Russia cyber attack

Marja Heinonen, a Finnish writer and author of several books, has more than three decades' experience as a journalist, editor and researcher. She has also worked in academia and has a doctoral degree in communications. The views expressed here are her own. Read more opinion on CNN. Tampere, Finland (CNN) The topic of whether to join NATO has been debated in my native country of Finland for decades. Or, I should say, it used to be debated, until Russia's invasion of Ukraine helped settle the question for us. After decades of demurring, Finland appears ready to find shelter under NATO's expansive defense umbrella. Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who met with her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson in April, underscored the shift in thinking that many of us here have been feeling. "We have to be prepared for all kinds of actions from Russia," Marin said at a news conference in Stockholm, adding that a decision about joining NATO "will … [Read more...] about Opinion: My country shares an 800-mile border with Russia. The Ukraine invasion has utterly changed how I view NATO

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations appealed to Russia to free up sea export routes for Ukrainian grain and agricultural products critical to feeding the world, as food prices rise and the World Food Program warns of "catastrophic" consequences if Ukrainian ports remain blocked. "We must not be naive. Russia has now expanded the war against Ukraine to many states as a war of grain," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a news conference Saturday after the G-7 meetings. "It is not collateral damage, it is an instrument in a hybrid war that is intended to weaken cohesion against Russia's war." Baerbock, who hosted the three-day gathering of top diplomats in Weissenhaus, Germany, said the group was searching for alternative routes to transport grain out of Ukraine as the threat of a global hunger crisis mounts. Up to 50 million people will face hunger in the coming months unless Ukrainian grain is released, Baerbock said, according to the Associated … [Read more...] about Calls grow for Russia to free up Ukrainian ports for grain exports

By Gianluca Mezzofiore , Katie Polglase and Paul P. Murphy , CNN Updated 0252 GMT (1052 HKT) March 4, 2022 (CNN) Three schools shelled, one of them with a gaping hole on the side of the building. Multiple rockets raining on panicking shoppers outside a supermarket. People walking through a park forced to rush to safety as shells explode around them. These were some of the attacks that residents of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, endured in recent days as Russian forces targeted residential areas, hitting civilian infrastructure such as schools, shops, hospitals, apartment blocks and churches. CNN has geolocated and verified 13 incidents involving civilians over the past three days, as attacks intensified on Kharkiv, a city of about 1.5 million people. following Ukraine's resistance. Most of the attacks took place in the northeastern part of Kharkiv in the residential area of Saltivka. But other districts in the northwest, southeast and southwest of the … [Read more...] about Russia sends a message to all of Ukraine by hitting these civilian areas in this city

Ukraine said the last defenders of Mariupol have completed their mission and are being evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant , where they have been holed up under bombardment for weeks. The apparent surrender of Ukraine's final stronghold in the port city would cede full control of Mariupol to Russia, ending a deadly battle that has come to symbolize the brutality of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war. Here's what to know today: The "Mariupol garrison has fulfilled its combat mission," the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said in a statement . More than 50 of the most severely wounded fighters have already been evacuated from the sprawling steel plant. Russian authorities said they “will interrogate the surrendered militants who were hiding in Mariupol’s Azovstal plant” as part of a bigger investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against civilians. Turkey raises objections to Sweden's and Finland's NATO bids. The countries plan to hand in … [Read more...] about Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Fighters evacuate Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant

How many seconds does it take for a ballistic missile to reach London, Paris or Berlin? That’s the question pundits on Russian state TV were pondering as the war in Ukraine entered its third month. The eerie estimates were accompanied by a graphic showing the trajectories that Moscow’s intercontinental ballistic missiles would take to reach the capitals of European nations that supply Kyiv with the most military aid. All the while, pro-Kremlin host Olga Skabeyeva and the experts on her “60 Minutes” show on the Russia-1 TV channel were nonchalantly joking about how the West should tune in. Just months ago, the graphic, the rhetoric and the seeming casualness of such conversations would have been shocking, even by the standards of Russian propaganda . But with Russia’s military struggling, its rivals emboldened and the neighbor it invaded responding with defiance, NBC News watched dozens of hours of state media coverage to find the Kremlin and its mouthpieces … [Read more...] about Russia’s media propaganda turns to ‘spine-chilling rhetoric’ to intimidate West

(AFP) — Finland on Saturday sought to allay Moscow’s fears about its bid to join NATO, as fierce fighting raged in Ukraine’s east, slowing down a hoped-for Russian advance. Wives and parents of Ukrainian fighters trapped in the bowels of a besieged steel plant in the country’s south meanwhile made a desperate appeal to China to help secure their release. And the G7 vowed to further turn the screw on the Kremlin with fresh sanctions, pledging never to recognise the borders it was attempting to redraw through destructive force. One of Europe’s fiercest conflicts since World War II has seen more than six million people flee for their lives, and according to Kyiv has caused an estimated $90 billion in damage to civilian infrastructure. One senior Ukrainian general predicted a turning point in the months ahead, and that the fighting could be over by the end of the year. In Turin, Italy, a world away from the fighting, Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra is the bookmakers’ favourite to … [Read more...] about Finns Call Putin After Russia Cuts Electricity Supplies Amid NATO Spat