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Ukraine agrees to meet with Russian delegation in Belarus

The talks are expected to take place in the Gomel region at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border

Amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Kyiv has agreed to meet with a Russian delegation in Belarus as the Western powers have imposed additional sanctions on Moscow as the military operations by Russian President Vladimir Putin entered the fourth day.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council will convene Sunday at 3pm (local time) to vote on a resolution calling for a special session of the General Assembly.

Notably, the United States and Albania have requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday for a procedural vote to appoint a special session of the General Assembly over the events in Ukraine, a UNSC source told Sputnik.

“Ukraine has agreed to meet with a Russian delegation in Belarus and Russians are heading to the place where the talks will be held, the head of the Russian delegation,” Vladimir Medinsky, said Sunday.

The talks are expected to take place in the Gomel region at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, Belta news agency reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has offered his country’s intermediary services on Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin press service said Sunday.

While Ukraine has also moved the International Court of Justice in The Hague over the Russian military operation that started in Ukraine on Thursday (local time) and urged the top court to order Russia to cease “hostilities”.

Taking to Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “Ukraine has submitted its application against Russia to the ICJ. Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activities now and expect trials to start next week.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the country’s nuclear deterrent forces on a “special” alert on Sunday amid the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

The United States is providing additional humanitarian assistance to Ukraine of USD 54 million, said the US State Department in its press release on Sunday.

Slovakia is ready to organize talks between Russia and Ukraine in Bratislava if both sides agree to it, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said Sunday.

Canada closes airspace to Russian carriers as Ukraine crisis enters its fourth day

Poland is allowing entry of all the Indian nationals evacuating conflict-ridden Ukraine in its country without visas, said the Poland Embassy in India on Sunday.

Ambassador of Poland to India, Adam Burakowski shared the information on his Twitter handle. Taking to Twitter, Burakowski said, “Poland is allowing to enter without any visa all Indian students who escape from Russian aggression in Ukraine.”

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External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar spoke with his Hungarian and Moldovian counterparts on Sunday and discussed cooperation for the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The EAM thanked the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto for aiding the evacuation of Indian Nationals from Ukraine and requested further cooperation.

Jaishankar also spoke with Moldova Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu and sought support for the entry of Indian Nationals on the Ukraine-Moldova border.

Indian Embassy in Kyiv has released a second advisory on Sunday for all the Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine and advised them not to venture out as intense fighting in Kharkiv, Sumy and Kyiv continues.

“Based on latest input, intense fighting is underway in Kharkiv, Sumy and Kyiv. It is reiterated, Indian Nationals in these cities, and other cities wherever curfew has been applied, are NOT advised to venture towards railway stations until curfew has been lifted and considerable civilian movement is renewed,” the advisory read.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the Ukraine issue on Sunday. The meeting was attended by Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla among others.

This comes at a time when the Government of India government is evacuating Indian citizens from Ukraine under the evacuation plan titled ‘Operation Ganga’. So far, a total of 469 Indian nationals have been evacuated from Ukraine, out of which 250 landed in Delhi on Sunday morning and 219 landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the allies would stop Russia from “using its war chest,” by paralysing the assets of its central bank. They also agreed to freeze its transactions and prevent the central bank from liquidating its assets.

She added there would be a crackdown on so-called “golden passports” that “let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems”.

“We commit to ensuring that a certain number of Russian banks are removed from SWIFT. We will paralyze the assets of Russia’s central bank. This will freeze its transactions,” said the president of the European Commission.

SWIFT is the acronym for the Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. The Belgian-based co-operative is used by thousands of financial institutions in over 200 countries, including Russia, and provides a secure messaging system to facilitate cross-border money transfers.