Ukriaine, March 25:
As many as 300 people are feared dead in the bombing of a theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol last week, reported news agency AFP quoting local authorities. “From eyewitnesses, information is emerging that about 300 people died in the Drama Theatre of Mariupol following strikes by a Russian aircraft,” Mariupol city hall wrote on Telegram. On Thursday, Ukraine said its forces had destroyed the Russian landing ship the ‘Orsk’ at the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk. Video footage showed smoke rising from a blaze at a dock and the flash of an explosion.
US President Joe Biden and Western allies have pledged new sanctions and humanitarian aid in response to Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine, but their offers fell short of the more robust military assistance that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for in a pair of live-video appearances.
India on Thursday again abstained in the UN General Assembly on a resolution by Ukraine and its allies on the humanitarian crisis in war-torn eastern European country. The resolution was adopted with 140 votes in favour, 38 abstentions and five against. Meanwhile, the banking industry is increasingly complaining about blockages in funds transfers and credits during routine transactions between Indian and Russian banks in the absence of formal guidance on banking transactions involving Russian lenders.
