their families and their close associates,” President Joe Biden said Thursday before a Cabinet meeting. “And we’re going to continue to support the Ukrainian people with direct assistance.”

VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb, Istanbul Foreign Correspondent Heather Murdock, White House Correspondent Anita Powell and Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that the reactors at Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant had not been affected during a Russian attack on the site in the early hours Friday that shocked the globe and raised fears of a possible nuclear accident.

“We confirm through our contacts at the regulator, but also directly from plant — we were able to confirm that no security or safety systems have been compromised, neither of the reactors themselves have been hit by this projectile,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Unusually, the nuclear watchdog chief spoke by video connection from an airplane. He said he was on a flight to Iran to deal with outstanding nuclear issues there.

Grossi told council members that Ukraine has four large nuclear sites, 15 reactors and associated facilities, as well as the defunct Chernobyl site, which experienced a catastrophic meltdown in 1986.

He did not name Russia when describing the attack, saying only that “a projectile” hit a building adjacent to the block of reactors at Zaporizhzhia and sparked the fire, which was later extinguished.

“After this, the operation of and at the plant continued,” he said. “We consider from a technical point of view that operation continues normally, although as I have stressed to the board of governors of the IAEA, there is no, of course, ‘normalcy’ about this situation when there are military forces, of course, in charge of the site.”

Grossi said his agency was in contact with the Ukrainian government, its nuclear regulators, and the company and operators at the Zaporizhzhia site.

“At the same time, today, I indicated in the morning my readiness to travel, as soon as practicable, to Chernobyl in order to consult, of course, with our Ukrainian counterparts, but also if necessary and when necessary to the forces in charge, in order to establish a stable framework so the observance of the basic principles of safety and security, starting with the physical integrity of the facilities, can be observed,” Grossi said.

He emphasized that any such mission would be strictly to deal with the safety and security of the facilities, not the political or diplomatic dimensions.

Violation of international law

“Attacks on nuclear power facilities are contrary to international humanitarian law,” U.N. Undersecretary for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the council. “Specifically, Article 56 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions states that: ‘Works or installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dikes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.'”

DiCarlo said it is critical that all parties work with the IAEA to establish a proper framework to ensure the safe, secure and reliable operation of the country’s nuclear power plants, as well as to grant swift and safe passage to IAEA personnel if they need to enter Ukraine.

Council members expressed concern that nuclear sites must not become part of the conflict.

“Russia’s attack last night put Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at grave risk,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “It was incredibly reckless and dangerous, and it threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe.”

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia denied that his country’s military had shelled Zaporizhzhia, saying such accusations were part of a “massive anti-Russian propaganda campaign.” He said, without offering evidence, that Ukrainian nationalist saboteurs orchestrated the attack and wanted Moscow to be blamed for it.

“The danger to the civilian population of Ukraine is not emanating from Russian troops. It is coming from Ukrainian nationalists who are holding the civilian populations of a number of large cities hostage and carrying out acts of sabotage and provocation, one of which is what we are now discussing,” Nebenzia said. “After that, they try to blame Russia for all of it.”

Possible war crimes

Ukraine’s envoy said Russia has retaliated against the people of Ukraine with war crimes and crimes against humanity that it no longer tries to hide.

“Indeed, every day provides us with newer and newer evidence that it is not only Ukraine under Russian attack, it is Europe. It is the entire world. It is humanity,” Sergiy Kyslytsya said. “And finally, it is the future of the next generations.”

Kyslytsya renewed his government’s appeal for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying he had sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council president regarding it.

“In this regard, we request you to consider the issue of protection of nuclear power plants and other critical infrastructure in Ukraine,” the envoy added. “Urgent discussion on establishing a ban on all flights in the airspace of Ukraine should be a top priority for the Security Council.”

Asked by reporters after the meeting if a no-fly zone was possibile, British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said that such zones require guarantees.

“And in order to guarantee it, NATO would have to put troops in the air, and that would or could bring them into direct conflict with Russian troops,” she said. “So, it would be a very high risk of escalating the conflict, and what we want to see is the de-escalation of the conflict and for Russian troops to go home and for Putin to end the war.”

There have been “thousands of casualties,” the U.N. said Friday, and more than 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine for safety as the Russian military continues to intensify its offensive.

Earlier Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke by phone with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. They discussed liaison mechanisms for the safe evacuation of civilians and coordination to deliver humanitarian aid to all those who need it through out Ukraine, Guterres’ spokesperson said.
…

The head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, is again threatening to end service to the International Space Station, saying Russia will stop supplying rocket engines to the United States and may curtail cooperation on the station in retaliation for Western sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. NASA says operations on the orbiting observatory are normal.  

In an interview with Russian state television Thursday, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said, considering the situation, “We can’t supply the United States with our world’s best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don’t know what.”

Rogozin said Russia has delivered 122 RD-180 engines to the U.S. since the 1990s, of which 98 have been used to power Atlas launch vehicles. The Washington Post said the engines are also used by United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing to launch national security missions for the Pentagon. 

Russia said it would cut off the supply of the RD-181 engines used in Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, which is used to fly cargo and supplies to the International Space Station. 

Projects with Germans scrapped

Rogozin tweeted Thursday that Russian cosmonauts would not cooperate with Germany on joint experiments on the Russian segment of the ISS. Roscosmos will conduct them independently. He went on to say the “Russian space program will be adjusted against the backdrop of sanctions; the priority will be the creation of satellites in the interests of defense.” 

Earlier in the week, in another interview with state television, Rogozin noted Russia is responsible for space station navigation, as well as fuel deliveries to the orbiting lab. He said Roscosmos “will closely monitor the actions of our American partners and, if they continue to be hostile, we will return to the question of the existence of the International Space Station.”

Russia had announced earlier that it was suspending cooperation with Europe on space launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in response to Western sanctions.

Cooperation in space has traditionally avoided politics, and when asked about the situation Tuesday during a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “Despite the challenges here on Earth, and they are substantial …. NASA continues the working relationship with all our international partners to ensure their safety and the ongoing safe operations of the ISS.”

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
…

Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor on Friday said it has blocked access to Facebook in the country.

It said it took the action following “26 cases of discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook.”

It said Facebook “has restricted access to accounts: the Zvezda TV channel, the RIA Novosti news agency, Sputnik, Russia Today, the Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru information resources.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, social media companies have taken measures to restrict access to Russian state media.

On February 27, the European Union announced it was “banning Russia Today and Sputnik from broadcasting in the EU.” YouTube reportedly also blocked RT in the EU.

Twitter announced Monday that it will start labeling and making it harder for users to see tweets about the invasion of Ukraine that contain information from Russian state media like RT and Sputnik.

Facebook has taken similar measures.

Also on Friday, Russia’s legislature advanced a new law that would make publishing “fake news” about the army a crime punishable with jail time.

“If the fakes lead to serious consequences, (the legislation) threatens imprisonment of up to 15 years,” the lower house of parliament said in a statement, according to AFP.

The new law led the BBC to suspend activities in Russia.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse.
…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, said NATO allies are not seeking conflict with Russia, but they are ready for it if it comes.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Friday’s NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, Blinken added that the alliance “will defend every inch of NATO territory,” if it comes to that. 

Stoltenberg condemned Russia’s overnight assault on civilians and Ukraine, particularly the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, near the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. 

He said the attack “demonstrates the recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it, and the importance of Russia withdrawing all its troops and engaging in good faith in diplomatic efforts.”

Stoltenberg emphasized NATO is a defensive alliance and is not seeking conflict with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly has called for NATO to establish no-fly zone around Ukraine since the invasion began, but NATO allies have resisted a step that would draw them into a direct war with Russia.

The secretary general noted Friday there should be “no misunderstanding about our commitment to defend and protect all allies.” He said they have increased the presence of NATO forces in eastern Europe “as a defensive presence.”

NATO’s chief added that U.S. and Canadian troops have joined their European allies in the region and are “stepping up with more presence in the eastern part of the Alliance, on land, at sea and in the air.”

The secretary general noted NATO foreign ministers are meeting to coordinate and consult the alliance’s response to Russian invasion of Ukraine and consider its long-term implications.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

Larysa left Kharkiv three days ago with her 9-year-old daughter, and trauma is etched across her face. Her jitteriness suggests she is suffering shellshock, and she is already missing her husband who decided to stay and fight.

Her name means citadel but her high-rise apartment in Ukraine’s second largest city — the scene of some of the most brutal fighting since Russia’s invasion — did not feel like a fortress.

Shelling nearby and the impact of rockets and missiles rocked the building and shattered windows.

“The Russians don’t care what they hit. We sheltered in the basement,” the 34-year-old teacher says, as she waited Thursday to cross into Slovakia, from where she will join a grandmother living in Lithuania.

Her story is echoed by many others who have escaped the worst of the fighting, either to reach the relative safety of western Ukraine, which is still bracing for war to arrive, or overseas for an exile of unknowable duration.

Those under shelling now — in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol, the seaport in the south of the country on the Sea of Azov that the Russians have surrounded — say the tempo and intensity of the bombardments have increased in the past day or so, causing massive damage to residential districts.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday “the worst is yet to come,” a judgment he made after a long phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And Macron’s grim prediction sends a chill of fear down the spine of Ihor, who exchanged text messages with VOA from his home in encircled Mariupol.

“The shelling never stops,” he said. “We are running low on food, and it is very dangerous to go out to try to find supplies.”

Contact with people in Mariupol is difficult and intermittent, with the internet and phone service going on and off. “Grozny” is on the lips of many Ukrainians in the port city, a reference to the near destruction of the Chechen capital in late 1999 to early 2000, when Putin was prime minister and in the process of succeeding Boris Yeltsin as president.

They say that vicious and intensifying shelling shows that despite what Putin reportedly told Macron — the invasion is going “according to the plan” — Russian efforts to subdue Ukraine are not working out.

That view is shared by independent military analysts, including Nigel Gould-Davies of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a defense think tank based in London. “As the situation becomes more volatile and less predictable, escalation may be the only way forward for Putin,” he said in a commentary.

“Putin drastically underestimated Ukraine’s cohesion and will to resist,” he said, adding that the Russian president “has every incentive to end the war as quickly as possible.”

“There are two ways he could do this. The first, which he has now begun to try, is to win the war through drastic escalation. But the meaning of victory is now less clear than ever. While Russia can occupy Ukraine at great human cost, no Russian puppet regime it installs will be legitimate or stable. Russia’s international isolation and domestic crisis will intensify.

“The second is for Putin to scale back his goals and negotiate a peace short of regime change in Kyiv,” said Gould-Davies. “But given Putin’s obsession with Ukraine and the stakes he has raised; this would be a humiliating setback that he would consider only if his own regime’s survival were in doubt.”

The military analyst is not alone in thinking that a war of choice by Putin has potentially morphed into a war of necessity, and for his own political survival.

In the nine days of the invasion, Russian forces have managed only to seize one city so far. That’s the strategically important Black Sea port of Kherson, home to 300,000 people, where Moscow claims Russian forces control government buildings as part of their effort to cut Ukraine off from the sea via its key southern ports. Russia’s claims have not been confirmed.

Seizing Kherson gives Russian forces access to the mainland from Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and to establish a land corridor linking Moscow’s two breakaway regions in the Donbas with Crimea. It also allows Russian troops to tighten their siege of Mariupol.

Midweek, Kherson’s Mayor Igor Kolykhayev confirmed Russian troops had forced their way into the city. But there are still local reports of sporadic fighting, although the local TV tower has been seized and the Russians already are broadcasting from it, say locals who have been cut off from Ukrainian channels.

Ukrainian intelligence officials say Russian troops are preparing to stage scenes of their forces being greeted as heroes, with people being moved in from Crimea as “extras.”

“When Russians can’t achieve real goals, they focus on fake TV coverage,” tweeted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

“Having seized a TV tower in Kherson, they plan a show: Russian troops provide humanitarian aid, while fake ‘locals’ brought in from Crimea stage a fake ‘demo’ in favor of Kherson region ‘uniting’ with Crimea,” he said.

With Kherson fallen, military strategists expect Russian forces now will turn their attention to the major port of Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, 100 kilometers to the west of Kherson. If they can manage to capture Odesa, Ukraine would be cut off from the Black Sea.

Up north, Russian forces are having an even tougher time and have not managed to capture a major city, but attention is focusing on what is happening with a huge armored column 30 kilometers or so north of Kyiv, which has not moved as fast as many expected.

U.S. defense officials and independent military analysts are split on why the column has moved so little for days, with some using the word “stalled” to describe its non-advance and hazarding that the Russians are running short of fuel and supplies. Others are suggesting Russian forces might be in the process of re-grouping in preparation for a major thrust on the Ukrainian capital.

 
…

Countries across Asia are condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some key Asian countries are even joining international sanctions against Moscow. As VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, it is not just U.S. allies that are concerned.
…

China has rejected a report that said its officials told their Russian counterparts to delay an invasion of Ukraine until after the Beijing Winter Olympics. Experts say the flap indicates Chinese leaders could have known an attack was coming and that such a discovery would taint China’s reputation in the West.

Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the March 3 New York Times report “pure fake news.” The newspaper cited a Western intelligence report saying senior Chinese officials told senior Russian officials in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Feb. 4-20 Games. The war began a week ago.

“Such practice of diverting attention and blame-shifting is despicable,” Wang told a regular news conference Thursday.

“The ins and outs of the developments of the Ukraine issue are very clear. The crux of the issue is known to all,” he said.

In Washington, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said the report’s “claims are speculation without any basis and are intended to blame-shift and smear China.”

National leaders seldom tell one another in advance about upcoming wars, so information between Russia and China would point to a special relationship, said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington.

“It is important, because it shows the nature and the depth of the China-Russia relations,” Sun said. “If China identifies with Russian invasions, then China is an accomplice. We cannot expect China to respond in a constructive way.”

In the United States, which has harshly criticized Russia’s invasion, State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter said Thursday that supporters of Moscow will land on the “wrong side of history” and that “the world has been watching to see which nations stand up for Ukraine.”

Sino-Russian ties have grown closer over the past year, but China positioned itself this week as a mediator between war-divided Russia and Ukraine rather than a backer of Moscow.

China’s ties with Russia still rank as an “extremely high priority,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow with the trans-Atlantic cooperation advocacy group German Marshall Fund. The two competed with Washington during the Cold War and have again realigned themselves against the West in recent years.

China probably expected Russia to win quickly in Ukraine, as it has in its past wars, Small said.

“I think the sense that China acted as an enabler for Russia in the runup to this is not something that’s going to go away, and that’s one of the areas where there will be a lot of collateral damage in different ways economically for China and in their relations with other countries in Europe in particular,” he said.

China probably had at least an inkling of Russia’s designs for Ukraine before the Olympics and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay the attack as not to distract from the Games, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, in Hawaii.

Leaders in Beijing could not easily have influenced Putin’s overall decision whether to invade Ukraine, Vuving added.

“What China could do was to persuade Putin to delay the attack [until] after the Olympics, which Putin did, so I think that was realistic and it indicated a very high level of cooperation between China and Russia,” he said.
…

As the train from Lviv limps across the Polish border, children peer from the windows, their curiosity undimmed by the horrors they have left behind. Beside them, crammed tightly into the carriages, their mothers and grandparents sit bewildered, terrified and exhausted.

As the trains pulls into Przemyśl, teams of Polish guards and volunteers help them onto the platform. They are Europe’s newest refugees.

There are only women and children. They leave behind their husbands, their fathers, their sons. The men must stay to fight. The agony of parting is etched in every face.

Their shattered lives have been reduced to a suitcase full of clothes and a few cherished mementos, thrown together in the panicked final hours of escape. Family pets have joined the exodus — cats in plastic cages, dogs straining at the leash.

From Przemyśl, the refugees can change trains to travel across Poland and beyond, free of charge. Dozens of countries have offered free rail travel for Ukrainians fleeing the war. The European Union has given Ukrainians the right to live and work in the bloc for three years.

Anastasia, who did not want to give her family name, fled her home in Kyiv along with her son and daughter. The family is hoping to reach Lithuania.

“We will go on. We will get through it,” she said, fighting back tears. “I hope that everything will end well and that our Ukraine will win. I want to return. I want to go home.”

Every family has a similar story of loss and fear.

More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled the country in the first week of Russia’s invasion, according to the United Nations, with over 500,000 crossing into Poland. A further million are internally displaced within Ukraine. The EU predicts that up to 7 million Ukrainians could leave in the coming weeks.

There is already a large Ukrainian migrant population in Poland, and many refugees can stay with friends or family, which has helped ease the pressure on authorities. Others are housed in shelters set up in schools, hotels and warehouses.

Thousands of foreign nationals are also trying to escape the war. Kaleb Poitier, originally from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, was studying electrical engineering in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa. He fled with his Ukrainian girlfriend as the Russian attacks began.

“Every time there was a bombardment, we had to go down to the basement to take refuge. The transport no longer works. The internet is almost cut off. It was very difficult,” Poitier told VOA.

“For one week we slept at the border on the way to get here. Now we’re fine, I can say that in Poland, we’ve been well received so far. We are here to wait to take the bus to go to the other side (of Europe), to other countries, maybe to get to France,” Poitier said.

Volunteers from dozens of countries have come to the Polish border to help, offering food, clothing and shelter. Many hold up cardboard signs offering free car rides to destinations across Europe.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are also fleeing by car or on foot, dragging their few belongings across the border crossing at the Polish village of Medyka.

But it’s not one-way traffic. Many Ukrainians are heading back home to fight. VOA spoke to three former soldiers as they prepared to cross back to their home country from Poland to fight the Russian army.

“It’s a normal reaction,” said Viktor, who did not want to give his full name. “We will beat (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and everything will be fine. We will send Russian tanks and armored vehicles straight to hell.”
…

More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled the country in the first week of Russia’s invasion, according to the United Nations. Henry Ridgwell reports from the border between Ukraine and Poland, where most of the refugees are fleeing.
…

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, long friendly with Moscow, took pains Thursday to explain to his ruling party and government why his administration joined dozens of other countries in co-sponsoring this week’s U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We do not support the use of force and readiness to use force or the threatened use of force,” he said in an audio message that also expressed the hope that Russia would “understand” his decision.

He said that Cambodia could not remain silent as Russia countered the Southeast Asian nation’s own policies and “the situation in Ukraine worsens,” according to a transcript of the message released to the public by the office of the spokesperson of the Royal Government of Cambodia on Thursday night.

Hun Sen also said his government was working to address the crisis within the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Cambodia is chair this year.

“We are in discussions with other ASEAN members to issue a statement calling for a cease-fire, because without a cease-fire, human life and property will continue to die and be destroyed, making negotiations impossible,” he said. “We must, therefore, decide to call for a cease-fire, which is desirable for negotiations to find a solution. This is on behalf of ASEAN.”

Hun Sen said that Cambodia needed to act within the framework of Cambodia’s own policies, as well as those of ASEAN.

Nearly 100 countries co-sponsored the resolution, which was introduced in the General Assembly after Russia vetoed a similar motion at the U.N. Security Council last week.

Of the 193 U.N. member states, 181 countries voted on the resolution Wednesday. Among them, 141 countries supported the resolution condemning Moscow. Five countries — Russia and its allies Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea — opposed it. Thirty-five countries abstained, including China, a close ally of Cambodia’s; India; and ASEAN members Vietnam and Laos.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, bringing the capital, Kyiv, and other cities under siege. More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries, and if the conflict does not end soon, millions more will be forced to flee Ukraine, according to Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

Hun Sen, who has been prime minister since 1985, said that many countries were condemning the war in Ukraine, and Cambodia needed to take a clear position. He added that at the request of Japan, France, Germany and the United States, Cambodia decided to co-sponsor the resolution with other countries as a matter of necessity.

Hun Sen added that while he understood the move would anger Russia, Cambodia, as a sovereign state, has the right to act and must “protect the truth.” It also has a responsibility as a U.N. member.

“Hopefully, our Russian friend will understand, because what has been done in the past is contrary to our Cambodian policy on foreign policy, in which we do not support the separation of a state. This is the first point,” Hun Sen said. “Second, we do not support the use of force and readiness to use force or the threatened use of force.”

The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh welcomed the statement. “The United States is pleased to see Cambodia and Singapore join us and other nations in co-sponsoring a resolution deploring Russian aggression and demanding an end to its unprovoked war against Ukraine,” it said.

“The resolution was supported by most ASEAN nations. The world is taking action to hold Russia accountable.”

Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday imposed rare unilateral sanctions on Russia, describing the attack on Ukraine as “an unprovoked military invasion of a sovereign state.” Singapore is also an ASEAN member.

The Cambodia National Rescue Party, the exiled opposition party, also condemned the Russian aggression.

“I believe that whenever we see one country invading another, we cannot take a middle position,” CNRP acting President Sam Rainsy told VOA Khmer late Wednesday. “We must condemn the country that invaded” and “help protect” the affected country if possible. 

Sam Rainsy also called on democratic countries to stand up for the protection of democracy. He praised the spirit of the Ukrainian people fighting to protect the freedom and sovereignty of the country.
…

“We’re publishing this text while there’s still time,” independent Russian media site Meduza said.

“Within a few days, maybe even today, it is possible that there will be no independent media left in Russia,” read the statement published to Meduza’s website Thursday.

The independent media outlet said that Moscow’s regulator, Roskomnadzor, has ordered journalists to refer to Russia’s invasion as a “special military operation.”

Roskomnadzor has warned more than a dozen media outlets, including VOA’s Russian language website, that they will be fined or blocked unless they remove content Russia deems illegal or that details military information.

VOA Acting Director Yolanda Lopez said Wednesday that the network could not comply with the order, adding, “The Russian people deserve unfettered access to a free press.”

Renowned Russian outlets including Ekho Moskvy closed this week, citing warnings over their coverage of the war, and journalists from Russia and Ukraine have been forced to flee or relocate.

Russian state media have also come under pressure, with the EU banning broadcasts and RT America announcing Thursday that it would cease operations in the U.S.

Two prominent Russian independent outlets were forced off the air this week, and access to RFE/RL’s Current Time and Crimea.Realities was blocked.

The board of iconic liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy on Thursday voted to liquidate the station and website.

Ekho Moskvy was taken off the airwaves Tuesday along with Dozhd TV after they failed to comply with orders from the regulator over their coverage.

In its decision, the prosecutor cited the station’s sharing “of information calling for extremist activities, violence and deliberately false information about the actions of Russian forces as part of a special operation” in Ukraine.

Editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov told Reuters at the time, “Our editorial policies won’t change.”

Several staff members from Dozhd TV have left Russia, citing censorship and safety concerns.

With access to the website blocked and reports of harassment, “it is obvious that the personal safety of some of us is under threat,” Editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko told reporters.

“No matter how black and nasty it is now, and no matter how happy some are with our decision, we will still win. This is inevitable, because the truth ultimately wins,” he added.

International reaction

The U.S. and the European Union have condemned Russian censorship over coverage of its war in Ukraine.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Thursday that Moscow “is engaged in a full assault on media freedom and the truth.”

Psaki cited the media regulator threats to Ekho Moskvy, Dozhd and VOA’s Russian Service, bans on terms used to describe the war, and restrictions on social media platforms.

“What they are trying to do is block any information about what they are doing to invade a sovereign country, and they’re taking severe steps to do exactly that,” she said.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said late Wednesday that Russia’s efforts to “mislead and suppress the truth” about the country’s invasion of Ukraine were intensifying, and that the Russian people deserved to know the truth about what’s happening.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told VOA that Moscow’s “manipulation and censorship of the media is appalling.”

“The Russian people deserve access to the truth about Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression and instead are being fed lies by the Putin regime,” said McCaul. “The U.S. must continue to robustly support independent media to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation.”

The EU has also condemned censorship and disinformation. Member states on Wednesday voted to block transmissions of Russian-backed state media, including Sputnik and RT.

RT America on Thursday announced it would cease operations immediately, citing moves by providers that dropped its broadcasts this week.

Broadcaster Holland Cooke, who hosted a weekly show on RT America, said on a news website that management called a meeting Thursday and announced the U.S. division would cease operations because of condemnation over Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

A memo sent to staff said production would stop “due to unforeseen business interruption events,” CNN reported.

Media support

Moscow’s independent journalists are standing in solidarity with their colleagues. More than 200 signed an open letter protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Novaya Gazeta, the renowned Russian outlet run by Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov, on Tuesday said it would offer space to Ekho Moskvy and other media on its site.

Across Europe, media are also offering help and assistance to journalists forced to flee.

Kosovo on Wednesday allocated 150,000 euros or $165,000 toward six months of living costs, wages and shelter for up to 20 Ukrainian journalists.

Priority will be given to female reporters recommended by the European Federation of Journalists and European Center for Press and Media Freedom, Reuters reported.

The London-based media trade magazine The Fix, which focuses on media in Europe, has also offered practical support, setting up partnerships with newsrooms to provide tech and relocation support, and regional hubs so journalists can keep reporting.

“In peaceful times, The Fix is a trade publication and knowledge hub that covers media management in Europe,” Zakhar Protsiuk, the outlet’s managing editor, told VOA via email. “[But] in the first hours of the Russian invasion, we reorganized our work to support Ukrainian media.”

The Fix, which has strong Ukrainian ties, said it was connecting European outlets such as the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Germany’s Axel Springer and others with journalists in need of equipment and support in Ukraine or help setting up hubs across Europe so they can keep publishing.

Protsiuk said they were working with independent media in Ukraine and partners in a nongovernmental organization, the Media Development Foundation.

“The Fix team has a lot of experience in working in difficult environments,” Protsiuk said. “My colleagues have been providing help for media working in eastern Ukraine; we are working with many Belarus independent media who had to flee the country.”

Members of the Council of Europe Platform to Promote Journalist Safety released a joint statement to demand the safety of news crews.

“We emphasize that journalists are considered civilians under international humanitarian law and are not legitimate targets,” the statement said.

The platform called for “urgent and practical international assistance and support” for those covering the conflict, saying independent news is essential in conflict situations.

“Their work helps keep people safe and ensures that the international community can understand the full consequences of this invasion and its appalling impact on human lives,” the statement added.
…