Moscow, Sep 5: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv, the Kremlin said Saturday, as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to try to revive a stalled push to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,” presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Tass news agency. He said the decision was tied to preparations for Witkoff and Kushner’s planned visit to the Ukrainian capital, which Kyiv has said will take place on Sunday.

The envoys’ trip comes as both sides escalate aerial attacks, some 4.5-years after the Kremlin’s invasion of its neighbour. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine would halt airstrikes during the envoys’ visit and urged Moscow to do the same.

Washington’s push to end the fighting, now in its fifth year, has lost momentum as US attention has been focused for the last six months on its war with Iran. The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was in January, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They have never previously visited Kyiv.

The envoys were met at the airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Tass reported. Dmitriev shared photos of him meeting the US delegation as they disembarked, alongside the caption, “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers.”

With peace efforts stalled, Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv and other cities with relentless bombardments recently stretching into daylight hours, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of air defensive systems.

On Friday, a Russian drone hit one of the most important government buildings in Kyiv — the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, which is one of the agencies involved in carrying out deep-strike operations inside Russia.

The long-range strikes by Ukraine have hit Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs, seeking to undermine the Kremlin’s war effort and economy, as well as make ordinary citizens feel the consequences of the war.

Zelenskyy links Russian strikes to envoys’ visit

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometre front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv.

In a social media post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that Russia had carried out overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports, and linked the attack to the planned US visit.

“Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” he said.

“We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side.”

Strikes kill 5 at Ukrainian industrial site

Russian attacks killed five people and wounded five more at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said. He described those killed as employees at the site. “A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives,” he said.

A 62-year-old man was wounded and several homes and an apartment building were damaged in a separate attack on the region’s Nikopol district, Hanzha said.

In a statement Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.”

A further two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. In the Boryspil district, a fire sparked by a strike partially destroyed a nine-story residential building.

Russian forces also repeatedly struck a shopping centre in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were hurt.

Emergency crews responding to the incident were repeatedly forced to withdraw to safety because of the threat of further strikes, returning whenever conditions allowed, the emergency services said.

Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. The drones included Shahed-type aircraft — around half of them jet-powered — as well as Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defences shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the air force.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, local officials said.

In a statement, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.

United Nations, Sep 05: India has voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution aimed at correcting the world map to promote a “more accurate representation” of continental landmasses.

The 193-member UN General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted the resolution ‘“Correct the map”: rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world’s regions, particularly Africa’.

The resolution was sponsored by Togo, receiving 164 votes in favour, with abstentions from Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine, and a lone vote against from the United States.

The resolution noted that the Mercator projection, designed in the 16th century for navigational purposes, remains widely used in educational, media, digital and official materials, despite the considerable distortion of landmasses to the North and South, far from the equator.

The resolution also noted with “concern” that “this distortion contributes to minimising the perceived sizes of Africa, Latin America and South Asia, and perpetuating an unbalanced view of the world.”

In an explanation of the vote in the General Assembly, First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Raghoo Puri, said India “welcomes” the intention behind the resolution to promote more accurate and representative cartographic practices.

“We believe that maps play an important role in how societies understand geography and the relative scale of the world around us,” he said.

However, India clarified its understanding of the scope of this resolution, saying, “We believe that the resolution should be understood as supporting the broader use and consideration of Equal Area map projections, and not as endorsing the Equal Earth projection or any other specific map projection.”

New Delhi, Sep 04: Three more Indian nationals, among them a five-year-old child, have been rescued from the flood-hit Trishuli Bazaar area of Nepal, bringing the total count of Indian evacuees to 169, while 275 nationals remain missing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday.

Sharing broader updates on the safety of Indian nationals, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal noted that 1,907 Indians have safely crossed over to Nepal from China.

The three Indian nationals rescued from the Trishuli Bazaar area since Friday have been identified as Abhijit Suresh Pawar, Dipika Abhijit Pawar, and five-year-old Samarth Abhijit Pawar, Jaiswal said, adding that the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu is facilitating their return flight home.

The spokesperson said India has supplied around 95 tonnes of relief material to Nepal since the flash floods hit the country on August 26.

The death toll from the floods has risen to at least 1,295 after rescue workers recovered more bodies from affected areas, according to Nepalese authorities.

While emergency teams have rescued more than 12,000 people, roughly 5,000 remain missing as search and rescue operations continue.

“As per our information, 275 Indian nationals remain missing. We continue to be in close touch with the Nepali government,” Jaiswal said at his regular media briefing.

“We deeply appreciate the efforts of the Nepalese authorities in this regard.”

Jaiswal said 169 Indian nationals have been rescued and 1,907 Indians have safely crossed into Nepal from China.

“As per official sources in China, there are no Indian travellers who are stranded in the Tibetan Autonomous Region in China,” Jaiswal noted.

The MEA spokesperson said India will continue to provide assistance to Nepal as per the requirements of the government in that country.

“We do plan to send more forensic kits, Bailey bridges and other materials that are requested by the government of Nepal,” he said.

Jaiswal said India has supplied around 95 tonnes of relief material on seven aircraft to Nepal till now.

“In addition to the relief material, we have also sent 54 personnel to support relief and rescue efforts in Nepal. This comprises 30 tunnel rescue experts, 19 forensic experts, and a five-member medical team. Our rescue and forensic teams are deployed on the ground, and they are working closely with the Nepalese authorities,” he said.

The first tranche of relief materials was sent by India hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Nepalese counterpart Balendra Shah on August 26, the day the flash floods struck the Himalayan nation.

Modi had assured Shah of all possible humanitarian assistance to deal with the situation.

The floods have damaged 35 motorable bridges, 45 suspension bridges, and 40 km of black-topped roads, mainly in central Nepal, according to local authorities.

Jaiswal said India responded promptly to the flash floods in Nepal and will continue to support the reconstruction and recovery efforts in the country.

To a question on climate change in the context of the Nepal floods, Jaiswal said India has consistently maintained that it is a common challenge, and action in this regard must be based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

“Developed countries who historically are responsible for the emissions and have contributed overwhelmingly to this crisis, must take lead in reducing emissions and supporting developing countries by way of finance and technology transfer to meet this challenge,” he added.