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U.N. Security Council schedules emergency meeting on Russia
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday night at the request of Ukraine. The open meeting, scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. ET, was requested by Ukraine earlier Wednesday.
“Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the appeal by Russian occupation administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia with a request to provide them with military assistance, which is a further escalation of the security situation,” tweeted Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The meeting comes hours after rebel leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk, two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide military assistance to defend against Ukrainian "aggression" — a request that Kyiv has warned could become a pretext for a Russian invasion.
The council held an emergency meeting on Monday that was also requested by Ukraine. The 15-member council did not show any support for Putin’s declaration of independence for the two breakaway regions, according to The Associated Press.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine doesn't pose a threat to Russia, makes emotional plea
In an emotional speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a plea to prevent a Russian invasion that he warned could cause tens of thousands of deaths.
Zelenskyy made the comments in a video address early Thursday local time. Initially, his address was in Ukrainian. Zelensky spoke about the decisions made in Ukraine and in the international arena to support the country's defense capabilities. Then he switched to speaking in Russian.
Addressing the Russian public, the president stressed that Ukraine "in your news" and Ukraine in reality are two completely different countries. He stressed that Ukrainians are not "Nazis" and do not "hate Russian culture."
"We are different, but this is no reason to be enemies. We want to define and build our own history. Peaceful, calm, honest," Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said he tried to call Putin late Wednesday but the Russian leader ignored the call. He said that Russia does not want to negotiate with Ukraine.
"The truth is that we need to stop before it's too late," he said. "And if the Russian leadership does not want to sit at the table with us for the sake of peace, perhaps it will sit at the table with you. Do Russians want war? I would very much like to answer this question, but the answer depends on you, the citizens of the Russian Federation."
Top E.U. official urges Russia not to escalate after breakaway regions ask for help
A top European Union official urged Russia against further escalation on Wednesday after leaders in the Moscow-backed breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk asked for Russian military assistance.
In a tweet, Josep Borrell, the European Union's High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said any escalatory measures would be a "dangerous step" against Ukraine's sovereignty and would put thousands of lives at risk.
Kyiv's mayor announces new restrictions as state of emergency begins
The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has posted information about upcoming restrictions as the city braces for a 30-day state of emergency that began at midnight local time.
Klitschko posted information on Wednesday regarding curfews and a new regime of exit and entry, along with the movement of vehicles.
The mayor also laid out increased security measures and "special control" at city stations and airports.
Ukraine requests meeting of U.N. Security Council as Russia threat increases
Ukraine has requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council after the rebel leaders of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide military assistance.
The move is a "further escalation of the security situation," said Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, in a tweet Wednesday.
Rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine have asked Russia for military help, Kremlin says
Rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine have asked Russia for military help in fending off Ukrainian "aggression," Russian state media said, citing a Kremlin spokesman.
The leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk, two Moscow-backed breakaway regions, appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin "to provide assistance in repulsing the aggression" from Ukrainian military, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The Ukrainian military warned earlier this week that Russian-backed mercenaries had been sent to the area to stage “provocations” as a possible pretext for invasion.
On Monday, Putin ordered troops into the two regions just hours after he formally recognized their independence. The Biden administration has described the troop movement as “an invasion."
'Wiper' software found on Ukrainian computers, cybersecurity company says
Hackers have installed malicious "wiper" software on hundreds of computers in Ukraine, the cybersecurity company ESET announced Wednesday.
Some code from Wednesday's wiper attacks was dated Dec. 28, indicating that it was written almost two months ago, ESET said. The software is designed infect computer systems and delete all files.
It's unclear how many computers if any had been wiped. Some Ukrainian government websites were briefly slowed or knocked offline Wednesday by what officials said was a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS), which can overwhelm targets with web traffic. That attack seems to have had only a minor impact. It was not immediately clear if the two attacks were designed to compliment each other.
Ukraine's Cyber Police announced Wednesday that the country has seen an escalation of cyberattacks on its infrastructure, and that Russia was responsible for the DDoS.
Some Ukrainian government computers were also infected with wiper attacks in January, Microsoft announced at the time. Ukraine and the United States later said that Russia was responsible for that cyberattack.