Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 28.02.22:

Russia and Ukraine met for their first talks in Belarus on Monday as diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions on Russia deepened four days after tensions escalated in Ukraine.

The talks should have been held over the weekend and the Russian delegation even arrived in Belarus. However, they had been suspended as Ukraine had been changing the venue of the talks announcing the impossibility of negotiating with Russia on the territory of Belarus due to its participation in Russian military operations. Ukraine also said that at the last moment, Russian negotiators demanded that the Ukrainian army lay down its arms first. Russia denied these statements.

However, after talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, Ukraine had agreed to talks on the border with Belarus in the Gomel region on the bank of the Pripyat River.

The Ukrainian delegation arrived in a military helicopter to the negotiating venue just two hours before the talks began, BelTA reported.

The Russian delegation is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, advisor to the Russian president. It also includes deputy heads of the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry Andrey Rudenko.

The Ukrainian side is mainly represented by Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, advisor to the head of the presidential office Mykhailo Podoliyak, MP Rustem Umerov and Deputy FM Mykola Tochytskyi.

  • The Russian military said Sunday that some of its troops were killed and some were wounded in Ukraine — admitting for the first time that it had suffered casualties since the Russian invasion.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday “there are dead and wounded among our comrades,” without offering any numbers, but adding that Russia’s losses were “many times” fewer than those of Ukraine’s forces.

It was the first time Russian military officials mentioned casualties on their side without giving a number. Ukraine has claimed that its forces killed 3,500 Russian troops.

Konashenkov also said that since the start of the attack Thursday, the Russian military has hit over 1,000 Ukrainian military facilities, including 27 command posts and communication centers, 38 air defense missile systems and 56 radar stations.

However, Russian losses are pretty much fewer than the Ukrainian ones.

Ukraine’s health ministry said 352 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed since Thursday. It also said 1,684 people, including 116 children, have been wounded. Russia says they target only military infrastructure and it is the Ukrainian nationalists that target the peaceful settlements as part of theri provocative actions.

The war in Ukraine intensified on Sunday, as Russian troops entered the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.

The head of the Kharkiv regional administration of Ukraine, Oleg Sinegubov, confirmed the news on his Facebook.

In the south, Russians reported capturing the port city of Berdiansk with troops and armored vehicles shown rolling through the center, and were closing in on the city of Mariupol which was in danger of becoming surrounded - though remained under Ukrainian control as of the early hours.

Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv early on Sunday as well.

On Monday, Igor Konashenkov also said that Russian fighter jets dominate the entire airspace of Ukraine.

Speaking on Monday morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Ukraine to be 'immediately' admitted to the EU.

According to the instructions, ambulances, fire trucks and other humanitarian vehicles refuel free of charge at SOCAR gas stations in Ukrainian cities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev promised to help the country with oil products.

The Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in turn, said that Russia's military operation in Ukraine had turned into a war, and therefore Turkey will have to implement the Montreux Convention regarding the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, closing them to the warships of all warring parties.

The European Union's (EU) member states also closed their airspace to Russian airlines.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had to cancel his visit to Geneva for the session of the UN Human Rights Council, because of the European Union's.

Meanwhile, Russia said they also took retaliatory measures to the decision of European countries.

In a joint statement on Saturday, the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the European Commission said they would prevent the Russian central bank from using its international reserves to undermine broader sanctions.

Russian president’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is indifferent to personal sanctions as he has no assets abroad.

Some restrictions have been imposed on the operations of social networks in Russia, including META company which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

The head of Facebook's cybersecurity department, Nathaniel Gleicher, said Facebook prohibits Russian state-owned media from advertising and monetizing.

Some Russian bank customers had been cut off from Apple Pay and Google Pay.

At the request of Ukraine, the company has also restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organizations.

META Vice President Nick Clegg, in turn, added that the Ukrainians have also suggested that we remove access to Facebook and Instagram in Russia.

“However, people in Russia are using FB and IG to protest and organize against the war and as a source of independent information,” he tweeted.

President Vladimir Putin was due to hold crisis talks with his top advisers after the ruble crashed to a record low against the US dollar and the Russian central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20%.

Economists warned that the Russian economy could shrink by 5%.

The ruble lost about 20% of its value to trade at 100 to the dollar after earlier plummeting as much as 40%.

The leaders of both countries touched upon the issues on the agenda of the visit today during a telephone conversation, the press service of the apparatus of the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of the republic reports.

Putin and Pashinyan discussed issues related to the activities of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

The sides also exchanged views on the implementation of the tripartite statements of November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021, signed by the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders.