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Russia-Ukraine War: What to know on the unprovoked attack

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The Russia-Ukraine War started in one place, and that is in Vladimir Putin’s deranged, evil mind, and nowhere else, as he seeks to increase the boundaries of his country back to the old Russian empire territorial claims. It is also no secret as we have now learned that Putin was waiting for America and its allies to be in a weakened state, proving that the current crop of Western leadership is incapable of handing, or out-thinking Putin and his heinous intentions. As reported by the AP:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a global boycott of all of Russia’s products –- including oil–- ahead of a third round of talks

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 12th day following what Ukrainian authorities described as increased shelling of encircled cities and another failed attempt to start evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians from the besieged southern port of Mariupol.

A woman with a child arrives at the border crossing after fleeing from the Ukraine in Medyka, Poland, Monday, March 7, 2022. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety Sunday were forced to shelter from Russian shelling that pummeled cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Russia announced yet another cease-fire and humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to flee Ukraine starting Monday. Two previous cease-fire attempts have failed. Moscow’s armed forces continued to pummel some Ukrainian cities with rockets even after the announcement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a global boycott of all Russian products –- including oil — ahead of a third round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian leaders planned for Monday.

In this handout photo taken from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses to the nation in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Zelenskyy declared martial law, saying Russia has targeted Ukraine’s military infrastructure. He urged Ukrainians to stay home and not to panic. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

More than 1.7 million Ukrainians had been forced from the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged his people to keep resisting, and Ukraine’s foreign minister said more than 20,000 people from 52 countries had volunteered to fight in Ukraine’s newly created international legion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war.”

Here’s a look at key things to know about the conflict:

A man carries a woman as they cross an improvised path while fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. In Irpin, near Kyiv, a sea of people on foot and even in wheelbarrows trudged over the remains of a destroyed bridge to cross a river and leave the city. (AP Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

VIOLENCE STOPS PLANNED CIVILIAN EVACUATIONS AGAIN

Russia announced a cease-fire starting Monday morning and the opening of humanitarian corridors in several areas to allow hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to flee the fighting, even as its armed forces continued to pummel Ukrainian cities.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko had blamed Russian artillery fire for halting a second attempt in as many days to evacuate an estimated 200,000 civilians from Mariupol, where food, water and medicine are scarce.

A Ukrainian man rides his bicycle near a factory and a store burning after it had been bombarded in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A day earlier, Ukrainian officials similarly said Russian artillery fire and airstrikes had prevented residents from leaving. Putin accused Ukraine of sabotaging the effort.

Russia has sought to cut off Ukraine’s access to the Sea of Azov in the south. Capturing Mariupol could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?

Refugees, mostly women and children, wait in a crowd for transportation after fleeing from the Ukraine and arriving at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Monday, March 7, 2022. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety Sunday were forced to shelter from Russian shelling that pummeled cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Russian forces launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including powerful bombs dropped on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said. But a miles-long Russian armored column threatening the capital remained stalled outside Kyiv.

Refugees wait in a crowd for transportation after fleeing from the Ukraine and arriving at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Monday, March 7, 2022. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety Sunday were forced to shelter from Russian shelling that pummeled cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Sunday evening, heavy shelling also came to Mykolaiv in the south and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city. Efforts to evacuate residents from the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin on Sunday were mostly unsuccessful.

A woman walks past a bank’s electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index at Hong Kong Stock Exchange Monday, March 7, 2022. The price of oil jumped more than $10 a barrel and shares were sharply lower Monday as the conflict in Ukraine deepened amid mounting calls for harsher sanctions against Russia. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A senior American defense official said Sunday the U.S. believes that about 95% of the Russian forces that had been arrayed around Ukraine are now inside the country. Ukrainian air and missile defenses remain effective and in use, and the Ukrainian military continues to fly aircraft and to employ air defense assets, the official said.

Ukrainian forces were also defending Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port city, from Russian ships, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said.

Refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, form a line as they approach the border with Poland in Shehyni, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. The number of Ukrainians forced from their country increased to 1.5 million and the Kremlin’s rhetoric grew, with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday announced plans to strike Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, and it alleged that Ukrainian forces were plotting to blow up an experimental nuclear reactor in Kharkiv and to blame it on Russia. The ministry offered no evidence to back its claims, which could not be independently verified.

ZELENSKYY PUSHES CALL FOR NO-FLY ZONE

People hide from the Russian artillery shelling in a school basement in the village of Horenka close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. On Day 11 of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Russian troops shelled encircled cities, and it appeared that a second attempt to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol had failed due to continued violence. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Zelenskyy pushed his call for foreign countries to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Establishing a no-fly zone would risk escalating the conflict by involving foreign militaries directly. Although the United States and many Western countries have backed Ukraine with weapons shipments, they have sent no troops.

Zelenskyy said in a video address on Sunday that “the world is strong enough to close our skies” and over the weekend he urged U.S. officials help his country obtain warplanes to fight the invasion and retain control of its airspace.

Currency traders watch computer monitors near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 7, 2022. The price of oil jumped more than $10 a barrel and shares were sharply lower Monday as the conflict in Ukraine deepened amid mounting calls for harsher sanctions against Russia. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that some Ukrainian combat planes had redeployed to Romania and other Ukraine neighbors he didn’t identify. He warned an attack from planes operating out of those nations could be deemed an engagement by them in the conflict.

DIRECTLY WITNESSED OR CONFIRMED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Christian worshiper prays in front of pictures of fallen soldiers at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church in Lviv, western Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. The memorial is dedicated to Ukrainian soldiers who died after 2014. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Onlookers in Chernihiv cheered as a Russian military plane fell from the sky and crashed, according to video released by the Ukrainian government. In Kherson, hundreds of protesters waved blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and shouted, “Go home.”

In Mariupol, Associated Press journalists saw doctors make futile attempts to save wounded children. Pharmacies ran bare and hundreds of thousands of people faced food and water shortages in freezing weather.

A Ukrainian woman dressed in military attire prays inside the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church in Lviv, western Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In Irpin, near Kyiv, a sea of people on foot and even in wheelbarrows trudged over the remains of a destroyed bridge to cross a river and leave the city. Assisted by Ukrainian soldiers, they lugged pets, infants, purses and flimsy bags stuffed with minimal possessions. Some of the weak and elderly were carried along the path in blankets and carts.

Kyiv’s central train station remained crowded with people desperate to leave, and frequent shelling could be heard from the center of the capital city.

Refugees who fled the Russian invasion from neighbouring Ukraine sit inside a ballroom converted into a makeshift refugee shelter at a 4-star hotel & spa, in Suceava, Romania, Friday, March 4, 2022. At 4-star hotel & spa some 50 km from the border with Ukraine, wedding parties and conferences have been canceled and the ballroom converted into a makeshift refugee shelter where those who have escaped the Russian invasion come to rest and warm up before continuing their journey. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS

Intense diplomatic efforts continued. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Vilnius, Lithuania, for a lightning trip to three Baltic states increasingly on edge as they watch Russia press ahead with its invasion of Ukraine.

Blinken said Sunday that the United States and its allies are having a “very active discussion” about banning the import of Russian oil and natural gas, while the New Zealand government plans to rush legislation that will allow it to impose economic sanctions against Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Lithuania President Gitanas Nauseda meet at the Preseident’s Office in Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday March 7, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun a lightning visit to the three Baltic states that are increasingly on edge as they watch Russia press ahead with its invasion of Ukraine. (Olivie Douliery/Pool via AP)

China’s foreign minister has called Russia Beijing’s “most important strategic partner” and has continued to refuse to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

While most of the world is shunning Putin, one of the few leaders keeping an open line of communication is French President Emmanuel Macron.

Meanwhile, Russia lawyers snubbed a hearing at the United Nations’ top court into an effort by Kyiv to halt Moscow’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.

A woman, who did not want to be identified, poses for a photograph as she holds her newborn girl in the basement of a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward and used as a bomb shelter during air raid alerts, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine’s leader called a blatant campaign of terror. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said Sunday that Ukrainian staff at the country’s largest nuclear plant are now required to seek approval for any operation, even maintenance, from the Russians. The Zaporizhizhia plant was seized by the Russians last week.

Putin continued to blame the war on the Ukrainian leadership, saying, “They are calling into question the future of Ukrainian statehood.” In a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, Putin said the invasion could be halted only “only if Kyiv ceases hostilities,” according to a Kremlin account.

talks
A Ukrainian soldier tries to disperse the crowd as they push to enter a train to Lviv at the Kyiv station, Ukraine, Friday, March 4. 2022. Ukrainian men have to stay to fight in the war while women and children are leaving the country to seek refuge in a neighboring country. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

The death toll of the conflict has been difficult to measure. The U.N. human rights office said at least 364 civilians have been confirmed killed since the Feb. 24 invasion, but the true number is probably much higher.

The World Health Organization said it verified at least six attacks that have killed six health care workers and injured 11 others.

assistance
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a damaged logistic center after shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine’s leader called a blatant campaign of terror. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian refugees continued to pour into neighboring countries, including Poland, Romania and Moldova. The number of people who have left since fighting began has now reached 1.7 million, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Among the multitudes is a Ukrainian youth orchestra.

Refugees fleeing the war from neighboring Ukraine walk on a platform after disembarking from a train in Zahony, Hungary, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. At the train station in the Hungarian town of Zahony on Wednesday, more than 200 Ukrainians with disabilities — residents of two care homes in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv — disembarked into the cold wind of the train platform after an arduous escape from the violence gripping Ukraine. (AP Photo/Balazs Kaufmann)

Ukraine has rejected a Russian proposal for refugee evacuation routes to Russia and Belarus “unacceptable.”

BUSINESS IN RUSSIA

A woman runs as she flees with her family across a destroyed bridge in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2. 2022. Russia renewed its assault Wednesday on Ukraine’s second-largest city in a pounding that lit up the skyline with balls of fire over populated areas, even as both sides said they were ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the new devastating war in Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A growing number of multinational businesses have cut off Russia from vital financial services, technology and a variety of consumer products in response to Western economic sanctions and global outrage over the war.

Two of the so-called Big Four accounting firms — KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers — said Sunday they were pulling out of Russia, ending relationships with member firms based in the country.

People gather in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine’s leader called a blatant campaign of terror. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

TikTok said users won’t be able to post new videos in Russia in response to the government’s crackdown on what people can say on social media about the invasion, and American Express announced it was suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus.

Netflix also announced it was suspending its service in Russia.

Source AP

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