LIVE: Russian invasion shut down 30% of Ukraine's economy, says FM

The Russian invasion has forced 30% of Ukraine's economy to stop working, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said in a televised interview on Saturday

3:18 PM

Shelling kills nine in outskirts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia: Deputy mayor

Nine people were killed and 17 wounded in shelling of the suburbs of the city of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine on Friday, deputy mayor Anatoliy Kurtiev said on Saturday.

 

The military has since declared a 38-hour curfew in Zaporizhzhia, which was being attacked by Russian forces with mortars, tanks, helicopters and rocket systems, Kurtiev said in an online post.

3:12 PM

Russia says it used hypersonic ‘Kinzhal’ missiles for first time

Russia said it fired hypersonic missiles from its “Kinzhal” system for the first time in the more than three-week invasion of Ukraine, to destroy an underground weapons storage site in the west of the country.
 

The Ministry of Defense said the military used Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles on Friday to target the site storing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Delyatyn, outside the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, according to an emailed statement. 

 

The claimed strike marked the first use of the nuclear-capable advanced weapons system in the Ukraine war, state news service RIA Novosti said. 

 

Ukraine didn’t report any Russian attack on the military facility. 

 

The Kinzhal, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, flies 10 times faster than the speed of sound, or more than 2 miles per second, President Vladimir Putin said when he announced the system in an annual state-of-the-nation address in 2018.

2:48 PM

Russia reports first use of hypersonic missile

The Russian military says it used its latest hypersonic missile, Kinzhal, for the first time in combat during its offensive in Ukraine.

Spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the hypersonic missiles destroyed an underground warehouse storing missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Konashenkov also said that the Russian forces used the anti-ship missile system Bastion to strike Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

Russia first used the weapon during its military campaign in Syria in 2016.

2:47 PM

Ukraine says 112 children died in war so far

The Prosecutor General's office in Ukraine says a total of 112 children have been died in the country since the start of the Russian invasion.

The office says more than 140 children have been wounded since February 24.

According to the UN children's agency, more than 1.5 million children had fled Ukraine.

Most families have fled to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania.

2:30 PM

Minister: Clearing live ordnance in Ukraine will take years

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky says it will take years to defuse the unexploded ordnance once the Russian invasion is over.

Monastyrsky told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday that the country will need Western assistance to carry out the massive undertaking after the war.

A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraine, and a large part haven't exploded. They remain under the rubble and pose a real threat, Monastyrsky said in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

2:18 PM

Big steel plant ''being destroyed'' in Mariupol

In the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting for the Azovstal steel plant, one of the biggest in Europe, said Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, in televised remarks on Saturday.

Now there is a fight for Azovstal. I can say that we have lost this economic giant. In fact, one of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe is actually being destroyed, Denysenko said.

1:37 PM

Russia launches missile strikes on strongholds of Ukrainian 'nationalists'

The Russian Aerospace Forces have launched rocket attacks on the strongholds of Ukrainian "nationalists", the Defence Ministry in Moscow said.

According to the Ministry, the forces carried out the strikes in pairs from low and extremely low altitudes, RT News reported.

"As a result of an air strike, a stronghold of a company of Ukrainian nationalists and camouflaged armoured vehicles were destroyed," it said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said that the country's armed forces had lost access to the Sea of Azov.

1:37 PM

Zelenskiy Says Talks Are Russia’s ‘Only Chance’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said peace talks are Russia’s “only chance” given the growing number of countries imposing sanctions against it, urging Moscow to engage in negotiations.

12:59 PM

Ukraine zoo calls for humanitarian corridor to evacuate animals

A zoo in Ukraine has called on authorities to establish a humanitarian corridor to supply food, as well as to evacuate animals, as some of them have died due to hunger and cold.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Mykhailo Pinchuk, owner of the Zoo XII Months in Demidov, said: "We need green corridors, we need to deliver food and diesel, please help. We need green corridors for the humanitarian aid delivery and for the evacuation of transportable animals."

Pinchuk added that animals with frost tolerance in outdoor enclosures have died of hunger, while and exotic animals in need of heat, have died due to the cold, reports Ukrayinska Pravda.

12:33 PM

Whispers that Imran may target & even sack COAS Bajwa

Whisperers' in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the country's ruling party, have said that Prime Minister Imran Khan may target and even sack Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and appoint a senior non-controversial figure to take his side and bail him out, the Friday Times reported.

This is however, a very risky proposition.

In 1972, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sacked the army and air force chiefs and got away with it only because he did it in a cloak and dagger manner when both forces were reeling in the aftermath of the Bangladesh crisis and war, said the Friday Times report.

But the Empire hit back in 1977 when his hand-picked army chief, General Zia ul Haq, sent him packing and later hanged him.

12:17 PM

Ten AAP MLAs inducted into Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab

Ten AAP MLAs, including a woman, were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab here on Saturday.

Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at Punjab Bhawan here.

Among the 10, eight are first-time MLAs. All of them took the oath in Punjabi.

Harpal Singh Cheema, Harbhajan Singh, Dr Vijay Singla, Lal Chand, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Harjot Singh Bains and Dr Baljit Kaur, the lone woman in the cabinet, were administered the oath.

There are 18 berths in the cabinet, including the chief minister.

11:59 AM

10 legislators take oath in Punjab's first AAP Cabinet

Ten legislators, comprising eight greenhorns, on Saturday took oath in the first Cabinet formation by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab led by Bhagwant Mann at a swearing-in ceremony here.

The ministers include one woman, four Scheduled Castes (SCs) and two Hindus.

There are a total of 18 berths in the Cabinet, including the Chief Minister.

11:59 AM

'Pak will recognise Taliban regime when there's regional consensus'

Pakistan will recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan when there is a consensus, particularly of regional countries, on the issue, Dawn news quoted Munir Akram, Islamabads UN envoy, as saying.

The question of recognition resurfaced on Thursday when the UN Security Council voted to establish formal ties with the Taliban-led Afghan government without extending diplomatic recognition to the regime.

Fourteen of the Council's 15 members voted for the resolution, while Russia abstained.

11:50 AM

Hong Kong COVID-19 cases cross 1 million

Hong Kong's COVID-19 case count surpassed 1 million on Friday, amid the fifth and the worst wave of the disease.

As many as 20,082 new COVID-19 infections were reported in the city on Friday, of which 12,116 were identified through rapid tests, Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported.

As of Thursday, Hong Kong reported 996,862 COVID-19 infections and 5,136 people lost their lives to its fifth-wave COVID-19 outbreak, according to Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP).

10:50 AM

Putin rallies behind troops while lethal fire rains down

As Russian troops rained lethal fire on Ukrainian cities, Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally to lavish praise on his Russian forces, while Ukrainian's president accused the Kremlin of deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe.

Russia's president addressed the packed Moscow stadium Friday, saying the Kremlin's troops had fought shoulder to shoulder and supported each other. We have not had unity like this for a long time, he told the cheering crowd.

The invasion has touched off a burst of antiwar protests inside Russia, and the rally was surrounded by suspicions it was a Kremlin-manufactured display of patriotism. The event happened as Russia has faced heavier-than-expected losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home.