Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its seventh day Wednesday as Russian military forces escalated attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine’s largest cities, leading to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the country,
Russia’s escalation came as President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union speech to Americans on Tuesday night, warned that if Russian leader Vladimir Putindidn’t “pay a price” for the invasion, the aggression wouldn’t stop with one country.
On Tuesday, there were attacks on the central square in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and a deadly bombing of a TV tower in Kyiv. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on Kharkiv “undisguised terror.”
Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower. A TV control room and power substation were hit, and at least some Ukrainian channels briefly stopped broadcasting, officials said.
The humanitarian situation is worsening in the region. A U.N. refugee agency said that about 660,000 people have fled Ukraine for neighboring countries since the invasion began. Shabia Mantoo, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the situation “looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century.”
The vast majority of those leaving Ukraine are women and children — an order from Ukraine’s government prohibits men aged 18- to 60-years-old from leaving the country.
Russian troops have killed hundreds of civilians, including more than a dozen children, and shelled apartment buildings and neighborhoods in their assault on Ukraine, realities that qualify Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, observers say.
President Joe Biden hailed the united response of the U.S. and western allies against Russian President Vladimir Putin during his State of the Union address Tuesday night as Russia continues its war in Ukraine.
Biden called the attack “premeditated and totally unprovoked,” adding that Putin thought he could divide the world. “But Putin was wrong. We are ready. We are united,” Biden said.
“Putin is now isolated from the world more than he has ever been,” he added.
Biden said the U.S. and western allies are enforcing “powerful economic sanctions,” including cutting off Russia’s largest banks from international financial systems, preventing Russia’s central bank from shoring up the Russian ruble and “making Putin’s $260 billion war fund worthless.”
He announced the U.S. is closing off airspace to all Russian flights, joining a growing number of countries around the world that have made similar moves in recent days.
Biden also said he is working with 30 countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves around the world to ease the impact of the war in Ukraine on energy markets.
United States to ban Russian planes from American airspace
President Joe Biden announced State of the Union address Tuesday night that the U.S. is closing its airspace to Russian planes in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. joins a growing list of countries that have announced plans to close their airspace to Russian aircraft in response to the invasion. The European Union took that step Sunday after several European countries, including France, Italy and Denmark, announced the move.
Canada also joined the international move to cut off Russian aircraft.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com
