01:22
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia’s siege of the port city of Mariupol was “a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come”, Reuters reports.
In his late night broadcast, Zelenskiy said the siege of Mariupol would “go down in history of responsibility for war crimes”.
“To do this to a peaceful city… is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.”
Still, he said, peace talks with Russia were needed although they were “not easy and pleasant”.
Some 400,000 people have been trapped in Mariupol for more than two weeks, sheltering from heavy bombardment that has severed central supplies of electricity, heating and water, according to local authorities.
Rescue workers were still searching for survivors in a Mariupol theater that local authorities say was flattened by Russian air strikes on Wednesday. Russia denies hitting the theater or targeting civilians.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday that its forces were “tightening the noose” around Mariupol and that fighting had reached the city center.
01:16
Associated Press: At a makeshift basement bomb shelter in Ukraine’s capital, at least 20 babies born to surrogate mothers are waiting for their foreign parents to be able to travel to the war-torn country and take them home.
Some just a few days old, the infants are well cared for, but even below ground the blasts of occasional shelling can be heard clearly.
Many of the surrogacy center’s nurses are also stranded in the shelter because it’s too dangerous to travel to and from their homes. Ukrainian troops have been resisting Russian forces in Kyiv’s suburbs as they attempt to encircle the city.
“Now we are staying here to preserve our and the babies’ lives,” said Lyudmilia Yashchenko, a 51-year-old nurse. “We are hiding here from the bombing and this horrible misery.”
Yashchenko said they leave briefly during the day to get some fresh air but don’t dare stay out too long. She worries about her own children de ella, too — both her sons de ella, ages 22 and 30, are fighting to defend their country.
Exhaustion is constant.
“We are almost not sleeping at all,” Yashchenko said. “We are working round the clock.”
Ukraine has a thriving surrogate industry and is one of the few countries that allow the service for foreigners. These babies’ parents live in Europe, Latin America and China.
Yashchenko would not say how many parents have come to get their children, how many infants are still waiting or how many more surrogate mothers are expected to deliver soon.
While there’s plenty of food and baby supplies to care for their young charges, the nurses are left to hope and wait for the newborns to be picked up — just as they wait for the war to end.
00:23
Russian troops have reportedly stopped a convoy of buses traveling to Mariupol to evacuate residents, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Citing the Berdyansk City council, the outlet said the convoy was stopped a few kilometers outside Berdyansk and refused entry into the city limits, and the drivers were not permitted to spend the night.
The Guardian has not independently verified the report. Berdyansk is about 85km by road from Mariupol, which is under heavy siege by Russian forces. Local authorities have accused Russia of forcibly taking thousands of Mariupol residents to Russia against their will.
updated
00:23
China’s foreign minister says the country time will tell that they stand on the right side of history over the Ukraine crisis.
Reuters reports the minister Wang Yi told reporters on Saturday China had “always stood for maintaining peace and opposing war, and that its position was “objective and fair, and is in line with the wishes of most countries”.
“Time will prove that China’s claims are on the right side of history,” he said according to a statement published by the ministry.
China’s government holds conflicting positions on the war. It has projected itself as a neutral power, saying it respects Ukraine’s sovereignty as well as Russia’s “security concerns”, and says it could mediate.
It has refused to condemn Russia’s actions or call it an “invasion”, has voted alongside it at international bodies, and the US has significant concerns it is considering supplying weapons to Russia (which Beijing denies). It has repeatedly objected to the use of economic sanctions against Russia.
“China will never accept any external coercion or pressure, and opposes any unfounded accusations and suspicious against China,” Wang told reporters on Saturday evening.
Wang’s comments followed a Friday video call between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, during which Biden warned Xi of “consequences” if Beijing gave material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Xi told Biden the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible and called on NATO nations to hold a dialogue with Moscow. He did not, however, assign blame to Russia, according to Beijing’s statements about the call, Reuters reported.
www.theguardian.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism