Russia, Ukraine Invasion: Latest Developments
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.
Gathogo Wanjiru 
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says almost 100,000 people are still trapped in the ruins of Mariupol, after more than 7,000 escaped on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch describes the southern city as a “freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings”.
- Russia has accused US of seeking to hinder Moscow’s talks with Ukraine to try turn the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favour.
“The talks are tough, the Ukrainian side constantly changes its position. It’s hard to avoid the impression that our American colleagues are holding their hand,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov tells students in Moscow.
- A Ukrainian negotiator says the talks are encountering “significant difficulties”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says “Putin’s offensive is stuck” and urges Moscow to “immediately” stop the fighting, saying it is not only destroying Ukraine but “Russia’s future”.
- The Pentagon says it believes as much as 10 percent of Russian forces committed to Ukraine may have been knocked out in just four weeks of fighting and that Russian forces “have struggled with logistics and sustainment.”
Russia would use nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine conflict if it were facing an “existential threat,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says in a CNN interview.
The comments came when he was asked if he was “convinced or confident” that President Vladimir Putin would not use the nuclear option in the Ukrainian war.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says Moscow’s rhetoric is “dangerous” and “not the way a responsible nuclear power should act.”
- In his latest video addresses to foreign lawmakers Zelensky criticizes the United Nations, saying it has failed to ensure global security.
“Neither the United Nations nor the UN Security Council have functioned,” he tells Japan’s parliament, calling for a “new, preemptive tool that can actually stop invasions.”
- More than 3.6 million Ukrainians have now fled the country following Russia’s invasion, the United Nations says. More than 10 million have been displaced from their homes.
