Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern vowed today to keep putting pressure on Russia to stop the ongoing war in Ukraine. The two leaders “will continue to raise the costs for the architects of Russia’s illegal and unjustified aggression” against Ukraine, a joint statement says.
Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched the war on Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Volodymyr Zelensky has said the situation in Mariupol is deteriorating with roughly 1,000 civilians remaining trapped in the Azovstal steel plant with the remaining fighters who are heavily outnumbered. However, Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of Vladimir Putin, said he believed Russian forces would be in complete control of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol “before lunchtime, or after lunch” on Thursday. Also, Ukraine is working to convince western allies to shift Russia’s shipments of natural gas from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Ukraine’s pipeline, increasing Kyiv’s leverage, energy officials told Reuters. And US President Joe Biden is set to announce plans on Thursday to send additional military aid to help Ukraine fight back against the Russian invasion, according to a US official.