Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, jn Saturday stated that the sanctions imposed on his country by western countries over the invasion of Ukraine were like a declaration of war.
His comment came a few hours after the Ministry of Defence said that it had resumed “offensive actions” in Ukraine after announcing a ceasefire earlier in the day to allow residents of two besieged cities to evacuate.
No fewer than 100,000 Nigerians and other Africans have signed a petition on the discrimination against blacks who are attempting to flee Ukraine over the invasion of the Eastern European country by Russia.
Speaking to flight attendants at an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow, Putin insisted he only wanted to “demilitarise” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
“These sanctions are methods of fighting against Russia,” he said.
“These sanctions that you can see are equivalent to declaring a war – but thankfully it has not come to an actual war but we understand what these threats are about.”
Putin also warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be seen as “participation in the armed conflict”.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine had asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) for a no-flight-zone over Ukraine in order to protect the country from Russian missiles but the appeal was rejected.
NATO had said taking such an action could result in a “full-fledged war in Europe involving many more countries”.
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, a series of sanctions have been imposed on Russia by the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Some of the sanctions include blocking certain Russian banks’ access to the SWIFT payment system and freezing the foreign assets of the country’s central bank.
Three of the country’s wealthy individuals were sanctioned by the UK while the Council of Europe also suspended Russia from the continent’s human rights organisation.
In addition, FIFA and UEFA also suspended Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions.
Samsung, Paypal, Zara, Apple, and Mercedes-Benz have all announced the suspension of their operations in the country.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) revealed that it counted about 1,368,864 refugees on its dedicated website at noon Saturday, almost 160,000 more than the previous count on Friday.
Russian defence ministry also announced the resumption of offensive after a ceasefire on Saturday.
“Due to the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side to influence nationalists or extend the regime of silence, offensive actions have been resumed at 18:00 Moscow time (1500 GMT),” Russian Defence Ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov said in a video briefing.
Russia had earlier announced a ceasefire and said it opened humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians from the strategic port town of Mariupol and neighbouring Volnovakha.
Konashenkov said that “not a single civilian” was able to exit via the humanitarian corridors.
“The population of these cities is held by nationalist formations as a human shield,” Konashenkov added.
He said “nationalist battalions” used the ceasefire to “regroup and reinforce their positions”.
Officials in Mariupol, surrounded by Russian forces, said on Saturday that they were delaying an evacuation of the civilian population, accusing Moscow’s troops of breaking a ceasefire.
Authorities and the UN expect the flow of refugees to intensify as the Russian army continues to advance into Ukraine, with fierce fighting still taking place around the capital Kyiv.
“1.3 million people have now fled Ukraine to seek safety. Unless there is an immediate end to the conflict, millions more are likely to be forced to flee,” the UNHCR said in a tweet on Saturday.
According to the UN, four million people may seek to leave the country to escape the war.
Before the conflict, Ukraine had more than 37 million people in areas controlled by Kyiv — which does not include Russian-annexed Crimea or separatist-controlled areas.
Poland, which has championed the cause of Ukrainian refugees and where US Secretary of State, Mr. Antony Blinken arrived on Saturday for talks with the country’s top officials, is hosting by far the largest number of refugees arriving since the start of the Russian invasion.
No fewer than 100,000 Nigerians and other Africans have signed a petition on the discriminatio+n against blacks who are attempting to flee Ukraine over the invasion of the Eastern European country by Russia.
The online petition, which was initiated by a civil society organisation, Concerned Nigerians, was titled ‘Stop discriminating, provide safe passages for Africans and People of Colour out of Ukraine.’
The petition, published by a global advocacy body, Change.Org, is to the Council of the European Union, European Commission, African Union, and the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The UNHCR had not updated the number of refugees in Moldova on Saturday, which stood at 103,254 on Friday, or 7.5 percent of the total.
The head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, was in Moldova on Friday, in the eastern town of Palanca where refugees are arriving.
“Today at Palanca I saw thousands and thousands of people streaming across Ukraine’s border crossing with Moldova. Thousands of stories of separation, anguish, and loss. A difficult day, but much respect for the many dedicated Moldovan officials and people helping the refugees,” Grandi said in a tweet on Friday evening.
According to the UNHCR, some of the refugees are continuing on to Romania or Hungary, often to reunite with family.
Some 101,529 people have fled Ukraine and taken refuge in Slovakia, 7.4 percent of the total, according to the UNHCR.
In Romania, the UNHCR counts 63,192 refugees, about 4.6 percent of the total.
Two camps have been set up, one in Sighetu Marmatiei and the other in Siret.
UNHCR also said that 133,876 people, around one in 10, had continued on to other European countries after crossing the Ukrainian border.
The number of people taking refuge in Russia remained unchanged at around 53,000, or 3.9 per cent of the total.
Nigeria has so far evacuated 807 of its citizens from war-raged Ukraine as at Saturday.
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