Russia troops enter Ukraine’s Kharkiv, two more cities ‘blocked’

Ukraine faces a new wave of attacks as the battle for Kiev rages on the fourth day of Russia’s military operation — which has prompted the West to announce more sanctions aimed at further isolating Moscow. Here are the latest updates:

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Russian troops enter Kharkiv city

Russian troops have entered Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv and fighting was under way there on the streets.

“The Russian enemy’s light vehicles broke into the city of Kharkiv,” head of the regional administration Oleg Sinegubov said in a Facebook post on Sunday, urging residents not to leave shelters.

“The Ukrainian armed forces are eliminating the enemy,” said Sinegubov.

The city administration in Kiev, 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the west, said the capital remained completely under the control of Ukrainian forces despite clashes with “sabotage groups”.

Meanwhile, Ukraine also said its forces downed a cruise missile that was launched by a Russian Tu-22 strategic bomber from the territory of Belarus.

Russia claims to have besieged two big cities in Ukraine

Moscow has claimed its troops have “entirely” besieged the southern Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Berdyansk in the southeast.

“Over the past 24 hours, the cities of Kherson and Berdyansk have been completely blocked by the Russian armed forces,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a blast was heard to the west of the Ukrainian capital Kiev city centre on Sunday.

It came minutes after an air raid siren was heard around 08:09 am local (0609 GMT), a Reuters correspondent reported.

Ukraine ‘establishing’ legion for volunteers from abroad

Ukraine is establishing a foreign “international” legion for volunteers from abroad, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.

“This will be the key evidence of your support for our country,” Zelenskyy said in a statement.

Ukraine: Missiles hit Vasylkiv town

Russian missiles have hit the Ukrainian town of Vasylkiv southwest of the capital, Kiev, setting an oil terminal ablaze.

“The enemy wants to destroy everything around,” the town’s mayor, Natalia Balasinovich, said in an online video on Sunday.

Photographs and video online showed large flames rising in the night sky. Authorities warned residents of toxic fumes.

Also on Sunday morning, Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Luhansk province said an oil terminal was blown up by a Ukrainian missile in the town of Rovenky.

Earlier, the Ukrainian president’s office said Russian forces had blown up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.

The State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection warned that the explosion could cause an “environmental catastrophe”, and advised residents to cover their windows with damp cloth or gauze and to drink plenty of fluids.

Ukraine’s top prosecutor, Iryna Venediktova, said the Russian forces were unable to take Kharkiv, where a fierce battle is underway. The city of 1.5 million is located 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Russian border

Ukraine pipeline operator says gas transit is normal

The transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine continues normally and the pipeline has not been damaged by any blasts, Ukraine’s gas pipeline operator said on Sunday.

Earlier, Ukrainian officials had said Russian troops blew up a gas pipeline in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, but it was unclear if the affected section was part of a transit pipeline or a regional distribution network.

An oil depot in the Ukrainian city of Vasylkiv, 35 km from the capital Kiev, has been hit by Russian missiles, the city’s mayor says pic.twitter.com/WQdl2ddLoU

— TRT World (@trtworld) February 27, 2022

Ukraine requests ICRC to repatriate Russian soldiers’ bodies

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it is aware of requests by Ukraine’s UN ambassador and others to repatriate the bodies of Russian soldiers killed, but has no numbers.

Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya tweeted on Saturday that Ukraine has appealed to ICRC “to facilitate repatriation of thousands of bodies of Russian soldiers” killed in Ukraine. An accompanying chart claimed 3,500 Russian troops have been killed.

Kyslytsya tweeted that parents in Russia should have a chance “to bury them with dignity.” “Don’t let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin hide scale of tragedy,” he urged.

Laetitia Courtois, ICRC’s permanent observer to the United Nations, told The Associated Press on Saturday night that the current security situation “is a primary concern and a limitation for our teams on the ground”, and “we therefore cannot confirm numbers or other details”.

Over 10,000 Arab students stranded in Ukraine

Thousands of young Arabs who took up studies in Ukraine are appealing to be rescued from a new nightmare — Russia’s attack on the country.

More than 10,000 Arab students attend university in Ukraine, drawn to the former Soviet republic by a low cost of living and, for many, the lure of relative safety compared with their own troubled homelands.

Many have criticised their governments for failing to take concrete measures to repatriate them, and sought refuge in basements or the metro system. Few dared to cross the border into neighbouring Poland or Romania in search of sanctuary.

Among Arab countries, Morocco has the largest number of students in Ukraine, with around 8,000 enrolled in universities, followed by Egypt with more than 3,000.

“We left Iraq to escape war… but it’s the same thing in Ukraine (now),” Ali Mohammed, an Iraqi student told AFP by telephone from the western city of Chernivtsi. “We are demanding to go home. We are waiting to be rescued,” he said.

According to an Iraqi government official, there are 5,500 Iraqis in Ukraine, 450 of them students.

SWIFT waits for legal instruction to remove Russian banks

The SWIFT international payments system said it was preparing to implement Western nations’ new measures targeting certain Russian banks in coming days.

“We are engaging with European authorities to understand the details of the entities that will be subject to the new measures and we are preparing to comply upon legal instruction,” it said in a statement.

The Western allies announced the moves in a joint statement as part of a new round of financial sanctions meant to “hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.”

The central bank restrictions target access to the more than $600 billion in reserves that the Kremlin has at its disposal, and are meant to block Russia’s ability to support the ruble as it plunges in value amid tightening Western sanctions.

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