Russia Ukraine crisis LIVE Updates: First flight carrying 219 Indian evacuees from Ukraine lands at Mumbai airport from Bucharest

Air India’s first evacuation flight departed from Romanian capital Bucharest on Saturday afternoon for Mumbai with 219 Indian nationals who were stranded in Ukraine due to the ongoing Russian military offensive. Twitter/ @eoiromania

Russia-Ukraine crisis LATEST Updates: Russia’s communications regulator on Saturday ordered media to remove reports describing Moscow’s attack on Ukraine as an “assault, invasion, or declaration of war” or face being blocked and fined.

“Unfortunately, according to operative data, at the hands of the invaders we have 198 dead, including 3 children, 1,115 wounded, including 33 children,” Health Minister Viktor Lyashko wrote on Facebook.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that “partners” were sending weapons to help Kyiv fight Russian troops, adding he had spoken by phone with French leader Emmanuel Macron.

The Russian military says it has launched a barrage of cruise missiles at Ukrainian military facilities

A high-rise apartment block was hit by shelling overnight in Kyiv as fighting raged between Russian attackers and Ukrainian forces, emergency services said Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that “partners” were sending weapons to help Kyiv fight Russian troops, adding he had spoken by phone with French leader Emmanuel Macron

After Ukrainian forces said they had repulsed a Russian attack on their capital Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky shot a selfie-style video to vow to stay and fight on.

Facebook on Friday restricted Russian state media’s ability to earn money on the social media platform as Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine reached the streets of Kyiv

Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine’s capital early Saturday as explosions reverberated through the city and the president urged the country to “stand firm” against the siege that could determine its future

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asked to evacuate Kyiv at the behest of the US government but turned down the offer.

Ukraine’s military says it has shot down a Russian military transport plane with paratroopers on board.

Russia “attacked one of the military units on Victory Avenue in Kyiv. The attack was repulsed,” Ukraine’s army said on its verified Facebook page, without specifying where exactly the incident took place.

Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Friday demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops, a defeat the United States and its supporters knew was inevitable but said would highlight Russia’s global isolation.

The vote was 11 in favor, with Russia voting no and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, which showed significant but not total opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his country’s smaller and militarily weaker neighbor.

The resolution’s failure paves the way for supporters to call for a quick vote on a similar resolution in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, where there are no vetoes. There was no immediate word on a timetable for an assembly vote.

The vote was delayed for two hours the United States and Albania, which co-sponsored the resolution, and their supporters scrambled behind the scenes to get wavering nations to support the resolution. China’s decision to abstain, rather than use its veto alongside usual ally Russia, was seen as a diplomatic achievement.

“Not surprisingly, Russia exercised its veto power today in an effort to protect Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified and unconscionable war in Ukraine,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

“But let me make one thing clear: Russia, you can veto this resolution, but you cannot veto our voices,” she told her Russian counterpart. “You cannot veto the truth. You cannot veto our principles. You cannot veto the Ukrainian people.”

Brazil’s Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho, whose country’s vote was initially in question but turned into a yes, said his government is “gravely concerned” about Russia’s military action. “A line has been crossed, and this council cannot remain silent,” he said.

In response, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated his country’s claims that it is standing up for people in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the government for eight years. He accused the West of ignoring Ukrainian abuses there.

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