LIVE: UN overwhelmingly votes to condemn Russian invasion of Ukraine, demands withdrawal
Live Updates
An attack by Russian forces on a television tower in Kyiv killed five people, the Ukrainian emergency services said on Tuesday in a statement on television.
Foreign fighters from various countries have begun making their way to Ukraine in response to Kyiv’s call for help fighting the Russian invasion – but for Syrian rebels seeking passage to eastern Europe, the battle is intensely personal.
Several Syrian fighters in northern Syria and Turkey told Middle East Eye they were trying to travel and take up arms against Russia.
Since 2015, Moscow has been waging war in Syria on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, and while Russian warplanes stage occasional air strikes, the front between opposition-held and Damascus-controlled territory has cooled in recent years.
The opportunity to take revenge on Russia elsewhere, and defend a democratic country from the Kremlin’s advance, has been too good to miss for some rebels.
Read the full story here.
Footage has emerged of Kyiv's TV tower being struck by what Ukrainian authorities say is a precision Russian strike. Broadcasts are now reportedly down.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone on Tuesday and discussed the Ukraine crisis and energy, the United Arab Emirates state news agency (WAM) reported.
The two leaders agreed on the importance of preserving stability in the global energy market, WAM said, adding that Sheikh Mohammed called for a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis "in a way that guarantees the interests and national security of all parties".
The two leaders also agreed "on the need to maintain the stability of the global energy market", read the statement.
The UAE on Sunday once again showed its reluctance to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Diplomatic adviser to President Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Anwar Gargash, tweeted that the UAE "believes that taking sides would only lead to more violence".
The comment came after the UAE abstained on Friday on a draft United Nations Security Council resolution deploring Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. It did not pass because of Russia's veto.
Economists in Iran have suggested that President Raisi's government could use the Russian invasion of Ukraine to boost its economy, which has been crushed over the years by international sanctions and oil exports bans.
The experts said that if Russia, as the leading supplier of gas to Europe, stopped exporting gas to European countries, Iran could gain a new market, despite international sanctions.
Iranians are divided on the invasion, while politicians have warned about the potential negative effect on the Vienna nuclear talks.
Read our press review of Iran's reaction to the conflict here.
"Two standards have been applied by the West," writes Peter Oborne for MEE. "Rush to help Ukraine against the foreign invader, but no mercy missions to Yemen, Gaza, Syria or Myanmar for that matter.
"It is a delight that the United States, Britain and Europe have rediscovered the importance of international law. The test now is to ensure that it is applied consistently across the globe - and not only in response to Russian aggression inside Europe."
Read the full story here.
Russia’s defence ministry is warning residents in Kyiv to leave their homes as it plans to strike targets in the Ukrainian capital, Russian state news agency Tass is reporting.
In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, the defence ministry said that Russian forces were preparing to launch “high-precision strikes” against the “Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the 72nd Center for Information and Psychological Operations (PSO)“ in Kyiv.
"We urge Ukrainian citizens involved by Ukrainian nationalists in provocations against Russia, as well as Kiev residents living near relay stations, to leave their homes," the statement said.
More than 100 diplomats from some 40 western countries and allies including Japan walked out of a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the top UN human rights forum on Tuesday in protest over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A Turkish footballer refused to wear an anti-war T-shirt condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Sunday, citing a lack of solidarity with victims of war in the Middle East, writes MEE's Rayhan Uddin.
Aykut Demir, captain of second division side Erzurumspor, was the only player not to wear a T-shirt with the words “No war” - in both Turkish and English - before a match against Ankaragucu.
Demir told sports publisher Futbol Anadolu: “Thousands of people die every day in the Middle East. Those who ignore the persecution there do these things when it comes to Europe. I didn't like wearing the T-shirt because it wasn't made for those countries.”
Football matches and sporting events across Europe’s leagues displayed solidarity with Ukrainians over the weekend, as Moscow continued its assault on its neighbouring country.
Israel is turning away Ukrainians "even after the outbreak of war", Kyiv's ambassador in Tel Aviv said on Monday, according to newspaper Haaretz.
Yevgen Korniychuk said Ukrainians arriving in Israel have been asked to prove that they don't intend to resettle there "so that they don't turn into illegal residents or refugees".
He urged Israeli authorities to make exceptions for Ukrainian refugees like other countries have.
"This is not acceptable. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have allowed hundreds of thousands of our citizens to enter without papers. This is absolutely insane," he added.
In the wake of the invasion, Israeli authorities announced new measures to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.
Israelis landed back in Tel Aviv today to the tearful relief of relatives, as evacuations of nationals caught up in the Russian invasion of Ukraine gathered pace.
The evacuees had all been forced to make harrowing escapes by land through the war zone to board repatriation flights in neighbouring countries, after Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian traffic at the start of the invasion last week.
Many of the Israelis repatriated today were members of the 1948 Palestinian minority, who make up 20 percent of the country's population.
One of the first repatriation flights bringing home Israeli evacuees landed at Ben Gurion airport from Romania.
Badr Tawil, 23, a student who fled Ukraine's under-fire second city Kharkiv, said he had escaped chaos.
"We just woke up once and we heard the sounds around us. Bombs everywhere. So we decided to leave, just to leave Ukraine," he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Monday his office had helped 4,000 Israelis leave Ukraine since Russia invaded.
"We will do everything to not leave any Israeli behind, or any Jew behind," he told journalists.
A student, who identified himself only as Hussein, described a terrifying escape from the war zone.
"For four days, we have been sleeping in staircases and train stations," he said.
"We had a really difficult time without food. I was in Ukraine in Kharkiv. It is the last year of my studies, but now I left everything to return."
Uda Abu Saied, whose son Muhammad returned on the flight, said she had been terrified for his safety.
"I wasn't sure if my son would return or not. He was in the most dangerous place," she said.
"They went on their own with the bus for 24 hours, and I imagined all kinds of scenarios like a missile hitting and killing them, or maybe that they would get captured."
About 470,000 foreign nationals, including students and migrant workers, are stranded in Ukraine and neighbouring countries should grant them refugee status if they try to flee, the UN migration agency said today.
"We appeal to neighbouring countries to ensure that protection and shelter and access to territory is provided to all," Safa Msehli, a spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), told a briefing.
The IOM has received requests from states in the Middle East, Asia and Africa asking for help for their nationals trying to leave Ukraine and the agency is working on a coordinated response, Msehli said.
So far, 6,000 foreign nationals have managed to flee to Slovakia and Moldova, she added.
The African Union (AU) said on Monday that it was disturbed by reports that African citizens in Ukraine were being refused the right to cross borders to safety as they try to flee the conflict in Ukraine.
The UN's refugee agency said on Tuesday an estimated one million people had been displaced inside Ukraine by the Russian invasion, in addition to hundreds of thousands who have fled abroad.
"We still don't have reliable figures regarding the number of people displaced inside Ukraine but we estimate that it has to be about one million people who have fled internally or who are currently on a train, a bus or in a car trying to get to a safety," Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR representative to Ukraine, told a press conference in Stockholm.
The leader of Lebanese movement Hezbollah blamed the United States on Tuesday for pushing the Ukraine crisis to full-scale war.
“The United States is responsible for the incidents happening in Ukraine and it triggered and pushed things in this direction,” Hassan Nasrallah said during a speech announcing the opening of an exhibition named after former Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Mousawi.
“The consequences of what is happening in Russia and Ukraine are dangerous to the world, and the situation is open to all possibilities,” he warned.
He also slammed the West showing "double standards compared to their attitudes toward American wars."
More than 660,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in the last six days since Russia invaded, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a briefing in Geneva there were reports of people waiting for up to 60 hours to enter Poland, while queues at the Romanian border are up to 20 km long.
