RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR UPDATE: Russia's state communications watchdog has ordered to completely block access to Facebook in Russia amid the tensions over the war in Ukraine.
The agency, Roskomnadzor, said Friday it decided to cut access to Facebook over its alleged"discrimination" of the Russian media and state information resources. It said the restrictions introduced by Facebook owner Meta on the RT and other state-controlled media violate the Russian law.
In a statement after talks in Brussels on Friday, the G7 ministers said they are"deeply concerned with the catastrophic humanitarian toll taken by Russia's continuing strikes against the civilian population of Ukraine's cities." Tim Davie, director-general of the British broadcaster, said the legislation"appears to criminalize the process of independent journalism." He said the corporation was halting newsgathering work by its journalists and support staff in Russia"while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development."
The official assessed that Ukrainian forces remain in control of much of the country's territory but that Russia holds the cities of Kherson, Melitopol and Berdiansk in the south. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 following the ouster of the country's former Moscow-friendly leaders and cast its support behind the rebels in eastern Ukraine.
The mayor of Enerhodar said Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the city's outskirts. Video showed flames and black smoke rising above the city of more than 50,000, with people streaming past wrecked cars, just a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency expressed grave concern that the fighting could cause accidental damage to Ukraine's 15 nuclear reactors.
"These individuals and their family members will be cut off from the U.S. financial system; their assets in the United States will be frozen and their property will be blocked from use," the White House said in a statement announcing the new penalties.
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