About 16,000 Indians, mostly students, are stranded in Ukraine as Russia's invasion of the east European country entered its second day on Friday. Of the students, many studying medicine in Kharkiv and Kyiv, about 2,500 are from Gujarat and 2,320 from Kerala.
Videos of a purported security officer hitting a student had gone viral a couple of days ago as the stranded students tried to reach Ukraine's western borders after Russia launched an invasion of the country.
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".
The Western world keeps talking, ratcheting up sanctions, the only thing it can do. The Russians march on to Kyiv and capture Zelensky and key members of his government as part of their 'de-Nazification' drive, predicts Shreekant Sambrani.
The trial of the Russian soldier was the first that Ukraine has conducted since the invasion related to charges that could be considered war crimes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with President Donald Trump and set the record straight that India had paused strikes on Pakistan during Operation Sindoor following a request from Islamabad and not due to mediation or offer of a trade deal by the United States.
Even as New Delhi turns up the heat on Turkish firms over Ankara's public embrace of Islamabad, Indian companies rooted in Trkiye are staying put. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Dabur India, and Jubilant FoodWorks say it's business as usual, with no plans to alter course despite the geopolitical chill.
'The precision strikes were well planned and excellently executed. The world will be studying this operation.'
Ukrania tennis player Yuliia Starodubtseva's home town of Kakhovka in southern Ukraine has been occupied by Moscow forces since the early days of the invasion, which Russia calls a special military operation.
In a message to the Indians in Ukraine, Partha Satpathy said the situation is 'highly tense and very uncertain' and it is causing a lot of anxiety.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the recent confrontation between India and Pakistan was not just a mere conflict between two neighbours, but it was about combating terrorism, which will eventually come back to haunt the West.
Glimpses of destroyed Russian tanks, helicopter, weapons in Ukraine.
The mother of Tseng Sheng-Kuang, 25, a Taiwanese fighter from the Carpathian Sich Battalion, who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, mourns while holding a Ukrainian national flag during a memorial ceremony in Lviv.
If they can sit together and hammer out 'Black Sea Initiative' deal for much needed food shipments, surely, they should be able to address the madness of the larger military conflict?
Shipments from Russia rose nearly 33 per cent to $1.1 billion in March from $831.17 million in the previous month, which was when the country mounted aggression on Ukraine and faced sanctions from Western nations, the data accessed by Business Standard shows. Growth in imports was largely on account of oil, people aware of the matter said. The Department of Commerce is learnt to have written to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), seeking details of imports, including the payment mechanism, which India has not made public.
'Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, Ukraine received vital time to accumulate reserves, regroup and mobilise forces and receive assistance from allies,' a Ukrainian government spokesman said later.
The university town of Vinnytsia in Ukraine, where scores of Indians have studied over the years, came under sudden Russian attack on Friday, July 14, 2022.
Ukrainian forces have managed to largely halt the Russian advance around the Ukrainian capital, but shelling and air strikes persist, driving up civilian and military casualties.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the government is trying to find out details about the student from Haveri district who was reportedly injured due to the shelling by Russian forces in Ukraine's Kharkiv city.
President Joe Biden is prepared to engage with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in any format at any place and time to prevent a war, top United States diplomat said on Sunday as he asserted that everything leading up to the actual invasion of Ukraine appears to be taking place.
"We do not think India should accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities even as, obviously, those decisions are made by individual countries," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference.
Messages for Russian troops are posted on shells to be fired by an M777 Ukrainian howitzer.
On Sunday, the media reports emerged with footage allegedly taken in the town of Bucha near Kyiv with a number of bodies of dead people lying on the road.
Putin said the residents in the four annexed regions will now be Russia's "citizens forever".
The leaders of the two countries "discussed the main aspects of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on current regional topics, including developments in South Asia," said a brief statement issued by the Russian President's office - Kremlin.
Ukraine celebrates its 1991 declaration of independence from the then USSR on the same day.
The Congress said the PM has neither found the time nor even had the inclination to visit the state for even a few hours.
Russian forces had occupied Ruski Tyshky for two months before being pushed back by Ukrainian troops three weeks ago.
Tensions between the United States and Russia have reached new heights amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict, with a series of developments marking a dangerous escalation.
glimpses of destroyed Russian tanks, abandoned military equipment and ammunition in Trostyanets after the Russians retreated.
'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.'
Taking to Twitter, the ministry shared the intelligence update and said, 'Russian forces have continued their advance on Kyiv with the bulk of their forces now 30km from centre of the city.'
Glimpses of how the Russian invasion has impacted the lives of Ukrainians.
Zelenskyy appeared in very good spirits during his visit to Izium; the Ukrainians claim they have recaptured as much as 6,000 square kilometres from the retreating Russian army.
The strikes took place in Stepanivka, which is located just outside of Kherson, Tymoshenko said.
Ukraine's intelligence chief says Russia is sending more troops into Kherson -- the largest city in Ukraine under Russian occupation -- and may be preparing to defend it against a Ukrainian counteroffensive, despite previously saying that Russian forces were leaving the city.
The announcement by the IAF to not send its aircraft for the 'Cobra Warrior' exercise came just three days after it confirmed its participation in the drills from March 6 to 27 at Waddington in the United Kingdom.
'There has been no help that has come from the Indian embassy till date. We have no idea when we all will be evacuated.'
We have already suffered considerable collateral damage as a result of the war, and its continuance will continue to dampen our prospects for faster economic growth. We have a direct and legitimate interest in its early cessation, counsels former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
