India issues advisory amid escalation in Ukraine war

The Indian Embassy in Ukraine has issued a statement asking Indian nationals to not to travel to Ukraine. The advisory was issued in view of the increasing hostilities being meted upon the East European country by Russia. 

“In view of the deteriorating security situation & recent escalation of hostilities across Ukraine, Indian nationals are advised against travelling to Ukraine. Indian citizens, including students, in Ukraine advised to leave Ukraine at earliest”, the statement read.

This comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law Wednesday in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed and gave all regional governors in Russia emergency powers that open the door for sweeping new restrictions throughout the country.

Putin didn’t immediately spell out the steps that would be taken under martial law, but said his order was effective starting Thursday. His decree gave law enforcement agencies three days to submit specific proposals and orders the creation of territorial defense forces in the annexed regions.

A Russian missile strike hit a major thermal power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine on Wednesday, the region's governor said, the latest in a wave of attacks on critical infrastructure ahead of winter.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said this week that 30% of Ukrainian power stations had been hit by strikes, met senior officials on Wednesday to discuss security at such facilities and the possibility of a breakdown in the energy system.

The latest salvo hit the coal-fired Burshtyn plant in the region of Ivano-Frankivsk that supplies electricity to three western regions and to 5 million consumers - more than 10% of Ukraine's pre-war population.

People of Ukraine win EU rights award

The European Parliament on Wednesday awarded the annual Sakharov Prize for human rights to the "brave" people of Ukraine for resisting the Russian invasion.

"This award is for those Ukrainians fighting on the ground, for those who have been forced to flee, for those who have lost relatives and friends, for all those who stand up and fight for who and what they believe in," said Parliament president Roberta Metsola.

"I know that the brave people of Ukraine will not give up, and neither will we," she added.

The Ukrainian people are represented "by their president Volodymyr Zelensky, their elected representatives and civil society", the Maltese MEP said.

In the face of Russia's "acts of pure terror" in Ukraine, the choice of the Ukrainian people was achieved by consensus among the European Parliament's political groups, she said.