World telling Russia to 'stop using food as a weapon of war,' Blinken says: Live updates

More than 90 countries have committed not to use food as a weapon of war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said before Thursday’s meeting of the U.N. Security Council, adding he hopes the message that sends gets through to Russia and it rejoins the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,’’ Blinken said the agreement had allowed Ukraine to export 30 million tons of food products, more than half of it going to developing countries.

Since withdrawing from the yearlong deal in mid-July, Russia has not only resumed its blockade of the Black Sea but also attacked Ukraine’s shipping infrastructure, destroying about 180,000 metric tons of grain and helping drive up prices of wheat and other agricultural products.

“I think Russia is hearing a demand signal from countries around the world that they need to stop using food as a weapon of war in Ukraine,’’ Blinken said.

That signal was also sent, he said, during the summit Russia hosted last week with leaders of African nations, half of whom declined to attend. The ones who did pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek peace with Ukraine and reenter the grain deal.

Blinken said about 260 million people globally are acutely food insecure – the consequence of climate change, the COVID pandemic and conflicts – and that leads to forced migration, more war and less economic growth. The food insecurity is only exacerbated by the rising prices that have followed Moscow’s pullout from the grain accord.

“The world is looking to this,’’ he said, “particularly countries throughout Africa are looking to this, and looking to Russia to get back into this agreement.’’

Russia may be pondering return to grain deal, US envoy says: Live Ukraine updates

Developments:

◾ India confirmed Thursday it will participate in a two-day summit this weekend in Saudi Arabia that seeks to spur negotiations for peace in Ukraine. The U.S., Brazil and South Africa are among the approximately 30 countries attending the meeting, organized by Ukraine.

◾ The extensive Russian mining campaign that has slowed down the Ukrainian counteroffensive includes placing mines on the corpses of Russian soldiers left behind, Reuters reported.

◾ Russia said it downed seven Ukrainian drones about 100 miles south of Moscow as Kyiv continues its push to take the war into Russian territory. On the opposing side, all 15 attack drones targeting Kyiv were shot down Thursday and no injuries or damage were reported, the Ukraine Defense Ministry said.

◾ The European Commission tightened sanctions on Belarus to ensure Russia can't circumvent EU sanctions through its neighbor and close ally.

◾ The Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs said Thursday that it had identified more than 232,000 war criminals and collaborators. Among them are almost 200,000 Russian occupation forces and "3,267 collaborators and traitors of Ukraine."

 F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots to begin this month

F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots will begin this month and Ukraine's diplomats must focus on the "powerful and challenging task" of obtaining the jets, Zelenskyy said Thursday. The Netherlands and Denmark agreed in May to lead the training after the Biden administration signed off on a plan allowing allies to send the U.S.-made fighter jets to Kyiv.

President Joe Biden had balked at the move, fearing the planes would ramp up the war. But Zelenskyy was unrelenting in his pursuit of F-16s, saying they were desperately needed to fend off Russian attacks on Ukraine's cities and to provide air support for Ukraine's critical counteroffensive. Ukraine has already received Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland and Slovakia.

"Now we need to work 100% with the countries that have these (F-16) aircraft and will be able to transfer them to us after training," Zelenskyy said in a speech to Ukraine's diplomatic corps. "The delivery and combat use of F-16s by our pilots should take place as soon as possible."

Russia bombs 18th-century cathedral, then firefighters

Russian shelling severely damaged a landmark, 18th-century Ukraine church Thursday, minutes before a second round of shelling wounded first responders rushing to the scene to douse the flames.

Russia’s latest attack targeted the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, where a bus was also hit and three passengers and a bystander were wounded, officials said. The extent of damage to the cathedral was not immediately known.

“During the extinguishing of the fire caused by shelling in St. Catherine’s Cathedral, another shelling took place,” the Ukraine Interior Ministry wrote on Telegram. “Four employees of the State Emergency Service were injured. All of them are hospitalized.”

Two days earlier, a physician was killed and five people were wounded when Russia bombed a Kherson hospital. And a missile strike in Odesa last week severely damaged the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, which traces its roots to 1794.

“We are doing our best with our partners to increase the supply of air defense systems,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted. “It is very important for the world not to get used to this Russian terror.”

Russians, Ukrainians also clash on Stalin

Almost two-thirds of Russians have a positive view of Josef Stalin while almost the same percentage of Ukrainians view the former Russian dictator negatively, a new survey shows. The survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology reflects the ever-widening gap between Russians and the neighbors they invaded more than 17 months ago.

In 2012, about 25% of each country's residents had a positive view of Stalin, whose iron-fisted rule from 1928 until his death in 1953 saw Russia rise to a superpower even as millions were subjected to forced labor, deportation, famine, massacres, detention and brutal interrogation. In the most recent survey, Russian love for Stalin has more than doubled while only 4% of Ukrainians expressed a positive view of Stalin.

"After almost a year and a half of a large-scale invasion, the obvious war crimes committed by the Russians in Ukraine should become an incentive for the Russians to rethink various aspects of public life in a humanistic spirit," wrote institute executive director Anton Hrushetsky. "Instead, we see the persistence of positive attitudes toward one of the most terrifying and brutal tyrants in human history."

Will Russian election determine the 'future of the entire world'?

Russia’s presidential election in March will determine the fate of the country and the "future of the entire world," Russian elections Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said Thursday. President Vladimir Putin has not announced his candidacy but is expected to run. He has ruled the country either as president or prime minister for almost a quarter century.

"The upcoming presidential election is not comparable to any previous election, including presidential elections. It is about choosing the path," Pamfilova said at an elections conference in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk, state media reported. "We will stand firm and endure."

The first round of voting will be held on March 17. A second round would take place three weeks later if no candidate claimed 50% of the vote, but Putin discourages serious opposition and routinely wins with ease. In 2018 he claimed 76% of the vote. Russian presidents are constitutionally limited to two terms, but Putin can seek election to a fifth, six-year term under 2020 constitutional amendments that reset the number of terms he has served. Putin, 70, could also run again in 2030.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine war live updates: Russia told to stop using food as a weapon