Researched & collated by: Vagda Galhotra & Prafula Grace Busi

The Russian invasion: The latest update

Editor’s note: We have extensively tracked the Russia vs Ukraine conflict since December. If you need more context, we highly recommend reading our Big Story on the historical roots of the conflict and this timely explainer on the effectiveness of economic sanctions, the return of the Cold War, what is driving Vladimir Putin, India’s “balancing act” and the looming oil crisis.

Casualty count: The official UN tally as of March 13 is 596 killed and 1,067 injured. The Ukrainians say at least 85 children have died and nearly 100 wounded so far. Russian airstrikes on a military base killed 35 and injured 134. Nine died due to Russian bombing of a residential area in Mykolaiv. Mariupol officials claim that more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in the city. Russians also struck a train carrying more than 100 children fleeing the invasion—though we do not know how many have died. The number of refugees: 2.6 million.

Peace talks: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to President Putin pushing for an immediate ceasefire—but to no effect. A fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will likely be held this week.

State of the invasion: The biggest news is the strike on the military base—right on the border of Poland—a hub for Western shipments of arms and training. Russia has warned that any such weaponry is a legitimate target for attack. Why this matters: NATO troops are stationed right on the other side of the border—increasing the  risk of direct confrontation:

“Western officials said the attack at NATO’s doorstep was not merely a geographic expansion of the Russian invasion but a shift of tactics in a war many already worried might metastasize into a larger European conflict.

 

‘He’s expanding the number of targets,’ the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said of Russia’s president, Vladimir V Putin, adding that ‘he’s trying to cause damage in every part of the country.’”

Pattern of regime change: As troops overpower smaller towns and cities, they are replacing the local mayor and installing a puppet leader—as in Melitopol. The aim is to prevent protests being staged against the Russian occupation—such as in Kherson where residents are up in arms against a suspected plan to turn the region into a breakaway republic. See the scenes below:

Map to note: Here is the state of play: 

Military aid: The US has committed another $200 million in weaponry and is trying to figure out how to transfer the S-300 missile system from Slovakia to Ukraine. Total military aid: $1.2 billion since January 2021.

The economic fallout: The Russian stock market—which shut down on February 24—will remain closed this week. Moscow has openly declared that it is relying on Beijing’s help—saying that the sanctions will “not only maintain [its partnership], but also increase it in an environment where Western markets are closing.” In response, Washington issued an equally open threat: “We are communicating directly, privately to Beijing, that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions, evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them.”

Also this: According to media reports, Moscow has also turned to China for military equipment and aid—but the “US officials” cited for the claim are unnamed.

Meanwhile, in India: 

• New Delhi is quietly setting up an alternative payments system by identifying a potential bank to preserve its trade relations with Russia. The priorities: edible oil and fertiliser imports from Russia, and the payments owed to India.
• The invasion is expected to push the cost of fertiliser subsidies up by Rs 100 billion (10,000 crore).
• Already up: prices of domestic airline tickets which have increased by 15-30% on key routes due to rising oil prices. But international tickets may get cheaper because of the greater number of flights—now that pandemic restrictions have been dropped.
• Also read: Indian Express on the uneasy rift between Ukrainians and Russians in Goa.

International developments: Here’s what’s happening elsewhere:

• Russia will ban Instagram starting Monday—likely because very rich Russians have used the platform to oppose the invasion.
• But people around the world are using a new website developed by Polish programmers to message random people in Russia—out of a database of 20 million cellphone numbers and 140 million email addresses.
• India has relocated its Ukrainian embassy to Poland—which is running out of room for the more than 1.5 million refugees who have entered the country.
• The UK is planning to repurpose assets seized from Russian oligarchs to offer humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians—and is offering £350 a month to households who agree to host Ukrainian refugees in their homes.

Something related to see: President Zelensky’s advisor Mikhail Podolyak tweeted this clip of him going out for a “coffee run” in Kyiv—which is under siege from Russian bombing.

And Egyptian squash player Ali Farag called out the double standards reflected in the outrage over Ukraine compared to Palestine: 

China’s big Covid surge

China has placed around 17 million residents under lockdown as it experiences the worst outbreak in two years. The number of cases has doubled to nearly 3,400. While Beijing managed to navigate previous strains of the virus with its “zero Covid” approach, Omicron—which is more infectious and likely to be asymptomatic—has proved to be a challenge. This spike is also connected to a wave sweeping across Hong Kong—where Omicron is spiking death rates among the vaccine-hesitant elderly. (Al Jazeera)

Speaking of Covid: Barack Obama tested positive—despite being vaccinated and boosted. (CNN)

A mass execution in Saudi Arabia 

The country executed 81 people who were convicted of “multiple heinous crimes that left a large number of civilians and law enforcement officers dead.” Most of them are members of the Shia minority—and human rights advocates say many of the cases involved “not a drop of blood.” And some were related to participation in human rights demonstrations. Why this matters: It challenges claims by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Saudi Arabia is overhauling its justice system and limiting its use of the death penalty. (New York Times)

RCB has a new captain

Faf du Plessis has replaced Virat Kohli as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Apart from Kohli, the team also has Glen Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik—who captained IPL teams in the past. Point to note: du Plessis has plenty of experience in leadership. He led South Africa in 36 Tests and 39 ODIs between 2013 and 2019. The Telegraph has more on what he said on taking his new job. 

An avian flu horror in America

For over a month, an epidemic of a highly contagious and deadly form of avian influenza has been spreading across eastern United States. As is routine in these situations, millions of poultry birds are typically slaughtered by farmers to control the spread. This may be unavoidable, but vets and animal advocates say the methods used to kill them are cruel and unacceptable:

“Poultry flocks sickened with avian flu are commonly killed with carbon dioxide poisoning or firefighting foam, where birds are smothered with a blanket of foam… Ventilation shutdown, which has been described as ‘death by heatstroke’, was used to kill potentially millions of pigs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They were packed into sealed barns and killed with extremely high heat and steam.”

Both these methods are banned in the EU but remain legal in the US—and advocates say it is time for a change. (The Guardian)

Five things to see

Trigger warning: The last item contains visuals of assault.

One: The discovery of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship Endurance after 107 years was huge and exciting news. But the undersea wreck has revealed a host of unexpected treasures—a host of deep sea species including a never-before identified squat lobster. And scientists are very, very excited. Quite frankly, the lobster doesn’t look like much—and we were far more impressed by this fabulous brisingid sea star. There’s an excellent thread of other creatures in this thread. New York Times has the story.

Two: Naomi Osaka burst into tears after someone yelled “Naomi, you suck” during a match at the Indian Wells Open. Watch her talk about her reaction below. FYI: The Williams sisters boycotted Indian Wells for 14 years over being heckled by the crowd back in 2001. Osaka lost to Veronika Kudermetova 6-0 6-4, exiting in the second round. (BBC News)

Three: Prince Harry made a promo for the Invictus Games—for wounded servicemen and women—which will be held at the Hague from April 16. And he went a little “orange” lol!

(Metro UK)

Four: Jamie Lee Curtis let it all hang out for the movie ‘Everything Everwhere All At Once’—and let everyone know on Instagram that, yes, that is her real belly, and not a prosthetic: “I've been sucking my stomach in since I was 11… I very specifically decided to relinquish and release every muscle I had that I used to clench to hide the reality.” We love her. 

Five: This video of a woman being sexually mauled in broad daylight in Madhya Pradesh has gone viral. It occured during Bhagoria, a week-long tribal festival that is celebrated ahead of Holi. Mercifully, the men have been identified and charged. (Indian Express)

Good stuff to check out 

On the latest episode of the splainer podcast ‘Press Decode’, the splainer team discussed the politics of rescue—be it freeing students in Ukraine or the ocean of plastic waste. Be sure to head over to the IVM website, Spotify or Apple Podcasts to listen to it.