Russia Ukraine War

As Russian missiles rain down on their homes, many people in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev have moved permanently into the safe shelter of the metro. Kiev's extremely deep metro tunnels are a perfect place to hide. Descending into the cavernous cool of the Dorohozhychy station, one is greeted with the sight of wall to wall blankets, tents, piles of personal goods and people sitting or lying on the floor, with their children and their pets, waiting and hoping that the Russians will be defeated and that they could have their lives back, the local Kyiv Independent newspaper reported.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry on Thursday announced that Russian ships and rocket boats were approaching the country's third largest city of Odessa located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The Ministry also claimed that Ukraine's Armed Forces have neutralised a Russian landing operation near the town of Balovne, the Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Russian forces with high-precision weapons have disabled a reserve radio and television centre in Kiev, spokesman of the Defence Ministry in Moscow Igor Konashenkov claimed on Thursday. He said the centre had been used by the Security Service of Ukraine for "psychological operations", reports Xinhua news agency.

The Swedish Armed Forces said that four Russian fighter aircraft have violated the country's airspace. In a statement, the Forces said that it conducted an operation with JAS 39 Gripen aircraft of the rapid readiness unit, which documented and photographed the incident.

Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the Quad leaders will hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss the developments in the Indo-Pacific region. The Ministry of External Affairs said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate along with the US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a Quad Leaders' virtual meeting.

Russia has coined a four-point formula that would keep out NATO, the western military alliance, out of most of the territories that were once a part of the former Soviet Union. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stressed on Tuesday during a video address to the Conference on Disarmament that Moscow was seeking legally binding security guarantees from NATO members. These security guarantees were of "fundamental importance" to ensure peace in the region.

A new round of talks between Russia and Ukraine is expected to take place on Thursday in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on the Belarus-Poland border, as Moscow's military assault continued on Kiev for the eighth day. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said the delegation headed by him arrived at the negotiating site Wednesday evening, reports Xinhua news agency.

The US State Department may try to find a way to boot Russia from its permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC), shaking up the international bodys balance of power amid outrage over the war in Ukraine, RT reported. Washington is "investigating the prospects" of expelling Russia as one of the five permanent Security Council members, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told American lawmakers on Wednesday.

Russia's secret war documents have revealed that the plans for Moscow's war with Ukraine were approved on January 18 and it anticipated that the capture must be executed within 15 days, from February 20 to March 6. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Ukraine's Joint Forces Operations Command said: "Due to the successful actions of one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers are losing not only equipment and manpower.

Hours after India had abstained on a UN General Assembly vote on Ukraine, an influential Republican Senator has cautioned that it would be "foolish" to harm bilateral ties because of it. He and other senators at the hearing stressed India's importance to the US because of its strategic position and the size of its population and economy.