Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian missiles strike Lviv in dawn attack as Ofcom revokes RT’s broadcast license in UK

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Smoke bills from airport in Lviv as air raid sirens sound following Russian shelling

An aircraft repair plant was hit by Russian missiles fired this morning at the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine.

The building near Danylo Halytskyi International Airport – Ukraine’s second-biggest airport – has been destroyed, city mayor Andriy Sadovy said, but no one was hurt.

Until now, Lviv – close to the border with Poland – had been largely untouched by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began on 24 February.

Meanwhile, Ofcom has revoked the license of Russia Today (RT) and its subsidaries with immediate effect.

The media regulator’s move means that none of the Kremlin-controlled channels will be allowed to be broadcast in the UK.

RT deputy editor in chief Anna Belkina accused of being nothing but a “tool” of the British government “bending to its media-suppressing will” and “robbing the public of access to information.”

Key PointsShow latest update 1647597027Poland to ‘de-Russify’ economy and calls for Nato mission

Poland seeks to be economically independent of Russia, according to Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki.

Morawiecki at a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and Slovenian PM Janez Jansa

(Ukrainian presidential press office)

Poland, which has taken in more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees, intends to “de-Russify” its economy – he said.

This would be done by building new gas pipelines, and subsiding farmers for rising fertiliser prices to keep food prices down, Mr Morawiecki suggested.

Poland will formally submit a proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next Nato summit, he also said.

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 09:50

1647596404Watch: Blaze destroys Kharkiv’s Barabashovo market

Fire has destroyed one of eastern Europe’s largest markets after it was allegedly hit by Russian shelling.

Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko shared the clip online of the blaze at the Barabashovo indoor market in the city of Kharkiv, in north-east Ukraine.

Kharkiv’s Barabashovo market burns after Russia shells one of eastern Europe’s largest malls

Up to 15,000 businesses have been based there, according to Ukraine’s ministry of culture.

Ms Vasylenko wrote: “Kharkiv Barabashovo market burns – one of the largest in Eastern Europe. Lavina Mall in Kyiv destroyed. Almost as if Russia is bombing commercial space out of spite.”

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 09:40

1647595827 Russia’s ‘illusions about the West are over’ – Sergei Lavrov

Moscow will never accept a global perspective that has the US wanting to act like a sheriff to the world, the Kremlin said today.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov also said that Russia has lost all illusions about relying on the West.

Meanwhile, Mr Lavrov was reportedly half-way to China yesterday before his plane turned back.

He was either called back by Moscow or that Beijing canceled the meeting, experts on Russia-China relations suggested.

Today, Joe Biden is to talk via videolink with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 09:30

1647595204Sanctions on Russia beginning to have ‘real impact’ – France

Western countries’ sanctions on Russia were starting to have a “real impact”, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said.

Archive photo of Gabriel Attal

(AP)

He told French channel BFM TV: “We hope these sanctions will force Vladimir Putin to change his plans.”

Earlier this week, European Union member states agreed on a fourth package of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 09:20

1647594632Ukrainian refugees in Poland exceed 2 million in number

More than 2 million Ukrainian refugees are in Poland.

The Polish border guard tweeted: “Today, March 18 at 0900 (local time) the number of refugees from Ukraine exceeded 2 million. Mainly women and children.”

The number refers to all the people who have fled to Poland since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 09:10

1647594032Shelling kills three people in eastern Ukraine

Three people have been killed by shelling in eastern Ukraine this morning.

In the city Kramatorsk, two people died and six were wounded, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in an online post.

In the city Kharkiv, one person died when a multi-storey teaching building was hit. Eleven people were injured, and one person had to be pulled out the rubble.

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 09:00

1647593432RT says Ofcom ‘nothing more than tool’ of UK government

Russia Today (RT) has hit back against the revocation of its UK license by accusing the British government of “robbing the public of access to information”.

Media regulator Ofcom has revoked the license of the Russian state-run TV channel and its subsidaries with immediate effect, which means the channels will no longer be allowed to be broadcast in the UK.

RT – which is controlled by the Kremlin and has hosted Vladimir Putin in its studios a number of times – said the move was unfair, and accused Ofcom of being nothing but a “tool” of the British government.

Vladimir Putin in the Russia Today studio in Moscow, in 2013

(Reuters/Yuri Kochetkov/Pool)

Deputy editor in chief Anna Belkina told Reuters: “Ofcom has shown the UK public, and the internationally regulatory community, that despite a well-constructed facade of independence, it is nothing more than a tool of government, bending to its media-suppressing will .

“By ignoring RT’s completely clean record of four consecutive years and stating purely political tied directly to the situation in Ukraine and yet completely unassociated to RT’s operations, structure, management or editorial output, Ofcom has falsely judged RT to not be ‘fit and proper ‘ and in doing so robbed the UK public of access to information.”

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 08:50

1647592832Location of attack near Lviv airport – map

An aircraft repair plant near Lviv’s airport in western Ukraine was hit by several missiles this morning.

Danylo Halytskyi International Airport Lviv is the second-biggest airport in the country, and is close to the Polish border.

(Google Maps)

No result have been reported so far.

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 08:40

1647592204Russia Today (RT) license revoked by UK media watchdog

Britain’s media regulator Ofcom has revoked the license of Russian state TV channel Russia Today (RT) with immediate effect.

This means the channel will no longer be allowed to be broadcast in the UK.

Ofcom said on Twitter: “We do not consider RT to be fit and proper to hold a UK license and cannot be satisfied that it can be a responsible broadcaster.”

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 08:30

1647591604Separatists ‘tightening noose’ around Mariupol – Kremlin

The Kremlim said separatists in eastern Ukraine were “tightening the noose” around Mariupol with the help of Russian forces.

Civilians have been devastated by the destruction in Mariupol

(Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Fighting was ongoing in the center of Mariupol, the Russian defense ministry added – according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The city, on the coast of the Black Sea, has been hit by some of the worst attacks since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on 24 February.

Lamiat Sabin18 March 2022 08:20

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