Staff Reporter
RUSSIA warned Kyiv residents to flee their homes on Tuesday and rained rockets down on Kharkiv, as Russian commanders who have failed to achieve a quick victory shifted their tactics to intensify the bombardment of Ukrainian cities, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Russian troops in Ukraine are attacking only military targets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, commenting on the news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague would launch a probe into possible war crimes in Ukraine.
According to RT, a Russian state-controlled international television network, an ICC prosecutor said there was “a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity” had been committed in Ukraine. Accusations against Russia were filed with the ICC by Kiev.
Western governments and internet giants including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter have moved to heavily censor Russian foreign-language media outlets over the conflict in Ukraine, blocking websites, shutting down social media pages, and taking radio and television broadcasts off air.
According to Sputnik News, a Russian state-owned news agency, news website platform and radio broadcast service, Moscow said the censorship is unacceptable and actively pushing ‘hostile propaganda’.
European Union officials have also spoken with the CEOs of Google and its subsidiary YouTube, requesting the social media platforms step up their efforts to block access to Russian state-funded media.
Google and YouTube demonetized channels over the weekend, but the EU has insisted this is not sufficient, arguing for a ban on the content itself, which it has denounced as “war propaganda.”
Twitter, which already warns users when they are looking at RT and others, said it would add warning labels to tweets sharing content from such outlets, even if the poster is not a Russian state-owned media account.
On day six of the Russian invasion, missiles and rockets hit the cultural heart of Ukraine’s second city in what officials said was a deadly and “cruel” attack, the BBC reported.
An opera house, concert hall and government offices were hit in Freedom Square, in the centre of the north-eastern city Kharkiv.
At least 20 people including a child were injured, but authorities are still trying to clarify the death toll.
The BBC reported Kharkiv has been bombed heavily for days now.
Ukraine’s government accuses Russia of trying to lay siege to Kharkiv and other cities, including the capital Kyiv.
Two large explosions occurred in the immediate vicinity of the Kiev TV tower on Tuesday, sending a massive column of smoke above the Ukrainian capital.
According to RT, the blasts disrupted the work of multiple TV channels, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry has confirmed.
RT reported it was not immediately clear what exactly caused the explosions, but the blasts came shortly after Russia’s Defense Ministry warned about imminent strikes on the Ukrainian capital.
The Russian military said it would strike strategically important targets, used by Ukraine’s military and intelligence, including communications installations, urging civilians living nearby to take shelter. However, Moscow was yet to confirm whether its military carried out any such strikes.
People in the southern city of Kherson say it is now surrounded, and the mayor of Mariupol, a port city also in the south of Ukraine said it had been fired upon overnight.
Al Jazeera reported at least 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a Russian artillery attack on a military base in Okhtyrka.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the world must do more to punish Russia for the “barbaric” attack on Freedom Square and residential neighbourhoods, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing “more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians”.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen continued attacks on several fronts, but the Russian advance has reportedly been slowed by Ukrainian resistance.
Satellite images showed a 64 km long Russian military convoy snaking its way toward Kyiv, where air raid sirens were again ringing out on Tuesday. The convoy includes armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery and logistical vehicles.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “shattering peace in Europe”, while UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused Russia of “barbaric and indiscriminate practices . . .to send missiles into tower blocks to kill children.”
In an update on the status of Namibians in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (MIRCO), on Tuesday said the Namibian government has been following the situation between Ukraine and Russia where the security situation has rapidly deteriorated.
“Based on the records from our Mission in Moscow, there are 114 Namibian nationals living in Ukraine, of which 93 are students. The rest are either working there, married to Ukrainian nationals and former students who opted to remain in Ukraine.”
She said Government has put in motion the process to assist and repatriate those who want to come home.
As part of the process, neighbouring countries of Ukraine were contacted to give free passes to Namibian nationals to enable their repatriation.
According to the latest figures, 56 Namibians have arrived safely in Poland, two in Hungary, one in Slovakia and five in Romania.
MIRCO has reached out to South Africa and Zambia, to cooperate in the process. South Africa is the only SADC country with a diplomatic Mission in Ukraine and Zambia has many students in Ukraine.
“South Africa has informed us that they have directed their Mission in Ukraine to assist all African students where possible,” she said.
The Government of Namibia has dispatched two officials to Poland to assist Namibians on arrival at the borders.
Those in contact with Namibian nationals stranded in Ukraine and social media users are urged to encourage Namibians to find their way out of Ukraine to safety, as currently it is extremely difficult to help them while there until the situation improves.
“Talking to our nationals who experienced what happened in Ukraine, we notice that they are traumatised, and arrangements will be made on arrival home to ensure professional services before they are reunited with their families,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
Negotiations between delegations from Kyiv and Moscow held at the Ukraine-Belarus border on Monday ended with no agreements “except to keep talking”, Al Jazeera reported.
Sources: RT/BBC/Al Jazeera/Sputnik News/Reuters
