Russia-Ukraine war. Timeline of events, March 10-11

?The White House has announced a new package of economic sanctions against Russia in connection with the war in Ukraine:

1. US, EU and G7 to cancel the most favored nation trade with Russia
2. The West will seek to discourage Russian loans from the World Bank and the IMF;
3. A ban on the import of alcohol, diamonds and seafood from Russia has been introduced;
4. The supply of luxury goods will be banned;
5. The supply of dollar bills to Russia will be banned.

? The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the European Union will prepare a fourth package of sanctions against Russia. According to her, the European Commission will present a plan to phase out Russian gas, oil and coal by mid-May of 2027, and work is already underway on a draft reform of the European energy market:

“It will be difficult for the EU to abandon Russian gas, it will require the personal efforts of all citizens of the community”, said Ursula von der Leyen.

Photo: Aquarena swimming pool in Kharkiv, before and after the bombings – UNIAN:

Sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine:

?NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: Sanctions against Russia will affect for the entire world, no one wanted to impose them

?Canada has banned the import of petroleum products from Russia. The import of petroleum oils and oils derived from bituminous minerals, crude oil, as well as the import of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons have been banned. Canada has also added businessmen Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov, the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian foreign intelligence service and a number of companies, including the Irkut Corporation, Russian Helicopters and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, to the sanctions list.

?The Ukrainian authorities, together with Western partners, are developing a mechanism for the confiscation of the arrested $415 billion of the Russian Central Bank:

“In fact, this amount is almost enough to cover the direct one-time losses of Ukraine. We expect that in the near future, together with the governments of partner countries, we will find a legal mechanism through which this money will be spent on the further restoration of the Ukrainian economy”, said Denis Kudin, First Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

? As a result of the war in Ukraine, Russia cannot take out about half of the oil intended for export and almost all oil products. There are currently 90 tankers at sea carrying 65 million barrels of Russian oil, according to Windward estimates.

? Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde: Sweden will donate protective equipment, drones and binoculars to Ukraine.

? Biden: The US will not fight with the Russian Federation in Ukraine, it would threaten a third world war, but it will protect the NATO territory.

Latest events in Ukraine:

? Russian troops have attacked a settlement on the territory of Belarus – Air Defense Command of Ukraine.

? BBC Russian Service: Soldiers of the Central African Republic army, trained by PMC Wagner, declared their readiness to go to Ukraine to fight on the side of Russia. The main part of PMC Wagner is not involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

In Russia:

? Roskomnadzor will restrict access to Instagram due to calls for violence against Russians, despite the fact that the Meta statement says that the decision does not concern civilians of Russia, but the Russian military. Earlier, Meta Platforms temporarily allowed social media users in some countries to publish calls for violence against Russian military personnel who are participating in the operation in Ukraine, and against the leaders of Russia and Belarus.

? Mediazona: a teachers’ council was held in Moscow schools with the participation of Margarita Simonyan and Maria Zakharova. The head of the Russia Today agency and a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry reminded teachers that “they may have their own opinion about Putin and Ukraine, but they work for the state and should protect the interests of the state”.

Video: The Russian Pobeda airline pilot announces to passengers that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a crime:

? According to Ukrainian intelligence, Vladimir Putin has ordered to prepare a terrorist attack at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The creation of a man-made disaster is planned at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant which is currently seized by the Russian forces, but the occupiers will blame Ukraine for the attack, says the main intelligence division of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

? President Zelensky: “A humanitarian catastrophe is two words that have become a full-fledged synonym for two other words – the Russian Federation”:

“Over the past night and morning, the occupiers carried out a “demilitarization” of the water supply in Chernihiv. The city is left without water. We are doing everything to resume water supply, due to constant shelling in parts of the Sumy, Kiev, Donetsk regions, there is no electricity, there are problems with heat, there is no gas, no water – this is a humanitarian catastrophe”, the president said in his video message.

Zelensky added that the existing sanctions packages are not enough. “Russia must pay for this terrible war, pay daily,” said Zelensky.

?Lukashenko at a meeting with Putin in Moscow said that Ukraine would have attacked Belarus if it weren’t for a “preemptive strike from Russia” and even brought with him a map of the impending attack:

“As the time passes, people begin to understand: we didn’t attack them, we didn’t <…>. I will now show you where the attack on Belarus was being prepared from. And if six hours before the operation there had not been a preventive strike on the positions – four positions, I’ll show you now, I brought the map – they would have attacked our troops, Belarus and Russia, who were at the exercises”, Lukashenko said.

Photo: Kharkiv – people are hiding from shelling in the subway – UNIAN:

? Kyiv is negotiating with European countries to use the blocked $415 billion of Russian reserves to pay damages to Ukraine, said the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine

?The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has arrested in absentia the editor-in-chief of the pro-government media Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan.

?The Parliament of Georgia is considering amendments to the law on consumer rights. If approved, entrepreneurs will not have the right to refuse to provide services to a client because of their nationality. The discussion of the amendments is associated with the growth of negative sentiments in Georgia towards visitors from Russia and Belarus.

? The Investigative Committee of Russia has launched a criminal case against Meta employees for public calls to carry out extremist activities and facilitate terrorist activities. The case was initiated “in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian Federation”. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia asked the court to recognize Meta as an extremist organization.

? Airlines of Kazakhstan and Turkey have cancelled flights to Russia. The reason for this decision is their position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

? DP Eurasia N.V., the master franchisee of the Domino’s Pizza network in Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, has announced that it is withdrawing royalties and investments in the Russian Federation amid the events in Ukraine. At the same time, network enterprises will continue to operate.

?Nestlé has stopped exporting from Russia and importing food products into it, including Nespresso coffee or S.Pellegrino water.

Video: A 60-year-old pensioner from Arkhangelsk was arrested and will be tried for saying “Glory to Ukraine”:

? NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg: “NATO understands Ukraine’s frustration with the alliance’s unwillingness to close the sky, but escalation will lead to casualties and suffering outside the country”. Stoltenberg added that events in Ukraine should not lead to a war between NATO and Russia, but called on European allies to increase defense budgets.

?The situation in Mariupol is critical, Russian aviation bombs the city every 30 minutes, the mayor of Mariupol reports. “The invaders are shooting at residential areas with prohibited weapons, Grads and howitzers. Civilians cannot safely evacuate as they run into mines and Russian tanks.”

?Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Moscow for scheduled talks with Putin. This will be the second face-to-face meeting between Lukashenka and Putin in a month (the previous one took place in Moscow on February 18), and the first since Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine. The presidents will discuss the “Ukrainian theme”, the development of union cooperation and economic cooperation in the face of sanctions pressure.

In the video: night shelling of Mariupol with Grad missile launchers:

Events in Ukraine:

? The total number of refugees from Ukraine since February 24 exceeded 2.5 million people, of which 1 million are children, the UN said

?The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine spoke about the losses of the Russian armed forces from the moment the war began on February 24 and until March 11:

-Aircraft – 57;
-Helicopters – 83;
-Personnel – over 12,000 people;
– Armored vehicles – 1165;
– Artillery systems – 125;
– Air defense systems – 31;
– Multiple launch rocket systems – 58
– Tank trucks – 60;
– Automotive equipment – 558;
-Ships (boats) – 3;
– UAV operational-tactical level – 7;
-Personnel – over 12,000 people;
-Tanks – 353.

?The mayor of Izyum refused to let the equipment of the Russian troops in the direction of Kharkov freely pass.

The situation in Ukraine as of March 10, according to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW):

In Russia:

?The Minister of Defense of Russia said that “about 16,000 applications for voluntary participation in hostilities in the DPR and LPR” were received from the Middle East. Putin agreed with the idea of ​​recruiting volunteers to participate in a special operation in Ukraine:

“If you see that there are people who want to come on a voluntary basis and help people living in the Donbass, you need to meet them halfway and help them reach the war zone”.

?In Russia, Amnesty International offices in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as the websites of the movement For Human Rights, Colta and Important Stories, are blocked, Mediazona reports.

The British cosmetics company Lush has suspended deliveries to Russia.

?McDonald’s will suspend work in Russia on March 14. More than 62 thousand people work in the McDonald’s restaurant system in Russia, and about 100 thousand more at the enterprises of their suppliers. Despite the suspension of work, the company will continue to pay them salaries, as well as pay rent for restaurant premises, RBC reports with reference to the press office of the company.

Video: In the Moscow Aviapark shopping center, an unknown person scattered real money on people – a “falling ruble” performance: 

Reports from the frontline:

? Early in the morning, the Dnieper was heavily bombed, it is alleged that 1 person has died. In the video, the moment of one of the strikes:

? There have been more bombings of Chernigov, the city has been left without water, the water supply network was damaged. Heavy fighting is ongoing in the Chernihiv region.

? Mayor of besieged Mariupol, which has been bombed for several days: The city is in a catastrophic situation, Russian troops are shelling residential areas and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid.

? Russia once again hit the nuclear research facility at the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology. According to preliminary information, the installation is completely de-energized, at least there are surface damage to the building.

? VIDEO: 20,000 people have been evacuated from the Sumy region in a day. “Buses from Sumy and Trostyanets are already arriving in Lubny, from where the evacuees will go by rail to the west of the country”, said Dmitry Lunin, head of the Poltava regional military administration.

? The General Staff of Ukraine: On March 10, Ukraine hit at least 10 Russian military aircraft, and Ukrainian aviation dealt a crushing blow to two large columns of equipment.

? The General Staff of Ukraine: On the territory of the occupied Kherson region, the enemy is trying to introduce an administrative-police regime, creating a system of commandant’s offices in temporarily occupied settlements.

? The authorities of Belarus allowed the movement of Russian missiles on their railway

? Pentagon: Since the beginning of the war, Russian troops have fired more than 775 missiles towards Ukraine.

? Russia is convening the UN Security Council today to discuss “US military-biological activities on the territory of Ukraine.” The Pentagon believes that these ‘wild accusations’ may mean that the Russian military is preparing to use chemical weapons.

? Since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine, at least 549 civilians have already died, 41 of them are children. 2.3 million people left Ukraine, almost half of them children – UN.

? Ukraine’s losses from destruction due to the war reached $100 billion – Zelensky’s adviser Oleg Ustenko. That’s half of the country’s GDP in 2021

? A joint statement by European leaders following the results of the EU summit in Versailles yesterday has appeared on the website of the Council of the European Union. According to the statement, full responsibility for the war in Ukraine is assigned to Russia and “its accomplice Belarus”. Emphasis is also placed on the importance of the European choice of Ukraine. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that “the leaders of the European Union have already said yes to Ukrainian European integration”.

? French President Macron: I have to be honest and say that I do not see the possibility of a diplomatic settlement [in Ukraine] in the next few hours or in the very next few days.

? The war could drag on for a long time, provoking a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine – Washington Post.

? The Ukrainian authorities sent a letter with “sincere gratitude” to the Russian Minister of Defense for plundering the Russian army: “By participating in the systemic work to embezzle budgetary funds, Shoigu contributed to the acceleration of the liquidation of the occupiers on the lands of the sovereign state of Ukraine”.

? Facebook and Instagram users were allowed to call for the death of Putin – now such posts will not be blocked. Changes were introduced in Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania:

? Twitter and Facebook removed the posts of the Russian Embassy in London about the shelling of a maternity hospital in Mariupol for “denying violent actions”. They said that the maternity hospital, which was hit by an airstrike on March 9, allegedly did not work, but was instead used as the base of “Azov”. The below AP photo of a woman being escorted out of a building, was described as a “staging” because she was wearing “very realistic makeup”.

? Disney has announced that it would be halting its operations in Russia “following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine”: “suspending film releases in Russia and reviewing the rest of our business there.”

Residents of Mariupol die under shelling, famine begins in the besieged city

Residents of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol begin to starve. More than 400,000 people, many children, have been in basements hiding from the bombing by Russian troops for more than a week. There is no water, no heating, and now the food supplies are running out, says the International Committee of the Red Cross. All shops and pharmacies have been looted, there is no gas. at night the temperature drops to -5 degrees. Many get sick. The situation is critical.

“We collected 1,207 bodies from the streets. And no one knows yet how many people have been killed in Mariupol”, Sergey Orlov, deputy mayor of the besieged southern port, told the BBC. He said that 47 people were buried in one mass grave alone, “not all of them have been identified”. It is impossible to evacuate people from the city or deliver aid. Orlov said that about 100 people have tried to get out in cars, but were forced to turn back after Russian forces started firing at the checkpoint — “not directly at the cars, but in their general direction”.

MAP: Humanitarian corridors created as a result of three rounds of negotiations. Local authorities say that it is difficult or impossible to use them, as the shelling continues despite the agreements:

PHOTO: Family with small children is trying to evacuate from Irpen during the shelling of Russian troops. Photo: UNIAN

Putin addressed the Russians:

1. “Russia can take the assets of those foreign companies that leave Russia. You can introduce external management of those enterprises that close their production, and then give these enterprises to those who are ready to work.
2. “Western countries are taking unfriendly steps against Russia and its economy. Demand for some things is growing, but I have no doubt that these problems will be solved. People will understand that there is nothing that we cannot solve”.
3. “It is in the West where they are calling on their citizens to tighten their belts and prepare warm clothes because of the sanctions they have placed on Russia”.

Assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia

 The British Emergency Committee called on the people of the country to help thousands of Ukrainians affected by the conflict, and in less than a week raised 120 million pounds.

 Western Union suspends work in Russia and Belarus

 Hearst is revoking the license to publish Esquire magazine in Russia. The April issue will be the last.

Photo: Russian musician Boris Grebenshchikov canceled all concerts of the Aquarium in Russia. “Until better times”, he said while bidding farewell to the Russian audience. Previously, concerts with the comment “Peace is urgently needed” were canceled by the Mumiy Troll group. Russian rapper Oxxxymiron also canceled concerts due to the war in Ukraine, explaining that he cannot entertain the public when people are dying.

PHOTO: British actor Benedict Cumberbatch at the Santa Barbara Film Festival rose to receive an award and unfurled the Ukrainian flag:

Report from the fronts according to the General Staff of Ukraine:

1. The Russian army continues to hold the settlements of Polesskoye, Kukhari, Borodyanka, Andreevka, Motyzhin, Gorenichi, Bucha, Demidov.
2. The penetration of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups into Kyiv under the guise of evacuated residents cannot be ruled out.
3. The village of Moshchun has been liberated.
4. The enemy is trying to gain a foothold in the settlements of the Nikolaev region.
5. In the Crimean direction, the enemy is reinforced by a marine brigade of the Baltic Fleet.

  Every second one inhabitant leaves Kyiv. Now there are a little less than 2 million people left in the capital of Ukraine – Mayor Klitschko.

VIDEO: Сenter of the besieged and bombed Mariupol now looks like this:

  Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov рфы confirmed that Russia deliberately bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol last night. “It was the base of the ultra-radical Azov battalion. These data were presented three days ago. So draw your own conclusions”, he said.

  Advisor to the President of Ukraine Arestovich: The Russian army has moved to the so-called. “Syrian option”, i.e. encirclement and terror of cities and towns to bring suffering to the civilian population.

  Ukrainian President Zelensky to Russians: “Kremlin propagandists will also be held accountable for war crimes. Yesterday the invaders fired at the maternity hospital and the children’s hospital in Mariupol, 17 people were injured and three died. On Russian television, the Russians were lied to that allegedly there were no patients in the hospital, and there were no women and children in the maternity hospital, and nationalists settled there. We’ll find all the property of the propagandists. We will do everything to have it confiscated wherever it is. Do you love a rich life, prosperous countries? You won’t have it anymore, and this is just the beginning. Then the citizens of Russia will hate you – when they feel the consequences of your lies on their wallets, on the stolen future of Russian children.

  Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: Russia did not attack Ukraine “Are you asking me if we plan to attack other countries?” We do not plan to attack other countries. We are not attacking Ukraine either. We have repeatedly explained that a situation has arisen in Ukraine that poses a direct threat to the security of the Russian Federation”.

  Russia has refused further participation in the Council of Europe. This means that now the Russian Federation can lift the moratorium on the death penalty, and Russians can no longer file complaints with the European Court of Human Rights.

  Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba on why during the talks today on March 10 in Turkey it was not possible to reach ceasefire agreements: “Russia links the ceasefire with the fulfillment of Putin’s demands to Ukraine. But Ukraine has not given up and will not give up.”

  President Zelensky signed a law on the forced seizure in Ukraine and the nationalization of any property of Russia and its citizens.

  The Moscow government will allocate 500 million rubles for soft loans to create a Russian fast food chain that will replace McDonald’s restaurants, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said. State Duma Speaker Volodin has already rejoiced at the closure of McDonald’s in Russia: “After all, now there will be restaurants at Uncle Vanya’s:

The negotiations between Kuleba and Lavrov ended. Kuleba explained why no ceasefire agreements have been reached so far:

“Russia connects the ceasefire with the fulfillment of Putin’s demands to Ukraine. Ukraine has not surrendered and will not surrender,” Kuleba said.

“We are ready for diplomacy, we are looking for diplomatic solutions. But as long as there are none, we will selflessly, sacrifice ourselves, defend ourselves, protect people from Russian aggression. I hope that today’s format will continue”, Dmitry Kuleba added.

Lavrov: at a meeting with Kuleba, the issue of a meeting between Zelensky and Putin was raised.

But Russia is against “meetings for the sake of meetings”; specific agreements should be fixed at such negotiations.

“We don’t plan to attack other countries, we haven’t attacked Ukraine either” – Lavrov.

Russian media report that Lavrov’s meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba began in Antalya.

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Kuleba and Lavrov are now discussing a possible future meeting between President Zelensky and Putin

  The United States warns of possible plans of the Russian Federation to use chemical weapons in Ukraine.

By spreading misinformation about laboratories allegedly found in Ukraine where the Pentagon was developing bioweapons, Moscow is preparing to either use weapons of mass destruction itself or stage a Ukrainian attack to justify the continuation of the war, US presidential spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

According to her, this is a typical technique used by Russia – blaming the West for its own violations.

  YouTube has disabled all the features in Russia, thanks to which the authors of YouTube channels could monetise their content.

Even the YouTube Premium subscription is no longer available there. The profession of a YouTube blogger in Russia has been practically destroyed in two weeks.

 The U.S. Congress passed the largest $14 billion aid package to Ukraine to date.

Media reports about the main theses in the draft declaration of the EU summit, which will be held in Versailles on March 10-11:

▪️ The EU will gradually stop buying oil, gas and coal from Russia

▪️ The EU will dramatically increase defense spending, become more independent in the production of microprocessors, pharmaceuticals and products

▪️ Summit participants will support Ukraine’s accession to the EU, but fast-track adoption is unlikely

▪️ EU leaders most likely will not offer Ukraine candidate status for EU membership

This video from Armenia, which shows support for Russia in its war against Ukraine, has been actively disseminated on social media in recent days, especially in Russia. However, fact-checkers in Armenia, in particular Media.am fact-checker Ophelia Simonyan, consider this video to be a provocative propaganda. It cannot be called completely fake, but it is believed that it was created and spread for manipulation. Many are especially surprised that in the video, which declares congratulations to the women of Armenia on March 8, for some reason, the Russian folk song “Katyusha” plays in the background.

  Air raid sirens have been sounding in Kyiv since 6 am.

  Akhtyrka (Sumy region) has suffered two air strikes in the morning. The bombs have been dropped at two points – a hypermarket and a power plant. Russian aircraft have also bombed residential areas again – UNIAN:

  White House press secretary Jen Psaki warns that “Russia is becoming increasingly desperate and may resort to chemical attacks against civilians in the coming days”.

? The parties agreed to a new 12-hour ceasefire to allow civilians leave the six most affected regions of Ukraine. But Ukraine says that Russian shelling continues and people cannot leave the besieged Mariupol and Izyum near Kharkov.

? James Jeffrey, former US envoy to the coalition to defeat ISIS under Trump administration, called for the deployment of UN and US troops to Ukraine to create protected humanitarian zones.

? The Foreign Ministers of Russia and Ukraine arrived in Turkey for talks in Antalya today.

 The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $13.6 billion emergency aid plan for Ukraine. At the same time, President Biden proposed to allocate 10 billion dollars, but lawmakers almost unanimously considered it necessary to increase the amount. The plan is expected to be approved by the Senate in the coming days. Half of the amount is allocated for the defense of Ukraine, the other half – to help refugees.

 The IMF has approved $1.4 billion of emergency assistance to Ukraine.

? US Vice President Kamala Harris has arrived in Poland. The visit is attributed to the fact that the United States refused the offer of Poland to transfer its fleet of jet aircraft to them for the needs of Ukraine, and not directly to Ukraine.

? According to US military estimates, between 5,000 and 6,000 Russian troops have died in Ukraine since the start of the war.

? Russia admits for the first time that it is using conscripts to invade Ukraine.

? The maternity and children’s wards were destroyed on the evening of March 9 as a result of an airstrike by Russian aircraft on a hospital in Mariupol. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack on the facility a “war crime”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Follow the timeline of March 8-9 events here.