On Friday, Putin formally announced the annexation of four regions -- Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia -- and claimed that "this is the will of millions of people".
Zelenskyy named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as alternative venues.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks in Russian during an address in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 24, 2022 in this still image taken from video. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/via Reuters TV/Handout via REUTERS
'The clean break between Russia and Europe that this foolish attack is creating may actually last long.' 'It will undermine Europe and benefit the US and China.'
It added that civilians will be able to evacuate from Mariupol from three places by bus or leave the city on private transport.
For the past four months, 92-year-old Maria Nikolaevna has lived underground with her daughter, son-in-law and the family cat.
Following Russia's retreat from areas around the Ukrainian capital, signs of normal life have returned to Kyiv, with residents taking advantage of shortened curfew hours, businesses reopening, and foreign countries promising to return their diplomats.
Events in the Ukraine have a relevance that goes beyond Ukraine itself, says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, himself a former Indian ambassador to Russia. The plot is aimed at bringing about regime change today in the Ukraine and tomorrow in Russia itself.
The unalloyed truth about the Ukraine-Russia conflict is that it is a war that Russia cannot lose and Ukraine cannot win, observes Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
The legislative amendment was passed on Thursday by voice vote as part of an en bloc (all together as a single unit) amendment during floor consideration of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).
These images prove what a whacky world we live in!
12 persons have so far been rescued from the sea. Nine sailors are still listed as missing.
'If the Russian forces do capture Kyiv and set up some sort of provisional government, they might run into an insurgency, for which the geography is just right, it could prove costly for them.' 'In that event, the whole exercise could turn out to be counter-productive -- and costly in both foreign policy and domestic terms.'
The Americans have expended a lot of diplomatic energy to coax India into toeing their line but India has refused to buckle under pressure. As Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, India has not taken anyone's side but its own side, points out Virendra Kapoor.
Earlier this month, the White House said that US President Joe Biden believed that his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be a good step forward in the US-Russia relationship to de-escalate tensions and have stable relations.
The rumblings of discontent from Righteous Europe over Qatar's admittedly appalling human rights record can only be viewed as deeply disingenuous and phoney, argues Kanika Datta.
It took Graham Kentsley, originally from St Albans in Hertfordshire, just over five weeks to make the around 2,000 kilometre (1,243 miles) journey, which he timed so that he would arrive in good time for England's first World Cup match against Tunisia in the southern Russia city of Volgograd.
"This escalation of violence must stop," Haley warned.
Russian authorities on Wednesday resumed search operation for 10 missing sailors, including four Indians.
These images prove it's truly a mad, mad world!
'There are reports that the Biden administration is contemplating imposing CAATSA sanctions against India, the largest democracy on Earth'
The defence secretary was responding to a question from Congressman Joe Wilson, a friend of India in the Congress who, of late, has been critical of India deciding to take an independent position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a gamble on Ukraine and is betting that US President Barack Obama will blink first.
'What would we feel if we found the world behaving the way it has?' 'Forced to fight our own prolonged battle; nobody from outside really demanding that the war end or actively working to make it end, and above all, a completely toothless United Nations reduced to pleading for a halt to the violence,' notes Shyam G Menon, exactly a month after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
A few days back a news report mentioning that a cat in Crimea had adopted four orphaned baby squirrels turned viral and made netizens across the world go 'awww'. Following that we take a look at the surprising bonds between predator and prey -- animals forming the unlikeliest of friendships.
The visit to India by Sergey Aksyonov, Head of the Republic of Crimea, accompanying Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the hackles in the West with the US saying it was 'troubled' by the news and an angry Ukrainian President decrying it.
New Delhi is vulnerable to US sanctions under a 2017 law called CAATSA.
The Council will vote on the draft resolution at 3 pm Friday (New York time), two days after it held an emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine just as Putin had announced Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Tirumurti said India 'has been in touch with all concerned parties. It is our considered view that the issue can only be resolved through diplomatic dialogue.'
A convoy with military equipment of the Russian southern military district units crossed the Crimean bridge on the way to the places of permanent deployment following the planned drills in Crimea, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday.
As the threat of a showdown between Russia and the West over Ukraine loomed large, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has deplored Moscow's military build up on the Crimean peninsula and called on President Vladimir Putin to respect the country's territorial integrity.
the exhibition called 'SUPERPUTIN' opened on the day that he announced his bid for a fourth term as Russia's president. It features around 30 paintings and sculptures of the Russian leader in a variety of different styles, all of which were made by Russian artists.
'Putin has set aside all the rules and now he is deciding the rules.'
Now, as before, India's vote at the UN was dictated by paramount national interests. Though the Indian vote was 'neutral', its explanation was explicit in its criticism of the Russian actions. India took back with the left hand what it had given with the right, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
It stands to reason that at the meeting on Friday, Pope Francis conveyed to the Kremlin, some message in regard of the developments in Ukraine. The long duration of the meeting in the Russian embassy flags that it was substantive. Indeed, it took place even as the first Russian tank column was sighted on the outskirts of Kyiv, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In the Russian president's eyes, it sends a message of defiance to the world and his own people which fits his favoured storyline: Russia is succeeding despite Western efforts to hold it back.
The world is weird and we have the images to prove it!
The symbolism of the sinking of a major naval ship is deeply complex and military history is replete with tales of how the loss of a single high value war ship perhaps impacted the larger war that the nation in question was engaged in, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Whether it liked it or not, the Ukraine crisis forced India to choose between the aggressor Russia and the US-led free world, a decision it hated to make, Virendra Kapoor points out. In the end, it abstained from the vote in the Security Council.
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