NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) -- Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday embraced calls for an international war crimes investigation of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, citing the “atrocities” of bombing civilians, including a maternity hospital. Meanwhile, the highest-level talks yet between Russia and Ukraine yielded no progress in stopping the fighting as emergency workers renewed efforts to get food and medical supplies into besieged cities and get traumatized civilians out.
Thursday, March 10, 2022
9:41 p.m. - The International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday that Ukraine has lost contact with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant a day after the Russian-controlled site lost power
The agency is looking to confirm reports that power has been restored to the site which has been operating on electricity from emergency backup generators since yesterday.
The break in communications means IAEA and Ukrainian government are no longer in touch with radiation monitors and workers at the facility.
7:38 p.m. - Russian convoy outside of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv dispersed and then redeployed Thursday
Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed that a 40-mile convoy of vehicles, tanks and artillery has broken up and redeployed to towns near the Antonov Airport north of the city and nearby forests.
The convoy has been mired outside Kyiv for some time now, and the change could indicate a coming attack on the capital.
6:30 p.m. - Nuclear research institute shelled in Kharkiv by Russians: Ukraine
Russian forces shelled a nuclear research institute in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city on Thursday, setting buildings on fire, said Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.
A shell hit a building where there is equipment that could release radiation if it were damaged, Gerashchenko said. According to the president’s office, there has been no change in the background radiation.
The shelling caused a fire, but firefighters were able to put it out.
Russian forces have already taken over two nuclear power plants in Ukraine, raising concerns about the security of the nuclear facilities.
5:00 p.m. - 1.9M people are displaced in Ukraine: UN
In addition to the more than 2.3 million people who have fled the war in Ukraine, an estimated 1.9 million people are displaced within the country, according to U.N. officials.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that most of the internally displaced people are moving away from the front lines and heading west toward Lviv. The humanitarian situation “continues to deteriorate at an alarming pace,” he said.
“Humanitarian organizations are deploying additional staff across the country and are working to move supplies to warehouses in different hubs within Ukraine and outside,” Dujarric said. “So far, we — along with our partners — have reached more than 500,000 people with some form of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, including life-saving food, shelter, blankets, and medical supplies.”
4:25 p.m. - Disney to pause all business in Russia
Disney said Thursday it would pause business with Russia following it's invasion of Ukraine.
The company had paused theatrical releases but said Thursday it would halt "content and product licensing, Disney Cruise Line activities, National Geographic magazine and tours, local content productions and linear channels."
"Given the unrelenting assault on Ukraine and the escalating humanitarian crisis, we are taking steps to pause all other businesses in Russia," the company said in a statement.
4:00 p.m. - JP Morgan Chase 'unwinding' business in Russia
JPMorgan Chase said Thursday that it is “unwinding” its Russian banking business and plans not to take any additional work, making it the latest bank to pull out of Russia.
Like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan said it has a “limited” presence in Russia, a spokeswoman said, and will only be using the coming weeks to close out pre-existing business relationships. The bank will also donate $5 million to humanitarian relief efforts.
Banks have been the latest industry to come under pressure to cut ties from Russia entirely due to the war. Goldman Sachs announced Thursday it would close its Russian offices and Citigroup has said it would try to sell its retail banking business and close its investment banking operations.
12:50 p.m. - 41 kids among 549 civilians confirmed killed in Ukraine: UN
At least 549 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 957 injured since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Among the casualties are 41 children who were killed and 52 who were injured.
OHCHR said the dead include 101 men, 67 women, nine boys and six girls, as well as 26 children and 340 adults whose sex is not yet known.
The injured include 81 men, 64 women, 14 girls and four boys, as well as 34 children and 760 adults whose sex is not yet known, the department said.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” OHCHR said in a news release.
OHCHR noted that it believes the actual figures are “considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.”
OHCHR said it is still working to verify allegations of hundreds of civilian casualties in besieged cities like Volnovakha, Mariupol and Izium.
12:00 p.m. - French president ‘very worried, pessimistic’ about war
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned “a shameful and amoral act of war” after a Russian airstrike on a Mariupol maternity hospital.
Macron said Thursday he was deeply upset by images showing “lethal weapons have been used in an indiscriminate manner in the city center.” He spoke ahead of a summit of EU heads of state and government at the Versailles Palace, west of Paris.
Macron said “nothing justifies” what happened in Mariupol.
“I am very worried and pessimistic,” about the war in Ukraine, Macron said. “I don’t see a ceasefire (being) realistic in the coming hours.”
10:15 a.m. - Goldman Sachs shuts down its Russia business
Goldman Sachs says it is closing its operations in Russia entirely, making it the first major Wall Street bank to do so since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Goldman’s announcement comes after Citigroup said it would start winding down its Russia operations. But that process will likely take longer because Citi operates a consumer banking and business banking division in the country.
Like other Wall Street banks, Goldman operated a small investment banking business in the country for the past few years. The bank said in a statement Thursday it has roughly $650 million in exposure to Russian debt.
Banking is the latest industry to come under pressure to cut its Russian ties due to the war. But unlike companies who make goods that ship to Russia, banks have loans, deposits and existing customer relationships that take time to wind down or sell off.
9:30 a.m. - Harris embraces calls for war crimes probe of Russia
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has embraced calls for an international war crimes investigation of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and the bombing of civilians, including a maternity hospital.
Speaking Thursday in Warsaw, where she is demonstrating U.S. support for NATO’s eastern flank allies, Harris expressed outrage over the bombing of the maternity hospital on Wednesday and scenes of bloodied pregnant women being evacuated.
“Absolutely there should be an investigation, and we should all be watching,” said Harris, noting that the United Nations has already started a process to review allegations. “I have no question the eyes of the world are on this war and what Russia has done in terms of this aggression and these atrocities.”
Standing alongside Harris, Polish President Andrzej Duda said, “It is obvious to us that in Ukraine Russians are committing war crimes.”
Harris also praised the Polish people for taking in more than 1 million refugees as she met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
“I’ve been watching or reading about the work of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and so I bring you thanks from the American people,” Harris said hours after the U.S. House passed a massive spending bill that includes $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine and its European allies. The legislation includes $6.8 billion to care for refugees and other economic aid to allies.
Harris also met Thursday with seven refugees who have fled from Ukraine to Poland since the Russian invasion began. She praised the refugees for their “courage” and said the conversation would help inform U.S. assistance efforts.
“We are here to support you, and you are not alone,” Harris told the group. “And I know there’s so much about the experience that you’ve had that has made you feel alone. You are not alone. We around the world are watching.”
Already, more than 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine — with more than half coming to Poland — and even more expected to arrive in the days ahead.
Harris is also scheduled to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while in Warsaw. The Canadian leader has been in Europe in recent days meeting with allies about Ukraine.
9:00 a.m. - Zelenskyy says Russian leaders will be ‘hated,’ ‘prosecuted for complicity in war crimes’
Ukraine's president is telling Russian leaders that their country’s invasion of Ukraine will backfire, by landing them in court and making their people hate them.
“You will definitely be prosecuted for complicity in war crimes,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video released Thursday.
The West has slapped harsh financial and economic sanctions on Russia because of the invasion, and the Ukrainian leader said the consequences will be felt by all Russians.
“And then, it will definitely happen, you will be hated by Russian citizens — everyone you have been deceiving constantly, daily, for many years in a row, when they feel the consequences of your lies in their wallets, in their shrinking possibilities, in the stolen future of Russian children.”
8:30 a.m. - No breakthrough after latest round of Ukraine-Russia talks
Ukraine’s foreign minister says talks between the top diplomats of Moscow and Kyiv produced no breakthrough on ending the war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he attended the meeting Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Turkey to discuss humanitarian corridors and a cease-fire.
Kuleba said there are “other decision-makers” in Russia who need to be consulted, adding that he agreed with Lavrov to continue to seek a solution to humanitarian issues caused by the war.
He said Moscow is not ready to offer a cease-fire. He said: “They seek Ukraine’s surrender. This is not going to happen.”
Kuleba said “the last thing” he wanted was to kill hope for Ukrainians seeking safe passage out of cities besieged by Russian bombardments and attacks.
8:00 a.m. - Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton pause business in Russia
All three international hotel chains based in the United States have frozen their investments in Russia and put on hold any planned openings of new hotels there.
Marriott on Thursday joined Hyatt and Hilton, which on Wednesday ceased any development of properties after Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago.
Marriott, like Hilton, said it’s shuttering its corporate office in Moscow as well.
Marriott hotels in Russia are owned by third parties and the company said it is evaluating the “ability” of those locations to remain open. Hyatt also said it’s evaluating the operations of hotels that remain open there.
All three hotels are either earmarking aid funds, donating profits from Russian properties, or opening hotel rooms to refugees in Europe.
7:30 a.m. - Russian official dismisses concerns about attacks on civilians
Russia’s foreign minister is dismissing concerns about Russian military attacks on civilians, including on a maternity hospital, as “pathetic shrieks” from its enemies.
Sergey Lavrov met his Ukrainian counterpart in Turkey on Thursday in the highest-level Russian-Ukrainian talks since the war began last month.
In the Russian government’s first public comment on Wednesday’s strike on a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol, Lavrov didn’t deny or shy away from responsibility for the attack.
He claimed the site had earlier been seized by Ukrainian far-right radical fighters who were using it as a base. Even though there were many images of civilians wounded in the attack and the city council said a child was among the three people killed, Lavrov claimed all the patients and nurses were moved of the hospital before the assault.
Lavrov said Russia was ready for more negotiations but showed no sign of softening Moscow’s stance in the dispute.
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