At least 22 killed in air strikes in Ukraine’s Chernihiv, says emergency services

11 pm: Quad leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, have agreed that what is happening in Ukraine should not be allowed to happen in the Indo-Pacific, Reuters reports.

10.45 pm: Ukraine and Russia agree to hold another round of discussion, The Guardian reports.

10 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is participating in a virtual meeting with his counterparts of Australia, Japan and the USA.

9.48 pm: At least 22 people have been killed in air strikes in Ukraine’s Chernihiv, the country’s emergency services says, according to Reuters. They have not mentioned where exactly the attack took place.

9.20 pm: At the United Nations Human Rights Council session on Russian invasion of Ukraine, India says it is “deeply concerned” about the safety of the citizens stranded in the war-torn country, reports.

“We are greatly concerned over the steadily worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine,” says a statement. “We urge immediate cessation of violence and an end to hostilities. No solution can ever arrive at the cost of human lives. Dialogue and diplomacy are the only solutions for settling differences and disputes.”

8.58 pm: French President Emmanuel Macron tells his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that he is making a “major mistake” by attacking Ukraine, reports The Guardian. Though, Putin told him that his goal of demilitarisation and neutral status of Ukraine will be achieved, the Kremlin says.

“There was nothing in what President Putin said that could reassure us,” the French presidential adviser adds.

8.30 pm: China dismisses a report by The New York Times that it had asked Russia to delay invading Ukraine until after the Beijing Winter Olympics, reports the Associated Press. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claims the report is “fake news” and a “very despicable” attempt to divert attention from the crisis.

8 pm: Second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine are underway in Belarus.

7.58 pm: The Ukrainian Embassy in the United Kingdom says it has been hit by cyberattacks. Because of this, the embassy’s websites are not working, it says.

7.54 pm: The Swedish Academy that awards the Nobel Prize broke a long-standing practice of not making political statements by condemning “in the strongest possible terms the Russian regime’s illegal invasion of Ukraine”, reports The Associated Press.

7.51 pm: The Union Ministry of External Affairs denies reports that Russia “stopped the war for 6 hours” in order to help Indians escaping Kharkiv city, reported The Hindu. The ministry adds that it received inputs from Russia that prompted them to tell its citizens to leave the city and choose certain routes but there was no “coordination” on Russian missile strikes.

7.34 pm: Bagchi says that the Indian government was looking to transport citizens who had moved to transport them to western part of Ukraine.

7.30 pm: Indian Embassy in Ukraine asks citizens in Indian citizens in the Kharkiv, except those who are in the Pisochyn region, to fill up a registration from on an urgent basis.

Bagchi says that about 20,000 Indian citizens in Ukraine had registered initially but several others were left out, reports ANI.

“We estimate a few hundred citizens still remain in Kharkiv,” he says. “Our priority is to take students out safely in whatever mode of transport possible.”

7.25 pm: The external ministry spokesperson says that about 1,000 Indians have left Ukraine’s city of Kharkiv following the Indian Embassy’s advisory issued on Wednesday, reports PTI.

6.55 pm: Eighteen flights have been scheduled for next 24 hours to bring back Indians, Bagchi adds. “This increased number of flights reflects the large of Indians who have crossed over from Ukraine and are now in the neighboring countries,” he says. “We will further step up efforts to bring all these Indian nationals back to India at the earliest.”

6.48 pm: Around 6,400 Indians have been brough back in evacuation flights so far, says the foreign ministry spokesperson.

6.45 pm: “About 18,000 Indians have left Ukraine since our advisories were issued,” says Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs. “The pace of Operation Ganga continues to accelerate. Fifteen flights landed in India during last 24 hours, bringing back more than 3,000 Indians.”

6.05 pm: The Tamil Nadu government says it is sending Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva, MP Pudukkottai Abdulla, Lok Sabha MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy, and MLA TRB Rajaa to Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia to assist in the evacuation of stranded students in Ukraine from their state, NDTV reports.

5.30 pm: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that the damage to his country’s infrastructure would be repaired and Moscow will pay the bill, reports Agence France-Presse.

“We will restore every house, every street, every city,” Zelensky says. “And we say to Russia: learn the word of reparations and contributions. You will reimburse us for everything you did against our state, against every Ukrainian in full.”

5.15 pm: Multinational conglomerate Ikea says it has suspended operations in Russia and Belarus, reports Agence France-Presse.

5 pm: Video shows Ukrain civilians blocking a road to prevent Russian troops from reaching a nuclear power plant in Enerhodar in southern Ukraine.

4.55 pm: The International Criminal Court confirms that it is opening an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine.

4.50 pm: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow is ready for peace talks but will continue to press its effort to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure, The Associated Press reports.

Lavrov says that the Russian delegation submitted its demands to Ukrainian negotiators earlier this week and is now waiting for Kyiv’s response during the talks scheduled on Thursday.

He adds that Russia will insist on provisions that Ukraine will never again represent a military threat to Russia.

3.54 pm: The local administration in Ukraine’s Mariupol city says Russian forces are shelling civilian infrastructure, Al Jazeera reports.

“Deliberately, for seven days, they have been destroying the city’s critical life-support infrastructure,” Mariupol’s city council says in a statement.

3.11 pm: As many as 370 Indian students, who reached Slovakia from the war zones of Ukraine, will be brought back in two flights on Thursday, says Union minister Kiren Rijiju, reports PTI.

3.09 pm: Blasts in Kyiv captured on camera during a news broadcast of American channel CBS.

2.44 pm: Russia is deploying more troops towards Kharkiv, reports CNN.

2.42 pm: Australian government asks Facebook, Twitter, Google and other digital platforms to block content generated by Russian state media, reports The Guardian.

2.39 pm: At least one million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion started on February 24. Here is a lowdown on where these people are fleeing to, according to Al Jazeera.

2.02 pm: Supreme Court asks Attorney General K K Venugopal to look into a plea seeking help for students stuck at the Ukraine-Romania border, The Indian Express reports.

1.54 pm: The United Kingdom’s defence ministry says that the main column of the Russian troops remains more than 30 kilometres away from Kyiv. The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol also remain in Ukraine’s control despite heavy shelling, the ministry says in an intelligence update.

1.48 pm: The consultative committee of the Ministry of External Affairs holds a meeting on the developments in Ukraine.

“A good discussion on the strategic and humanitarian aspects of the issue, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar writes in a tweet. “Strong and unanimous message of support for efforts to bring back all Indians from Ukraine.”

1.30 pm: The International Paralympic Committee says that it will ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, CNN reports. The sporting event will be held in Beijing from Friday.

The committee’s president Andrew Parsons says that several countries have said they will renounce participation if Russia or Belarus compete.

“To the Para athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce,” Parsons says. “You are victims of your governments’ actions.”

1.17 pm: Global oil prices benchmark Brent crude rose to $118 (Rs 8,949.12) a barrel, the highest level since February 2013, according to The Guardian.

The benchmark is now trading at about $117 (Rs 8,870.36) a barrel.

The rise in prices has been linked to fears that the Russian attack on Ukraine may disrupt supplies.

12.23 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual meeting with members of the Quad grouping – Australia, the United States and Japan, says the Ministry of External Affairs.

12.11 pm: Russian forces have captured Kherson, Al Jazeera reports, citing unidentified local city officials. The Russians had earlier claimed that the city has fallen.

A CNN journalist says that the mayor of Kherson has admitted in a Facebook post that Russian military “essentially are calling the shots on how people live their lives there”.

11.53 am: Spotify indefinitely closes its office in Russia, reports The Kyiv Independent. The music streaming service said that Russia’s attack on Ukraine was unprovoked.

11.25 am: Eight persons, including two children, have died as a result of a Russian attack on the city of Izyum in Kharkiv Oblast, The Kyiv Independent reports.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s northeastern city Sumy, a building of the military faculty of Sumy State University has been shelled this morning by Russian forces.

11.15 am: Visuals from Ukraine:

10.20 am: Russia’s Federal Security Service had leaked information to Kyiv about an assassination plot against Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, claims hacking collective Anonymous.

10.17 am: The International Criminal Court says it is starting an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine, reports The Guardian.

10.14 am: Russian military strikes hit three schools and a cathedral in Kharkiv city, Al Jazeera reports, citing local Ukrainian media.

9.10 am: A flight from Romania’s Bucharest city carrying 183 Indians stranded in Ukraine landed in Mumbai on Thursday morning, according to PTI.

9 am: Air raid alerts have been reported in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, The Kyiv Independent reports. Residents have been told to go to the closest shelter.

8.54 am: Russian army personnel have forced their way into the council building in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Mayor Igor Kolykhayev says, according to Reuters.

“There were armed visitors in the city executive committee today,” the mayor says. “I didn’t make any promises to them... I just asked them not to shoot people.”

On Wednesday, Russia claimed that it had captured the city of Kherson. However, an advisor to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that its forces were defending the city.

8.45 am: Here is a roundup of the top developments pertaining to the conflict in Ukraine from Wednesday:

• The Indian Embassy in Ukraine urged students to leave the city of Kharkiv immediately. However, students alleged that they were not being allowed on trains.
• The United Nations Human Rights Council said that over 8,74,000 people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. The agency said the figure was “rising exponentially” and could cross the 1-million mark possibly within hours.  
• Russia condoled the killing of an Indian student, Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, in shelling in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv city on Tuesday. It said that it will investigate into the death and ensure safe passage for citizens stranded in conflict zones.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi  spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine. Both the leaders discussed safe evacuation of Indian students from Kharkiv city in Ukraine.