Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says his army has taken control of the besieged town hall of Mariupol and hoisted the Russian flag.
“The Mariupol city authorities liberated the building and hoisted our flag, and their troops control the Mariupol radio to confirm it,” Kadyrov said in a telegram.
However, this news has not been independently confirmed by international news services. Al Jazeera quoted Kadirov, also known as a pro-Russian Chechen leader, as saying.
Meanwhile, Belarus has objected to Poland’s request for peacekeeping forces to be sent to Ukraine.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that Poland’s proposal to deploy a Western peacekeeping force in Ukraine would “mean the beginning of World War III.”
“The situation is very serious and very unsettling,” he added.
Meanwhile, a government official in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv told the Associated Press news agency that Russian forces had been deliberately besieging and attacking food stores for nearly a month, and that a “catastrophe” was unfolding for Ukraine’s indigenous population. It’s because the Russians are attacking food stores.
An airstrike this week destroyed a bridge across the Desna River, which was crucial in bringing food and other aid further south from Ukraine-controlled territory. It also blocked access to food for the Ukrainian people.
However, the United Kingdom says Ukrainian forces are still attacking high-value Russian targets.
The British Defense Ministry says Ukrainian forces have launched raids on high-value locations in Ukraine’s Russian colonies, including a landing ship and an ammunition depot in Burdiansk.
Updating its latest intelligence, the ministry said such attacks would severely hamper the priority given to protecting the Russian military supply chain and depriving troops of much-needed re-supply.
Ukraine, meanwhile, says Moscow has forcibly deported 402,000 civilians from Ukrainian cities to Russia, and that some could be used as “hostages” to pressure them to leave Kiev.
Ukraine’s ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova said that number included 84,000 children.
They are being held under primary conditions with little food and water, she said.
Ukraine’s rebel-held eastern regions speak mainly Russian, and many there have supported close ties to Moscow.
Meanwhile, Ukraine today (25) informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Russian forces are shelling Ukrainian checkpoints in the city of Slavutych. Says the Agency for Nations.
G7 countries warn against nuclear, chemical and biological weapons threat and reprimand Russia.
G7 countries such as Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States have expressed support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine, saying they regret the Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns.
“The siege of Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities and the denial of humanitarian access by the Russian military is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, Biden has once again warned China against aiding Russia in Ukraine. Joe Biden has reiterated his warnings to China against Russia’s aid to Ukraine, explaining the “consequences” of such aid to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a phone call last week.
The U.S. president said Xi understood that China’s economic interests were with the West, not Russia.
“I made no threats but I pointed out the American and foreign people who left Russia as a result of their brutal behavior,” Biden told reporters in his conversation with Xi.
