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President Volodymyr Zelensky pleads for international aid, and Canada’s support in address to Parliament

This digest has now been archived. Find the latest Russia-Ukraine updates here.

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A man walks past a household appliances and electronics supermarket destroyed by recent shelling in Kharkiv on March 15, 2022, amid the ongoing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.SERGEY BOBOK/AFP/Getty Images

Here are the latest updates on the war in Ukraine:

  • Ukraine must accept it will never join NATO, President Volodymyr Zelensky tells European leaders.
  • Zelensky also addressed Parliament this morning, the latest in a series of virtual visits as he pleads for international aid.
  • Russia’s foreign ministry announced that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, and a dozen top U.S. officials are banned from entering the country.
  • Canada said on Tuesday it was imposing sanctions on 15 Russian officials who enabled and supported President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, to apply additional pressure on Moscow to reverse course.
  • Day 20 of Russia’s war against Ukraine began with more civilian deaths as an apartment building on the western side of Kyiv was hit, killing at least five people.

  • A Ukrainain flag flies in front of The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.DAVE CHAN/AFP/Getty Images

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10:15 p.m. ET

U.S. lawmakers to prod reluctant Biden administration to facilitate plane transfers to Ukraine

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the U.S. Congress Wednesday, he is expected to renew pressure on the White House to broker a supply of warplanes to his besieged country.

So far, U.S. President Joe Biden has demurred on the request, out of fear of escalating Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine into a war between NATO and the Kremlin. Defence experts, meanwhile, say there are significant logistical problems with delivering the planes, and it’s not clear they would be particularly effective.

But with a growing chorus of legislators backing Mr. Zelensky’s request, the White House may soon have to acquiesce.

NATO has repeatedly rejected Mr. Zelensky’s calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Such a measure would mean U.S., British or other allied planes would have to shoot down Russian fighters, launching an open conflict between nuclear-armed countries. The alliance, however, has left the door open to warplane shipments.

-Adrian Morrow in Washington


9:26 p.m. ET

S&P 500 snaps 3-day slump and oil price continues to dive

U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday and the S&P 500 ended a three-day skid as another drop in oil prices and a softer-than-expected reading on producer prices helped ease inflation fears among investors, with the focus turning to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy announcement. The TSX ended nearly unchanged.

Brent crude settled below US$100 a barrel after rocketing higher to more than $139 last week, providing some temporary relief for equity investors that have seen stocks come under pressure this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 599.1 points, or 1.82%, to 33,544.34, the S&P 500 gained 89.34 points, or 2.14%, to 4,262.45 and the Nasdaq Composite added 367.40 points, or 2.92%, to 12,948.62.

The S&P 500 slumped about 2.4% in the prior three sessions and recently joined the Dow, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 in forming a “death cross” technical pattern, when a short-term moving average crosses below a longer-term moving average, which some investors believe signals more near-term weakness is likely.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 7.06 points, or 0.03%, at 21,187.84, after touching its lowest level since March 1 earlier in the day at 20,971.11.

-Reuters, Globe staff


7:29 p.m. ET

Two Fox News journalists killed while reporting in Ukraine

A veteran videographer and a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist working for Fox News were both killed when their vehicle came under fire outside of Kyiv.

Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, and Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova were traveling Monday in Horenka with Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall, who remains hospitalized.

“Today is a heartbreaking day for Fox News Media and for all journalists risking their lives to deliver the news,” the network’s CEO, Suzanne Scott said in a staff memo.

Zakrzewski was a veteran war-zone photographer who had covered multiple conflicts for Fox News, including in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Based in London, he had been working in Ukraine since February.

Scott described Zakrzewski as a versatile journalist who performed a variety of roles, including as a photographer, engineer, editor and producer “under immense pressure with tremendous skill.”

Kuvshynova was a local “fixer,” as is known in war zones. She helped Fox crews navigate the Kyiv area, gathered information and spoke to sources. She had a passion for music, the arts and photography, Scott said in the staff memo.

“Several of our correspondents and producers spent long days with her reporting the news and got to know her personally, describing her as hard-working, funny, kind and brave,” Scott wrote. “Her dream was to connect people around the world and tell their stories and she fulfilled that through her journalism.”

– The Associated Press


6:37 p.m. ET

Biden will travel to Europe for Ukraine talks

President Joe Biden will travel to Europe next week for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced today.

Biden will meet with European leaders at an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels on March 24. He will also attend a scheduled European Council summit, where efforts to impose sanctions and further humanitarian efforts are underway.

- The Associated Press


6:31 p.m. ET

An estimated 20,000 civilians flee Mariupol; Ukraine sees room for compromise with Russia

Ukraine said it saw possible room for compromise today in talks with Russia, while Moscow’s forces stepped up their bombardment of Kyiv, and an estimated 20,000 civilians fled the desperately encircled port city of Mariupol by way of a humanitarian corridor.

The fast-moving developments on the diplomatic front and on the ground came on the 20th day of Russia’s invasion, as the number of Ukrainians fleeing the country amid Europe’s heaviest fighting since World War II eclipsed 3 million.

- The Associated Press


4:25 p.m. ET

More than 3 million have fled Ukraine

The number of Ukrainians fleeing abroad is now 3,000,381, the United Nations’ Refugee Agency said on Tuesday.

- Reuters


3:10 p.m. ET

Abramovich flies into Moscow as yachts are seized and caviar banned in hit to Russia’s rich

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich jetted into Moscow on Tuesday as the Spanish government seized more assets belonging to Russia’s rich and the EU banned exports of caviar and luxury goods.

Abramovich landed in Moscow early on Tuesday after taking off from Istanbul in his private jet, according to FLIGHTRADAR24 data. A source familiar with the matter said he was not in Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

Abramovich was among several Russian billionaires added on Tuesday to an EU blacklist that already includes dozens of wealthy Russians. Abramovich said last week he was selling Chelsea soccer club, but after being targeted by British sanctions that sale is now on hold.

- Reuters


2:30 p.m. ET

Injured Canadian says there was no warning ahead of missile attack on Ukrainian base

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A picture taken on March 7, 2022, shows former Canadian infantry soldier Hunter Francis in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Warsaw, Poland.ANNA-MARIA JAKUBEK/AFP/Getty Images

A New Brunswick man who was injured when a military base near Ukraine’s western border was struck by Russian missiles on Sunday says there was no warning of the attack.

Hunter Francis of the Eel Ground First Nation in northeast New Brunswick says there were no air raid sirens before the missiles hit.

In text messages to The Canadian Press, Francis says the missiles struck a supply depot first, then the barracks where he was located.

The former Canadian Forces member, who arrived in Ukraine last week to volunteer in the defence against Russia, says the bombardment lasted about 30 minutes and left him with shards of glass and metal in his right hand and his nose.

Francis is now in an unidentified country bordering Ukraine, and efforts are underway for him to return to Canada.

- The Canadian Press


12:09 a.m. ET

Zelensky urges Canada to do more for Ukraine in historic address to Parliament

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky virtually addressed the House of Commons on March 15, asking politicians and dignitaries to imagine bombs dropping on Canadian cities. He asked for further sanctions against Russia, and Canada's support in a no-fly zone of Ukraine.

The Globe and Mail

Invoking Vancouver, Edmonton and the CN Tower, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Canadian politicians and dignitaries to imagine bombs dropping in Canada as the federal government here decides just how far it should go in its support for Ukraine.

In a historic address to a joint session of Parliament on Tuesday, the war-time President appealed to Canada to do more for Ukraine.

“Justin, can you imagine,” the President asked in a direct appeal to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he wondered how he would explain the sounds of air raid sirens and bombs dropping on Canadian cities to his children.

“You all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said.

- The Globe’s Marieke Walsh and Robert Fife


11:02 a.m. ET

Russia bans Trudeau, Biden, U.S. officials in retaliation to sanctions

Russia’s foreign ministry announced that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, and a dozen top U.S. officials on a “stop list” that bars them from entering the country.

Also on the U.S. list: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA chief William Burns, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The ban was in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials.

The foreign ministry said it was maintaining official relations, and if necessary would make sure that high-level contacts with the people on the list could take place.

- Reuters


9:54 a.m. ET

Canada imposes sanctions on 15 Putin supporters

Canada said on Tuesday it was imposing sanctions on 15 Russian officials who enabled and supported President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to apply additional pressure on Moscow to reverse course.

The new sanctions were announced ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s expected virtual address to the Canadian parliament at 11:15 a.m.

“President Putin made the choice to further his illegal and unjustifiable invasion, and he can also make the choice to end it by immediately ending the senseless violence and withdrawing his forces,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.

“Canada will not hesitate to take further action should the Russian leadership fail to change course.”

- Reuters


9:34 a.m. ET

Ukraine acknowledges no ‘open doors’ to NATO, wants security guarantee

Ukraine understands it does not have an open door to NATO membership and therefore proposes a way to protect itself independently provided it has security guarantees, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.

“If we cannot enter through open doors, then we must cooperate with the associations with which we can, which will help us, protect us … and have separate guarantees,” he said in a video address.

- Reuters


9:02 a.m. ET

EU, UK, approve new round of Russia sanctions

The European Union formally approved a new barrage of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which include bans on investments in the Russian energy sector, luxury goods exports and imports of steel products from Russia.

The sanctions also freeze the assets of more business leaders who support the Russian state. The measure will hit Russia’s oil majors Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft, but EU members will be still able to buy oil and gas from them, an EU source told Reuters.

There will also be a total ban on transactions with some Russian state-owned enterprises linked to the Kremlin’s military-industrial complex.

Britain imposed sanctions on hundreds of Russian individuals and entities, moving against those close to Putin, such as former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, oligarchs who amassed their wealth before Putin came to power, were also put under sanctions.

- Reuters


9:02 a.m. ET

Belarus will not get involved in Ukraine conflict: Lukashenko

President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that Belarus had intercepted a missile fired at it two days ago from Ukraine, but that it would resist what he called attempts to draw it into the conflict across the border.

The Kyiv government accused Russia on Friday of staging “false flag” air attacks on Belarus from Ukraine to provide an excuse for Moscow’s close ally, which has served as a staging post for Russian forces entering Ukraine, to join the conflict itself.

“I warned you that they would push us into this operation, into this war,” Lukashenko told Belarusian soldiers, according to the state news agency BelTA.

“There’s nothing for us to do there, and we haven’t been invited,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying. “I want to emphasise again … We are not going to become involved in this operation that Russia is conducting in Ukraine.”

- Reuters


8:02 a.m. ET

Ukraine tries to get supplies to people ‘being suffocated’ in Mariupol

Ukraine planned to make a new attempt to deliver supplies to the besieged city of Mariupol on Tuesday as the first convoy of civilians allowed out by Russia reached safety and the Red Cross issued a dire warning about the situation.

People trapped in Mariupol by Russian shelling were “essentially being suffocated in this city now with no aid,” Ewan Watson, spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told a U.N. briefing in Geneva.

Residents have been without heating, electricity and running water for most of the past two weeks, the Ukrainian authorities say.

- Reuters


7:01 a.m. ET

Red Cross hopes to evacuate civilians from besieged Sumy

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A thermal power plant destroyed by shelling in the town of Okhtyrka, in the Sumy region.IRINA RYBAKOVA/UKRAINIAN GROUND/Reuters

The Red Cross is hoping to organize the evacuation of two convoys of some 30 buses with civilians out of the besieged northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy and their passage to a safe area, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Ewan Watson, spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told a U.N. briefing in Geneva that the operation would be carried out with the Ukrainian Red Cross but was not underway yet. He noted there had been delays with similar evacuations from Mariupol, where he said people are “essentially being suffocated in this city now with no aid’.

Some 2.95 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland since Russian forces invaded 20 days ago, including 1.8 million in Poland, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said. Some 300,000 have gone on to Western Europe, he said

- Reuters


6:41 a.m. ET

Ukrainian region issues country-wide air raid warning

The northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv issued a warning of country-wide air attacks on Tuesday, urging citizens to head to shelters.

It was not immediately clear whether other regions had issued similar warnings of new air strikes by Russian forces that invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

- Reuters


6:06 a.m. ET

Will there be a peace deal? Kremlin not giving predictions

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was too early to make predictions about the possible results of talks between Russia and Ukraine.

“The work is difficult and in the current situation the very fact that they are continuing is probably positive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We don’t want to make predictions. We await results.”

- Reuters


5:41 a.m. ET

Russia bombs Kyiv apartment, killing at least five Ukrainian civilians

Warning: Video contains graphic content. Firefighters work to control fires and rescue residents of an apartment building in the Sviatoshynskyi district of Kyiv, Ukraine after it was hit during Russia's bombing of the city. At least five civilians have been killed in the attack.

The Globe and Mail

Day 20 of Russia’s war against Ukraine began with more civilian deaths as an apartment building on the western side of Kyiv was hit, killing at least five people early Tuesday ahead of fresh ceasefire talks expected later in the day.

A blaze enveloped all 15 floors of the apartment block in the Sviatoshynskyi district of Kyiv after it was struck just before dawn. Russian warplanes and artillery also continued to bombard the northern suburbs of the capital, including districts such as Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel that have already seen some of the worst fighting of the war.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a Monday attack on a television tower in the western Ukrainian region of Rivne reportedly rose to 19.

- Mark MacKinnon


5:40 a.m. ET

Kyiv to impose 35-hour curfew after increased shelling

A curfew will be imposed on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from 8 p.m. on Tuesday to 7 a.m. on Thursday after several apartment blocks were struck by Russian forces based outside the city, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko announced.

Two people were killed in the latest bloodshed, he said.

“It is prohibited to move around the city without special permission, except to go to bomb shelters,” Klitschko said. “The capital is the heart of Ukraine, and it will be defended. Kyiv, which is currently the symbol and forward operating base of Europe’s freedom and security, will not be given up by us.”

- Reuters


4:08 a.m. ET

Zelensky to give virtual address to Parliament

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will deliver a virtual address to Canada's House of Commons on March 15.HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to address Parliament this morning at 11:15 a.m. EST.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has intensified in recent days with more than two million people fleeing the country so far and airstrikes hitting the capital of Kyiv.

While visiting Europe last week, Trudeau announced that Canada will send another $50 million of specialized equipment to help Ukraine and slapped new sanctions on Russian oligarchs, government officials and supporters of the country’s leadership.

Canada has also committed $145 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in 2022 and created new immigration measures to help people fleeing the war.

Zelensky is scheduled to speak to members of the U.S. House and Senate on Wednesday.

- The Canadian Press


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