LIVE War Russia-Ukraine, the latest news of 24 March on the crisis

Born, meeting today at the summit in Brussels, continues to deny Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who attended the meeting – the “unrestricted military aid” he has asked for to defend himself from the Russian invasion, but American President Joe Biden stresses: “We will continue to support him.” decided to deploy another four battlegroups on the Eastern front, in particular in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Alliance secretary Jens Stoltenberg – whose mandate, expiring, has been extended until September 2023 – also said he was worried from the fact that Russia “is trying to create some kind of pretext by accusing Ukraine, the US and NATO allies to prepare to use chemical and biological weapons.” Moscow said today that 30 laboratories used for the development of biological weapons are been located at 14 sites in Ukraine. The White House announced the creation of contingency plans should Russia use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The G7 is ready to adopt new sanctions and will continue to work to prevent those already decided from being circumvented even with the sale of gold by the Russian central bank. Draghi: “Independence from Russian gas”.-

Kiev: “Moscow has deported 6 thousand civilians from Mariupol”

On the ground, meanwhile, the situation still seems to be stalled: Russian troops maintain their positions on the three fronts of the offensive, without recording significant progress, and continue their bombing of Ukrainian cities, with heavy casualties among the civilian population. Kiev denounced that, in addition to continuing to bomb humanitarian convoys, Moscow has “deported” at least 6 thousand inhabitants of Mariupol to Russia, and “are already in Russian camps where they could be used as hostages”. A Russian amphibious landing ship destroyed in the port of Berdyansk, in the hands of Moscow, more artillery shells by the Russian navy against the port of Odessa and missiles on the center of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. Kiev denounces that “the war has partially or completely deprived the residents of Mariupol, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Okhtyrka, Izyum, Makarov, Pologi, Vasylivka Orikhiv, Huliaipil, Chernihiv, Trostyanets and many other settlements of drinking water”.

UN: “3.7 million refugees from Ukraine”

According to the United Nations, there are now 3.7 million refugees (out of a population of 44 million): half are children. About 67,000 have arrived in Italy so far, including only 5,000 men, as well as 277 unaccompanied minors. The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution proposed by Westerners on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine which calls for “the immediate cessation of hostilities by Russia, in particular any attacks on civilians”, humanitarian access and protection of civilians, medical personnel, journalists and humanitarian workers. 140 countries voted in favor, 5 against and 38 abstentions, including China.

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