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Gunfire and mortar rounds struck civilians attempting to escape Ukrainian cities over the weekend, killing both adults and children as they fled homes laid to waste by punishing Russian attacks. The mounting civilian deaths prompted new accusations that Russian forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine, after 11 days of an attack ordered by President Vladimir Putin that has destroyed apartment blocks and driven more than 1.5 million Ukrainians into neighbouring countries – the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Hearings for an injunction on Russia’s invasion begin in the Hague on Monday. Ukraine is asking the International Court of Justice for an order to halt the invasion, saying Russia has falsely accused it of genocide to justify an illegal war. Ukraine brought its case under the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention, which contains a provision for settling disputes at the ICJ over how the convention is interpreted and applied. Ukraine alleges Russia is misusing the convention – the world’s response to the mass murder of Jews and others during the Second World War – by claiming it as a pretext for its own attacks, which Ukraine describes in its legal filings as genocidal themselves.
Western allies, including the United States and Britain, are working on plans to transfer Polish fighter or ground-attack jets to Kyiv, in an attempt to prevent Russia from gaining total air superiority over Ukraine, reports The Globe’s Eric Reguly from Brussels. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the plan was in the works while in Moldova, “We are looking actively now at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those planes,” Blinken said. American- or European-built aircraft could not be transferred or sold to Ukraine because its pilots have no experience in flying them.
In the port city of Odesa, opera singers, perfumers and even the local yacht director have been feverishly preparing for Russia’s assault. Odesa, with its grand edifices on the Black Sea, has largely been spared from the aerial bombardments and artillery attacks that have turned streets in other Ukrainian cities to rubble, reports The Globe’s Nathan VanderKlippe. But on Sunday, the lengthy wail of air-raid sirens was followed by an announcement from the military that it had shot down a Russian aircraft near the city. Then came a grim warning from the country’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky: “They are preparing to bombard Odesa.”
More coverage from our Globe reporters:
- From Lviv, Ukraine: Top Zelensky aide says Russia starting to realize the real price of its war in Ukraine
- From Bucharest: Residents of Russian-held cities in Ukraine resist claims they want unification with Crimea
- From Przemysl, Poland: In eastern Poland, gun shops are struggling to keep up with demand from anxious locals
- From Toronto: After Ukraine invasion, Kinross Gold plans for a future without Russia
- From Toronto and Lviv: What is Putin’s endgame for Ukraine? In Moscow, as in Kyiv, people are struggling to find out
Analysis and opinion:
- John Ibbitson: Canada may finally have the political will to strengthen our depleted defence capacity
- Adam Radwanski: After seeing how motivated Europe is to get off Russian oil and gas, a cabinet minister must determine how Canada can help
- Rita Trichur: Corporate world renounces Russia after years of willful blindness
- Michael Ignatieff: From Hungary in 1956 to Ukraine in 2022, Russia has tried to crush the people’s will – and failed
- Brian Milner: In his growing isolation, Putin might find reason to pine for opportunities he had in Russia’s G8 days
Live updates: Catch up on the news and stay on top of the latest events with our daily guide.
Local residents escape from the town of Irpin, after heavy shelling landed on the only escape route used by locals, as Russian troops advance toward the capital of Kyiv, March 6, 2022.CARLOS BARRIA/Reuters
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ontario is running out of landfill space. Will it embrace the circular economy or sleepwalk into a crisis?: For all the recent talk of a circular economy, Ontario’s is more like a linear pipeline: Resources are extracted, used once, then disposed of. Long ago, it committed to diverting more refuse into recycling and reuse programs, but missed the mark widely.
Some businesses keeping COVID-19 rules despite changing measures: With vaccine passport requirements either already lifted or about to be done away with in most of the country in the coming weeks, businesses and organizations are facing decisions about whether to continue asking for proof of vaccination. For some, the fear of losing staff to illness is a major motivator for keeping the measure in place.
- Listen to the latest Decibel: 1.7 million warned they may have to pay back CERB relief
In the Maritimes, rent inflation is biting hard: Tenants across the Maritimes, particularly on Prince Edward Island, are getting hit with steep rent increases. In many ways, what’s happening is the dark side of a boom period that’s brought new blood to rapidly aging provinces.
MORNING MARKETS
Crude spikes, markets slump: Oil prices soared and global shares sank in frantic trading on Monday as the risk of a U.S. and European ban on Russian product and delays in Iranian talks triggered what was shaping up as a major stagflationary shock for world markets. Just after 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.53 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 fell 3.29 per cent and 3.35 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei lost 2.94 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 3.87 per cent. New York futures were sharply lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.56 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Amid Putin’s war, Emmanuel Macron has become Europe’s indispensable leader
“With a bloody war raging in Europe, the electoral battleground has suddenly shifted from the domestic domain to the continental sphere. The future of Europe is on the ballot in direct and tangible ways. The debate now revolves not around abstract concepts about the division of power in the European Union, but around which candidate can stand up to Russia’s aggression.” - Konrad Yakabuski
Being shy is a virtue, not a character flaw
“When someone speaks less, we assume there is something wrong with them. We don’t create space for people to think before they speak, we’re expected to answer quickly and immediately. And we don’t allow people to observe before joining in, everyone – children and adults – is expected to participate immediately, with no time to warm up.” - Annie Ridout
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
It’s a sizzling midwinter for book releases
Midwinter was once a dead zone for books – the hot titles all wanted to be out in fall to capitalize on the Christmas rush and the beach books would wait to publish in late spring. COVID seems to have changed the timing of all that with February and March having so many new and exciting books that it was difficult for writer Margaret Cannon to settle on these six.
MOMENT IN TIME: Baby Charles Lindbergh Jr. is kidnapped
Charles Lindbergh, the baby son of the famous aviator, who was kidnapped and later found murdered.Keystone/Getty Images
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo editors working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re looking at historic kidnappings.
On the night of March 1, 1932, Charles Lindbergh’s first-born son was taken from his crib in the family’s New Jersey home. Five years earlier, Lindbergh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic. The kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby – and the bizarre series of ransom notes and negotiations that followed – drew worldwide attention. The famous aviator and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, made payments in exchange for information on the baby’s whereabouts, which turned out to be false. Charles Jr. was found dead two months later. It would be another two years before police traced the ransom money to Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a German-born carpenter. After what was often described as the trial of the century, a jury found Hauptmann guilty of the baby’s murder, and he was executed by electric chair. Molly Hayes
Subscribers and registered users of globeandmail.com can dig deeper into our News Photo Archive at tgam.ca/newsphotoarchive
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