Portal:Current events/2022 March 2

March 2, 2022 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russo-Ukrainian War
- 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - Kyiv offensive
    - Battle of Kyiv
      - The Ukrainian Air Force says that it has destroyed two Russian warplanes in a dogfight over Kyiv. A Ukrainian MiG-29 is also shot down during the air battle. (Sky News)
  - Kherson offensive
    - Battle of Kherson
      - Russian Ground Forces say that they have captured the Black Sea port of Kherson. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense denies this claim, stating that the battle is ongoing. (CNN)
      - The mayor of Kherson says that the city has fallen to the invading Russian forces. (The New York Times)
    - Siege of Mariupol
      - The mayor of Mariupol reports mass casualties and a water outage from "non-stop" Russian bombardments. (Reuters)
  - Horlivka offensive
    - Ukrainian forces begin an offensive towards Horlivka. (Ukrinform)
  - Siege of Chernihiv
    - Two Kalibr cruise missiles strike a hospital in Chernihiv after Russian troops were forced to retreat. (TIME) (CBC)
  - Battle of Kharkiv
    - Russian forces launch airstrikes on Kharkiv National University and a local police department. (CNN)
  - Siege of Enerhodar
    - Russia says that its troops have captured the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that Russia had communicated that the plant was under their control and that personnel at the plant were continuing to perform their normal duties. (The Drive)
  - A missile strikes the Bangladeshi-flagged cargo ship Banglar Samriddhi docked at the Port of Olvia in Mykolaiv Oblast, killing a Bangladeshi engineer. (The Daily Star)
  - An emergency special session of the UN General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for Russia to end the invasion. (The Washington Post) (The Guardian)
  - In an unprecedented move, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) suspends all judicial proceedings against Ukraine pending before the ECHR. (Europeiska Pravda)
  - The Ukrainian Armed Forces say that Ukraine has retaken the city of Makariv from Russia. (Jerusalem Post) (Ukrinform)
Papua conflict
- Telkomsel shooting
  - Members of the Free Papua Movement gun down eight people at a Telkomsel telecommunications tower in Puncak Regency, West Papua. (U.S. News & World Report)
Anglophone crisis
- Anglophone rebels bomb a car in the Ekondo-Titi commune of Southwest Cameroon, killing seven people, including the mayor and a lieutenant. (VOA)

Business and economy

2022 Russian financial crisis
- The European Union removes seven Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system, including VTB Bank, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Rossiya Bank, Sovcombank and VEB.RF. (Reuters)
- Russian stocks endure a total wipeout in value on the London stock exchange, losing $570 billion in two weeks, with many Russian companies' stocks worth pennies. Entities such as Gazprom and Lukoil have lost almost all of their value. Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, had a market cap of $102 billion six months ago but the value of outstanding shares is currently less than $190 million. (Bloomberg) (Barron's)
- The World Bank suspends all programs in Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine. (Le Temps)

Disasters and accidents

A Romanian Air Force MiG-21 from the 86th Air Base, which was carrying out an air patrol mission over Dobruja, vanishes from radar, and an IAR 330 rescue helicopter sent on a search and rescue mission also disappears. A Defence Ministry spokesman later confirms that the helicopter crashed near Gura Dobrogei, killing all seven crew members on board. The fate of the MiG-21 and its pilot is still unknown. (Reuters)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
    - Hong Kong reports a record 55,353 new COVID-19 cases and 160 deaths in the past 24 hours. (RTHK)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    - South Korea surpasses 200,000 daily cases from COVID-19 for the first time after reporting a record 219,241 new cases. (Yonhap News Agency)
    - South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum tests positive for COVID-19. (Korea Herald)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    - Spain surpasses 100,000 deaths from COVID-19. (ABC.es)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
    - Turkey eases the majority of its COVID-19-related restrictions including easing of mask mandate indoors and outdoors and no longer asking contact tracing when entering public places two years after the first COVID-19 cases in the country. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
  - COVID-19 vaccination in Australia
    - The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommends the usage of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose. (Sky News Australia)
- COVID-19 vaccine
  - A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the booster shot of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine restores protection against the Omicron variant. (NBC News)
- COVID-19 drug development
  - A World Health Organization (WHO) panel of International experts recommends the use of Merck & Co.'s COVID-19 antiviral pill Molnupiravir for high-risk patients. (Bloomberg)

International relations

Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, International reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia–Ukraine relations
  - Ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, scheduled to take place today, are postponed. (TASS)
  - The Russian delegation arrives in Belarus for a second round of talks expected to occur on Thursday morning. (CNN) (News.am)
- Russia–Turkey relations
  - Turkey says that the Russian Navy has cancelled the transit of four of its warships through the Bosporus strait upon request after Turkey triggered the wartime clause of the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits, which allows Turkey to close the Bosporus strait and the Dardanelles to foreign warships. (Reuters)
- Russia–European Union relations
  - The European Union will suspend deliveries of euro banknotes to Russia beginning on March 12, with exemptions for private persons and their family members in Russia as well as diplomatic missions with legal immunity. (TASS)
- Russia–United States relations
  - Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby announces that the U.S. will postpone a Minuteman III ICBM missile test in an effort to de-escalate tensions between Russia and Ukraine. (Reuters)
- Germany–Russia relations
  - Germany seizes Alisher Usmanov's superyacht Dilbar in Hamburg after the Russian oligarch was sanctioned by the EU on Monday. (Forbes)
- China–Russia relations
  - A Western intelligence report indicates that China had some level of knowledge about the Russian invasion of Ukraine as it requested Russian officials not to invade during the 2022 Olympic Games. China disputes the accuracy of the reports, saying they are a way to shift blame on the country and smear it. (The New York Times)
Nuclear program of Iran
- During a meeting in Israel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says that a new agreement to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action "cannot be postponed any longer". However, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calls the agreement "unacceptable" as he indicated that Iran would be allowed to install centrifuges on a large scale. (Times of Israel)

Law and crime

Protests against responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests in New Zealand
  - Anti-lockdown rioters clash with police at the New Zealand Parliament Buildings in Wellington. A fire breaks out, destroying a children's playground. Several police officers are injured and 38 protesters are arrested. (The Guardian) (Stuff)
Russo-Ukrainian War
- Protests against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny calls for more anti-war protests in Russia and across the world, as well as protests against President Vladimir Putin. (The Hill)
- The International Criminal Court announces that they have opened a criminal investigation into war crimes that have been committed in Ukraine since 2013, including during the invasion. (Business Insider)
2021–2022 Myanmar insurgency
- The Myanmar military junta pardons several celebrities who spoke out against the military coup including Lu Min, Wyne, Pyay Ti Oo, Eaindra Kyaw Zin and Paing Takhon. (ABC News)
Hundreds of women protest in the Nigerian capital of Abuja after the National Assembly rejected a series of amendments to the Constitution that would have expanded women's rights and autonomy. The proposed amendments included reserving 35% of all legislative seats and political party leadership positions for women, conferred citizenship to foreign husbands of Nigerian women, and allowing women to inherit the ancestry of their husband after five years of marriage. (Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

Censorship of Wikipedia, Media freedom in Russia
- Russia's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, threatens to block the Russian Wikipedia for hosting an article on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which the regulator alleges to be factually inaccurate. The same concerns the Russian edition of US-sponsored Voice of America (VOA); Current Time TV (a joint publication of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA) is already reported to be blocked in the country. (Reuters) (Axios)
OneWeb satellite constellation
- Russian space agency Roscosmos says that it will not launch 36 OneWeb satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday, unless OneWeb provides "legally binding guarantees" that the satellites will not be used for military purposes by the United Kingdom. (BBC News)

Sports

2022 Winter Paralympics
- The International Paralympic Committee bans Russia and Belarus from competing in the upcoming Winter Paralympics in Beijing after initially announcing they would compete despite the invasion of Ukraine, taking part as "neutral countries". (The Independent) (Axios)