LIVE: UN overwhelmingly votes to condemn Russian invasion of Ukraine, demands withdrawal
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Turkey is calling on all sides in the Ukraine crisis to respect an international pact on passage through the Turkish straits to the Black Sea, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar was cited as saying on Tuesday after Ankara closed access to the waterway.
Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, Ankara has the right to limit transit through its straits during wartime.
This allows it to curb Russian warships going to the Black Sea. The pact grants exemption to ships returning to their home bases.
"Eroding Montreux or disrupting the status quo in any way is to nobody's benefit. We see a benefit in preserving Montreux. We tell all sides that it would be beneficial to abide by Montreux," Akar told reporters after Monday's cabinet meeting, his ministry said.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that Turkey had demanded all Black Sea and non-Black Sea states to halt passage through its straits.
Late on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko about ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine on Belarus' border, his office said.
"We are determined to use the powers the Montreux Convention grants our country to ease the crisis," Erdogan said after the cabinet meeting. "We will surely not compromise on our national interests, but we will also not disregard regional and global balances. This is why we cannot abandon ties with Russia or Ukraine."
YouTube has blocked Russian channels RT and Sputnik across Europe effective immediately, due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine, the company said in a statement.
"We are blocking the YouTube channels of RT and Sputnik in the whole of Europe with immediate effect. Our systems need a little time before being fully operational," YouTube said in an email.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is requesting EU countries' approval to sanction RT and Sputnik by restricting their access to the European media market regardless of their distribution channel.
The sanction means that EU operators will be banned from broadcasting, facilitating or otherwise contributing to the dissemination of any RT and Sputnik content, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said.
Breton expects to get the green light from EU states later on Tuesday.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Ukraine is "a victim of the crises created by the United States".
Khamenei said, in a televised speech, that Iran supports the end to the war in Ukraine, but the roots of the conflict must be acknowledged.
Iran’s top authority also said the Ukrainian crisis showed that "the United States cannot be trusted."
Russia's advance on Kyiv has made little progress in the past 24 hours due to logistical difficulties and the army has increased its use of artillery north of the capital, a British military intelligence update said.
"Russia has failed to gain control of the airspace over Ukraine prompting a shift to night operations in an attempt to reduce their losses," the British defence ministry said in a military intelligence update.
Meanwhile, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, said on Tuesday that anyone engaging in war crimes in Ukraine would be held accountable.
"This is turning into a much much more perilous misadventure for [President Vladimir] Putin than I think he realised," Raab told Sky News.
Raab added that Britain would not seek to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
A 65-kilometres-long Russian military convoy was massing on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital on Tuesday as Moscow prepares for a push for Kyiv after a night of intense bombardment of the country’s second largest city.
The mobilisation of the convoy has increased fears that Russian forces were set to launch a devastating assault aimed at taking control of Kyiv and other major cities.
Satellite images showed a long build-up of armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery, and other military equipment, starting 29 kilometres north of the city and covering the entire road from near Antonov airport outside Kyiv to the town of Prybirsk, US satellite imaging company Maxar said.
The Russian army has been regrouping and massing its forces over the past 24 hours "primarily to encircle and take control of Kyiv and other major cities," the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces wrote on Facebook.
Eastern city Kharkiv's mayor Igor Terekhov, quoted by Ukrainian media, warned that Moscow's armoured vehicles and tanks are "everywhere around the city".
Russian shelling of Kharkiv killed at least 11 civilians in residential areas, according to Terekhov.
Meanwhile, more than 70 Ukrainian servicemen were killed on Sunday by Russian shelling of a base in the northeastern town of Okhtyrka, between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the regional governor said on Facebook.
Around 350,000 people fleeing Ukraine have entered Poland since Russia invaded the country, a Polish deputy interior minister said on Tuesday.
"Over the last 24 hours 100,000 people crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border," Maciej Wasik told public broadcaster Polskie Radio 1.
"In total, since Thursday, there have already been 350,000 refugees."
The United Nations met on Monday for an emergency session to discuss the situation in Ukraine, while ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials at the Belarusian border ended without making any breakthroughs.
Members of the international community continued to pile on sanctions on Moscow, with the US expanding sanctions to prohibit Americans from doing any business with Russia's Central Bank. Fifa announced that Russia would be suspended from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The UN also is looking for assistance in order support the hundreds of thousands of refugees that have fled Ukraine since last Thursday.
That's it from us here at MEE this evening, make sure to follow us on Twitter @MiddleEastEye and on Instagram @middleeasteye to stay updated.
The United Arab Emirates stressed the need for agreeing to a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying during a meeting of the General Assembly on Monday that it deplored the ongoing violence, without mentioning Russia.
"The continuation of the fighting will lead to further losses among innocent people and in addition to worsening the humanitarian situation," a member of the UAE's mission to the UN said.
The UAE added that "civilians who are seeking refuge must be able to do so freely and without being subjected to racial discrimination".
However, Abu Dhabi made no mention of Russia or its invasion of Ukraine.
And diplomats told AFP that Russia's vote on Monday in favour of imposing an arms embargo on Yemen's Houthi rebels suggested a deal was cut between Moscow and Abu Dhabi for the latter to abstain in upcoming UN votes on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey's foreign minister said that Ankara has warned both Black Sea and non-Black Sea countries not to pass warships through its Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits.
"We implemented what Montreux says, and we will do so from now on. There has been no request for passage through the straits until today," Mevlut Cavusoglu said, according to the state news agency Anadolu.
The 1936 Montreux Convention allows Turkey to limit naval transit of its straits during wartime but has a clause exempting ships returning to their registered base.
At least four Russian ships are currently waiting on Turkey's decision to let them cross the straits.
Fifa has suspended Russia from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, saying in a joint statement with Uefa that Moscow would have no involvement in any upcoming World Cup playoffs and all Russian clubs were suspended from European football until further notice.
"Fifa and Uefa have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both Fifa and Uefa competitions until further notice," they said in their statement.
Russia was due to play Poland in a World Cup play-off semi-final on 24 March, while the Russian women's football team was scheduled to take part in the European Championships in England in July.
Qatar's World Cup organisers told Middle East Eye that Russia's participation in November's tournament was a matter for Fifa to decide.
An Israeli citizen was killed when a convoy he was travelling in near Kyiv came under fire, according to Israel's foreign ministry.
Israel's Zaka rescue service identified the victim, whose name has not yet been released, as a 37-year-old man. The foreign ministry said he was trying to get to Moldova to leave the country.
Channel 12 News said that it appears the convoy came under fire from Ukrainian forces who feared they were Russians, though it earlier reported that the Russians were responsible for the shelling, according to The Times of Israel.
The foreign ministry says it has informed the man's wife and child who are in Ukraine and his parents in Israel.
UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday that at least 102 civilians in Ukraine have been killed since Russia launched its invasion last Thursday, with a further 304 injured, but the real figure is feared to be "considerably higher."
Meanwhile, at least 368,000 people have fled their homes in Ukraine, according to the UN refugee agency.
Yemen has said that it had evacuated 22 nationals from Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict, according to Anadolu.
In a statement, Yemen's foreign ministry said 18 citizens left Ukraine through Poland, while four others were evacuated through Romania.
There are no official estimates of the number of Yemenis in Ukraine. However, the Yemeni government last week said it formed a crisis room to follow the conditions of Yemeni nationals in Ukraine.
The UN's World Food Programme has warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will likely increase fuel and food prices in war-torn Yemen, creating "hell on earth" for Yemenis.'
Ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials at the Belarusian border have ended without making a breakthrough.
A Ukrainian official told AFP that both sides will return to their respective capitals for further consultations, before participating in the second round of talks.
"The delegations are returning to their capitals for consultations and have discussed the possibility of meeting for a second round of negotiations soon," Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said.
The next round of talks is expected to be held in the next few days, the Belarusian state news agency cited the Russian delegation as saying.
The Russian delegation also told Belarus News that they had “identified certain points from which we can predict general positions”.
A statement by the Arab League released on Monday on the Ukrainian crisis has called for restraint, easing of tensions and a return to the normal course of life.
The league said it "expresses concern about the developments of current events in Ukraine and supports all efforts aimed at solving the crisis through dialogue and diplomacy."
Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin had a telephone conversation with the Russian president's chief foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov.
During the meeting, the war in Ukraine and the last point reached in the negotiations between the Russian Federation and Ukraine were discussed.
The importance of the successful conclusion of the diplomatic initiatives and the successful conclusion of ceasefire negotiations for the peace and stability of the region was emphasised.
It was agreed to increase joint efforts to end the atmosphere of conflict and tension as soon as possible.
