Narendra Modi’s government today secured backing of the opposition after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the parliamentary consultative committee of his ministry on India’s neutral stance on Russia-Ukraine conflict and the evacuation of Indians from the war-hit nation.

The government is giving utmost importance to ensure the safety of the stranded Bangladeshi crew members of Banglar Samriddhi in Ukraine, said State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury today.

Russia has expressed condolences to the family of Bangladeshi sailor Hadisur Rahman, who was killed in a “missile attack” on board Banglar Samriddhi anchored at the Olvia port in Ukraine.

Bangladesh abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly resolution that reprimanded Russia for invading Ukraine and demanded that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces.

Crew of Banglar Samriddhi has called for help after the ship came under a missile attack at a port in Ukraine yesterday. One Bangladeshi sailor dead in the attack.

Family members of Hadisur Rahman – a sailor of Bangladeshi flagged vessel Banglar Samriddhi who was killed after a missile hit the ship last night – have urged the government to bring his body back to Bangladesh.

Russian troops were in the centre of the Ukrainian port of Kherson on Thursday after a day of conflicting claims over whether Moscow had captured a major urban centre for the first time in its eight-day invasion.

The UN refugee agency said today that 1 million people have now fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion less than a week ago, an exodus without precedent in this century for its speed.

Senior Chinese officials told senior Russian officials in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, The New York Times reported, quoting Biden administration officials and a European official who cited a Western intelligence report.

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to reprimand Russia for invading Ukraine and demanded that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces, an action that aims to diplomatically isolate Russia at the world body.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone and the two leaders reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck and their safe evacuation.

A sailor of the Bangladeshi flagged vessel Banglar Samriddhi, that remained stranded at a Ukrainian port, was killed after a missile attack on the bridge of the ship last night.

KHARKIV FIGHTING

Russia is aiming to erase Ukraine, its history and people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video yesterday as the seventh day of Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour started with heavy shelling of the Black Sea port of Mariupol.

Russian forces said they had captured a port on the Black Sea yesterday as Russian and Ukrainian troops battled for another city and US President Joe Biden vowed to make his Russian counterpart “pay a price” for the invasion.

Right after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, Bangladeshi medical student Fabiha Binte Mahbub was bunkered up in an underground subway station in the city of Kharkiv.

A Bangladeshi sailor was killed after the vessel Banglar Samriddhi, which remains stranded at a port in Ukraine, came under a “missile” attack yesterday.

The Ukrainian special forces commander inspected the remains of a bridge his teams had blown up at the gates of Kyiv and explained his strategy for fighting Russian “saboteurs”.

Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday that 498 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine and another 1,597 had been wounded since the beginning of Moscow's military operation there, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

Ukraine hopes for positive signals on its bid to join the European Union, the president and foreign minister of the former Soviet republic said on the seventh day of war waged on them by Russia.