Category: Russia-Ukraine conflict

South African Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe says the Russia-Ukraine conflict threatens “already battered” economies in Africa and postpones the development Africa wants.

According to Mantashe, the surge of crude oil prices through 100 U.S. dollars a barrel following the Russia-Ukraine conflict reflects in the pump price in Africa, as the continent has to import oil.

Mantashe made the statement on Tuesday at the ongoing Africa Energy Indaba Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

The three-day conference taking place alongside an energy exhibition discusses key issues impacting the African energy sector.

READ ALSO: Russian military convoy’s advance on Kyiv appears ‘stalled’

“When it is shooting up because of the conflict somewhere in Ukraine, we pay for the price in the pump,” Mantashe said.

“The present situation, therefore, is affecting us directly. Of immediate effect is the rise of the price of the crude oil that translates into severely high fuel prices of our individual countries,” he added.

Mantashe announced on Friday a rise in the fuel prices in his country, based on local and international factors, including the increase of the crude oil price, effective on March 2.

The Automobile Association of South Africa said the massive fuel price increases would have a sharp and immediate effect on the poor and a long-term impact on inflation.

It said 95 octane petrol in the inland area was expected to rise above 21 rands (about 1.4 dollars) a litre for the first time in history. (Xinhua/NAN)

The TV tower in Ukraine’s capital Kiev has come under attack during Russia’s assault on the city.

Video released by Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency on Tuesday showed a dark cloud of smoke rising from the scene after the steel-lattice tower was apparently struck by two missiles.

The attack is causing disruptions to TV and radio broadcasts, the agency reported, however, the tower was said to still be standing.

No casualties were initially reported.

READ ALSO: Coach quits Lokomotiv Moscow in fallout of Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russia said earlier it would launch targeted attacks on the infrastructure used by Ukrainian intelligence service SBU.

Another air raid siren sounded across the city on Tuesday afternoon, and Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the situation as ‘threatening.’

“The enemy wants to conquer the heart of our country. But we will fight and not give up Kiev,’’ he wrote on Telegram. (dpa/NAN)

The U.S. government is concerned that the Russian government may retaliate for recent Ukraine-related sanctions by arresting American citizens in Russia and holding them as pawns in the conflict, current and former U.S. officials tell NBC News.

Among the concerns national security officials are discussing is that President Vladimir Putin’s government may target Americans doing business in Russia — such as employees of U.S. companies — if they comply with the new U.S. sanctions.

That could force Americans in the country to make an undesirable choice between violating U.S. law and running afoul of the Russian government.

The Biden administration has started notifying some major businesses with operations in Russia that, depending on how far the situation escalates, Putin could start taking Americans hostage, two people with knowledge of those conversations said.

The urgency to consider pulling employees out has increased now that Russia and the European Union have closed their airspace to each other’s planes, making it far harder to get a flight out of Russia.

“It’s absolutely a plausible concern,” said Evelyn Farkas, the top Pentagon official for Russia during the Obama administration.

It’s unclear whether the Biden administration has a specific reason to believe Putin may take U.S. hostages or is merely anticipating potential worst-case scenarios. But discussions about mitigating the risk for Americans in Russia have involved multiple U.S. national security agencies as well as U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, officials said.

The Russian Embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment.

There’s a long history of Russia detaining American citizens, often under purported espionage charges, and detaining them for long periods of what the U.S. has described as wrongful imprisonment.

READ ALSO: Ukraine: US orders Americans to leave Russia ‘immediately’

That includes two former U.S. Marines currently held in Russia: Trevor Reed, sentenced in 2020 to nine years in prison on charges of assaulting a police officer, and Paul Whelan, sentenced to 16 years on spying charges. The U.S. has called for the immediate and unconditional release of both Americans.

Former U.S. officials say the United States for decades has harbored particular concerns about American businesses in Russia and their employees, especially at times of high tension between Washington and Moscow.

“This is what will happen: They’ll get arrested on trumped-up charges,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA officer who oversaw Russia and Europe operations.

“There’s always a concern that Americans doing business in Russia are caught up in the bilateral tensions and can be unjustly imprisoned — sometimes for long periods of time.”

The State Department said concerns about Americans being detained or prevented from leaving Russia are among the reasons the U.S. is currently urging its citizens to consider leaving the country immediately.

In the past, a State Department spokesman said, “Russian security services have arrested U.S. citizens on spurious charges, denied them fair and transparent treatment, and have convicted them in secret trials and/or without presenting evidence.”

The spokesman said that dual U.S.-Russian citizens could also be at risk and that Russia might refuse to give U.S. consular officials prompt access to detained Americans. Nbcnews.com

German coach Markus Gisdol has departed his position at Lokomotiv Moscow, the Russian top-flight club said on Tuesday.

The club did not give a reason for his departure after just four and a half months on the bench.

However, the 52-year-old Gisdol made it clear in a newspaper interview that he was quitting over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Football coach is the most beautiful job in the world for me,” he said. “But I cannot pursue my profession in a country whose leader is responsible for an attack in the middle of Europe.

“That does not match with my values. I can’t stand in Moscow on the training pitch where players train and demand professionalism when a few kilometres away orders are given which brings misery upon a whole people.

READ ALSO: Russian football federation angered by FIFA and UEFA bans

“That is my personal decision and I am absolutely convinced of it.”

Gisdol, who previously coached Hoffenheim and SV Hamburg in the Bundesliga, was released by Cologne last April and took the Lokomotiv job in October.

Former Bundesliga player Marvin Compper will replace Gisdol as Lokomotiv’s interim coach, the club said.

Another German coach working in Russia, Sandro Schwarz, meanwhile said he would not leave his position at Dynamo Moscow.

“I’m not someone who buys a ticket, jumps in the plane and flies away from Russia,” he said. “That’s not my style. I feel my responsibility and stay at the club.”(dpa/NAN)

Seventy Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in a Russian missile attack in the region of Sumy in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament confirmed on Tuesday.

It said on Twitter that an army unit was fired upon in the town of Okhtyrka, located between the capital Kiev and Kharkiv.

Russian forces were fighting to take control of both those cities, along with other key territories across the country.

The deaths in Okhtyrka was announced by Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, head of Sumy’s regional administration, who shared pictures on his Telegram channel of a burnt-out four-storey building and rescue workers in action.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its sixth day, concerns were growing about the number of civilian casualties in the conflict, including in Kharkiv, which had come under intense attack in recent days.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry published a video on Twitter on Tuesday, showing a missile attack that struck Freedom Square in central Kharkiv.

Cars could be seen driving outside the administrative building before it was hit by a powerful explosion.

“Russia is waging war in violation of international humanitarian law.

“Kills civilians, destroys civilian infrastructure,” the ministry wrote.

Russia’s main target is large cities that now fired at by its missiles.”

Russia had rejected the allegations, which could not be independently verified.

READ ALSO: UK cannot ensure No-Fly zone over Ukraine – Johnson

Russian troops continued their advance on the country’s second-largest city into the early hours of Tuesday.

According to Ukrainian sources, 11 people were killed and dozens injured in attacks on Kharkiv over the course of Monday, while 87 residential buildings were destroyed.

The United Nations estimates that more than 100 civilians died during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s government puts the civilian toll at more than 150.

As fighting continued in Kharkiv, satellite imagery showed a convoy of Russian military vehicles estimated to be 64 kilometers long heading toward Kiev, Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported.

The Ukrainian army claimed to have shot down five Russian fighter planes and a helicopter during aerial attacks in the area surrounding Kiev on Monday.

The planes were reportedly shot down during aerial attacks on the cities of Vasylkiv and Brovary and a cruise missile and a helicopter were shot down near the capital, the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper and the Ukrainian air force reported.

Ukrainian warplanes reportedly fired missiles and bombs at Russian tanks and troops near Kiev and close to the city of Zhytomyr.

Bombs were reportedly dropped in the northern region of Chernihiv and the southern Ukrainian city of Berdyansk, which is currently under Russian control. (dpa/NAN)

The Western countries should refrain from creating military facilities on the territory of the former Soviet Union states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

According to Lavrov, the West has not yet demonstrated its willingness to provide Russia with legally binding, long-term security guarantees, particularly to abandon further NATO expansion.

This included the withdrawal of the Bucharest Summit Declaration stipulating that Ukraine and Georgia would become members of the alliance.

READ ALSO: Ukraine offers amnesty, money to Russian soldiers willing to surrender

“Western countries should abandon the creation of military facilities on the territory of states that were formerly part of the Soviet Union and are not members of the alliance NATO.

“This includes the use of their infrastructure for any military activities,’’ Lavrov told Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament in a pre-recorded address.

He noted the need to revert NATO’s military capacity, including strike capabilities, and infrastructure to the state of 1997, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was concluded.

“For us, achieving these goals is of principal importance,’’ Lavrov added. (Sputnik/NAN)

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said the United Kingdom cannot impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Johnson, in a press conference in Warsaw, said it would lead to a direct military confrontation with Russia and the consequences would be truly very difficult to control.

He said unfortunately the implication of imposing a no-fly zone was that the UK would be engaged in shooting down Russian planes.

“We would be engaged in direct combat with Russia and that´s not a thing that we can do or that we have envisaged,” he said.

According to Johnson, the United Kingdom is ready for a “prolonged crisis” over Ukraine.

He stressed that he cannot pretend that “this is something the UK can fix by military means.”

On Feb. 24, Russia attacked the neighbouring country Ukraine, without declaring war.

According to the UN, more than 400 civilians have been killed.

The Russian army had already fired at least 113 ballistic missiles at Ukraine, according to Ukrainian sources but Moscow vehemently denies attacking Ukrainian civilians. (Sputnik/NAN)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that defending Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, is his priority as he appointed a new head to the city’s military administration amid Russia’s invasion.

“If we defend Kyiv, we defend the country. Kyiv is the heart of our country,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday.

Asserting that “defense of the capital is above all,” Zelenskyy said he had appointed General Zhernov Mykola Mykolayovych as the head of the Kyiv city military administration during the conflict.

READ ALSO: Russia’s missiles batter Kharkiv city

“Vitali Klitschko remains the mayor of Kyiv. He will have his own sphere of responsibility and now it will be a joint work,” Zelenskyy said.

He also expressed sorrow over heavy shelling in Kharkiv earlier Tuesday. “This is the price of freedom. Such a morning,” he said.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine stretched into its sixth day Tuesday as a massive armoured convoy advanced toward the capital, Kyiv, and major cities were hit by heavier shelling.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, video captured an explosion at the regional state administration building that left at least six people injured, including one child. First responders said a death toll was yet to come.

Ukrainian officials condemned the attack. Foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba branded it a “barbaric” assault, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes.

On Monday, the International Criminal Court said it would open an investigation into whether Russia has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The decision was announced hours after peace talks in Belarus ended without any clear progress.

The Western response to Russia’s invasion has been swift, imposing widening sanctions that hit Russia’s economy hard and forced its currency, the ruble to crater to a level around 30 percent against the U.S. dollar Monday. www.nbcnews.com