Ukraine. Ukraine claims to have sunk the Moskva cruiser, following a rocket attack on the Black Sea ship. The Russians confirmed the sinking, but said it was because of the „stormy sea”. The Moskva cruiser is the most serious loss registered by the Russian forces since the start of the military operation in Ukraine. The ship, which started it service in 1983 and was named Slava until 1996, became known in December 1989, when it covered, together with the American ship Belknap, the security of the summit in Malta. Later, the ship participated in the campaigns in Georgia in 2008 and Syria in 2015. On the first day of the campaign in Ukraine, Moskva participated in the occupation of Snake Island, an operation in which 82 Ukrainian soldiers were taken prisoner and then, according to the Ukrainian media, participated in the blockade of the ports of Odesa, Mykolaiv and Ochakiv. Heavy explosions took place last night in the capital, Kyiv, and in the southern city of Kherson. On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament described as „genocide” the crimes committed by the Russian troops in the neighboring country. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, at least 198 children have been killed and 355 injured since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Refugees. Some 10,000 Ukrainian refugees have crossed Romania’s borders in the past 24 hours, the Border Police Inspectorate has announced. According to Romanian authorities, some 714 thousand Ukrainians have arrived in Romania since February 24th, the start of the Russian invasion. 30 thousand of them are children, and more than 4 thousand have requested asylum.
Food security. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations World Food Program and the World Trade Organization have called for urgent and coordinated food security measures and urged countries to avoid export bans on food or fertilizers. In a joint statement, the leaders of the four institutions warned that the war in Ukraine is adding to the existing pressures due to the Covid-19 crisis or climate change. The biggest risk – they say – is for poor countries, but there is a growing vulnerability in middle-income countries as well.
