Russia-Ukraine latest updates: UN chief slams invasion

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a violation of the founding UN Charter and international law and called out Russian threats about the possible use of nuclear weapons.

“We have heard implicit threats to use nuclear weapons. The so-called tactical use of nuclear weapons is utterly unacceptable. It is high time to step back from the brink,” Guterres told the 193-member UN General Assembly at a meeting to mark the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

US President Biden in a meeting with nine eastern Europe NATO allies has assured his “ironclad” commitment to Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty, the White House said in a statement.

The article states that an armed attack against one or more NATO members will be considered “an attack against them all”.

According to the White House statement, the leaders “reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine and underscored their shared commitment to stand with the Ukrainian people for as long as it takes”.

South Africa’s military has defended its decision to host naval exercises jointly staged with Russia and China and coinciding with the anniversary of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Originally slated to start last week, the exercise dubbed Mosi-II kicked off on Wednesday along South Africa’s eastern coast. The exercises have been criticised by the United States and the European Union.

“There is a difference between military and politics,” Lieutenant-General Siphiwe Sangweni, chief of joint operations in the South African National Defence Force, told a news conference in the eastern port town of Richards Bay.

“Yes, there will be other countries who feel differently in how we have approached this, but … all countries are sovereign nations and have a right to handle things [as] they see fit,” he added.

South Africa has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine which has largely isolated Moscow on the international stage, saying it prefers dialogue to end the war.

The World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge says he is “amazed” that Ukraine’s health system is still “standing” despite Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

“We had so many doom scenarios … [such as] explosion of infectious disease, COVID-19, TB, HIV and that the health system would collapse. The health system is standing,” he told Al Jazeera from Copenhagen, Denmark.

“This is thanks to I would say two major things: a heroic health workforce (I cannot underscore this enough); and second, international support for salaries and medicines, and this has to continue.”

Kluge said the impact of the war on the health of the Ukrainian population was not going to decrease, but only increase in time to come. “We have to stand in solidarity,” he said.

Russian troops managed to break through Ukrainian defences near the eastern town of Kreminna on Tuesday but were pushed back and lost some of their heavy equipment, a senior Ukrainian official has said.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai made his remarks in an interview with Ukrainian television. In earlier comments, he said the attack had been repulsed but made no mention of pro-Moscow forces breaching Ukrainian positions.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the governor’s claims.

Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska has urged the United Nations to establish a special tribunal to try Russia for crimes of aggression to ensure Moscow’s invasion “never will be repeated” anywhere.

Ukraine has pushed for several months for the creation of the tribunal to hold responsible those behind Russia’s invasion of the country one year ago.

“I think you will agree… that regardless of our country or nationality, we have the right not to be killed in our own homes,” Zelenska told a special meeting at the UN on human rights violations in Ukraine.

“However, Ukrainians are being killed in front of the whole world for the whole year in their own cities, villages, apartments, hospitals, theatres,” she told a panel of UN diplomats by video.

“That’s why we call on the United Nations to establish a special tribunal for the crimes of Russian aggression,” Zelenska said.

The Czech Republic has supplied hundreds of pieces of heavy military equipment to Ukraine over the past year including 89 tanks, Prime Minister Petr Fiala has said after meeting United States President Joe Biden.

Detailing for the first time the extent of Czech supplies coming under the cooperation of the state and the private sector, Fiala said the country has shipped 226 fighting and armoured infantry vehicles, 38 howitzers, 33 multiple rocket launchers, six air defence systems and four helicopters.

Slovenia’s iconic band Laibach will hold a concert in Ukraine’s capital next month, saying this will make them the first foreign group to perform a full show in Kyiv since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.

The industrial rock band will hold a “very special concert” on March 31st at the Bel Etage Music Hall in Kyiv, a statement said. The concert will be dubbed “Eurovision” in reference to the pop song contest that Ukraine won in 2022 but that will be hosted by the United Kingdom in Liverpool instead of being in Ukraine this year due to the war.

“While the rest of Europe prepares to celebrate its idea of freedom and solidarity on 9 May in Liverpool, Laibach will be taking Eurovision back to Ukraine – where it belongs and where the only true and real vision of Europe is taking place right now,” the concert announcement said.

Laibach is Slovenia’s best-known band and has won fame abroad for its totalitarian visual style, toying with populist imagery and almost martial-rhythm songs that are sung in husky, deep vocals.

All members of the Bucharest Nine, the nations on NATO’s eastern flank that joined the alliance after being dominated by Moscow during the Cold War, have jointly condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine, a Polish presidential adviser said.

“All allies agreed that they would support each other in the event of a threat,” Marcin Przydacz, an adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters.

“The next point of the declaration was the condemnation of the brutal, bloody war against Ukraine, which is being waged by Russia. All members of the Bucharest Nine signed these words.”

Putin has suspended Russia’s participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States after accusing the West of being directly involved in attempts to attack its strategic airbases.

So what is this agreement for?

START, or the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, is the last remaining nuclear arms control pact between Russia and the US.

The treaty, which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the US and Russia can deploy, was signed by former US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010.

Read more here.

Russia says it is studying a newly released paper on Beijing’s Global Security Initiative, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s flagship security proposal.

“The positions of the two countries on the most pressing international issues coincide or are close, which the Russian and Chinese leadership has repeatedly spoken about,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharkova said at a briefing.

“The same can be said for the Global Security Initiative,” she added.

China on Tuesday released the proposal, which aims to uphold the principle of “indivisible security”, a policy that one state should not strengthen its own security at the expense of another. Moscow endorses the policy and has argued that NATO’s eastward expansion has threatened its security.

European Union countries failed to agree on new sanctions against Russia meant to be in place for the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday, diplomatic sources in the bloc’s hub Brussels said.

The proposed package includes trade curbs worth more than 10 billion euros ($10.6bn), according to the bloc’s chief executive, including a ban on EU imports of Russian rubber. It would also bar EU exports to Russia of tech equipment and spare parts that Moscow might use on the battlefield.

The Brussels-based executive also wants the 27 EU countries to better track Russian assets on their soil as the bloc seeks ways to use them to help rebuild Ukraine from the war. Some countries, however, pushed back against the spectre of facing fines for failing to report, according to the sources.

“There are several issues outstanding, including on rubber and reporting obligations,” said one of the sources.

All sources spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the confidentiality of the negotiations among the bloc.

US President Biden said Russia’s decision to suspend the New START Treaty – a 2010 agreement that limits the number of Russian and US deployed strategic nuclear warheads – was a “big mistake”.

He spoke ahead of a meeting with eastern European leaders in Warsaw, where he reaffirmed US commitment to their security.

“As NATO’s eastern flank, you are the front line of our collective defence,” Biden said.

“You know better than anyone what is at stake in this conflict. Not just for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout Europe and around the world.”

Two civilians have been killed in Russian shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and two were wounded in a missile strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional officials said.

An 81-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man were killed during shelling of the village of Novotyahinka, about 40km (25 miles) from the city of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Two civilians were lightly wounded in missiles strikes targeting industrial facilities in Kharkiv, about 30km (19 miles) from the border with Russia, local officials said.

The city, Ukraine’s second largest, has frequently been under fire since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.

Sanctions against Russian nuclear energy would harm Hungary’s interests and should not be brought forward by the European Union, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

Hungary’s 12.5-billion-euro ($13.3bn) nuclear project, which has been significantly delayed, was awarded in 2014 without a tender to Russia’s Rosatom, and Szijjarto said Hungary lobbied hard to prevent either the company or its officials being brought under EU sanctions.

“We had to act forcefully against the listing of Rosatom or Rosatom officials,” Szijjarto said. “Any sanctions on nuclear energy or Rosatom would harm Hungary’s fundamental national interests.”

Hungary has opposed including nuclear power in EU sanctions against Russia, and also urged a ceasefire and peace talks over Ukraine to prevent further escalation of the war into a broader conflict.

NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine must get the help it needs and that Russia could not be allowed to chip away at European security.

“We must sustain and step up our support for Ukraine. We must give Ukraine what they need to prevail,” Stoltenberg told a summit of the Bucharest 9 countries together with US President Joe Biden.

President Putin has hailed Russian soldiers fighting in  Ukraine during a rally in Moscow, calling on the crowds to chant “Russia, Russia” to show their support for those he said were defending the fatherland.

Tens of thousands of people packed into Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, which has a capacity of 81,000, waving white, blue and red Russian flags and listening to patriotic songs before Putin arrived.

“They fight heroically, courageously, bravely. We are proud of them,” Putin said at the “Glory to Defenders of the Fatherland” event, held on the eve of Russia’s February 23 holiday celebrating those who serve in the armed forces.

“Today, they are supported by the whole country,” Putin said of Russian forces in Ukraine, adding he had just been updated by military chiefs on the situation at the front. “When we are together, we have no equal. To the unity of the Russian people.”

Russia will stick to agreed limits on nuclear missiles and keep informing the United States about changes in its deployments, a senior defence official said, despite the “suspension” of its last remaining arms control – known as New START – with Washington.

A top defence ministry official, Major-General Yevgeny Ilyin, told the lower house, or Duma, that Russia would continue to observe agreed limits on nuclear delivery systems – meaning missiles and strategic bomber planes.

RIA news agency quoted Ilyin as saying it would also continue to provide Washington with notifications on nuclear deployments in order “to prevent false alarms, which is important for maintaining strategic stability”.

In a year, thousands of Ukrainian civilians and troops on both sides have been killed in Russia’s war, and tensions between Moscow and the West have risen to an all-time high.

Friday marks the anniversary of the war the world had feared. Peace seems a distant prospect.

So, which direction might the war take now?

Read more here.

Biden is wrapping up a four-day visit to Poland and Ukraine by reassuring allies on NATO’s eastern flank that his administration is highly attuned to the looming threats and other impacts caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Before departing Warsaw, Biden is holding talks with leaders from the Bucharest Nine, a collection of nations in the easternmost parts of the NATO alliance. The group was formed in response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

The alliance consists of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.