Windows in apartment blocks in Kharkiv shaking due to constant blasts
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Feb, 2022 12:15 PM
New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS) Residents of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, said on Thursday that windows in apartment blocks were shaking from constant blasts as the Ukrainian military and Russian forces exchanged shellfire, BBC reported.
Clashes have also been taking place around the capital Kiev in the north and the Black Sea port cities of Odesa and Mariupol in the south, the report said.
Air strikes from Russia have been carried out on Ukrainian military bases and airports, with fierce fighting reported around a key airport near Kiev.
The Ukrainian military claims to have shot down at least six Russian aircraft, while Russia claims to have destroyed more than 70 military targets in Ukraine, BBC reported.
Many Ukrainians are seeking shelter or trying to leave larger cities around the country, including thousands seen fleeing Kiev.
Soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, videos and images claiming to be from the conflict zones began trending on major social networks.
While there are many genuine footage, some viral clips racking up hundreds of thousands of views show events from past conflicts or old military exercises. Many of these seem to coming from users posting content without checking, BBC reported.
The BBC has seen videos of the 2014 Russia-Ukraine war, the 2011 Libyan war and the 2020 Beirut explosions going viral.
In one example, a former Ukrainian ambassador to the US tweeted a video which he claimed was taken in Mariupol, but a version of the same clip was uploaded on TikTok weeks ago, apparently showing a lightning hitting a power station, the report said.
Another viral video claiming to show Russian military paratroopers landing in Ukraine first appeared online in 2016, BBC reported.
Barrons, a Dow Jones & Company publication, said that tensions in the "Middle East have the potential to lift prices." It noted that earlier JP Morgan had predicted that oil prices could touch $80 a barrel with rising demand and constraint supply.
While Biden has previously blamed Afghans for the U.S. failure to get out more allies ahead of this month's sudden Taliban takeover, U.S. officials told The Associated Press that American diplomats had formally urged weeks ago that the administration ramp up evacuation efforts.
In a statement on Friday, the U.N. health agency said the new scientific group would provide the WHO with an independent analysis of the work done to date to pinpoint the origins of COVID-19 and to advise the agency on necessary next steps. The experts will also provide guidance on critical issues regarding the potential emergence of other viruses capable of triggering outbreaks, such as MERS and Ebola.
During their first press conference on Tuesday the Taliban pressed the right button-backing women's rights. But their promise of protecting women's rights had an important nuance: Women will enjoy freedoms but within the ambit of "Islamic law" .
A contingent of persons from the Hindu and Sikh communities who are stranded in Afghanistan were provided reassurance of safety by the Taliban, media reports said. Over 300 Hindus and Sikhs are reportedly taking shelter at the Karte Parwan Gurudwara in Kabul.
We need humanitarian supplies. The refugee situation we updated you with last week and the week before has only deteriorated. We have 300,000 internal refugees and 80,000 children who are without shelter and food. Where we were short of supplies, now we are out.
