Ukraine updates: US backs tribunal on Russia’s ‘aggression’

Kyiv has welcomed the International Olympic Committee not giving a timeline on the potential participation of Russian athletes at next year’s Paris Olympics.

“The decision on the admission of Russians and Belarusians to the Olympics in 2024 has been postponed,” Ukraine’s Sport Minister Vadym Gutzeit said on Facebook.

“We will also make joint efforts so that not a single Z-patriot gets into international sports arenas,” he added in an apparent reference to pro-war Russians.

More than 300 fencers, including nine medallists from the last Olympics in Tokyo, have signed an open letter urging the sport’s governing body and the International Olympic Committee not to allow Russian fencers to compete while the war in Ukraine continues.

The International Fencing Federation voted this month to allow fencers from Russia and its ally Belarus to return to international competitions as qualifying for next year’s Olympics in Paris ramps up.

The fencers who signed the letter say the federation is “not fulfilling its duty of care” to its athletes and especially to Ukrainian fencers.

European Union countries have agreed to seek a legal option to stop Russian companies sending liquefied natural gas (LNG) to EU nations, by preventing Russian firms from booking infrastructure capacity.

EU countries’ energy ministers proposed that new EU gas market rules should include the option for governments to temporarily stop Russian and Belarusian gas exporters from bidding up-front for capacity on the infrastructure needed to deliver LNG into Europe.

The proposal is part of countries’ negotiating position on new EU gas market rules. It must be negotiated with the European Parliament – a process that can take months.

The 27-country EU has pledged to ditch Russian gas in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Europe’s pipeline imports of gas from Russia have plunged since the invasion, but LNG imports have increased.

The US would be willing to share some nuclear force data with Moscow if Russia were to come into compliance with the New START nuclear arms treaty, White House spokesman John Kirby has said.

The United States has told Russia it will withhold some data on its nuclear forces, a White House spokesperson said earlier on Tuesday, calling this a response to Moscow’s suspending participation in the treaty.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has not formally withdrawn from the treaty, which limits the two sides’ deployed strategic nuclear arsenals, his suspension in February further imperils the last remaining pillar of arms control between the US and Russia.

The US supports the establishment of a special tribunal on the crime of “aggression” against Ukraine, a top envoy at the State Department and a spokesperson has said, laying out for the first time how Washington would back Ukraine’s push to hold Russia accountable.

Ukraine, the EU and the Netherlands have publicly backed the idea of a special tribunal. Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation”, has denied accusations of war crimes including the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilians, thousands of whom have been killed.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant earlier this month accusing Putin of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. It said there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Russian president bears individual criminal responsibility.

The US says it has not seen any indications that Vladimir Putin is getting closer to using tactical nuclear weapons in his war on Ukraine, just days after the Russian leader said he was moving such weapons into Belarus.

“We’re watching this as best we can. We haven’t seen any movement by Mr Putin to act on what he pledged he would do,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

“And we haven’t seen any indications that Mr Putin is leaning towards or getting closer to or indicating any preparations for the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.”

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky has said Russia had no place in the Olympics.

“I am disappointed by the IOC recommendations,” Lipavsky wrote on Twitter. “We must not close our eyes to reality. Russian sport is centrally managed by the Kremlin. The Russian regime does not know what fair play is.”

“Its athletes do not belong in the Olympic Games. We will continue to deal with this issue, including with the expert group [Czech Olympic Committee].”

Belarus has confirmed it will host Russian tactical nuclear weapons, saying the decision was a response to years of Western pressure, including sanctions and what it called a military build-up by NATO member states near its borders.

The statement from the foreign ministry was the government’s first since Putin said on Saturday that Moscow will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and will build a nuclear weapons storage facility there.

“Over the last two and a half years, the Republic of Belarus has been subjected to unprecedented political, economic and information pressure from the United States, the United Kingdom and its NATO allies, as well as the member states of the European Union,” the ministry said in a statement.

“In view of these circumstances, and the legitimate concerns and risks in the sphere of national security arising from them, Belarus is forced to respond by strengthening its own security and defence capabilities,” the ministry said.

The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee has denounced as “unacceptable” the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) criteria intended to enable Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in international competitions.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus, Moscow’s ally, were banned from competition following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine last year, but the rules announced at the IOC’s Lausanne, Switzerland headquarters seek to allow their gradual return to world sport.

“The parameters as announced are absolutely unacceptable,” Stanislav Pozdnyakov told a news conference, according to Russian news agencies.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has reiterated the US’s commitment to enhancing corporate transparency along with some 20 other countries participating in this week’s Summit for Democracy.

While the administration of President Joe Biden is already working to establish a new database on small business ownership, Yellen pledged Tuesday that her department would maintain the database, known as the beneficial ownership registry, and would ensure law enforcement will have access and that individuals’ personal data will be protected.

The US is making the push to combat illicit finance, in part, as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as the US tries to more easily identify wealthy Russians accused of hiding stolen money and assets in the US and around the world.

Berlin has criticised a recommendation from Olympic chiefs that Russian and Belarusian athletes return to competition as individuals under a neutral flag with no links to the military.

It called the decision a “slap in the face” for Ukrainian athletes.

Ukrainian athletes “deserve the solidarity of international sport”, said German Sport Minister Nancy Faeser in a statement.

“International sport must condemn Russia’s brutal war of aggression in no uncertain terms. This can only be done with the complete exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes.”

Poland has slammed Olympic chiefs for their “day of shame” after they recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes return to competition as individuals under a neutral flag.

“What positive things has Russia done for their athletes to now take part in competitions!! After Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel!! After the daily bombings of civilian sites!! It’s a day of shame for the IOC!!” Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk said on Twitter.

Co takiego wydarzyło się pozytywnego ze strony Rosji, że ich sportowcy mieliby uczestniczyć w zawodach‼️ Po Buczy, Irpieniu, Hostomelu‼️ Po codziennych bombardowaniach obiektów cywilnych‼️ To dzień hańby MKOL‼️

— Piotr Wawrzyk (@Piotr_Wawrzyk) March 28, 2023

Olympic chiefs recommend returning Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as individuals under a neutral flag with no links to the military.

IOC President Thomas Bach said the IOC had recommended to international federations and event organisers that “athletes with a Russian or a Belarusian passport must compete only as Individual Neutral Athletes”.

The committee added that “teams of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport cannot be considered”.

Also missing out will be “athletes who actively support the war” and “athletes who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies”.

Additionally, “no flag, anthem, colours or any other identifications whatsoever of these countries displayed at any sports event or meeting, including the entire venue”, and “no Russian and Belarusian government or state official can be invited to or accredited for any international sports event or meeting”.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said his attempt to broker a deal to protect the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was still alive.

Rafael Grossi has been pushing for a safety zone to be created at the plant to prevent a possible nuclear disaster. Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the site of the power station since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

“We are making some adjustments on the proposals that we are putting on the table,” Grossi said in an interview with the Reuters news agency.

“I am confident that it might be possible to establish some form of protection, perhaps not emphasising so much the idea of a zone, but on the protection itself: what people should do, or shouldn’t do to protect [the plant] instead of having a territorial concept.”

Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected to visit the nuclear plant on Wednesday.

Russian President Putin has faced sharp criticism after saying on Saturday there are future plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Poland has warned Belarus that taking the weapons would mean the country might face more Western sanctions.

But in response to the news, Ukraine has called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting and accused Moscow of holding Minsk a “nuclear hostage”.

Al Jazeera’s Inside Story asks experts if Putin will take the conflict to a new level.

Germany is planning to increase its military aid spending for Ukraine, a member of the parliamentary budget committee told AFP.

About 12 billion euros ($12.9bn) more in spending is due to be approved by the committee, with the funds to go towards military help for Kyiv and replenishing equipment stocks.

If approved, the German army can begin spending the funds this year, with additional money earmarked for the coming years.

It was unclear how the sum would be allocated and the timeframe of the fund.

But the sum would dwarf Berlin’s three billion euros ($3.25bn) in military aid for Kyiv so far.

The source said the committee would also specifically vote on replenishing the stocks of Panzerhaubitze (armoured howitzers) 2000s sent to Ukraine on Wednesday.

According to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, Russian soldiers have continued to prioritise circling the town of Avdiivka, despite losses.

“Russian forces have made only marginal progress at the cost of heavy losses in armoured vehicles. Russia’s 10th Tank Regiment has likely lost a large proportion of its tanks while attempting to surround Avdiivka from the south,” the ministry said.

The update added that the “3rd army corps” were dealing with problems of poor morale and ill-discipline, displaying “limited combat effectiveness”.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 28 March 2023.

Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/A5EZZKsQjz

🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/52cYmDBnvX

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 28, 2023

After his daughter drew an anti-war picture at school, a Russian man was convicted of discrediting the armed forces and sentenced to two years in a penal colony, the OVD-Info rights group has said.

However, a court spokesperson said Alexei Moskalyov had escaped house arrest overnight, and his whereabouts were unknown.

“The accused, Mr Moskalyov, was not present for the sentencing because last night he ran away from house arrest,” the spokesperson said in a video.

While Moskalyov was convicted over comments he had posted online about the war in Ukraine, the investigation started after Masha, 13, drew a picture last April showing Russian missiles raining down on a Ukrainian mother and child, prompting the head of the school to call the police.

Moskalyov had been separated from Masha since he was placed under house arrest at the start of this month, and she was moved to a children’s home.

Russia says it has shot down a US-supplied ground-launched small-diameter bomb (GLSDB) fired by Ukrainian forces, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

“Air defense systems intercepted 18 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and one GLSDB guided missile in a day,” a defence ministry summary said, according to RIA.

The Russian statement said air defence forces had shot down the GLSDB within the last 24 hours, without saying where this had occurred.

The ground-launched small-diameter bomb is fired on a rocket, then glides to its target, guided by a GPS satellite, at a 150km (93km) range, about double that of the US-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) that Kyiv deployed last year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited the Sumy region in northern Ukraine as he continues his tour of front-line areas.

Russian forces partially occupied Sumy after the war started but withdrew by early April.

The Associated Press reported that Zelenskyy visited two Sumy-region cities: Okhtyrka, which was never occupied, and Trostianets, which was held by the Russians for a month after the invasion but liberated on March 26, 2022.

“In the Sumy region, in our Okhtyrka, we honour the true Cossack courage and indomitability of our people, our heroes, all Ukrainian men and women. Those who fought here for their city, for their land, and thus for our entire state. Those who destroyed the Russian convoys here and thus disrupted the entire plan of the enemy against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy said on his official website.

The Polish prime minister said Belarus would face further sanctions due to a Russian plan to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

“This step taken by Russia … the announcement of the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus will certainly lead to the announcement of additional sanctions, the level of sanctions will be much more severe for the Lukashenko regime,” Mateusz Morawiecki said during a news conference in Bucharest, referring to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Amnesty International’s has annual report highlighted the West’s “double standards” towards human rights abuses in the context of the Ukraine war.

“The West’s formidable response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underscored double standards, exposing in comparison how inconsequential their reactions have been to so many other violations of the UN Charter,” said Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard as she presented the group’s world report in Paris.

The report found that as Western countries quickly bound together to impose sanctions on Moscow, the same approach was missing from previous violations by Russia and from current “pitiful” responses to conflicts in Ethiopia and Myanmar.

Callamard told Al Jazeera from Paris on Monday: “In 2022, we had the fantastic example of how the world came to support and show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. But we did not have a similar kind of support and solidarity for the Palestinian people, the people of Ethiopia, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of [the] Congo.”

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 398 of the war.

KEEP READING

• Russia says oil sales to India soared 22-fold last year
• Why does Russia want tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus?
• Ukraine receives Leopard, Challenger battle tanks
• Russia-Ukraine war exposed human rights ‘double standards’

Russia has redirected all its crude oil exports affected by Western sanctions to “friendly” countries, Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said.

The West imposed wide-ranging sanctions, including an embargo on seaborne Russian oil imports, after Moscow sent forces into Ukraine.

“I can say today that we have managed to completely redirect the entire volume of exports affected by the embargo. There was no decrease in sales,” Shulginov told an energy forum.

Speaking at the same event, Alexander Dyukov, CEO of major Russian oil company Gazprom Neft, said 2023 would be more complex than 2022 and the pressure from sanctions would grow.

Russia’s navy fired supersonic anti-ship missiles at a fake target in the Sea of Japan, the Russian defence ministry said.

“In the waters of the Sea of Japan, missile ships of the Pacific Fleet fired Moskit cruise missiles at a mock enemy sea target,” the ministry said on Telegram.

“The target, located at a distance of about 100 kilometres (62.14 miles), was successfully hit by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles.”

IOC President Thomas Bach has defended plans to get Russian and Belarusian athletes back into competitions as neutrals, saying their participation “works” despite the ongoing war.

The IOC has set a pathway for athletes to earn Olympic slots through Asian qualifying but has faced pushback, with Ukraine threatening to boycott the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“Participation of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports in international competitions works,” Bach said in his address at the start of the IOC’s executive board meeting.

Bach added that politics could not be a part of sports competitions and athletes should not be punished for their passports.

“We will not be able to come up with a solution which pleases everyone,” he said. “With this, we may have to live.”

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that while people in other countries were growing tired of supporting Ukraine, Ukrainians were also tired.

On Twitter, he wrote: “We hear from certain countries: people are tired, support for Ukraine is decreasing. I get it. Ukrainians are also tired. But we have no choice. We are an outpost of European security & intl law. True leadership is seeing the challenges of times & seeing that Europe also has no choice.”

We hear from certain countries: people are tired, support for 🇺🇦 is decreasing. I get it. Ukrainians are also tired. But we have no choice. We are an outpost of European security & intl law. True leadership is seeing the challenges of times & seeing that Europe also has no choice

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 28, 2023

A Russian-installed regional leader said Russian forces are moving forward in the city of Bakhmut despite fierce resistance and have almost taken complete control of a metals plant there.

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader of the part of the Donetsk region under Moscow’s control, said the bulk of Ukrainian forces had been forced to pull back from the AZOM metals factory on the western side of the Bakhmutka River.

“The important thing here was to clear out the industrial zone at the plant itself. You can practically say that has now been done, with the guys just finishing off [Ukrainian] fighters there who are only left in solitary groups,” said Pushilin.

Pushilin said fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries were continuing to spearhead the offensive in the city.

“The [Wagner] guys are moving forward, of course they are moving forward, though it takes their hardest efforts to do that,” Pushilin told Russian state TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov.

The Kremlin said it would keep demanding an international investigation into explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea last year after failing to win backing for a UN resolution.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said everyone should be interested in an impartial investigation to find the culprits.

“We will do everything in our power to continue to insist and to initiate such an international investigation,” he told a daily conference call with reporters without giving more detail.

On Monday, Russia failed to get the UN Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into the explosions.

Peskov said Russia viewed the outcome at the UN “with regret”.

“We believe that everyone should be interested in an objective investigation involving all interested parties, all those who can shed light on who commissioned and perpetrated this terrorist act,” he said.

The UK and Poland will build two temporary villages in western and central Ukraine to provide housing for those forced from their homes by Russia’s invasion, London said.

The UK government, which pledged 10 million pounds ($12.3m) in funding, said the villages in Lviv in western Ukraine and Poltava in central Ukraine would be able to house more than 700 people, a fraction of the millions either displaced in Ukraine or who have fled the country.

“For the past year, Putin has continued to target civilian homes and infrastructure, with the Ukrainian people paying a heavy price,” UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly said in a statement.

“This new UK-Poland partnership will help bring light, heat and homes to those most in need.”

UK families have hosted almost 118,000 Ukrainians as part of the government’s response to the invasion but some are finding it increasingly difficult to get permanent housing.

Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said that possible drone attacks against critical energy infrastructure seriously threaten its energy security.

“The key threat now is acts of illegal interference through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),” Shulginov said during a round-table discussion addressing the security of Russia’s energy facilities.

He said he was cooperating with Russia’s defence ministry and FSB security service.

Shulginov did not mention Ukraine by name, but Russia says it has foiled several attempted Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months.

Ukraine aims to exhaust and inflict heavy losses on Russian forces trying to capture Bakhmut, the commander of Ukrainian Ground Forces said.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a video posted to Telegram: “They do not stop trying to surround and capture the city.

“As of today, our main task is to wear down the overwhelming forces of the enemy and inflict heavy losses on them. It will create the necessary conditions to help liberate Ukrainian land and speed up our victory.”

Syrskyi has been meeting troops near the front line as Ukraine prepares for a possible counteroffensive after 13 months of fighting.

On Monday, the general said the defence of Bakhmut was a military necessity.

Belarus said it had decided to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons after years of pressure from the United States and its allies aimed at changing its political and geopolitical direction.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “Over the last two and a half years, the Republic of Belarus has been subjected to unprecedented political, economic and information pressure from the United States, the United Kingdom and its NATO allies, as well as the member states of the European Union.

“In view of these circumstances, and the legitimate concerns and risks in the sphere of national security arising from them, Belarus is forced to respond by strengthening its own security and defence capabilities.”

Minsk said the plans would not contravene international non-proliferation agreements as Belarus would not have control over the weapon.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops were holding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant hostage, and its safety could not be guaranteed until they left.

Russian troops have occupied the nuclear power plant since the early weeks of the invasion of Ukraine.

“Holding a nuclear power station hostage for more than a year – this is surely the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of European or worldwide nuclear power,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

He referred to the Russian presence as “radiation blackmail”.

His comments followed a meeting with Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), at the Dnieper hydroelectric power station, where he said on his official website, “without an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and staff from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and adjacent areas, any initiatives on restoring nuclear safety and security are doomed to failure”.

Russia’s bid to get the UN Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines was a meaningful option in the search for the truth, said China’s foreign minister.

On Monday, Russia failed to win over the 15-member council to pass a draft resolution asking UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish an international investigation into the “sabotage” and identify who was to blame.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council before the vote, “Without an objective and transparent international investigation, the truth will not be uncovered as to what happened.”

Only Russia, China and Brazil voted in favour of the resolution, while the remaining 12 council members abstained.

Those who abstained said they did so because the national investigations should be allowed to conclude before considering any UN action.