Russia-Ukraine war latest: Poland calls for EU trade ban with Russia; invasion a ‘catastrophic mistake’, says Johnson – live | World news

The Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, has stated his nation will handle the “wives and children” fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has pushed about 3m Ukrainians to hunt refuge within the EU’s jap flank.

Fiala, who travelled to Kyiv earlier this week with his Polish and Slovenian counterparts to fulfill Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, added that the Czech Republic may cope with additional refugee arrivals from Ukraine.

With males of conscription age prevented from leaving Ukraine, largely ladies and kids have crossed into the European Union at border factors in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

“I have informed Ukrainian friends that we will take care of their wives and children,” Fiala stated on Twitter. “The speed and size of the refugee wave is incomparable with past waves but the Czech Republic can (handle) it.”

Echoing the issues of different leaders within the area, Fiala stated nations receiving giant numbers of refugees ought to obtain EU monetary help however voiced opposition to quotas.

“We do not want the EU to introduce quotas but to have financial solidarity with the countries most affected by the refugee wave,” he stated.

Poland, which shares a roughly 500km (310-mile) border with Ukraine, has acquired greater than 2m of the refugee arrivals.

The deputy mayor of Przemysl, a city close to Poland’s busiest crossing with Ukraine, stated the movement of refugees has eased, however cautioned that additional Russian army assaults in western Ukraine may change the state of affairs rapidly.

“Most of the people who left eastern Ukraine are now in western Ukraine waiting for further developments,” deputy mayor Boguslaw Swiezy stated. “Any nervousness occurring in western Ukraine will result in an increase in the stream of people coming to Poland.”

Boris Johnson stated it was a “tragedy” that the shortage of democracy in Russia meant Vladimir Putin was not challenged as he launched his “disastrous” invasion.

Johnson stated:

I don’t imagine that democratic freedoms are going to sprout any time quickly within the Kremlin, removed from it.

But with on daily basis that passes I believe that Putin turns into a extra evident commercial for the system that he hates and despises, and it turns into ever extra apparent why we’ve got to stay up for Ukraine.

The prime minister stated that “if Putin had a free press, if he had the BBC on his case… whatever you may think, he would have known the truth – or a version of it”.

As Tory activists laughed on the jibe aimed on the BBC, Johnson continued:

If he had free, neutral accountable journalism, let me put it that approach, then he would have recognized the reality that the Ukrainians are a proud, proud nation with a charismatic chief.

And he would have recognized, earlier than he set out on this disastrous and inhuman enterprise, that they’d struggle to defend their homeland, he would have recognized that.

In a actual democracy Putin wouldn’t have “locked himself in this echo chamber of sycophants” as a result of he must face a “real parliament with real backbenchers” who needed to face an citizens.

In these circumstances “I don’t believe that he would have been capable of such a crescendo of disastrous and self-destructive mistakes”, Johnson added.

Ukraine might not produce sufficient crops to export if this yr’s sowing campaigns are disrupted by Russia’s invasion, the presidential adviser Oleh Ustenko has stated.

“Ukraine has enough grain and food reserves to survive for a year, but if the war continues … [Ukraine] will not be able to export grain to the world, and there will be problems,” he stated, including that Ukraine is the world’s fifth-largest wheat exporter.

Boris Johnson thanked the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for urging him to “read Putin’s crazy essay” a number of months in the past, forward of the invasion.

He stated the pair, alongside with the international secretary, Liz Truss, spoke every day concerning the state of affairs in Ukraine.

“We are talking continuously, Liz, Ben and I, to our colleagues in the Ukraine support group to discuss what more we can do. And those conversations are literally every day and there will be more,” he advised the Conservative convention.

He stated he was “proud” of what the UK did on sanctions, including: “We must sanction more banks and individuals than any other European country … there is, of course, a cost to all these actions. Of course there is. But the cost of doing nothing will be far higher.”

He described Putin as a “a backstreet pusher, feeding addiction, creating dependence” on Russia’s gasoline and oil.

“Putin’s war is intended to cause economic damage to the west and to benefit him,” he advised the convention.

He is aware of that with each greenback enhance within the value of a barrel of oil, he will get billions extra in revenues from the gross sales of both oil and gasoline, and that’s the tragedy of the state of affairs.

Now he needs to weaken the collective will to withstand by pushing up the price of residing, hitting us on the pumps and in our gas payments, so we should reply.

A “new age of intimidation” stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea looms if Vladimir Putin succeeds in his invasion of Ukraine, Boris Johnson has warned.

Johnson stated the world was at a “turning point”:

The finish of freedom in Ukraine will imply the extinction of any hope of freedom in Georgia after which Moldova. It will imply the start of a new age of intimidation throughout the entire of Eastern Europe from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

If Putin succeeding crushing Ukraine, will probably be the inexperienced gentle for autocrats all over the place within the Middle East, within the Far East. This is a turning level for the world. It’s a second of alternative. It’s a alternative between freedom and oppression.

He warned different leaders towards adopting a stance of “realpolitik” in the direction of Putin. “I know there are some others around the world who say it’s better to make accommodation with tyranny. I believe they are profoundly wrong,” Johnson stated.

To attempt to normalise relations with Putin after this, because the west had completed in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, can be to make precisely the identical mistake once more, he added.

Vladimir Putin made a “catastrophic mistake” in invading Ukraine, Boris Johnson has stated.

Speaking on the Conservative social gathering convention in Blackpool, the UK prime minister stated the nation stood with the individuals of Ukraine. “With every day that Ukraine’s heroic resistance continues, it is clear that Putin has made a catastrophic mistake,” he stated.

Johnson questioned why Putin had launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, rejecting the concept that it was over issues concerning the nation becoming a member of Nato. “He was frightened of Ukraine, because in Ukraine, they have a free press. And in Ukraine, they had free elections and with every year Ukraine has progressed, not always easily, towards freedom and democracy and open markets, he feared the Ukrainian example, and he feared the implicit reproach to himself,” Johnson stated.

The prime minister contrasted this with the state of affairs in Russia. “In Putin’s Russia, you get jailed for 15 years just for calling an invasion an invasion. And if you stand against Putin in an election, you get poisoned or shot.”

He stated Putin felt threatened by Ukraine as a result of the 2 nations had been “so historically close”. It is important that Moscow’s invasion fails, Johnson stated, as a result of “a victorious Putin will not stop in Ukraine”.

Aid companies are been prevented from reaching individuals trapped in Ukrainian cities surrounded by Russian forces, the World Food Programme has stated.

The UN company’s emergency coordinator, Jakob Kern, advised AFP that “the challenge is to get to the cities that are encircled or about to be encircled”, describing the state of affairs as dire. He stated it has been virtually inconceivable to ship emergency provides to the besieged port metropolis of Mariupol or the north-eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy. He stated it was a tactic that was unacceptable within the twenty first century.

Replacing damaged meals provide chains amid preventing is a “mammoth task”, he stated. The WFP is aiming to succeed in 3.1 million individuals in Ukraine, however efforts have been hindered by difficulties find keen truck drivers. Hundreds of 1000’s of girls and kids are amongst these trapped.

“The closer you go to these cities, the more worried they are about their safety,” Kern stated. “And that means we’re not able to reach these people in Mariupol, Sumy, Kharkiv, in the cities that are almost encircled by now – or completely in the case of Mariupol.”

Three Russian cosmonauts have arrived on the International Space Station carrying yellow flight fits with blue accents – the colors of the Ukrainian flag:

A complete of 816 Ukrainian civilians have been confirmed to have been killed and 1,333 injured because the Russian invasion started on 24 February, in keeping with the UN human rights workplace. However, because it solely experiences counts that it could actually confirm, it believes the figures vastly understate the precise toll.

Ukrainian officers say 1000’s have been killed.

The Associated Press experiences that the workplace of the nation’s prosecutor normal stated that a whole of 112 youngsters have been killed because the begin of the preventing. More than 140 youngsters have been wounded.

The UK Home Office has stated 8,600 visas had been granted underneath the household scheme for Ukrainians fleeing the war by 5pm on Friday.

The announcement comes amid frustration with the size of time the Home Office is taking to course of visas. At least 43,000 have applied for Ukraine household scheme visas and are ready for their functions to be accredited, with many staying in lodges in nations bordering Ukraine.

Poland has proposed that the European Union implement a whole ban on trade with Russia, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has stated in a assertion reported by Reuters.

Poland is proposing so as to add a trade blockade to this package deal of sanctions as quickly as attainable, [including] each of its seaports … but in addition a ban on land trade. Fully slicing off Russia’s trade would additional drive Russia to think about whether or not it could be higher to cease this merciless war,” Morawiecki stated.

Poland’s name for Moscow to face harder financial repercussions for its invasion of Ukraine comes after EU member states agreed on a fourth package deal of sanctions towards Russia this week. Details weren’t disclosed, however the French presidency stated Russia’s “most-favoured nation” trade standing can be revoked.

Street preventing within the centre of Mariupol is stopping the rescue of a whole bunch of civilians trapped within the basement of a theatre that Ukrainian officers say was bombed by Russia on Wednesday, in keeping with the town’s mayor.

Vadym Boychenko advised the BBC that rescue groups may assist individuals out of the wreckage solely during times when the preventing subsided. “There are tanks … and artillery shelling, and all kinds of weapons fired in the area,” he advised the broadcaster.

“Our forces are doing everything they can to hold their position in the city, but the forces of the enemy are larger than ours, unfortunately.”

On Friday, Mariupol authorities stated 130 had escaped however that greater than 1,000 remained within the theatre’s basement. Russia denies bombing the theatre.

The Ukrainian military has not noticed any vital shifts up to now 24 hours in entrance line areas, the presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has stated in a assertion reported by Reuters.

Fighting continues, Arestovych stated in a web based video deal with. He named the next as hotspots for the Russian offensive:

• The south-eastern metropolis of Mariupol
• The southern cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson
• The jap city of Izyum

The former head of the British armed forces has backed calls for Vladimir Putin to face a “Nuremberg-type trial” because of Russia’s “morally indefensible tactic” of attacking Ukrainian civilians.

Discussing the function of morale performs in wars, Lord Richard Dannatt advised BBC Breakfast that it had a “huge bearing on what happens on the ground”. He stated:

When we discuss preventing energy, there are three parts – there’s the bodily part (the tanks, the plane, the gear), there’s the conceptual parts (the plans the generals come up with) however then there’s the morale part – that’s the desire of the troopers to struggle.

He contrasted the state of affairs that Russian troops had been led to anticipate after they invaded Ukraine with the fact. “We understand that they were briefed really poorly, that they would go, that they’d be moving quickly, they’d be welcomed as peacekeepers and liberators, but in fact what they found was that the Ukrainian armed forces, Ukrainian civilians were fighting resolutely against them. These young men are absolutely confused, many of them are very young, frightened, exhausted from weeks of exercising.”

The morale of Russian troops had been additional weakened by a failure within the military’s logistics methods, Dannatt stated:

These younger males, not solely frightened, are actually hungry, the gas for their tanks will not be out there, so that they’ve been positioned in a horrible state of affairs. It’s due to this fact no shock the Russian military has not made progress on the bottom. They’ve needed to resort now to this morally indefensible tactic of shelling defenceless civilians.”

Dannatt agreed with calls from Gordon Brown and others for Putin to not solely be indicted, however for “a Nuremberg-type trial to be set up, to absolutely condemn, for all time, into the history books, what Putin and his generals have been doing”.

Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after failing to “fatally weaken” the nation with its annexation of Crimea and war within the Donbas, the UK’s former ambassador to Ukraine has stated.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Simon Smith mentioned the “background” to Putin’s “full-scale” invasion of Ukraine, saying:

I believe in 2013-14, a lot of us noticed what Russia was doing then as a begin of Russia’s war on Ukraine – it isn’t a war that simply began in February this yr. Because what Putin was after in annexing Crimea and instigating the war within the Donbas was fatally weakening Ukraine, inflicting such harm on Ukraine, damaging its methods and establishments, damaging its confidence to an extent that Ukraine wouldn’t be match to function as a viable sovereign nation.

What we noticed within the 7-8 years following, was the truth that Putin failed in that goal, that Ukraine did remarkably effectively in staying on its ft, reforming a lot of establishments and really making itself a extra viable and profitable nation.

Here are some photographs from the previous 24 hours.

In Lviv on Friday, prams have been organized in neat rows throughout Rynok Square, in a show that symbolised the tragic value of the war. The prams characterize every of the 109 youngsters Ukrainian officers say have died to date in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

In Kyiv, officers stated on Friday that 222 individuals had been killed within the capital, together with 60 civilians and 4 youngsters.

More than 3.2 million have left Ukraine because the begin of the war. Many – greater than 2 million – have travelled to Poland, in keeping with UNHCR. On Friday, households queued for meals close to the Central Station in Warsaw. Christine Goyer, the UN refugee company’s Representative in Poland, stated there had been a “tremendous effort from the people, local communities, municipalities and government of Poland in receiving and hosting new arrivals.”

On Friday night time in Moscow, Vladimir Putin praised Russian “unity” over what the Kremlin is asking its particular operation in Ukraine, throughout a uncommon public speech. His five-minute deal with on the Luzhniki stadium was, nevertheless, reduce quick because of a “technical failure” and so re-aired from begin.

Many attending the Moscow rally have been seen waving flags emblazoned with the letter Z, a army marking that has turn into a image of help for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The southern metropolis of Zaporizhzhia will probably be underneath a 38-hour curfew starting at 2pm GMT on Saturday (4pm native time) after the Ukrainian army ordered individuals to remain residence till early on Monday, the deputy mayor Anatoliy Kurtiev stated in a assertion reported by Reuters.

“Do not go outside at this time!” he stated in a web based submit.

The metropolis has turn into an vital route for a number of the 35,000 individuals estimated to have escaped the siege of Mariupol.

Ten humanitarian corridors have been agreed on with Russian for the evacuation of residents, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk has stated.

Reuters experiences that Vereshchuk stated a hall had been agreed for the besieged metropolis of Mariupol, though the authorities’ earlier efforts to evacuate civilians there underneath a short-term ceasefire have largely failed, with either side buying and selling blame. About 350,000 civilians are stranded within the metropolis with little meals or water.

Several corridors have additionally been agreed in Kyiv and within the Luhansk area.