Battle of Kyiv escalates

Wednesday, during overnight shelling, saw four people injured as Russian forces continue bombardment of Ukraine's capital city. Two districts have been heavily impacted. Russian artillery is curiously out of range of Kyiv's city centre.

Kyiv officials have reported, noting a shopping centre and private homes having been hit, Russian strikes have not been limited to legitimate military targets. Heavy fighting has caused at least ten million Ukrainians to flee their homes. Russian forces have reportedly killed approximately 264 civilians.

The Battle for Kyiv will be a long-drawn-out bloody conflict. To the West of Kyiv, with heavy fighting, Ukrainian forces reported to have re-taken Makariv. Ukrainian forces, to the East, have held onto Kharkiv. Russian naval forces, situated in the Black Sea, are close to the Odesa off coast.

NATO...

An estimated 3.5 million Ukrainians, fleeing the country, have sought safety in neighbouring countries. Russia, according to a senior NATO officer, has suffered between 7,000 and 15,000 fatalities.

NATO, boosting the eastern flank, will be deploying four new battlegroups to the countries Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. It is hoped the battlegroups will somehow deter Russia from further military engagements.

Addressing the French Parliament...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing the French parliament, has called on companies still operating in Russia to leave. Zelenskyy, referencing Auchan, Leroy Merlin, and Renault, has suggested such French companies should stop backing Moscow's "war machine".

The Biden Administration...

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Biden administration has expressed the opinion Russian military forces have committed war crimes. President Joe Biden, concerned Russia might deploy chemical weapons, said a "real threat" exists. An official statement from Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, came as he travelled to Brussels.

“We’ve seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities. Russia’s forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centres, and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded,” Blinken said.

More alarming is the possibility Russia will use nuclear weapons. A Kremlin spokesperson has said President Vladimir Putin hasn't ruled out using such unconventional weaponry.

G20 Summit...

Excluding Russia from the coming G20 Summit has been raised in conversation amongst the United States and several European nations.

"We believe China in particular has a responsibility to use its influence with President Putin and to defend the international rules and principles that it professes to support," Blinken said.

China, because "No member has the right to expel another country," opposes excluding Russia from the Indonesia hosted G20 Summit. Indonesia's foreign ministry, seemingly not wanting to take sides, declined to comment on calls for Russia's exclusion.

"We believe that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and in the international community," U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

The G20 Summit, scheduled to begin on Sunday, 30 Oct. 2022, will take place in Bali. The summit, if the Russian president makes an appearance, will see heated debate over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Putin, referencing the Ukraine invasion as a "special military operation", clearly has a way with sugar-coating words. Politicians do that!

China, regarding Russia an "important" G20 member, has not yet condemned the invasion. Curiously, whilst defending Russia, China has criticised Western sanctions.

"It is well-known that the United States exerts overt and hardly diplomatic pressure on all countries in terms of all-round opposition to our country," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. "It's clear that the Americans will continue to apply pressure on [the various G20] countries but as we see, a number of states prefer to adhere to their independent, sovereign points of view."

The G20 countries, further to Russia, includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Charles Michel and Ursula von de Leyen, respectively the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, complete the G20.