Live blog: Russia destroys Ukraine's space intel complex — defence ministry

Saturday, March 9, 2024

1523 GMT — The Russian Defence Ministry has claimed that it destroyed a Ukrainian space intelligence complex and S-300 air defence system.

"On the night of March 8, the Ovidiopol-2 space and radio intelligence complex was destroyed near (the city of) Odesa, in 2020, NATO specialists got access to the facility," the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the S-3 00 air defence system was struck in the Donetsk region with the use of multiple military means, the ministry noted.

"Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile and artillery units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation destroyed the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system in the area of the settlement of Pokrovsk," it said.

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1633 GMT — Ukraine should have 'courage of the white flag' of negotiations: Pope

Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the "white flag" and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow's attack two years ago and that has killed tens of thousands.

In the interview Francis was asked for his position on a debate between those who say Ukraine should give up as it has not been able to repel Russian forces, and those who say doing so would legitimise actions by the strongest party.

"But I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates," Francis said, adding that talks should take place with the help of international powers.

"The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate," Francis said.

1401 GMT — Russian attacks kill one, injure several in Ukraine's Kherson: Kiev

Russian shelling and strikes on Ukraine's Kherson region killed one person and wounded several, with at least two civilians also killed in attacks on the centre and east of the country, Kiev said.

Kiev's interior ministry said Russian shelling killed a 58-year-old woman in the southern village of Olhivka on the Dnipro river.

Officials also said a Russian air bomb fell near a residential building in the city of Kherson, wounding a child.

"A seven-year-old boy who suffered from the shelling is under medical supervision," authorities said, adding that "the child's life is not in danger."

Authorities said two more people were pulled out alive from the damaged building and that "the rest of the residents were quickly evacuated."

1331 GMT — 2 killed including a 16-year-old in Russian artillery strikes in Ukraine

Ukrainian authorities said two people including a teenage boy were killed in Russian artillery attacks in a morning artillery attack that hit the town of Chervonohryhorivka.

The attacks came as Russia is gaining momentum on battlefield and Ukraine is running low on ammunition.

"Two brothers came under fire in the middle of the street: 16 and 22 years old. The younger one died from his wounds," the interior ministry said. "The older one was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Doctors are fighting for his life," it added.

1255 GMT — Deploying NATO troops to Ukraine 'not unthinkable' — Poland

Poland's foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, says the presence of NATO forces "is not unthinkable" and that he appreciates the French president for not ruling out that idea.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk was among those European leaders who initially ruled out sending troops to Ukraine after Macron's remarks, saying: "Poland does not plan to send its troops to the territory of Ukraine."

But less than two weeks later Sikorski struck a different tone.

"The presence of #NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable," he said, according to the Foreign Ministry's tweet. He said he appreciated Macron's initiative "because it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin."

1228 GMT — UK's Cameron opposes sending troops to Ukraine, even for training

British foreign minister David Cameron said he opposes sending Western troops to Ukraine, even for training missions, in an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Cameron said training missions are best carried out abroad, noting that Britain has trained 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers that way.

Placing foreign soldiers in Ukraine would provide targets for Russia, he said.

Cameron also said Ukraine needed more long-range weapons and that he was willing to work with Berlin to lift its reticence to supplying German-made Taurus cruise missiles.

1019 GMT — Russia requests UNSC to discuss Macron's NATO troop threat

Russia has requested a UN Security Council meeting to discuss French President Emmanuel Macron's idea to send NATO troops to Ukraine.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting in New York, Russia's deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council Dmitry Polyansky said Moscow would like to know more about such "ideas fraught with the beginning of the Third World War."

On Feb. 27, Macron confirmed his offer to NATO partners to send troops to Ukraine. However, he added that an official consensus to send ground troops "has not yet been reached, but nothing can be ruled out."

0846 GMT — Russia destroys scores of Ukrainian drones: army

Russia has said it destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones over its southern regions overnight, mostly in the Rostov area bordering Ukraine.

Kiev has regularly launched drones into Russia during Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine, now in its third year.

"Air defence systems on duty intercepted and destroyed over the territories of Belgorod region (one drone), Kursk region (two drones), Volgograd region (three drones) and Rostov region (41 drones)," the Russian army said on social media.

2230 GMT — Nearly 11,000 civilians killed in Ukraine in ongoing war: UN

The deaths include "594 children" and 20,146 more, including 1,316 children, "have been injured," Mohamed Khaled Khiar, UN assistant head for Middle East, Asia and Pacific, said at a Security Council meeting on Ukraine.

"We condemn all attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure — they are prohibited under international law," he said, stressing that the attacks are "unacceptable and must stop now."

Lisa Doughten, UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs Director for the Humanitarian Financing and Resource Mobilisation Division, emphasised that attacks against civilians constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and noted the need for all parties to protect civilians.

The UN continues "to face significant obstacles to reaching everyone in need," she said and added that humanitarian access to parts of Russian-occupied Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and the Zaporizhzhia regions are restricted.

There is "an estimated 1.5 million people in need of life-saving assistance," she said.

2202 GMT — S&P cuts Ukraine's long-term foreign currency rating deeper into junk

S&P Global said it considers it a "virtual certainty" that Ukraine will default on its external commercial obligations, dragging the country's long-term foreign currency [FC] credit rating deeper into junk territory.

The agency cut the FC rating to "CC" from "CCC" and said it expects Ukraine to begin formal discussions on debt restructuring with its private creditors in the short term and complete the process by mid-year.

"Given the substantial damage to physical and human capital, Ukraine's medium-term economic outlook is subject to a high degree of uncertainty," S&P said in its report.

The agency said its outlook on Ukraine's FC rating was negative.

2122 GMT — Programme that brought Ukrainians to North Dakota oil fields ends

An oil and gas trade group has ended a recruitment programme that brought Ukrainians from their war-torn country to North Dakota's oil field to fill jobs.

The North Dakota Petroleum Council shelved the Bakken Global Recruitment of Oilfield Workers programme after placing about 60 Ukrainians with 16 employers from July to November 2023, the group's president, Ron Ness, said.

The goal had been to recruit 100 workers by the end of last year and 400 within the first 12 months of the program, not all of them from Ukraine.

Workers who have already been placed can apply to stay in the US for two more years under a recently announced "re-parole" process, Ness said. Applications will be considered on "a discretionary, case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit," according to a US Citizenship and Immigration Services email announcement.

For our live updates from Friday, March 8, click here.