Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 03-23-2024

A selection of what European papers are saying.

The EU leaders have decided to go ahead and use profits from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. Prior to the decision, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had repeatedly called for the assets to be confiscated but failed to gain majority support. Commentators are happy that Europe has recognized the seriousness of the situation, but for some it is still too sluggish in its actions.

Make the most of the assets

Putin claimed that the terrorists were attempting to escape and were moving towards Ukraine, where “a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Russians 20 hours after the terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall (“Crocus City Hall”).

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

Russia has arrested 11 people including four suspected gunmen in connection with a shooting rampage that killed at least 115 people in a concert hall near Moscow, the Kremlin said on Saturday. Militant Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, the deadliest in Russia for 20 years. But there were indications that Russia was pursuing a Ukrainian link, despite a statement from Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak that Kyiv had nothing to do with it. The FSB security service said "all four terrorists" had been arrested while heading to the Ukrainian border, and that they had contacts in Ukraine. It said they were being transferred to Moscow. "Now we know in which country these bloody bastards planned to hide from pursuit - Ukraine," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, said that if Ukraine was involved, then Russia must deliver a "worthy, clear and concrete" reply on the battlefield. Russia's Investigative Committee said the death toll had leapt to at least 115 from the attack, in which camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers in the Crocus City Hall near the capital. It said some died from gunshot wounds and others in a huge fire that broke out in the complex. Reports said the gunmen had lit the blaze using petrol from canisters they carried in rucksacks - Reuters

Not surprisingly, a mouthpiece for Russian President Putin, Sergei Markov, blamed Ukraine for the attack on Moscow concert venue. He told the BBC that the suspects were picked up near the Ukraine border. (However the border region mentioned by Russian officials is an active war zone; Ukraine officials said anyone would’ve been idiots or suicidal to travel there). In a rambling, nonsensical interview, Markov said Islamic terrorists couldn’t have been involved as it’s Ramadan

Some Russian lawmakers, as well as former president Dmitry Medvedev, have also evoked a possible Ukrainian connection, without providing evidence.

Kyiv said Saturday it rejected Russian claims of a Ukrainian link to an attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 100 people.

Russia's FSB security service said Saturday it had arrested the gunmen behind the attack while they were trying to flee to Ukraine.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• On 17 March 2024, a Ukrainian intelligence official reportedly stated that Ukraine had successfully struck 12 Russian oil refineries with Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). On 15-16 March the Ukrainian media reported that three large refineries in the Samara oblast in southern Russia were also attacked.

• Some of the furthest facilities attacked are approximately 900km from Ukraine, underscoring the reach of the Ukrainian UAV attacks. These strikes are imposing a financial cost on Russia, impacting the domestic fuel market. Recent strikes against refineries have likely disrupted at least 10 per cent of Russia's refinery capacity. Depending on the extent of the damage, major repairs could take considerable time and expense. Sanctions are highly likely increasing the time and cost of sourcing replacement equipment.

A Chronology that Might Help Predict

1. US warns that Russia will invade Ukraine.  General disbelief, daily Russian mockery. (Dec. 3, 2021-Feb. 24, 2022)

2.  Russia invades Ukraine, kills tens of thousands of people, kidnaps tens of thousands of children, commits other ongoing war crimes (Feb. 24, 2022-present)

So much news/noise now on the issue of using “frozen”, or actually as yet only “immobilized”, Russian assets for Ukraine, I thought it useful to put out a quick Q&A around the issues.

Q? How much money are we talking about?

Answer - there are around $330 billion of Russian central bank assets currently immobilized in Western jurisdictions, around two thirds of this is in the EU, mostly in France and Belgium, with the balance in the UK, US, Japan and Switzerland. The weight in France and Belgium is due to the role played by Euroclear, the financial depository.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has announced it's working on a new explosive resistant military boot designed to reduce the risk of foot and leg injuries during demining.

What exactly are mine resistant boots?

Ukraine’s defense ministry announced on March 22 that the Central Directorate of Material Development and Support, together with the Force Support Command, have begun testing a boot aimed at preventing, or at least mitigating, foot and lower limb injuries for military engineers clearing landmines.

During the successful operation, Ukrainian fighters also wounded 4 Russians, destroyed an 82 mm mortar position, and damaged an infantry fighting vehicle.

The Special Operations Forces (SSO) fighters decimated a Russian mortar position and five soldiers using first-person view (FPV) drones, as detailed in the SSO's report on Telegram.

The March 21 semi-final playoffs, where 12 European teams tried to win one of three places for the summer EURO 24 finals, high stakes in sporting terms but for one team it meant so much more.

On 21 March, twelve European national teams competed against one another in the qualification semi-finals took the first step towards booking their place in the 2024 European Championships. Separated into three groups of four, only three will secure the final qualification spots for this summer’s football competition. The six teams that one on Thursday have one more match to secure the chance to compete in Germany this summer.

Under normal circumstances, players will feel the pressure to deliver, secure qualification to the tournament and make their countries proud. Failure to qualify would be disappointing and some players would be distraught at missing out on European football’s largest and most prestigious competition.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claims to the state run news agency TASS that the suspects tried to cross into Ukraine alleging where they had links which Kyiv categorically denied.

The Investigative Committee of Russia has announced that the death toll from the terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall has risen to115 people, including three children as reported by the Russian state publication TASS.

TASS quoted the Federal Security Service (FSB) as stating that 11 individuals had been detained, including four terrorists involved in the attack. The suspects were allegedly attempting to flee toward the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The Russian defense ministry released a statement detailing the destruction of “12 Ukrainian drones” during overnight operations.

In the Samara region of Russia, a series of “several drone attacks” targeted local oil refineries, as reported by Governor Dmitriy Azarov via Telegram.

One of these strikes resulted in a fire at the Kuibyshev refinery, Azarov said, highlighting there were no casualties. The Kuibyshev refinery, operated by Russian oil giant Rosneft, stands as one of Samara's largest, boasting an annual production capacity of seven million tonnes, as per its official website.

Russia's Investigative Committee said Saturday that more than 60 people had been killed, raising an earlier toll of 40, according to Russian news agencies.

Gunmen who opened fire at a Moscow concert hall killed more than 60 people and wounded over 100 while sparking an inferno, authorities said Saturday, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility.

Attackers dressed in camouflage uniforms entered the building on Friday, opened fire and threw a grenade or incendiary bomb, according to a journalist for the RIA Novosti news agency at the scene.

Mayor of Kharkiv reports city left without electricity and heat after Russian missile strike. Ukraine faces widespread blackouts amid ongoing attacks on energy facilities.

A Russian missile attack has left Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, completely without electricity and heating, according to Mayor Igor Terekhov on Friday.

This follows Ukraine's earlier statement on Russia launching its largest aerial assault in months, targeting energy facilities across Ukraine and resulting in at least five fatalities.

Ukrainian intelligence has identified a Russian soldier who shot a civilian in 2022 in order to take a smartphone from the victim and took part in looting homes.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has identified a Russian soldier for shooting a civilian to take the victim’s mobile phone during the Battles of Kyiv at the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

According to the SBU press release, the soldier is identified as 32-year-old Timur Seferov, a contract soldier who served in the 15th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Central Military District of the Russian Armed Forces.