Lviv, March 7: A Russian general was killed in the fighting around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which Russian forces have been trying to seize since the invasion began, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency said.
It identified him as Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, and said he had fought with Russian forces in Syria and Chechnya and had taken part in the seizure of Crimea in 2014.
It was not possible to confirm the death independently. Russia has not commented.
Another Russian general was killed earlier in the fighting. A local officers’ organization in Russia confirmed the death in Ukraine of Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division.
Sukhovetsky also took part in Russia’s military campaign in Syria.
CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian government says it is placing sanctions on Moscow’s “propagandists and purveyors of disinformation” who legitimatize Russia’s invasion as the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement on Tuesday her government was sanctioning 10 “people of strategic interest to Russia” for their role in encouraging hostility toward Ukraine.
“This includes driving and disseminating false narratives about the `de-Nazification’ of Ukraine, making erroneous allegations of genocide against ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine, and promoting the recognition of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic as independent,” Payne said, referring to separatist regions of Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been accompanied by a widespread disinformation campaign, both within Russia and internationally, she said.
“Tragically for Russia, President (Vladimir) Putin has shut down independent voices and locked everyday Russians into a world characterized by lies and disinformation,” Payne said.
UNITED NATIONS — Ukraine’s UN ambassador says 12 days of an all-out invasion by Russia has brought Ukraine to “the brink of humanitarian catastrophe of potentially global nature.”
Sergiy Kyslytsya, speaking Monday at a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis, accused Russia of blocking numerous attempts by Ukrainian authorities to evacuate civilians through humanitarian corridors.
He said Russians shelled depots with evacuation buses near Mariupol and blew up the railway near Irpin in the Kyiv region to prevent evacuation by train. He said Russia bombed and launched missiles at those cities and others like Kharkiv on Monday.
Kyslytsya said Russia must stop violating ceasefire arrangements and allow safe passage through humanitarian corridors, end disinformation, and implement the UN General Assembly’s resolution calling for an immediate stop to fighting.
Ukraine as a major wheat producer has been “one of the guarantors of global food security” but this has been challenged by the war and “the implications at the global level will be catastrophic,” he said.
Kyslytsya said Russian shelling had destroyed schools and hospitals and killed and wounded doctors. He said and the country was running low on critical medical supplies. He urged UN humanitarian agencies to respond quickly.
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says when he meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Turkey on Thursday he will propose direct talks between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
“We want talks between the president of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin since he is the one who makes the final decisions,” Kuleba said early Tuesday on Ukrainian television.
President Volodymyr Zelensky often proposed direct talks with Putin in the runup to the war and said he called the Kremlin on the eve of the Russian invasion but got no reply. Putin has agreed to speak only with Western leaders.
Kuleba spoke after a conversation late Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Grateful to the U.S. for standing by Ukraine,” Kuleba said on Twitter. “We are coordinating intensively on crucial further steps to increase pressure on Russia.”
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island U.S. Rep. David Cicilline said Monday it was “haunting” to see Ukrainians fleeing from their country in fear when he visited the border of Ukraine and Poland.
Cicilline told The Associated Press Monday night, about an hour after returning to the U.S., that he saw “young children crying and mothers just literally running from their country because they were attacked,” and lines of people waiting for help in the freezing cold with no heavy coats.
“It’s just horrible, the suffering that is being caused because of this brutality by (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” he said. “It’s hard to describe. It’s hard to get it out of your head. It’s some of the worst stuff I’ve seen.”
Cicilline was part of a bipartisan delegation to the border led by U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking Republican on the committee. They got there Saturday morning.
UNITED NATIONS — Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says Russia will carry out a ceasefire on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. Moscow time and open humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens from Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy and Mariupol.
He took the floor at the end of a UN Security Council meeting on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine on Monday to make the announcement.
“This proposal doesn’t have any demands about the citizens being sent necessarily to Russia, into Russian territory,” he said.
