Ukraine

“We know that our Indian partners are committed to that rules-based international order. There are any number of tenets to that order. One of them is that borders cannot be redrawn by force, that large countries cannot bully small countries; that only the people of a particular country can be in a position to choose their foreign policy, their partnerships, their alliances, their associations,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said

In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainians are different, but they all are united by the desire to live in peace, happiness and with their loved ones, reports Xinhua news agency. "We are all united by one desire: to live in peace, happily, as one family, with children, with parents. And we have every right to all this. Because we are at home, we are in Ukraine," Zelensky said.

"All the authorities responsible for cybersecurity worked to counter these attacks and eliminate them," Fedorov was quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying. The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which cost an estimated "millions of US dollars," were prepared beforehand and were aimed at destabilizing the situation and sowing panic in Ukraine, the minister said.

"We have heard signs from Moscow about readiness to continue diplomatic efforts, but so far we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, it appears that Russia continues the military build-up," Stoltenberg said on Wednesday, CNN reported."We will continue to convey a very clear message to Russia that we are ready to sit down and discuss with them, but at the same time, we are prepared for the worst."

Speaking to the BBC at a military training ground in western Ukraine, Zelensky said: "To be honest, we react to the reality we have and we don't see any withdrawal yet. We just heard about it." He said he thinks "all normal people expect de-escalation". Zelensky said that when troops do withdraw, "everyone will see that" -- not only the military or reconnaissance.

The flight ticket prices have risen from Rs 50,000 to over Rs 70,000 and the students say it is this financial hurdle that is forcing them to stay put despite the advisory by the Indian government. On normal days, the flight tickets would cost Rs 21,000-Rs 26,000. But now, due to the Russia-Ukraine tensions, the rates have jacked up.

“From the standpoint of will China see what's happening in Europe and... try to do something here in the Indo-Pacific -- absolutely yes, that's a concern…I do have my concerns that they would want to take advantage… It won't be surprising if they tried something that may be provocative, and see how the international community reacts,” General Kenneth Wilsbach, the head of US Pacific Air Forces said on the sidelines of the Singapore Air Show.  

"Regarding whether we want this (war), of course we don't. This is why we have put forward proposals for the start of a negotiation process in a bid to reach an agreement ensuring equal security for everyone," Putin said during a press conference with Scholz following their talks in the Kremlin.

 “Do we want this or not? Of course, not. That is exactly why we put forward proposals for a process of negotiations… We are ready to work further together. We are ready to go down the negotiations track,” Putin said in a press brief after a four-hour long meeting with Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Putin, however, said that NATO and the US must take Russia’s security concerns seriously.

Two Ukrainian banks also lost access to online banking services, according to the government. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said that its website was hit with a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. "The website was probably attacked by DDoS: an excessive number of requests per second was recorded. Technical works on restoration of regular functioning are carried out. Communication through FB and Twitter pages.