The U.S. has announced (click here) new sanctions against Russia and said it would welcome 100,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine as President Joe Biden met with world leaders for a series of emergency summits.
Biden said Thursday that Russia should be removed from the G-20, the group that represents 20 of the world's largest economies, as Western allies gathered in Europe to discuss new support for Kyiv.
That includes imposing further punishment on Moscow one month after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched Europe's biggest conflict since World War II....
Elite Chechen squads were also reportedly recruited for failed attempts to assassinate key Ukrainian leaders in the first 48 hours of the invasion, western intelligence said....
By Rachael Bunyan
...Concerns have been raised of a nuclear disaster (click here) after Russian troops began shelling the Ukrainian town where staff working at the Chernobyl plant live.
The continued Russian shelling of Ukrainian checkpoints in the city of Slavutych, home to many Chernobyl nuclear workers, is preventing worker rotations in and out of the plant.
The bombing comes just a few days after Ukrainian technicians who were being held by Russian forces to maintain the defunct nuclear plant for nearly four weeks without being rotated were finally able to go back to their homes in Slavutych....
There is a report of mutiny (click here) in protest of Russian soldiers dying. The tank driver ran over his colonel for having killed his friends. Some Russian soldiers are defecting. Assassins invoked by Putin to enforce loyalty aren't going to work against tanks.
The Russian soldiers never bargained for this. They went on maniveurs that turned into an attack on Ukraine. There were not prepared for war.
Heroes are erupting in Europe.
...Fluri (click here) has so far rescued more than 300 Ukrainians so far. He says it is an “obligation” for him. When you are fortunate later in life, you have to learn to take responsibility for people who are suffering, says Fluri...
There are reports stating Russia has prevailed in Mariupol with 400,000 taken hostage including 84,000 children. The hostages have been moved inside Russia. Evidently, a general is emerging at the face of the new directive by Putin called "Butcher of Mariupol" (click here). With tactics deployed resembling the same used in Syria, there is reason to believe it is the same leadership.
China is engaging in diplomacy.
March 25, 2022By Krishna N. Das and Sanjeev Miglani
Both nations have deployed thousands of troops on the high-altitude border since hand-to-hand fights killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers northern Himalayan region of Ladakh in June 2020. Talks between senior military officers have made little progress....
China’s foreign minister (click here) made a surprise stop on Thursday in Afghanistan’s capital to meet with the country’s new Taliban rulers — even as the international community fumes over the former insurgents’ broken promise to reopen schools to girls beyond the sixth grade.
The official Bakhtar News Agency announced that Wang Yi will meet with Taliban leaders “to discuss various issues, including the extension of political relations, economic, and transit cooperation.”
The Taliban, who seized power in August 2021 during the last, chaotic weeks of the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, have been seeking international recognition in order to open up the country’s economy, which has been in free fall since their takeover.
China has not shown any inclination to recognize the Taliban government but has avoided criticizing the new rulers despite their repressive rules directed particularly at women, who are denied the right to work and full access to education....
