Live updates: Australian missiles “on the ground” in Ukraine

The newest developments on the Russia-Ukraine battle:

SYDNEY — Australia’s prime minister has described Russia and China’s nearer relationship as opportunistic slightly than strategic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday labeled the alliance an “Arc of Autocracy” and stated Russia and China would like a brand new world order to the one which has been place since World Battle II.

Morrison has criticized Beijing’s failure to sentence Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growth of commerce in Russian wheat whereas different international locations are imposing sanctions.

Australia final week promised Ukraine $50 million in missiles, ammunition and different army {hardware} to struggle Russian invaders.

Morrison stated on Monday: “Our missiles are on the bottom now.”

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WASHINGTON — Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the Home is exploring laws to additional isolate Russia from the worldwide financial system, together with banning the import of its oil and power merchandise into the U.S.

Amid rising gasoline costs within the U.S., the Biden administration has but to name for an oil import ban on Russia.

In a letter to Democrats launched Sunday night time, Pelosi says the laws into account would additionally repeal regular commerce relations with Russia and Belarus and start the method of denying Russia entry to the World Commerce Group.

Pelosi says the Home would additionally empower the Biden administration to lift tariffs on Russian imports.

Congress intends to approve the Biden administration’s request for $10 billion in humanitarian, army and financial help for Ukraine, Pelosi stated, as a part of omnibus authorities funding laws this week.

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LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated greater than 20,000 folks from 52 international locations have already volunteered to struggle in Ukraine, the place they are going to serve in a newly created worldwide legion. He didn’t say how most of the international volunteers have arrived in Ukraine.

“The entire world immediately is on Ukraine’s facet not solely in phrases however in deeds,” Kuleba stated on Ukrainian tv Sunday night time.

He didn’t title the house international locations of the volunteers, saying that a few of them forbid their residents from preventing for different international locations.

Kuleba additionally urged Ukrainians dwelling in different international locations to start a marketing campaign to push for Ukraine’s membership within the European Union.

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NEW YORK — Two of the so-called Huge 4 accounting companies are pulling out of Russia over its battle in Ukraine.

KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers each stated Sunday they might finish their relationships with their Russia-based member companies. KPMG stated it was additionally pulling out of Belarus.

KPMG Worldwide stated in a press release it will be “extremely troublesome” to have its Russia and Belarus companies go away the community. KPMG has greater than 4,500 staff within the two international locations.

PricewaterhouseCoopers stated it has 3,700 staff at its PwC Russia agency and is engaged on an “orderly transition” for the enterprise.

The 2 different Huge 4 firms – Deloitte and Ernst & Younger – didn’t instantly return requests for remark Sunday.

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LVIV, Ukraine — Russian forces stepped up their shelling of Ukrainian cities within the heart, north and south of the nation late Sunday, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich stated.

“The newest wave of missile strikes got here as darkness fell,” he stated on Ukrainian tv.

He stated the areas that got here below heavy shelling embrace the outskirts of Kyiv, Chernihiv within the north, Mykolaiv within the south, and Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest metropolis.

Kharkiv officers stated the shelling broken the tv tower and heavy artillery was hitting residential areas.

In Chernihiv officers stated all areas of town had been coming below missile assault.

Arestovich described a “catastrophic” state of affairs within the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, the place efforts to evacuate residents on Sunday failed. He stated the federal government was doing all it may to renew evacuations.

Evacuations additionally failed in Mariupol within the south and Volnovakha within the east due to the shelling.

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LVIV, Ukraine — As Russian forces elevated their shelling of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the West to strengthen sanctions.

In a video assertion Sunday night, Zelenskyy heaped criticism on Western leaders for not responding to the Russian Protection Ministry’s announcement that it will strike Ukraine’s military-industrial advanced, whereas telling staff of those protection crops to not go to work.

“I didn’t hear even a single world chief react to this,” Zelenskyy stated. “The audacity of the aggressor is a transparent sign to the West that the sanctions imposed on Russia aren’t adequate.”

Zelenskyy referred to as for organizing a “tribunal” to deliver to justice those that order and perform such crimes.

“Take into consideration the sense of impunity of the occupiers that they will announce such deliberate atrocities,” he stated.

The Russian Protection Ministry introduced Sunday that its forces intend to strike Ukraine’s military-industrial advanced with what it stated had been precision weapons.

“We urge all personnel of Ukrainian protection trade crops … to go away the territory of their enterprises,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov stated in a press release carried by the state information company Tass.

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Netflix stated Sunday that it’s suspending its service in Russia.

An announcement from the corporate cited “circumstances on the bottom” for its determination to droop its Russian service however didn’t provide any extra particulars.

The announcement comes after TikTok stated customers on its platform in Russia have been blocked from posting and viewing movies shared from elsewhere on the planet. American Specific additionally introduced earlier within the day it will droop operations in Russia, in addition to in Russian-allied Belarus.

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NEW YORK — TikTok stated Sunday that customers gained’t be capable to publish new movies in Russia in response to the federal government’s crackdown on social media.

“In gentle of Russia’s new ‘faux information’ legislation, we have now no alternative however to droop livestreaming and new content material to our video service whereas we assessment the security implications of this legislation,” the corporate stated in a press release on Twitter. “Our in-app messaging service is not going to be affected.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday intensified a crackdown on media retailers and people who fail to hew to the Kremlin line on Russia’s battle in Ukraine, blocking Fb and Twitter and signing into legislation a invoice that criminalizes the intentional spreading of what Moscow deems to be “faux” stories.

TikTok is a part of the bigger Chinese language tech firm ByteDance.

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NEW YORK — American Specific introduced Sunday it’s suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus.

Globally issued American Specific playing cards will not work at retailers or ATMs in Russia, the corporate stated in a press release. AmEx playing cards issued regionally in Russia by the nation’s banks will even not work exterior of Russia.

The corporate beforehand halted its relationships with banks in Russia impacted by the U.S. and worldwide authorities sanctions, the corporate stated.

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JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister spoke Sunday night by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a day after his snap journey to Moscow to debate the greater than weeklong Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Naftali Bennett additionally spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whom he visited in Berlin on Saturday as properly, and French President Emmanuel Macron, his workplace stated.

Bennett has additionally spoken on the telephone a number of occasions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — most just lately Sunday morning — as a part of his shuttle diplomacy to mediate between Ukraine and Russia after greater than every week of preventing.

Moreover, Israeli international minister Yair Lapid will fly to Riga, Latvia, on Monday to fulfill with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Overseas Ministry stated.

Whereas Israel has condemned Russia’s invasion, it has additionally kept away from taking motion that might anger Moscow, out of concern of jeopardizing army coordination in neighboring Syria.

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VIENNA, Austria — The Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company has stated Russian forces are tightening their grip on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, Ukraine’s largest, that they seized final week.

The director basic of the company, Rafael Mariano Grossi, stated Sunday Ukrainian employees members at the moment are required to hunt approval for any operation, even upkeep, from the Russians, and that they’ve impeded regular communications by switching off some cellular networks and web on the website.

Ukraine’s regulatory authority stated that telephone strains, in addition to e-mails and fax, are not working. Grossi stated he’s “extraordinarily involved about these developments,” including that for the plant to function safely, “employees should be allowed to hold out their very important duties in secure circumstances, with out undue exterior interference or strain.”

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NEW YORK — The Russian army has warned Ukraine’s neighboring international locations from internet hosting its warplanes, saying Moscow could take into account them part of the battle if Ukrainian plane fly fight missions from their territory.

Russian Protection Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov charged Sunday that some Ukrainian fight planes had redeployed to Romania and different Ukraine neighbors he didn’t determine.

Konashenkov warned that if these warplanes assault the Russian forces from the territory of these nations, it “may very well be thought-about as these international locations’ engagement within the army battle.”

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PARIS — The French presidency stated the decision between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday targeted totally on the security of Ukraine’s nuclear crops.

The decision was on request from Macron and lasted nearly two hours, the Elysee stated.

A French official stated Macron insisted on the necessity to make sure the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company’s security requirements are revered at Chernobyl and in different nuclear crops. He instructed Putin these services should not be focused by a Russian offensive or caught within the preventing.

Putin stated he doesn’t intend to assault nuclear crops and agreed on the precept of a “dialogue” between IAEA, Ukraine and Russia on this difficulty, in keeping with the official, who spoke anonymously according to the French presidency’s practices. Potential talks are to be organized within the coming days, he stated.

Macron reiterated his name for Russia to cease its army operations and insisted on the necessity to shield the civilians and permit entry to humanitarian help.

“The (humanitarian) state of affairs is troublesome” together with in Mariupol on Sunday, the official pressured. “Our calls for stay the identical: we would like Russia to answer these calls for… in a short time and clearly.”

— By Sylvie Corbet

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PARIS — European Union chief Charles Michel stated Sunday closing Ukraine’s airspace may spark a world battle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly referred to as on NATO international locations to cease the Russian onslaught on his nation by imposing a no-fly zone. Western leaders have refused for concern of triggering a wider battle in Europe. Deploying fighter jets over Ukraine may “in present circumstances” be thought-about as “NATO’s entry into the battle and subsequently threat World Battle III,” Michel stated in an interview with the general public broadcaster France Inter.

Michel denied that financial sanctions towards Russia represent “a battle of the EU or NATO towards Russia.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has linked the West’s financial punishment for his invasion of Ukraine to “declaring battle” on Moscow.

Michel stated European and American allies imposed sanctions “to create strain and damage the (Russian) regime”, not the folks.

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JERUSALEM — A gaggle of 100 Ukrainian Jewish orphans who had been evacuated from the nation after Russia invaded have landed in Israel.

The kids arrived Sunday a couple of hours earlier than two flights carrying round 300 different Ukrainian Jewish immigrants landed.

The kids had been evacuated from the central Ukrainian metropolis of Zhytomyr and dropped at Israel by the KKL-JNF group.

The Jewish Company for Israel, a quasigovernmental group that manages immigration affairs, stated that it had obtained 5,500 pressing requests by Ukrainian Jews to maneuver to Israel since Russia attacked on Feb. 24.

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the USA and its allies are having a “very energetic dialogue” about banning the import of Russian oil and pure gasoline within the newest escalation of their sanctions in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.

Requested about oil and gasoline imports, Blinken instructed CNN on Sunday that President Joe Biden convened a gathering of his Nationwide Safety Council on the topic the day earlier than. Biden and Western allies have till now held off on sanctions towards Russia’s profitable power trade to keep away from blowback on their very own economies.

“We at the moment are speaking to our European companions and allies to look in a coordinated manner on the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil whereas ensuring that there’s nonetheless an applicable provide of oil on world market,” stated Blinken. “That’s a really energetic dialogue as we converse.”

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BERLIN — The U.N. human rights workplace says it has confirmed the deaths of 364 civilians in Ukraine for the reason that Russian invasion started on Feb. 24.

The Geneva-based workplace stated that one other 759 civilians had been injured as of midnight Saturday.

The rights workplace makes use of strict methodology and solely stories casualties it has confirmed.

It says it believes the actual figures are significantly greater, “particularly in government-controlled territory and particularly in latest days.” That’s as a result of the movement of knowledge has been delayed amid the preventing and plenty of stories nonetheless must be corroborated.

Ukrainian officers have introduced far greater numbers.

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NEW YORK — The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin instructed his Turkish counterpart that Russia’s army motion in Ukraine may very well be halted “provided that Kyiv ceases hostilities and fulfills the well-known calls for of Russia.”

Putin has listed “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine, recognition of Russian-annexed Crimea as a part of Russia and separatist areas in japanese Ukraine as impartial states because the Kremlin’s essential calls for.

In accordance with the readout of Sunday’s name with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “hope was expressed that throughout the deliberate subsequent spherical of negotiations, the representatives of Ukraine would present a extra constructive method, totally taking into consideration the rising realities.”

A 3rd spherical of talks is scheduled for Monday.

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MEDYKA, Poland — The top of the United Nations’ refugee company says the worldwide Purple Cross and the U.N. are negotiating entry to the cities in Ukraine most impacted by preventing since Russia invaded Feb. 24.

Filippo Grandi, the U.N. excessive commissioner for refugees, stated Sunday that “these discussions proceed” with hope for fulfillment, however didn’t title particular cities. He stated throughout a go to to Poland’s border with Ukraine that “these corridors are primarily to deliver humanitarian items fundamental items to folks which are actually in determined want and likewise to extract possibly essentially the most susceptible folks.”

Grandi pressured that extensive worldwide help is required for Poland and different international locations receiving refugees from Ukraine. He stated that “predictions are troublesome, a whole lot of hundreds are on the transfer inside Ukraine, and it is vitally possible that we are going to see a big inflow persevering with within the subsequent few days.”

Grandi stated that “what is required actually is a ceasefire, is the top to hostilities as a result of that’s the one solution to cease this tragedy.”

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LVIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian official says a second try to evacuate civilians from a southern metropolis below siege for every week has failed resulting from continued Russian shelling.

Ukrainian army authorities stated earlier Sunday that evacuations from the port metropolis of Mariupol had been scheduled to start at midday native time (10 a.m. GMT) throughout a ten a.m. to 9 p.m. native ceasefire.

Inside Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko stated the deliberate evacuations alongside designated humanitarian corridors had been halted due to an ongoing assault.

He stated on Telegram that “there could be no ‘inexperienced corridors’ as a result of solely the sick mind of the Russians decides when to begin taking pictures and at whom.”

An analogous cease-fire deliberate for Mariupol and the close by metropolis of Volnovakha collapsed Saturday, trapping residents below extra shelling and aerial bombardment by Russian forces.

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ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s workplace says he has referred to as for an pressing cease-fire in Ukraine in a phone dialog with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a press release following Sunday’s one-hour name, the Turkish presidency stated Erdogan had urged a halt to preventing to “tackle humanitarian considerations” and “search a political resolution” to the battle. The battle is now in its eleventh day.

Erdogan referred to as for the opening of humanitarian corridors and a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

Turkey has in depth ties with each Russia and Ukraine and has sought to put itself as a mediator. It has invited each to a diplomatic discussion board in Antalya subsequent week.

Erdogan’s workplace stated he instructed Putin that he was “able to make each contribution” to resolving the disaster.

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WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s border guard company says that over 922,000 refugees have crossed the border from Ukraine since Feb. 24, when Russia launched its invasion.

The company stated on Twitter {that a} file one-day variety of over 129,000 crossed into Poland on Saturday, and nearly 40,000 between midnight and seven a.m. on Sunday.

A nation of some 38 million folks, Poland is receiving the most important variety of refugees amongst Ukraine’s neighbors. Some who entered Poland have continued to different international locations.

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HELSINKI — The highest U.S. army officer says Ukrainian troopers and civilians alike have put up an “terribly brave” struggle for the reason that Russian invasion.

Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, spoke Sunday throughout a go to to an air base in Amari, Estonia. He’s visiting the three Baltic nations to pledge U.S. and NATO help to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, former Soviet republics that border Russia.

Milley stated that “the desire of the Ukrainian folks, the significance of their nationwide management and the preventing abilities of the Ukrainian military has come by way of loud and clear.”

He stated Ukrainians have put up “an awfully brave and courageous struggle” and “they’ve been doing very, very properly. Nevertheless it’s slightly bit early to attract any definitive classes.”

Milley stated the U.S. presently has no indications that Moscow is planning to assault on the Baltic international locations and “we wish to be sure that it stays that manner.”

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Comply with AP’s protection of the tensions between Russia and Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine