Viewsridge, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
NPR reports that the number of refugees fleeing across the borders of Ukraine has reached 1 million people.
The U.N.’s top refugee official said the total of refugee from Ukraine amounts to a little more than 2% of the country’s total population of 44 million. Around half of the refugees are in Poland, with Hungary, Moldova and Slovakia being the other top destinations, while others have fled to various other European countries.
News of the refugee milestone came as Russian forces have seized their first major city almost a week after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. A spokesperson for the mayor of Kherson, a strategic port city near the Black Sea said, “occupiers are moving through the streets in heavy machinery.” The mayor met with Russian forces and asked the Russians “not to shoot at houses and civilians, because we already have several hundred dead.”
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly approved a non-binding resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and demanding that it withdraw its military forces.
The resolution passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 141-5 with 35 abstentions. The five countries that voted against it were Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea.
In the U.S., President Joe Biden joined the European Union and Canada in banning Russian planes.
The Putin regime is expected to reciprocate and prohibit U.S. aircraft from entering Russian airspace. That could mean longer flights as jets are rerouted around closed airspace, but aviation industry experts say Russians will likely feel the greater impact.
And Kyiv Independent is reporting that Ukraine and Russia are to hold a new round of peace talks. According to Vladimir Medinsky, assistant to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the second round of negotiations will take place today in Belarus.
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