Russia-Ukraine Crisis: As the Ukraine war entered Day 62 on Tuesday, Russia told the world not to underestimate the risks of nuclear war, which it said it wanted to reduce. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday warned that there’s a “serious” danger of nuclear conflict, and said talks with Ukrainian negotiators will continue. Russia on Monday struck Ukraine’s Kremenchuk oil refinery with long-range missiles and also hit military installations there, the Russian defence ministry reported. As per sources “the armed forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged more than $700 million in additional military financing for Ukraine and its allies during a trip to Kyiv on Monday, the highest-level visit by American officials since Russia’s invasion. Austin said that Washington’s goal was to see Russia weakened. Meanwhile, Attacks continued on the Azovstal steel plant in the southeastern port city of Mariupol.
Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday urged the UN chief to press Russia for an evacuation of the besieged port of Mariupol calling it something the world body is capable of achieving. An estimated 100,000 people are trapped in the seaside city while a contingent of Ukrainian fighters holds out against Russian forces in a steel mill where hundreds of civilians also are taking shelter. Nearly five million Ukrainians have fled the country, cities have been shattered and thousands have died since the start of the invasion on February 24th.
Russia calls its action a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine and eradicate what it calls “dangerous nationalists”. The West and Kyiv accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of unprovoked aggression. Russian and Indian officials met last week in an effort to resolve an impasse over the shipping of coking coal to Indian steelmakers, which has dried up since March over payment methods, a trade source and an Indian government source said.