President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to meet with Ukrainian refugees displaced by the humanitarian crisis and conflict triggered by a month-long war in Ukraine.
More than 2 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the start of Russia’s invasion of their homeland, and Biden will meet with Ukrainian refugees and US humanitarian workers in Warsaw on Saturday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
On Thursday, Biden pledged $ 1 billion in humanitarian aid to refugees fleeing the invasion. Before leaving Brussels on Friday, Biden held bilateral meetings with European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen, after which the United States and the European Union announced a new working group aimed at reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.
Biden said the task force would focus on two initiatives: to help Europe quickly reduce its dependence on Russia on gas and to reduce Europe’s gas demand as a whole.
Later in Rzeszów, Poland, Biden will receive an explanation of the humanitarian response to civilian suffering within Ukraine and the flow of refugees fleeing the country. He will then meet with members of the U.S. Service in the 82nd Air Division, which has been sent to Poland in recent weeks to strengthen NATO’s eastern part.
In Warsaw, even Pita He will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda to comment on concerted efforts to support the Ukrainian people and hold Russia accountable for the war.
Meanwhile, suburbs of Kharkiv continued to face shelling throughout Friday morning, and in Kiev, a large fireball exploded before Russian forces claimed to have destroyed a Ukrainian fuel base. In Chernihiv, city official Olexander Lomako warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” after Russian forces destroyed a bridge and its forces began targeting food supplies.
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Recent developments
அடிப்படையில்The UN Office of Human Rights said it was challenging to confirm Mariupol’s deaths, given the organization’s strict guidelines for calculating the number of civilians killed in the conflict. The office says at least 1,035 civilians have been killed and 1,650 injured in Ukraine, but acknowledges that number is lower.
The Finnish National Railways announced on Friday that it would suspend its service between Helsinki and the Russian city of St. Petersburg, closing one of the last public transport routes between the EU and Russia.
⁇The Council of the European Union came to an end After meeting with US President Joe Biden on Thursday, Russia’s war in Ukraine is a serious violation of international law.
The Russian military says it will provide a safe haven for foreign ships stranded in Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine on Thursday accused Moscow of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians from Ukrainian cities to Russia, where some could be used as “hostages” to pressure them to leave Kiev. Ukraine’s Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, had been abducted.
Impact of war on food:How Russia’s war against Ukraine makes our food prices – from bread to beer – so high
NATO leader: Chemical or nuclear weapons ‘completely’ change the nature of war
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that the use of nuclear or chemical weapons in Ukraine would “completely change the nature of the war in Ukraine. It is completely unacceptable.”
Stoltenberg made the remarks during a visit to the biennial Cold Response Training and brings together NATO members and non-NATO members, including Finland and Sweden.
Russia has refused to participate, but Stoltenberg said NATO “always invites other countries to observe.”
Meanwhile, during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday, Russia faces “a total war declared on us,” with the West seeking to “destroy, break, destroy and strangle the Russian economy and Russia as a whole.”
The city says 300 people have been killed in an airstrike on the Mariupol Theater
The city government said Friday that a Russian airstrike on a theater in the southeastern city of Mariupol had killed at least 300 people.
The Mariupol government made the announcement citing eyewitness accounts on its Telegram channel. It was not immediately clear whether excavation efforts at the theater were complete.
The site was attacked on March 16 and the word “children” was released in Russian to prevent an attack on a public shelter. Mariupol faced some harsh conditions in Ukrainian cities as Russian forces besieged the city.
‘We must seek peace’: Zhelensky promises in a speech to Ukraine
In his late-night address to Ukraine on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky spoke of hope and determination as the war entered its second month.
“It’s already night, but we’re working,” Zhelensky said in a video address. “The country must move towards peace, move forward. Can not.
Earlier in the week, Zhelensky called on people around the world to rally in support of his country. “Come to your squares, to your streets. See and hear yourself, ”he said.
A government official says a ‘disaster’ is looming in Ukraine
A local government official says Russian troops are deliberately targeting food stalls in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.
In an audio message sent to the Associated Press, City Council Secretary Oleksandr Lomko said a “disaster” was looming in the northern city. This week, Russian airstrikes destroyed a bridge over the Tesna River, the main route for bringing food and other supplies from the Ukrainian-controlled area in the south.
“Humanitarian aid, medicine and food will be distributed within the city via this bridge,” he told the Associated Press.
Lomako said the city has less than 130,000 residents out of a pre-war population of 285,000.
– Selena Deborah
The poll shows that Americans support Russian sanctions and that Biden should be tough
A Most Americans are in favor of tougher sanctions on Russia But according to opinion polls released by the Associated Press and the NORC on Thursday, Biden is expected to remain tough after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a poll of 1,082 American adults from Thursday to Monday, 56% of Americans believe Biden’s response to Russia was inadequate, with 53% of Democrats in the majority. A very small percentage, about 6%, polled that they thought Biden was “too hard.”
Throughout the group, Americans from both political parties supported Russia’s severe economic blows. In a poll, 68% said they generally support sanctions and 70% support a ban on oil recently imported from Russia, which has pushed up gas prices.
– Crystal Hayes
Contributed by: Associated Press
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