Board Game Arena

18:29
800 detained at Russia anti-war protests

Picture of several police officers detaining one woman (carrying her) during a protest against Russian military action in Ukraine, in Manezhnaya Square in central Moscow - Getty Images Copyright

There have also been anti-war protests in Russia - where police detained more than 800 people on Sunday.

The OVD-Info NGO, which monitors arrests during protests, said police had detained 817 people during demonstrations in 37 cities in Russia.

Law enforcement in Moscow said they had detained approximately 300 people in the city centre for breaches of public order.

'Time is running out' in Mariupol, warns Red Cross

The Red Cross has urged all parties in the Ukraine conflict to come to an agreement over humanitarian aid, warning "time is running out" in Mariupol.

“We call on all parties involved in the fighting to place humanitarian imperatives first," said Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"People in Mariupol have endured a weeks-long life-and-death nightmare. This needs to stop now. Their safety and their access to food, water and shelter must be guaranteed.”

Pensioners and children alike, as well as ICRC staff, are sheltering in unheated basements in Mariupol where dead bodies littered the city centre, said a statement by the ICRC - describing the human suffering in the port city as "immense".

The charity called for a "concrete, precise, actionable agreement" to be implemented "without delay" so civilians can reach safety - and urged military forces to respect the ceasefire and give residents time to leave.

It appealed to both sides "to respect international humanitarian law" and not to target civilian infrastructure, hospitals or medical personnel.

"History will look back at what is now happening in Mariupol with horror if no agreement is reached by the sides as quickly as possible," the statement concluded.

Turks trapped in Mariupol mosque
Among those trapped in Mariupol are a group of Turkish citizens currently sheltering in a mosque in the city, according to the Turkish government which has asked Russia to help evacuating them.

On Saturday Ukraine's foreign ministry said Russian forces had shelled the Sultan Suleiman mosque, where it said 86 Turks were sheltering, including 34 children.

On Sunday Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said buses had been waiting to evacuate Turkish citizens "for some days" but had been hampered by ongoing fighting in the city.

Speaking at a news conference in Antalya, he said he had appealed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for support with the evacuation and expected "to make some headway" on the matter.

Earlier attempts to evacuate people from Mariupol, where the humanitarian situation has become desperate, have collapsed - with the Ukrainians and Russians blaming each other.

Cavusoglu said 14,480 Turkish citizens had so far been evacuated from Ukraine.

'We don’t talk because they don’t understand'
Hanna Chornous - BBC News, Kyiv

Picture of A group of friends in Kyiv - Copyright: Hanna Chornous

In a supermarket on the outskirts of Kyiv, bread and dairy shelves are empty.

Still available are delicacies and less popular items, like goat cheese, truffle-flavoured crisps or expensive organic chocolate. The fruit and vegetable stalls are filled with cabbage.

Standing with his friends outside with a cup of latte in his hands, a rare pleasure in Kyiv these days, Yaroslav casually explains they are “staying to defend the city”.

His friend, Iryna, tells of her frustration talking to her relatives in Russia: “We don’t talk because they don’t understand,” she says. “They say every day there is no war.”

“Propaganda is a more powerful weapon than a real weapon,” their friend Serhiy adds.

He tells us young Russians he chats with say they do not believe what they hear from their government: “They understand what will happen in Russia with sanctions, that it will be a new North Korea.

"It is only the young generation that can change something in Russia."

Chernobyl staff fatigued - nuclear watchdog
Staff at Ukraine's Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant are no longer carrying out some tasks because of "physical and mental fatigue", the UN's nuclear watchdog says.

In a tweet, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that staff at the plant had been working "non-stop" for nearly three weeks.

Russian forces seized the nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, on the first day of the invasion.

Additionally, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said the "increasingly dire situation" facing Chernobyl staff added "further urgency" to efforts aimed at ensuring the safety of Ukrainian nuclear facilities.

Authorities have expressed concern about the potential consequences of damage to Ukraine's nuclear facilities during fighting.

Article in The guardian newspaper - by Pjotr Sauer

Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam announces split with Moscow

Clergy takes ‘difficult decision’ to cut ties with the Moscow patriarchate over the invasion of Ukraine

A Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam in 2020. More than 280 Russian Orthodox priests and church officials from around the world have signed an open letter expressing their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Koen van Weel/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

A Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam has announced it is to split with the Moscow patriarchate, in the first known instance of a western-based church cutting ties over the invasion of Ukraine.

“The clergy unanimously announced that it is no longer possible for them to function within the Moscow patriarchate and provide a spiritually safe environment for our faithful,” the clergy said in a statement posted on its website. “This decision is extremely painful and difficult for all concerned.”

The head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, a trusted ally of Vladimir Putin, has declined to condemn the Kremlin’s decision to invade its neighbour, referring to Russia’s opponents in Ukraine as “evil forces”. In a Sunday sermon last week he also said gay pride parades organised in the west were part of the reason for the war in Ukraine.

The statement said the Russian Orthodox parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra had asked the Russian archbishop of the diocese of the Netherlands, who is based in The Hague, to grant the church “canonical dismissal”.

The clergy of the parish said they had requested to join the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Istanbul-based Orthodox branch, seen as a rival to the Russian Orthodox church.

Kirill’s position on the war has led to unease among some Russian Orthodox priests who object to the invasion of a country often referred to as a “brotherly nation” in religious circles.

More than 280 Russian Orthodox priests and church officials from around the world signed an open letter expressing their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It said “eternal torment” awaited those who gave “murderous orders”.

The Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam, which consists of four priests and a deacon – one of the biggest Russian Orthodox congregations in the Netherlands – has been critical of Russia’s role in the war since the start of the invasion on 24 February.

It said last week it would no longer mention the name of Patriarch Kirill in its liturgy because of his backing for the invasion of Ukraine. “We as the clergy of St Nicholas parish in Amsterdam have expressed our shock at the invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation … We distance ourselves from Patriarch Kirill’s narrative,” it wrote on its Facebook page.

The statement went against the official policy of the Russian Orthodox church not to use the word “war” and “invasion” to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

The Russian priests in Amsterdam told the Dutch outlet ND that Archbishop Elisey of the Netherlands visited their church afterwards, warning that “Moscow was watching their actions closely”.

The Amsterdam church held a closed session on Sunday in which the head of the parish reiterated the decision to break with Moscow. “We asked our former Patriarch Kirill to stop the war. Unfortunately, this did not happen,” he said in a video address posted on the church’s YouTube page.

A Russian member of the church’s choir who was standing outside the church told the Guardian she supported the decision to separate from Moscow. “Once the war started, there was only one way out of this,” she said, asking not to give her name.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also been criticised by other Christian religious leaders, including the head of Patriarchate of Constantinople, Bartholomew I of Constantinople, and Pope Francis, who on Sunday issued his toughest condemnation yet of the invasion, saying the “unacceptable armed aggression” must stop.

Bartholomew, considered to be the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians, earlier said Putin had committed “a great injustice” by going to war against his “coreligionists” and had “earned the hatred of the whole world”.

In 2018 the Russian Orthodox church cut ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, seen as the spiritual authority of the world’s Orthodox Christians, after Bartholomew granted independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox church, which was previously under Moscow’s control.

Russia blocks access to Instagram
Russia appears to have banned Instagram from operating in the country.

In a tweet, NetBlocks confirmed that real-time data shows that Instagram is now restricted in Russia across multiple providers.

Facebook was blocked earlier on, but Instagram is more popular in the country.

On Friday, the Russian government had said in a statement that it would impose restrictions on access to the platform from 14 March.

Russia made the decision to block Instagram after its parent company Meta decided to temporarily relax its moderation rules and allow users to post anti-Russian messages. In its statement on Friday, Russia said it initiated the process of recognising Meta as an extremist organisation.

Russia has established naval blockade - UK
In its latest intelligence update, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) says Russian naval forces have established a blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea coastline, effectively cutting the country off from maritime trade.

It warned of the potential for further amphibious assaults by Russian forces in the coming weeks. One such operation had already taken place in the Sea of Azov, it said.

EU condemns 'kidnap' of mayors
The EU has condemned the alleged kidnapping of the mayors of two Ukrainian cities by Russian forces.

Ukrainian officials said on Sunday that armed men had abducted Yevhen Matveyev, mayor of the south-eastern city of Dniprorudne.

It came after CCTV footage showed a man purported to be Ivan Fedorov, mayor of nearby Melitopol, being led out of a building on Friday with a bag over his head.

Writing on Twitter, Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU’s high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said: “The EU strongly condemns the kidnapping of the mayors of Melitopol and Dniprorudne by Russian armed forces.

“It is yet another attack on democratic institutions in Ukraine and an attempt to establish illegitimate alternative government structures in a sovereign country.”

Pro-Putin demonstrators take to streets of Belgrade

Dozens of pro-Russia demonstrators rallied in the Serbian capital of Belgrade on Sunday, voicing their support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The demonstrators waved Serbian and Russian flags. Some vehicles were painted with the letter Z, which has become a symbol for Russia's war in Ukraine after being seen on military vehicles.

The protest was reportedly coordinated by a Serbian far-right group.

On 4 March, thousands of Serbs took to the streets of Belgrade in a public show of support for Vladimir Putin and Russia. Then two days later, there was a large anti-war march.

While Serbia voted in favour of a UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion, it has so far not joined the growing list of countries that have announced economic sanctions to punish Moscow.