Ukraine live news: All Russian troops out of Chernobyl, Kyiv says | Russia-Ukraine war News
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- US President Vladimir Putin’s says demand that foreign buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles is a sign of “desperation”.
- US President Joe Biden says he is skeptical Russian troops are pulling back from Kyiv.
- Washington has announced plans to release an unprecedented amount of oil from it strategic petroleum reserve.
- Italy and Germany say they agree on the importance of sanctions against Russia.
- Ukraine says “there are no longer any outsiders” at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Here are all the latest updates:
‘There will be battles ahead,’ says Ukraine’s Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the situation in the south and the Donbas region remained extremely difficult and reiterated that Russia was building up forces near the besieged city of Mariupol.
“There will be battles ahead. We still need to go down a very difficult path to get everything we want, ”he said in a late night video address.
US renews warnings for Americans to leave Russia and Ukraine
The US State Department has renewed warnings for American citizens in Russia and Ukraine to leave the countries immediately.
“We are warning US citizens that the Russian government security officials in both Russia and Ukraine may be singling out US citizens based on their nationality,” spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Thursday.
Earlier this week, an update to the official US travel advisory for Russia said: “Russian security services have arrested US citizens on spurious charges, singled out US citizens in Russia for detention and / or harassment, denied them fair and transparent treatment, and have convicted them in secret trials and / or without presenting credible evidence. ”
US military aid already arriving in Ukraine, Pentagon says
An initial half-dozen shipments of US weapons and other security assistance have reached Ukraine as part of the $ 800m package of aid that Biden approved on March 16, the Pentagon has said.
Spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that the shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other material.
Kirby said the $ 800m in assistance is likely to be fully delivered within about two weeks. It also includes Mi-17 helicopters, small arms, ammunition, vehicles, secure communications systems, and satellite imagery and analysis capability.
Russian troops have left Chernobyl, Ukraine says
Russian troops have left Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) after weeks of occupation, officials in Kyiv have said.
“There are no longer any outsiders on the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” Ukraine’s state agency in charge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone said on Facebook.
The UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA, also confirmed that it had been informed by Ukraine that Russian forces handed control of the power plant and “moved convoys of troops”.
The agency said it would send the “first assistance and support mission to the Chornobyl NPP in the next few days.”
#Ukraine informed IAEA today that Russian forces that had been in control of #Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant since 24 Feb have, in writing, transferred control of the NPP to Ukrainian personnel and moved convoys of troops. https://t.co/DkBXEJpDu8 pic.twitter.com/guITblxwXP
– IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 31, 2022
Italy and Germany say they agree on the importance of sanctions against Russia
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed in a phone call on the importance of keeping up sanctions against Russia, which are “proving very effective”, Draghi’s office has said.
The phone call between the two leaders comes after Putin threatened to halt contracts supplying Europe with a third of its gas unless they are paid in Russian currency.
US says Russia’s demand for rubles for gas is a sign of ‘desperation’
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that foreign buyers pay for Russian gas in rubles is a sign of Moscow’s economic and financial “desperation”, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price has said.
European nations, some of which rely heavily on Russian gas, have rejected the demand, with the German government saying it amounted to “blackmail”.
“I think fundamentally this is just another indication of the dire straits that Russia’s economy is in,” Price told reporters during a news briefing, adding that it was up to countries in Europe to determine their response.
US to add more entities in Russia, Belarus to sanctions list
The US Commerce Department will impose further sanctions in the coming days targeting Russia’s defense, aerospace and maritime sectors, adding 120 entities from Russia and Belarus to its blacklist, the White House has said.
That will bring the number of Russian and Belarusian parties added to the list to more than 200 since the invasion of Ukraine began, spokesperson Kate Bedingfield told a news conference.
Ukraine war should not hinder Iran deal revival, US analysts say
Detractors of the Iran nuclear deal have added Russia’s involvement in talks to revive the multilateral pact to their long list of grievances against the agreement, as Russian forces continue their offensive in Ukraine.
However, supporters of the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), say the conflict in Ukraine should intensify – not blunt – efforts to restore it.
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Read all the updates from Thursday, March 31 here.
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