LAST UPDATE | 12 Mar 2022
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS on the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw forces getting closer to Kyiv as reports emerged of evacuees being shot and killed.
Here is how the day’s events unfolded:
Good morning. Garreth MacNamee here with you this morning.
Talks are to continue between Russia and Ukraine but there’s not much hope of any resolution from either side.
However, the huge amount of sanctions being placed on Russia are now biting.
The sanctions could cause the International Space Station to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned today.
According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS.
As a result, the Russian segment of the station — which helps correct its orbit — could be affected, causing the 500-tonne structure to “fall down into the sea or onto land”, the Roscosmos chief wrote on Telegram.
Our reporter Niall O’Connor is on the Ukraine/Poland border covering the refugee crisis unfolding there.
Our reporter Niall O’Connor with the very latest from the Poland/Ukraine border.
Here at Medyka. Huge crowds already. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/ZDViFFaD1C
— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) March 12, 2022
A mosque in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where 80 civilians were taking shelter, has been shelled by Russian forces, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders. More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter account.
An apartment block and shoe factory are hit in the first air strikes on the central city of Dnipro — until now seen as a safe haven.
A home for the disabled near Kharkiv in the east is also bombed, officials say.
Russia also announces that the military airfields of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine have been “put out of action”.
The sanctions against Russian oligarchs continue.
Italian authorities said they had “frozen” a 530-million-euro yacht linked to Russian oligarch Andrei Melnichenko, who has been sanctioned by the EU over the Ukraine war.
The “SY A”, located in the northeast port of Trieste, is said to be the largest private sailing-assisted motor yacht in the world.
Italy’s financial crimes police said it had been found to be “indirectly attributable, through a company based in Bermuda, to Andrei Melnichenko”.
Hospitals came under fire overnight in the port city of Mykolaiv in the south of Ukraine, including a cancer treatment centre and an eye clinic, an AFP reporter said today.
The windows were blown out of the cancer treatment centre, where patients were undergoing chemotherapy and the doors damaged.
“They shot at the civilian areas, without any military objective,” said the hospital’s head, Dmytro Lagochev.
Some news out of Strasbourg where a member of Ukraine’s parliament has said history is repeating itself as she referred to the world “averting their eyes” from Adolf Hitler before stepping in as the death toll increased.
Lesia Vasylenko, who is in Strasbourg on a diplomatic assignment, said she does not understand why people do not learn the lessons of the past.
Croatia’s prime minister has urged closer cooperation within NATO after a military drone crashed in Zagreb.
The Soviet-era Tu-141 reconnaissance drone crashed in the Croatian capital late Thursday having flown from Ukraine, damaging around 40 parked vehicles, but no one was injured.
More from Niall now who is at the Ukraine/Poland border.
Massive German medical supply convoy heading in across the border. This morning it seems to be all medical supplies. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/NguN1o83ZQ
— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) March 12, 2022
Russian forces have hit more than a dozen hospitals since they invaded Ukraine on February 24, according to the World Health Organisation.
These include a maternity and cancer hospital.
Here are some of the latest photos out of Kyiv from our colleagues at the Press Association.
Kyiv’s main streets are a ghost town as the Ukrainian army anticipates the arrival of Russian military.
Some concerning news out of Moscow.
Russia has said its troops could target supplies of Western weapons in Ukraine.
“We warned the United States that the orchestrated pumping of weapons from a number of countries is not just a dangerous move, it is a move that turns these convoys into legitimate targets,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state television.
The Irish Government has ruled out turning away a cargo ship carrying Russian oil that is due to land in Dublin Port today.
Yesterday, Siptu called on the Government to turn the ship away.
The union asked Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Dublin Port’s chief executive Eamonn O’Reilly to prevent the STI Clapham from landing.
The oil tanker is carrying a cargo of oil from Russia and is scheduled to stop in the port today.
In a statement sent to The Journal, Ryan has responded.
The minister said: “We fully understand the concerns of the Siptu members with regard to the cargo of oil due to arrive to Dublin Port over the weekend. However, the strongest pressure we can put on the Russian government now is to continue to ensure that we maintain a resolute, united European response on already agreed sanctions.
“The Government is ensuring that EU sanctions already agreed are being implemented, including in the transport sector. The effectiveness of united EU sanctions is evident, and discussions continue with EU partners on implementing further measures.
“As matters currently stand, the European sanctions applying to Russia exclude oil product. Petrol, diesel, home heating oil and kerosene are not subject to sanctions and there would not be any legal basis to refuse to accept such products.”
In a statement issued yesterday, Siptu Divisional Organiser Karan O’Loughlin, said that “given the unfolding horror in Ukraine as the invasion by Russian forces aggressively proceeds, our members and other workers who are expected to unload this vessel are angry and upset at being put in this position.
“While a range of different sanctions are being rolled out across the EU against Russia, the Government needs to speak up on humanitarian grounds and turn this vessel around. It is unconscionable to accept this cargo in the present circumstances,” O’Loughlin said.
“Ireland is a militarily neutral country but that does not mean we cannot help the victims of this unjust and unnecessary war by extending our solidarity in other ways.”
TD Cathal Berry talks to our reporter Niall O’Connor in Medyka, along the Ukrainian-Polish border, this morning.
Berry is there on a fact-finding mission with members of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
About 95% of those fleeing into Poland are women and children, he says.
Senator Gerard Craughwell speaks to @NiallJournal_ie in Medyka this morning.
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) March 12, 2022
Craughwell encourages people to send money to reputable NGOs, rather than clothes or other items. pic.twitter.com/Wez73iXdhy
Senator Gerard Craughwell is also on the trip. He says Irish people who want to help should send money to reputable NGOs, rather than clothes or other items.
Irish aid has arrived along the Ukrainian-Polish border.
Irish aid has arrived here at the Aid Station. Hendricks European all the way from Dublin. 6 trucks.
— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) March 12, 2022
They were mentioned in this story:
Medics and aid workers bracing for influx of worst affected refugees from Ukraine https://t.co/eiPZcexq6c@thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/a1mDWBFymg
More reporting from Niall O’Connor can be read here.
Niall O’Connor reports from a converted supermarket about 10 miles from the Ukrainian-Polish border.
Refugees are being offered food, shelter, and lifts to countries such as Germany and France.
Here is the scene at a converted shopping mall in Przemysl which is now a massive refugee holding centre. Drivers offering lifts, food, medical and bedding. Imagine your local Tesco or Dunnes Stores transformed into a place for thousands of displaced war refugees. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/0SfQ4gEvEU
— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) March 12, 2022
Follow his latest tweets here.
Roman Abramovich has been disqualified as a Chelsea director by the Premier League board after the British Government sanctioned the Russian billionaire.
Chelsea owner Abramovich was one of seven more oligarchs sanctioned this week by the UK following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Following the imposition of sanctions by the UK Government, the Premier League board has disqualified Roman Abramovich as a director of Chelsea Football Club,” a Premier League statement said today.
Earlier Chelsea had several credit cards temporarily frozen during an assessment of the Stamford Bridge club’s new operating licence.
Germany aims to be nearly free of Russian oil imports by the end of this year, as countries look to squeeze Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, AFP is reporting.
“With each day, indeed each hour, we are saying goodbye to Russian imports,” economy and climate minister Robert Habeck was quoted as saying by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“If we get there, we will be independent of Russian coal by the autumn and nearly independent of Russian oil by the end of the year.”
Government statistics show Germany currently imports a third of its oil and 45% of its coal from Russia.
Cutting out Russian gas is a harder prospect for Germany, which imports more than half its intake from Russia.
Habeck has resisted an outright halt to Russian energy imports, warning it would cause winter shortages and drive inflation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the leaders of France and Germany to help secure the release of the mayor of Melitopol who Kyiv says was abducted by invading Russian forces.
“During the night and today we are talking to our partners about the situation with our mayor. Our demand is clear: he must be released immediately… I have already phoned (German) Chancellor Olaf Scholz. I have spoken to (French) President Emmanuel Macron… I will speak to all the necessary people to get our people released,” Zelensky said in a video released by the Ukrainian presidency.
“We expect world leaders to show us how they can influence the situation.”
According to the Ukrainian president and parliament, mayor Ivan Fedorov was abducted on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying Melitopol, a town in southern Ukraine halfway between Mariupol and Kherson, because he “refused to cooperate with the enemy”.
According to the Ukrainian parliament, the mayor was arrested while at the city’s crisis centre tackling supply issues.
Zelensky said 2,000 Ukrainians demonstrated in Melitopol today against the Russian invasion and to demand the release of their mayor.
“Do you hear, Moscow? If 2,000 people demonstrate in Melitopol against the occupation, how many are there in Moscow against the war?” he said in his video.
Brigadier General Rory O’Connor of the Irish Air Corps attended the Nato Air Chiefs meeting in Ramstein this week.
“The capability of Air Power and the importance of the Air Domain provided the background for some interesting discussions,” he tweeted last night.
As part of the PfP, it was great to be present for 2022-01 NATO Air Chiefs meet in Ramstein. The capability of Air Power and the importance of the Air Domain provided the background for some interesting discussions. https://t.co/BOx0xVlfiv pic.twitter.com/ggLbRRSyNm
— Rory O'Connor (@GOCAirCorps) March 11, 2022
President Zelenskyy said 2,000 Ukrainians demonstrated in Melitopol today against the Russian invasion and to demand the release of their mayor.
“Do you hear, Moscow? If 2,000 people demonstrate in Melitopol against the occupation, how many are there in Moscow against the war?” he said in his video.
We mentioned earlier that Roman Abramovich has been disqualified from being a director of Chelsea Football Club.
You can read the full story on this development here.
More now from Niall O’Connor who is currently in Poland.
At a press conference in Przesmyl Train Station with the Ministers of Transport from Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and Czech Republic. Czech Republic have warned that they are getting out of their capacity to deal with refugees. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/lLTGaLdlWL
— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) March 12, 2022
More now from an Irish perspective.
There have been calls for the Government to engage further with migrant groups to improve integration for arriving refugees.
Integration Manager for Immigrant Council of Ireland Teresa Buczkowska told RTÉ’s Saturday with Katie Hannon programme there are community based organisations around the country “who have the cultural knowledge and know what it is like to be a migrant in Ireland”, who need to be brought in to help.
A similar call has been made by the Sanctuary Runners group, which works with people based in Direct Provision.Its founder and CEO Graham Clifford told the same programme there are established Polish and Lithuanian communities which are not being engaged. Clifford added that the GAA, on a local basis, can have a strong role to play in welcoming refugees.
Hello, Gráinne Ní Aodha here, just back from an EU summit to take over the Liveblog from my colleague Garreth.
It happened a few hours ago, but it’s worth mentioning the extraordinary UN Security Council meeting on chemical warfare requested by Russia last night, as it shows what the Taoiseach said yesterday about how dramatically the multilateral order has shifted because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ahead of the meeting, the Taoiseach told The Journal that some would regard that move by Russia as “cynical”, as Russia has used chemical weapon warfare in Syria.
The Russian ambassador to UN Vasily Nebenzya told the meeting that they believed Ukraine and the US could spread biological weapons through using migratory birds, bats and insects.
Here’s what Ireland had to say about Russia’s statement:
Ireland's permanent representative, Geraldine Byrne Nason @irishmissionun said Russia's disinformation campaigns "demean this body and its role in maintaining international peace and security".
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) March 11, 2022
On the mayor of Melitipol kidnapped by Russian troops, Zelenskyy had asked French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to call on the mayor to be freed.
At 11am Irish time, Vladimir Putin, Macon and Scholz began a telephone call with Putin, which ended just before 1pm, according to the Elysée.
Le Figaro reports that since Macron met Putin at the Kremlin on 7 February, there have been nine telephone conversations between the two leaders.
Over at the Poland-Ukraine border, where our man Niall O’Connor is reporting from, a press conference has been organised with various transport and infrastructure ministers of neighbouring countries.
At that press conference, Poland’s transport minister welcomed any Irish intervention which would see pressure taken off Poland’s borders as refugees flee the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to The Journal about Irish efforts, Minister Andrzej Adamczyk said: “Any assistance which can be offered, any help that can be offered to ourselves, also any assistance to provide help to Ukrainian people will be accepted, we will take it.
If there are any options available to cooperate with Irish transport ministers, we will be happy to accept it.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach is in London. He told RTÉ and Newstalk reporters that he’s not there to lecture the UK on how it handles Ukrainian refugees, but that he would be raising the issue with Boris Johnson when they meet at Twickenham later.
Delighted to meet some of the innovative irish companies, our economic agencies, as well communities groups working across the U.K. in London today.#stpatricksday @entirl @IDAIRELAND @Bordbia @tourismireland pic.twitter.com/L6FoRUeuDq
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) March 12, 2022
I’m finding the small moments of kindness like this one making the scale of this tragedy just about bearable:
Meanwhile at Warsaw’s central train station... 🇵🇱🇺🇦🖤 pic.twitter.com/y48kdHUp7M
— Exen 🇵🇱 (@Exen) March 12, 2022
After what our colleague reported from the Polish-Ukraine border, this is in:
The Czech Republic has asked other EU members to take in 50,000 refugees from Ukraine as its resources are now stretched, a fire brigade spokeswoman Pavla Jakoubkova said.
“Our absorption capacity is almost full,” Jakoubkova said in a statement. “We are asking the EU to enable the Czech Republic to become primarily a transit country while the refugees will be accepted in other member states”.
More than 102,000 Ukrainian refugees have been registered in the Czech Republic since the Russian invasion on 24 February, Jakoubkova said. The real number was “certainly 200,000″, she added.
Meanwhile, France and Germany urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin to end a deadly days-long siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol during that two-hour phone call we mentioned earlier.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office also accused the Putin of “lies” for alleging that Ukrainian forces had committed human rights abuses – as part of Russia’s disinformation tactics to justify the invasion of Ukraine and brutal tactics against citizens.
Breaking:
“Around 1,300″ Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as Moscow’s forces closed in on the capital Kyiv.
This is the first time Kyiv had given such a toll since the beginning of fighting.
On 2 March 2 Russia said it had lost nearly 500 soldiers, but has not updated the figure since. This figure is in contrast with the Ukrainian estimate which puts the number of Russian casualties at ten times that number.
These figures are not independently verified, but they are worth mentioning to give an idea of what the true figure might be:
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has claimed that Russia has lost “around 12,000 men” – ten days ago on 2 March 2 Russia said it had lost nearly 500 soldiers, but has not updated the figure since.
It’s “a ratio of one to ten, but that doesn’t make me happy”, Zelenskyy said in a statement today. The figures compare to the estimated 150,000 soldiers Russia has committed to the invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has also claimed that 500-600 soldiers have been captured by Ukraine.
Pictured here is smoke from shelling behind a wreath of flowers at a cemetery in Vasylkiv, to the southwest of Kyiv.
This photo was taken today.
This morning, Russian strikes destroyed the airport in the town of Vasylkiv, about 40 kilometres south of Kyiv, while an oil depot was also hit and caught fire.
Russian forces appeared to make progress from northeast Ukraine in their slow fight to reach the capital, Kyiv, while tanks and artillery pounded places already under siege.
This BBC piece is quite poignant – it describes how Lviv’s art and artifacts are being protected ahead of expected shelling and bombing.
Stained glass windows in Lviv’s UNESCO-heritage old town are being covered up, and statues of gods and goddesses in fountains are wrapped in flame-retardant fabric.
They can’t reveal where some art has been hidden.
A map of the latest situation, courtesy of PA news. You can see how Kyiv, along with Odesa and Dnipro after that, are clear targets for Russian forces.
The Ukrainian soldier has shown reporters a Russian armoured vehicle destroyed by a British anti-tank missile, thanking his “British comrades helping us”.
The British government says it has delivered 3,615 NLAW anti-tank weapons to Ukrainian forces fighting the Russian invasion, and it is one of Kyiv’s most advanced systems in its defence strategy.
More on that phone call between Putin, Macron and Scholz: The office of the French President said the call was “very frank and also difficult”.
French officials said the Russian leader gave no indication during the call that he intends to stop the fighting in Ukraine.
In Versailles yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that there was a sense of “foreboding” around what Vladimir Putin was capable of, and that there was a sense that the situation would get worse.
Those comments came ahead of the UN Security Council meeting on the use of chemical weapons, and after a maternity and children’s hospital was struck bu Russian forces.
That all seems to line up with the mood after the French-German call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
In light of that, a statement has been released after Martin met with Boris Johnson in London today.
They stressed that the cooperation of the EU and UK is important “in an uncertain world”, and that the two regions were “key partners” underpinned by shared values.
Pleased to meet Prime Minister @BorisJohnson before the Ireland v England game.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) March 12, 2022
We discussed brutal invasion of #Ukraine by Russia and the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Welcomed the close collaboration between the EU, U.K. and our partners to hold Russia to account. pic.twitter.com/hDmzTfeIkL
Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba says that Russia is now trying to organise a “sham referendum” in Kherson on making it a ‘fake people’s republic, and that he is expected will be “fully staged”.
“Severe sanctions against Russia must follow if they proceed. Kherson is & will always be Ukraine,” he said.
Following 2014 playbook, Russians now desperately try to organize a sham ‘referendum’ for a fake ‘people’s republic’ in Kherson. Given zero popular support, it will be fully staged. Severe sanctions against Russia must follow if they proceed. Kherson is & will always be Ukraine.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 12, 2022
On sanctions, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said yesterday that the EU needs to reduce dependency on Russian oil “as soon as possible”.
Despite sanctions, she said the EU “is financing Russia’s war by purchasing oil, gas and other fossil fuels from Russia”.
The EU had said that they would phase it out by 2027 – when asked if that was too long a phase-out, Marin simply said again that it needed to be done “as soon as possible”
Finnish PM @MarinSanna: "We are ... financing Russia’s war by purchasing gas and oil." #versailles #euco pic.twitter.com/durK3hvNEa
— Mark Johnston (@mark_johnston) March 11, 2022
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s senior adviser is saying that there are reports that Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko held talks in Moscow yesterday on circumventing sanctions imposed on the countries over the invasion of Ukraine.
Yesterday, Finance Minister and President of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe said that the EU would be monitoring how sanctions are operating week-to-week, to make sure that they are not being evaded or “undermined” in any way.
❗️Russia’s stock market will be closed for the whole of next week, Central Bank announces. That’s until at least March 21. Shares last traded on Feb. 25.
— Jake Cordell (@JakeCordell) March 12, 2022
A terrifying sight for the people of Kyiv.
Kyiv right now. Look at the horizon. pic.twitter.com/rJrkdAoGNf
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) March 12, 2022
Anastasia Erashova cries as she hugs her child in a corridor of a hospital in Mariupol.
Two of Anastasia’s children were killed during the shelling of the besieged port city.
A look at the situation in Mariupol, for a moment.
The death toll in Mariupol passed 1,500, from 12 days of attack, the mayor’s office said. There is a population of around 446,000 in the port city.
The reason why Mariupol is the focus of attack for Russia is it’s strategic position. It is located in the southwest of Ukraine – between the Donbas region in the west of Ukraine occupied by pro-Russian rebels since 2014 – and the annexed peninsula of Crimea.
With Mariupol and other ports on the Azov Sea under their control, Russia is hoping to link the territories it laid claim to in 2014.
The human cost of its geographical position is high: Mariupol’s electricity, gas and water supplies have been knocked out for days now, and aid workers and Ukrainian authorities have been describing an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.
Aid group Doctors Without Borders said Mariupol residents are dying from a lack of medication and are draining heating pipes for drinking water.
A sense of the atmosphere in Mariupol:
An Associated Press journalist in Mariupol witnessed tanks firing on an apartment building and was with a group of hospital workers who came under sniper fire yesterday.
Another worrying development, though it was predicted by security experts.
Russia suggesting that it will now view weapons being sent to Ukraine as legitimate targets, meaning any that cross the border to Ukraine could be under threat from Russian attack.
NEW: Russia will consider foreign shipments of weapons to Ukraine as “legitimate targets” for the Russian armed forces to attack, state-run RIA Novosti reports, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 12, 2022
That’s all from me for now, my colleague Eoghan Dalton will be taking the Liveblog over from here. Slán go fóil.
In an intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said it has become clear Russia’s army is “overstretched”, partly displayed by its need to conscript 16,000 soldiers from the Middle East.
The department tweeted: “President Putin has publicly welcomed the recruitment of ‘16,000 mostly Middle Eastern volunteers’ to support his invasion of Ukraine.
“Syrian mercenaries have deployed alongside Russian proxy forces in Libya since late 2020.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 12 March 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 12, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/jxXTyWlsyT
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/gRazq4vZ7Q
“This follows earlier reporting that Russia was also planning to deploy experienced mercenaries from Russian Private Military Companies to support the invasion.
“Russia this week has also been forced to acknowledge the use of conscript soldiers in its operations against Ukraine.
“As losses mount, Russia will be forced to draw on alternative sources to reinforce their overstretched regular forces.”
Ukrainian military says seven people, including child, shot dead during evacuation
Russian troops shot at a group of women and children evacuees leaving a village near Kyiv, killing seven, one of them a child, Ukraine’s military intelligence service said Saturday, stating this happened on Friday.
“During an attempt to evacuate from the village of Peremoga… along an agreed ‘green’ corridor, the occupiers opened fire on a column of civilians, consisting exclusively of women and children. The result of this brutal act was seven dead. One of them is a child,” Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said on Facebook.
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