Updates: Russia pounds Ukraine in ‘retaliation’ for border attack

The White House has called the latest barrage of Russian missile attacks targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine “brutal” and “unjustified”.

It is “devastating to see these brutal, unjustified attacks on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine”, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters on board Air Force One.

Moscow says it has launched missiles on Ukrainian cities in retaliation for an attack in the Russian region of Bryansk last week.

These latest attacks on Ukraine have killed at least five people. Most of the deaths occurred in the western region of Lviv. In eastern Ukraine, the battle for Bakhmut is intensifying.

Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela reports.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer tells Al Jazeera from Moscow that Russian attacks are strategically targeting Ukraine’s power grid system.

“They were called retaliatory attacks, but it’s more or less the same that’s been continuing for some months during this winter by Russia attacking the Ukrainian power grid system, hoping that it’ll break down and the power could soften up Ukrainian leadership and people and that they would agree to a ceasefire that will stop these attacks,” Felgenhauer said.

“These attacks are spectacular. Hypersonic missiles were used, but the strategic objective has not been achieved. The power grid in Ukraine, despite all the attacks, continues to work more or less, and Ukraine does not seem to show a desire right now to agree on Russian terms of a ceasefire.”

A group of lawyers representing Russians targeted by European sanctions have written to senior EU officials to allege that their clients have been victims of “flawed” evidence and “gross misrepresentations”.

Several of the 1,473 individuals and 205 entities that have been hit with EU visa bans and asset freezes since 2014, when Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea region, have lodged legal challenges.

“Like all litigants, those sanctioned should be entitled to due process, yet since the initial listings, decisions have been contaminated by material mistakes and irregularities,” they wrote.

“Reading through the ‘evidence’ gathered by the Council, many individuals have been listed only on the basis of publicly available sources, gathered from a simple Google search, including from questionable online-tabloid articles or anonymous blogs,” they allege.

“Because of this flawed preparatory work, many sanction designations include within their listing grounds gross misrepresentations, false factual statements and inconsistencies.”

The leader of Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria says his government will appeal to the UN Security Council to investigate a “terrorist act” and ensure the region’s security after separatists there said they had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to assassinate him.

“I have already instructed the foreign minister to prepare appeals to all members of the UN Security Council,” Vadim Krasnoselsky said in a live broadcast, adding it was important to “look into this situation and ensure our safety”.

Russia and the United Nations will hold talks in Geneva on Monday on renewing the Ukraine grain export deal, with the UN saying the fate of millions rests on its extension.

The UN and Turkey-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), which has helped ease the global food crisis caused by the invasion, will automatically renew on March 18 unless Moscow or Kyiv object.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that extending the deal was becoming “complicated”, as he claimed a parallel agreement on Russian exports was not being respected.

While the BSGI concerns the export of Ukrainian grain, the second agreement, between Moscow and the UN, aimed to facilitate the export of Russian food and fertilisers, which are exempt from Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.

“If the package is half fulfilled, then the issue of extension becomes quite complicated,” Lavrov said during a press conference in Moscow.

“Our Western colleagues, the United States and the European Union, pathetically declare … that no sanctions apply to food and fertilisers, but this position is dishonest,” Lavrov said. “In fact, the sanctions prohibit Russian ships carrying grain and fertilisers from entering the corresponding ports, sanctions prohibit foreign ships from entering Russian ports to pick up this cargo.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has launched a new attempt to get Finland and Sweden accepted as members of the world’s biggest military organisation by the time US President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet for their next summit in July.

Representatives from the Nordic neighbours and Turkey met at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Stoltenberg organised the talks after convincing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month to come back to the table.

Opening the meeting, Stoltenberg said that “Finland and Sweden have taken unprecedented steps to address legitimate Turkish security concerns,” a statement from his office said. “It is now time for all allies to conclude the ratification process.”

The three countries agreed that “rapid ratifications for both Finland and Sweden would be in everyone’s interest, and that their membership will strengthen the alliance”, the statement said. The goal, it noted, is to have this done before NATO’s summit.

Ukraine’s air force says Russia fired 81 missiles, including six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and eight drones at Ukraine during early morning attacks on Thursday.

Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig reports.

Russia has introduced personal sanctions against 144 government officials, journalists, lawmakers and other public figures from the three Baltic states who are deemed “most hostile” to Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry has said.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – ruled from Moscow during the Cold War but now members of the European Union and NATO – have been among the strongest critics of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The ministry said the move was a response to what it called active lobbying by the three Baltic republics for more sanctions against Russia and to their “interference in our internal affairs, inciting Russophobic sentiments”.

Last year, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania began restricting the entry of Russian citizens travelling from Russia and Belarus in response to what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz can detect no willingness on the part of Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, he has told the NBR group of German newspapers.

“Unfortunately, I see no willingness at the moment,” Scholz was quoted by NBR as saying, adding Ukraine must decide what conditions it is ready to accept for peace.

Scholz said that the energy supply in Europe’s biggest economy would be sufficient next winter and that the German economy was heading for growth rates last seen in the 1950s and 1960s due to heavy investment in climate protection.

The chief of Lithuania’s military intelligence has said Russia has enough resources to continue the war in Ukraine for two more years at the current intensity.

“The resources which Russia has at the moment would be enough to continue the war at the present intensity for two years,” Lithuania’s intelligence chief Elegijus Paulavicius told reporters.

“How long Russia is able to wage the war will also depend on the support for Russia’s military from states such as Iran and North Korea”, he added.

Ukraine will take part in the EU scheme to jointly buy gas to procure two billion cubic metres (70 billion cubic feet) of the fuel before next winter, the EU energy policy chief said.

EU countries plan to pool together and sign their first joint gas contracts in the coming months to help fill storage in advance of peak winter demand as countries swap out Russian gas.

“Ukraine has indicated that on top of their own domestic production, they might need, for a secure winter, another two billion cubic metres,” EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson told a news conference.

The Financial Times reports that the US has privately urged some commodity traders to let go of concerns about shipping price-capped Russian oil to keep supplies stable.

Treasury officials met executives and traders at Trafigura and Gunvor, among others, and offered reassurances over expanding their role in Russian crude and fuels trade without breaching Western restrictions, FT said, citing people familiar with the meeting.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the EU is ignoring any talks on investigating the Nord Stream gas pipeline blasts.

Russia has repeatedly asked to be allowed to join the investigations into the blasts, which occurred last year and ruptured three of the four pipelines of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas links that connect Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

A New York Times report published Tuesday said that US intelligence reviewed by United States officials suggested that a pro-Kyiv group may have been behind the attacks.

During a meeting with the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who arrived in Israel on Thursday, defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel is doing its “best” to help Ukraine.

“We are doing our best efforts in coordination with the United States to help the Ukrainian government to protect its people and we are doing it under the understanding of what are the Israeli interest in the region,” Gallant said.

While Russia’s invasion has tanked civil liberties and political rights in Ukraine, and prompted a backslide in Russian rights and press freedom, the last year has also showed the limits of President Putin’s power, according to a new report from the US-based Freedom House group.

The report noted that since the invasion, few of Putin’s “authoritarian allies have openly supported his war of aggression”. It particularly noted the lack of endorsement from China, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The report also cited equipment shortages plaguing Russia’s army and a generally poorer performance on the battlefield than expected, underscoring the “fallibility of authoritarian governments”.

“Corruption, criminality, and feckless leadership have made the Russian army far more deadly to soldiers and civilians on both sides of the front line, despite the force’s failure to achieve stated war aims,” the report said.

Political rights and civil liberties in Ukraine have dropped 11 points following the Russian invasion of the country in 2022, according to a new report from Freedom House.

Ukraine showed the second largest aggregate decline in the freedoms index of any country in 2022, according to the annual Freedom in the World report published by the US-based organisation.

The report laid the blame for the decline on Moscow.

The report said, “Putin has caused the deaths and injuries of thousands of Ukrainian civilians as well as soldiers on both sides, the destruction of crucial infrastructure, the displacement of millions of people from their homes, a proliferation of torture and sexual violence, and the intensification of already harsh repression within Russia.”

European Union countries and companies should not sign new contracts to buy Russian liquefied natural gas, the EU’s energy policy chief said.

“We can and should get rid of Russian gas completely as soon as possible, still keeping in mind our security of supply,” EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson told a meeting of EU lawmakers.

“I encourage all member states and all companies to stop buying Russian LNG, and not to sign any new gas contracts with Russia once the existing contracts have expired,” Simson said.

The EU has pledged to quit Russian fossil fuels by 2027 and replaced about two-thirds of Russian gas last year.

While Moscow cut pipeline gas flows, deliveries of Russian liquefied natural gas to Europe increased last year to 22 bcm, up from approximately 16 bcm in 2021, according to an EU analysis seen by the Reuters news agency.

The Swedish government will send an anti-terrorism bill to parliament to persuade NATO member Turkey to lift objections to Sweden joining the defence pact.

A spokesperson for Swedish justice minister Gunnar Strommer said the government would submit its bill to parliament on Thursday after formally approving it earlier in the day.

“Fighting terrorism is a central part of the trilateral agreement,” Strommer said in an op-ed in the daily Dagens Nyheter, referring to a trilateral memorandum on steps toward Turkish ratification signed last year by Turkey, Sweden and Finland.

“With the new legislation that the government is now presenting, Sweden will have a powerful tool to prosecute people who support terrorism.”

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO amid heightened security concerns after Russia invaded Ukraine, but are yet to be approved by Turkey and Hungary.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Russia had “returned to their old scheme” after a barrage of missiles hit Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday morning and left six dead.

On Twitter, he wrote, “Russians returned to their old scheme – massive rocket attacks on Ukraine at night, while people are sleeping. Explosions have been recorded in most regions – infrastructure facilities & residential areas have been hit. ZNPP [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant] is de-energized. Ukraine is partially without water & electricity.”

Russians returned to their old scheme – massive rocket attacks on 🇺🇦 at night, while people are sleeping. Explosions have been recorded in most regions – infrastructure facilities & residential areas have been hit. ZNPP is de-energized. 🇺🇦 is partially without water & electricity

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 9, 2023

South Korean media reported that Hyundai Motor Co, which suspended operations last March, is in talks with a Kazakh company to sell its manufacturing plant in Russia.

Many factories in Russia have suspended production and furloughed workers due to equipment shortages and sanctions since Moscow invaded Ukraine last year.

Yonhap reported that negotiations to sell Hyundai’s plant in St Petersburg to an car-related company in Astana, Kazakhstan are in the final stage, citing an unnamed source.

The deal could be signed as early as June, it said.

The chief of the Lithuanian military intelligence said Russia has enough resources to continue the war in Ukraine for two years.

“The resources which Russia has at the moment would be enough to continue the war at the present intensity for two years”, the chief, Elegijus Paulavicius, told reporters in Vilnius.

“How long Russia is be able to wage the war will also depend on the support for Russia’s military from states, such as Iran, North Korea. But if you look at what Russia has today, such as the strategic reserve, equipment, ammunition, armaments – it can wage it at the present intensity for two years”, he added.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 379 of the war.

Keep reading:

• UN nuclear chief raises alarm over Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant
• US issues warrant for $25m aeroplane owned by Russian oil giant
• NATO cautious amid ongoing Nord Stream blasts investigation

Here are four maps we update daily, charting the latest developments in the war.

Russian state news agencies reported that security services in the Moscow-backed breakaway Transnistria region of Moldova said they had thwarted an assassination attempt against the region’s leader.

It quoted security officials as saying Ukraine’s intelligence agencies had ordered the attempt.

“The ministry of state security informs about the prevention of a terrorist attack. On the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine, a crime was being prepared against a number of officials. The suspects have been detained,” Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency quoted the security services as saying.

A spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine said leadership was convening on the matter and could comment later.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had carried out a “massive retaliatory strike” on Ukrainian infrastructure after what Putin called a “terrorist attack” in Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, last week.

Lithuania’s security services say hackers with links to Russia and China have repeatedly attempted to break into Lithuanian government computers.

“The most active cyber groups that act against Lithuania are connected with Russia and China,” the Baltic nation’s military intelligence and counterintelligence agencies said in an annual report.

“Their priority remains continuous long-term collection of information related to Lithuanian internal and foreign affairs,” the agencies said.

Poland says it has delivered the additional 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks it had promised to Ukraine, while allies would send theirs shortly.

“We’re talking about a battalion of heavy tanks, which in the case of Poland’s share have already been delivered, and in the case of our allies, they will be delivered to Ukraine very soon,” Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told reporters.

The Kremlin has said it doubts media reports suggesting the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines could have been carried out without state support.

After The New York Times reported that a pro-Ukrainian group might have been responsible, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was vital to identify who was behind the attacks.

He added that it was incomprehensible that Russia would blow up its own infrastructure.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has lost all external power supply and is relying on diesel generators, a last line of defence to prevent a meltdown from overheating reactor fuel, the UN atomic watchdog confirmed.

“This morning at around 5 am local time, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost all off-site power when its last remaining 750 kilovolt line was disconnected, its only remaining back up 330 kilovolt line having been damaged a few days ago and under repair,” the IAEA said in a statement.

Russian missile strikes have killed six people across Ukraine and knocked out electricity supply.

Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, “The occupiers can only terrorise civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done.”

Ukrainian officials confirmed the deaths of six people – two in Kyiv, three in Kherson, and one in Dnipro.

The Kremlin says there are still “a lot of questions” remaining over the Black Sea grain deal and that there are no plans for a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allows grain to be safely exported from Ukrainian ports, expires on March 18 but cannot be extended if Russia objects.

Moscow has signalled it is unhappy with aspects of the deal.

Slovakia needs to decide on sending MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said, adding that Poland has expressed willingness to collaborate.

“I think it is time to make a decision,” Nad said on Facebook.

“People are dying in Ukraine; we can really help them, there is no room for Slovak politicking.”

Russian shelling killed three people in Kherson after Moscow unleashed a missile attack in the early hours of Thursday morning, Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff said.

Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram, “Russian terrorists shelled Kherson in the morning. They hit … a public transport stop. Three people died as a result of the shelling.”

Zelenskyy says Moscow “won’t avoid responsibility” for its latest wave of missile strikes on Ukraine.

In a statement posted on the Telegram app, the Ukrainian leader said critical infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 Ukrainian regions had been hit in the attacks.

“The occupiers can only terrorise civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries says it has taken full control of the eastern part of Bakhmut, Ukraine.

“Units of the private military company Wagner have taken control of the eastern part of Bakhmut,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group’s founder, said in a voice recording on the Telegram messaging platform.

“Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of Wagner,” he added.

Al Jazeera’s Sandra Gathmann explains who Wagner Group are and what they do.

The Ukrainian air force says Russia fired 81 missiles, including six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and eight drones at Ukraine during Thursday’s early morning attacks.

Kyiv destroyed 34 cruise missiles and four Shahed suicide drones, the air force said, adding that eight drones and guided missiles were also prevented from reaching their targets.

The Ukrainian military cannot intercept the Kinzhal missile.

A group of retired Canadian Olympians says the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) should reverse its support for Russian and Belarusian participation at next year’s Paris Games unless Russia withdraws from Ukraine.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) set out a path in January for those athletes, who were banned from many international competitions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, to compete without their flags and anthems.

The COC has said it supports the IOC’s recommendation that Russia and Belarus should be barred from international competitions but added it is open to exploring how athletes from the two countries could compete as neutrals in Paris.

“We condemn the recent public statements issued by the COC supporting the ‘exploration of a pathway’ for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as ‘neutrals’ in the 2024 Paris Olympics,” the 42 athletes wrote in a letter.

Kyiv says the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is under Russian control, lost its electric power supply in a Russian missile attack.

“The last link between the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the Ukrainian power system was cut off,” Energoatom, the state nuclear company, said.

The Energoatom said the fifth and sixth reactors were shut down and electric power needed for the plant’s functioning is now supplied by 18 diesel generators, which have enough fuel for 10 days.

European Union countries say they have agreed to speed up supplies of artillery rounds and buy more shells to help Ukraine but still have to work out how to turn these aims into reality.

Under a plan drawn up by foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, EU states would get financial incentives worth $1.06bn to send more of their artillery rounds to Kyiv while another $1.06bn would fund joint procurement of new shells.

“There has been a general agreement on this procedure but there are questions pending. Everything has to be discussed in detail,” Borrell said after a meeting of EU defence ministers in Stockholm also attended by their Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov.

Borrell said he hoped the plan would be finalised at a meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers on March 20.

New intelligence reviewed by officials in the United States suggests that a pro-Ukraine group attacked the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September last year, according to The New York Times.

The US officials said they had no evidence that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or other Ukrainian officials were involved in the pipeline bombings, it reported.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar says the resistance in the eastern city of Bakhmut should be considered a “victory”.

“This is victory – the fact that our soldiers have been destroying the most powerful and professional ‘Wagner’ units there for several months in a row,” Maliar said.

“The enemy has superior forces in terms of manpower and weapons, but in these conditions, our fighters bravely confront the enemy almost on an equal basis,” she said.

Ukrainian officials say Russian missiles hit several cities across Ukraine including the capital, Kyiv, the Black Sea port of Odesa, and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

The missile attacks set off air raid sirens across Ukraine, officials said.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the city’s southern Holosiivskyi district.

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