Latest news on the Russian-Ukrainian war: dozens dead after the attack on a military base; American journalist killed by Russian forces | world news

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s Chechnya region, said he had traveled to Ukraine to visit Chechen troops attacking Kiev, according to Reuters. Reuters could not independently verify whether he had actually been to the area.

Kadyrov is a close ally of Vladimir Poutine and has previously described himself as Putin’s “foot soldier”. He has been accused of human rights abuses by the United States and the European Union, which he denies.

“The Chechen TV channel Grozny posted a video on its social media channel Telegram earlier on Sunday that showed Kadyrov in a darkened room chatting with Chechen troops about a military operation they say took place 7 km away. (4.3 miles) from the Ukrainian capital,” Reuters reported. “The message did not specify where or when the meeting took place.”

Access to Instagram in Russia seems to be limit across multiple vendors. The government notified earlier today that the service will cease to be available following the decision by Meta, the parent company of Instagram, to allow users in Ukraine to post anti-Russian messages such as “death to Russian invaders”.

“An email from the state’s communications regulator told users to move their photos and videos from Instagram before it was shut down, and encouraged them to switch to Instagram’s own ‘competitive internet platforms’. Russia, according to CNN.

More than 5,550 people evacuated from frontline towns, says deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video statement.

They were evacuated through nine humanitarian corridors and 3,950 were evacuated from towns and villages in the Kyiv region, according to Reuters.

software company Oracle says he was the first of those asked to halt all operations in Russia in response to a Tweeter from President Zelensky urging the company, along with Microsoft and SAP, to stop supporting all products in Russia.

In response to reports that Russia seeks military equipment and other support from Chinathe Chinese embassy in the United States said the current priority was to ensure that the situation did not escalate or spiral out of control, according to Reuters.

“The current situation in Ukraine is indeed disconcerting,” spokesman Liu Pengyu said in a statement.

Reuters also reports that the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the United States said “I’ve never heard of this”, when asked about Russia’s demand for military equipment.

the The Financial Times reported that US officials say Russia has requested military support from China since the start of the invasion and that the White House fears Beijing is undermining Western efforts to help Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has obtained free access to Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition software that scrapes images from social networks and other platforms, to be used during the war, Reuters reports. Clearview AI sent a letter to Ukraine offering its services to help “uncover Russian attackers, combat misinformation and identify the dead” once the invasion begins. It’s unclear why the Defense Ministry is using the software, but Clearview’s chief executive said he expects other Ukrainian agencies to start using the service in the coming days.

Clearview AI has been criticized for breaching data privacy around the world. Italy fined the company 20 million euros for violating EU consumer privacy laws and ordered the company to delete all of its data on Italian residents. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office also ordered the company to stop processing all user data in November and France issued a similar order in December.

US officials say Russia requested military equipment from China since the beginning of the invasion, according to FinancialTimes. This raised fears in the White House that China might decide to help Russia and undermine Western efforts to help Ukraine.

Another person told the FT that the United States was “preparing to warn allies of the situation amid some indications that China may be preparing to help Russia.”

“Other U.S. officials also said there were signs that Russia was short of certain types of weapons as the war in Ukraine nears the start of its third week,” the FT report said.

Boris Johnson noted by Vladimir Putin the ‘barbaric actions’ were a test for ‘all humanity’ and that the UK would continue to support Ukraine, when appealing with President Zelensky Sunday, according to PA.

“Leaders condemned the murders of Brent Renaud and countless innocent Ukrainians, and the kidnapping of the mayors of Dniprorudne and Melitopol,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

“The Prime Minister underlined the UK’s continued support for Ukraine. He said the UK would continue to seek more options to strengthen Ukraine’s self-defence, working with partners, including Tuesday’s meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force in London.

Power was restored to Chernobyl nuclear power plantthe Ukrainian national energy company Ukrenergo announced on its Telegram channel, according to CNN.

The plant’s electrical system was damaged in a Russian attack on March 9.

“Ukrainian specialists … have completed repair work on the 330 kV line … and restored the power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the city of Slavutych,” Ukrenergo said on his Telegram channel.

Volodymyr Zelensky urged Microsoft, Oracle and SAP to stop supporting their contracts and products in Russia on Sunday. Microsoft stopped accepting new customers in Russia, but Zelenskiy said moves like this were half measures and framed it as a black-and-white decision. Microsoft, SAP and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

President Zelensky said he thanked Boris Johnson and the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, during a phone call Sunday morning.

Fiala said the situation in Ukraine is complicated but that support and deliveries of humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine will continue, according to a translation of his tweet.