Russia-Ukraine war live updates: ‘Powerful blows’ dealt to Russia as Kyiv gets new curfew

The White House has been forced to deny Joe Biden has called for regime change in Russia after a major speech in Poland.

The White House has been forced to deny Joe Biden has called for regime change in Russia, after the US President labelled Vladimir Putin a “butcher” and said he “cannot remain in power.”

Mr Biden made the claim in a major speech from Poland, in which he insisted Ukraine would have a brighter future. He finished the address by saying of the Russian president: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”

US President Joe Biden delivers a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. Picture: Omar Marques/Getty Images

Minutes after the speech, a White House official said: “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region.”

“He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”

Responding to the comment, Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, told CNN: “This not to be decided by Mr Biden. It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation.”

FRESH CURFEW ON KYIV

A fresh curfew will be imposed on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from Saturday evening until Monday morning, mayor Vitali Klitschko announced.

“The military command decided to reinforce the curfew. It will start from 8pm Saturday and last until 7am on Monday,” he said on Telegram.

It comes as US President Joe Biden on Saturday prepared to meet in Warsaw with two Ukrainian ministers in the first face-to-face meeting between the US president and top Kyiv officials since Russia’s invasion began.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov will be making a rare trip out of Ukraine in a possible sign of growing confidence in the fightback against Russian forces.

The White House said Biden would “drop by” a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with Kuleba and Reznikov in the Polish capital.

A fuel storage facility burns after Russian attacks in the city of Kalynivka. Picture: AFP

Biden last met Kuleba in Washington on February 22 — two days before Russia began its assault.

Since then, Kuleba has also met with Blinken in Poland next to the border with Ukraine on March 5.

Biden is on the second and final day of a visit to Poland after he met with EU and NATO leaders in Brussels earlier in the week.

A couple walk in front of houses destroyed by shelling in Kharkiv. Picture: AFP

On Friday, he met with US soldiers stationed in Poland near the Ukrainian border and with aid workers helping refugees fleeing the conflict.

He praised Ukrainians for showing “backbone” against the Russian invasion and compared their resistance to the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in China in 1989.

“This is Tiananmen Square squared,” he said.

He also referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal”.

A Ukrainian firefighter stands next to flames rising from a fire following artillery fire on the 30th day on the invasion of the Ukraine by Russian forces in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Picture: AFP

SEVEN RUSSIAN GENERALS KILLED

Seven Russian generals have so far been killed, and another who had been sacked, during the war in Ukraine.

The latest to die, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, was a commander of Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army in its southern military district, an official disclosed.

Meanwhile, Russian Army Commander General Vlaislav Yershov, of the 6th Combined Arms Army, was identified as the general sacked earlier this week by the Kremlin.

It has been reported his abrupt dismissal was due to the heavy losses and strategic failures seen during the Russian military’s month-long invasion of its neighbour.

Among the others said to have been killed is General Magomed Tushaev, of the Chechen Special Forces deployed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

(L-R) Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the General Staff, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov and Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre. Picture: AFP

The number of both rank-and-file Russian troops and senior officers allegedly killed in the month-long war has shocked Western military and security officials.

It has been blamed in part on communications and logistics issues, leading senior officers to use unencrypted channels which has exposed them to Ukrainian forces.

The Kremlin claimed Friday that just over 1,300 military personnel have died in the war, but estimates of four or five times that number are seen as credible in Western capitals.

Officials there believe around 20 of the 115-120 battalion tactical groups deployed by Moscow in Ukraine are “no longer combat effective” due to the losses sustained.

“After a month of operations to have somewhere in the region of perhaps a sixth … of the forces being no longer combat effective — that’s a pretty remarkable set of statistics,” the Western official said.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov attends a briefing on Russian military action in Ukraine, in Moscow. Picture: AFP

He also claimed the commander of Russia’s 37th Motor Rifle Brigade had been killed by his own troops, “as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade”.

“We believe he was killed by his own troops deliberately,” the official said, noting he was “run over”.

He added it was a further sign of “morale challenges that Russian forces are having”.

“They really have found themselves in a hornet’s nest and they’re suffering really badly,” the official said.

‘DEALT POWERFUL BLOWS’: ZELENSKYY CALLS FOR TALKS

Russia’s “bragging” about its nuclear weapons is fuelling a dangerous arms race, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Doha Forum on Saturday.

Zelenskyy said his country’s forces had “dealt powerful blows” to Russian troops, adding that their success in repelling attacks was leading the Russian leadership “to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary.”

An elderly man walks as fire engulfs a gas station following an artillery attack on the 30th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Picture: AFP

He also called on Qatar, which organises the annual meeting of international political and business leaders, to increase production of natural gas to counter Russian efforts to use energy as a weapon.

“They are bragging that they can destroy with nuclear weapons not only a certain country but the entire planet,” Zelensky said in a live video message to the forum on the 31st day of the Russian military assault against his country.

When Ukraine dismantled its nuclear stockpile in the 1990s it was given “security assurances from the most powerful countries in the world”, including Russia, he said in comments translated into English for the conference.

A man carries out a fragment of cluster rocket exploded at a clinic building after the Russian attack on the 30th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Picture: AFP

“But these assurances did not become guarantees. And in fact, one of the countries supposed to give one of the greatest security promise started to work against Ukraine and this is the ultimate manifestation of injustice,” Zelensky added.

Zelenskyy also called on Qatar, one of the world’s top three producers of natural gas, to increase production because of the conflict.

“The future of Europe rests with your efforts,” he told the audience that included the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

“It depends on your output. I ask you to increase output of energy to ensure that everyone in Russia understands that no country can use energy as a weapon.” European nations have vowed to wean themselves off Russian oil and gas and have already turned to Qatar for alternative supplies.

Germany has committed to build two huge terminals to receive liquefied gas from Qatar, the Gulf state said last week after a visit by German ministers.