March 1, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The Russian prosecutor general has blocked access to two independent media outlets, Echo of Moscow and TV Rain, because of alleged violations over their reporting on the invasion of Ukraine. 

In a statement, the prosecutor general accused the two outlets of disseminating what it called “information known to be false regarding the actions of Russian servicemen, as part of a special operation to protect the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.” 

It also says Echo of Moscow and TV Rain have been posting information which it says calls “for extremism, violence against citizens of the Russian Federation, mass violations of public order and public security.” Authorities in Russia forbid rallying without a permit and may consider broadcasting or reporting specific information on unauthorized rallies to be considered organizing illegal protests.

On Saturday, Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor warned 10 local news outlets that it would restrict access to their publications unless they stop spreading what it calls false information, including references to the military operation in Ukraine as an "attack, invasion or declaration of war.”

In letters sent letters to these outlets, the regulator said it complained about allegedly “false information” they published on the shelling of Ukrainian cities and the death of civilians caused by the Russian armed forces.

The outlets notified were: Echo of Moscow, InoSMI, Mediazona, New Times, TV Rain, Svobodnaya Pressa, Krym.Realii, Novaya Gazeta, Zhurnalist and Lenizdat. Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace prize in 2021. Some of these outlets have been designated by Russian authorities as foreign agents.

“Unless the above inaccurate information is removed, access to these sources will be restricted,” it said in a statement on Saturday, announcing an investigation into the media outlets.

About 677,000 people have fled Ukraine in “less than a week” during Russia's ongoing invasion, UN Refugee Agency Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements said Tuesday. 

"677,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in less than a week. 150,000 in the last 24 hrs," Clements said in a tweet.  

On Tuesday, the United Nations said in a statement that the agency along with its humanitarian partners have launched "emergency appeals" to donors for $1.7 billion to urgently deliver "humanitarian support to people in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries."

"The UN estimates that 12 million people inside Ukraine will need relief and protection, while more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees may need protection and assistance in neighbouring countries in the coming months," the agency said in a statement. 

Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian chief, said in the statement that this is the "darkest hour" for the people of Ukraine. 

"We need to ramp up our response now to protect the lives and dignity of ordinary Ukrainians. We must respond with compassion and solidarity,” he added.  

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said it "could become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century" in the statement.  

Mexico will not impose economic sanctions on Russia, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a daily news conference on Tuesday morning.

“We’re not going to take any kind of economic reprisal because we want to have good relations with all the governments in the world, and we want to be able to talk with the parties in conflict,” López Obrador said after he was asked about his stance on the matter. 

“We do not consider that it corresponds to us, and we think that the best thing is to promote dialogue to achieve peace,” he said. 

López Obrador also criticized the “censorship” of Russian state media, after social media companies announced they would take action to limit the reach of Russian-backed news channel RT. 

"I don't agree that there is censorship in the media; I spoke out against it when President Trump's account was canceled, as I also do not agree with the fact that the media, from Russia or any other country, are censored," he said.

Russian state media accounts, as well as content linking to their sites, will now be demoted across Meta's platforms globally, the company said Tuesday.

The move to apply algorithmic restrictions to Russia-backed media outlets follows a similar move by Twitter announced on Monday. And it follows calls by European Union officials for tech platforms to do more to keep those outlets from being recommended to users.

As with Twitter, Meta already labels accounts that it identifies as being operated by state-run media. The additional steps being announced on Tuesday involve the labeling of links and the down-ranking of both the links and the Russian media outlets' own accounts.

In the coming days, users who attempt to share links to Russian state media websites will also be shown interstitial warnings on Facebook and Instagram, added Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta's head of security policy.

Russian forces bombarded a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city with rockets on Monday, killing nine civilians, including three children, and wounded 37 others.

Here are some photos from the ground.

The second round of talks between the delegations from Ukraine and Russia about the situation in Ukraine is planned for Wednesday, Russian state media reports. 

Russia’s TASS news agency on Tuesday cited a source on the Russian side saying that Wednesday, March 2, is the date that both sides had originally agreed on.

Russian state news agency RIA added that the second round of talks will happen in Belarus near the Belarus-Poland border, and cited Belarusian politician Yury Voskresensky, who they said is close to the talks. According to Voskresensky, the first members of the delegations are expected to arrive in the Belarus capital of Minsk this evening. 

The first round of talks on Monday lasted for five hours and ended without a breakthrough.

Ukrainian officials have yet to confirm that Wednesday is the date for the second round of talks.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, foreign students attempting to leave the country say they are experiencing racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials.

Rachel Onyegbule, a Nigerian first-year medical student in Lviv, told CNN that she and other foreigners were ordered off the public transit bus at a checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland border. They were told to stand aside as the bus drove off with only Ukrainian nationals on board, she said.

She was left stranded at the border town of Shehyni, some 400 miles from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

Onyegbule said she eventually got her exit document stamped on Monday morning around 4:30 a.m. local time.

Allegations of violence

Saakshi Ijantkar, a fourth-year medical student from India, also shared her ordeal with CNN Monday via a phone call from Lviv, western Ukraine.

"There are three checkposts we need to go through to get to the border. A lot of people are stranded there. They don't allow Indians to go through," she said.

CNN has been unable to confirm the identities or affiliations of the people who operated the checkpoints, but Ijantkar said they were all wearing uniforms.

She added that she witnessed violence from the guards to the students waiting at the Ukrainian side of the Shehyni-Medyka border.

"I saw an Egyptian man standing at the front with his hands on the rails, and because of that one guard pushed him with so much force and the man hit the fence, which is covered in spikes, and he lost consciousness," she said. "We took him outside to give him CPR. They just didn't care and they were beating the students, they didn't give two hoots about us, only the Ukrainians."

CNN contacted the Ukrainian army in light of the allegations of violence, but did not immediately hear back.

Ukraine attracts many foreign students wanting to study medicine because it has a strong reputation for medical courses and tuition — and other expenses are much lower than in programs in other Western nations.

Read the full report here.

There is widespread support for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union, the European Commission Vice President Margaritas Schinas told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Tuesday. 

The statement comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on European leaders to “prove” their solidarity with Ukraine a day after signing an official request to join the European Union. 

He also said that the EU is set to announce blanket protection status for all those fleeing war in Ukraine that would give them automatic access to the EU’s health, education and housing facilities. That decision, Schinas said, along with the EU using its funds to buy weapons for Ukraine are “unprecedented steps.”

He told CNN he is confident when European leaders next meet, they will decide to set up the process at a pace that will allow for Ukraine to accede to the European Union “soon.”

When pressed by Anderson about how soon, he said “there is no set timetable in pre-accession negotiations.” 

NATO foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Friday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In a statement released Tuesday, NATO said the meeting will take place in person at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The meeting will be chaired by the alliance's chief, Jens Stoltenberg.