LIVE: Civilian killings in Bucha deeply disturbing, says India at UN

India reiterates its call for immediate cessation of violence and end to hostilities, says India's Ambassador to UN on Ukraine conflict

11:45 PM

US suspends tax information exchange with Russian authorities

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has suspended information exchanges with Russia's tax authorities in a bid to hamper Moscow's ability to collect taxes and fund its war against Ukraine, the Treasury Department told Reuters on Tuesday.

 

Under a 30-year-old tax treaty, the IRS and Russia's Federal Tax Service have shared information to aid domestic tax collections and enforcement of tax laws in both countries. The IRS can request information about U.S. taxpayers from Russian authorities and vice-versa.

 

The Treasury said it has not shared any tax information with Russian authorities since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, but the action disclosed on Tuesday formalizes the suspension.

 

"This ensures that the United States is not providing any information that could contribute to the enrichment of the Russian government through increased tax collections or facilitating in any way the persecution of Russian dissidents or the targeting of Ukrainian citizens or businesses," the Treasury said in a statement to Reuters.

 

It was not immediately clear how much revenue might be denied to Russia because of the suspension, which stops short of suspending the entire tax treaty that allows American companies and expatriates in Russia to claim U.S. tax credits against taxes paid to Russia.

11:39 PM

Russian appeals against sports bans to be heard by CAS

Russian federations and athletes have filed multiple legal challenges to fight their bans from international sports events because of their country waging war on Ukraine.

 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Tuesday that Russian officials have filed appeals against governing bodies in soccer, figure skating and speed skating, gymnastics, rowing, rugby and biathlon.

 

The figure skating appeal involves Olympic pairs silver medalists Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, who went on stage at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow for a rally last month supporting Russian president Vladimir Putin and the invasion.

 

Russian Olympic officials have also challenged the European OIympic Committee's exclusion of teams and athletes from its youth multi-sport events.

11:23 PM

Crimes by Russia no different than those carried out by ISIS: Ukraine President tells UNSC

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the atrocities committed by Russian troops are no different from terrorists like the Islamic State extremists as he demanded immediate action to bring the Kremlin's forces to justice for "war crimes".

 

"Yesterday I returned from our city of Bucha, recently liberated from Russian troops not far from Kiev. There is not a single crime that they would not commit there. The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country," Zelenskyy said in his first address to the UN Security Council.

 

Giving a detailed account of the brutalities conducted by the Russian forces, he said "this is no different from other terrorists such as Daesh who occupied some territories. And here it is done by a member of the United Nations Security Council, destroying internal unity, borders and countries."

 

"We are dealing with a state that is turning the veto in the UN Security Council into the right to die," he said in his impassioned address to the UNSC.

 

"This undermines the whole architecture of global security. It allows them to go unpunished."

 

He asserted that the UN system must be reformed immediately so that the veto is not the right to die.

11:12 PM

EU expels 19 Russian diplomats from Belgium

The European Union says 19 Russian diplomats are being expelled from Belgium.

 

The move comes amid blistering criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine and discussions on a new set of sanctions targeting the Kremlin for the Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbour.

 

I decided to designate persona non grata a number of officials of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU for engaging in activities contrary to their diplomatic status, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in a video statement Tuesday.

 

11:01 PM

US official: US, allies, to ban new investments in Russia

The US and its European allies will impose stiff new sanctions, including a ban on new investments in Russia on Wednesday, a U.S. official says, in retaliation for Russia's “war crimes” in Ukraine.

 

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement.

 

The joint action will include a ban on new investment in Russia, toughened sanctions on its financial institutions and government-owned enterprises, and more sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members.

 

The official said they would further Russia's economic, financial and technological “isolation” from the rest of the world as a penalty for its attacks on civilians in Ukraine.

10:30 PM

US to send drones with anti-armor warhead to Ukraine: Pentagon chief

The United States will send a variant of the Switchblade drone that has an anti-armor warhead to Ukraine as quickly as possible, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.

 

"The Switchblade 600 and 300 will move as quickly as they possibly can," Austin said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

 

The 600 variant has the anti-armor warhead and can loiter over a target for more than 40 minutes, according to AeroVironment, which makes the drones.

10:20 PM

Recent reports of civilian killings in Bucha deeply disturbing: India's Ambassador to UN

10:10 PM

In heated exchange, US defense chief defends Ukraine response

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended America's response to the war in Ukraine on Tuesday during a heated exchange with a Republican lawmaker who accused the Pentagon of over-estimating Russia's military capability.

 

"Has it occurred to you that Russia has not overrun Ukraine because of what we've done? And our allies have done? Have you ever even thought about that?," Austin asked rhetorically to Rep. Matt Gaetz during testimony to the House Armed Services Committee.

 

Austin and other U.S. officials say U.S. support to Ukrainian forces, along with Ukraine's strong will to fight, has thwarted Russia's plans for a swift victory in its now more than month-long invasion.

 

10:09 PM

China's envoy to UN calls images of dead civilians from Bucha 'very disturbing'

The reports and images showing civilian deaths in Ukrainian city of Bucha are "very disturbing", China's ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday, but added that the circumstances should be verified and any accusations should be based on facts.

 

Speaking at a Security Council meeting, Ambassador Zhang Jun repeated Beijing's stance that sanctions are not effective in solving the Ukraine crisis but instead they accelerate the economic spillover. He also called the United States, NATO and the European Union to engage in a dialogue with Russia.

9:10 PM

Zelensky at the UN accuses Russian military of war crimes

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told the UN Security Council that the Russian military must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes.

 

In a video appearance Tuesday, Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin's troops of the worst atrocities since World War II and said they are no different from other terrorists like the Islamic State extremist group.

 

The Ukrainian leader made his plea via video Tuesday as grisly evidence continued to emerge of civilian massacres carried out by Russian forces on the outskirts of Kyiv.

8:53 PM

Zelensky urges UN to reform its system to strip Russia of its veto

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the United Nations on Tuesday to act and reform its system which gives Security Council permanent member Russia a veto, saying everything must be done to ensure the international body works effectively.

 

In a passionate address to the United Nations Security Council, Zelensky described in detail grim scenes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, saying Moscow wanted to turn Ukraine into 'silent slaves'.

8:35 PM

Mayor of Ukraine's Bucha says displaced residents should not yet return home

Displaced residents of the Ukrainian town of Bucha should not yet return to their homes because there are still mines in the area after Russian troops withdrew, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said on Tuesday.

 

Speaking on national television, Fedoruk said around 3,700 civilians had stayed in Bucha throughout the occupation by Russian troops, who are accused of carrying out atrocities there. The Kremlin denies the allegations.

 

The town in the Kyiv region, which has been fully retaken by Ukrainian forces, had a pre-war population of around 37,000, according to state statistics.

7:56 PM

Russia waged deliberate campaign to commit atrocities in Bucha, Blinken says

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday the killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were no random act of a rogue unit but part of a deliberate Russian campaign to commit atrocities.

 

He offered no evidence to support his assertion of a deliberate campaign. But before departing for a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, he told reporters Washington backed Ukrainian efforts to investigate what happened.

 

"What we've seen in Bucha is not the random act of a rogue unit," he said. "It's a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities. The reports are more than credible, the evidence is there for the world to see."

7:53 PM

UN chief warns Ukraine war one of greatest challenges to international order

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council on Tuesday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is one of the greatest challenges ever to the international order "because of its nature, intensity, and consequences."

 

Guterres said the war was putting even more pressure on the developing world, with more than 1.2 billion people particularly vulnerable to to spiking food, energy and fertilizer costs. "We are already seeing some countries move from vulnerability into crisis, and signs of serious social unrest," he added.

7:02 PM

Ukraine's leader to brief top UN body on alleged massacres

Ukraine's president planned to address the U.N.'s most powerful body on Tuesday after even more grisly evidence emerged of civilian massacres in areas that Russian forces recently left. Western nations expelled dozens more of Moscow's diplomats and proposed further sanctions as they expressed their disgust at what they say are war crimes.

 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech to the Security Council will be rich with symbolism, but the invitation and other displays of Western support are unlikely to alter the situation on the ground. He says his forces desperately need more powerful weaponry, some of which the West has been reluctant to give. Russia's veto guarantees the body will take no action, and it was unclear whether its representatives would even remain in the chamber for the video address.

 

The head of NATO, meanwhile, warned that Russia is regrouping its forces in order to deploy them to eastern and southern Ukraine for a crucial phase of the war," as the European Union proposed new sanctions targeting Russia's lucrative energy industry.