One of Europe's biggest steel works damaged in Ukraine's Mariupol

 Azovstal is part of the Metinvest group, which is controlled by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov

One of Europe’s biggest iron and steel works, Azovstal, has been badly damaged as Russian forces lay siege to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, officials said Sunday. “One of the biggest metallurgic plants in #Europe destroyed. The economic losses for #Ukraine are huge. The environment is devastated,” tweeted Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko. Vasylenko posted a video of explosions on an industrial site, with thick columns of grey and black smoke rising from the buildings. One of her colleagues, wrote on Facebook that Russian forces “had practically destroyed the factory”.

“We will return to the city, rebuild the enterprise and revive it,” Azovstal’s director general Enver Tskitishvili wrote on messaging app Telegram, without specifying the extent of the damage. He said that when the invasion began on February 24, the factory had taken measures to reduce the environmental damage in the event of being hit. Azovstal is part of the Metinvest group, which is controlled by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.

Zelenskyy voices hope, says he's open for talks with Putin in Israel

 Bennett, acting at Ukraine’s behest, held a three-hour Kremlin meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Saturday

Ukraine voiced hope for positive results from Israel’s bid to broker peace with Russia, denying a media report that suggested Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had tried to nudge Kyiv into caving to Moscow’s demands. Bennett, acting at Ukraine’s behest, held a three-hour Kremlin meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Saturday. He has since spoken twice with Putin by phone and four times with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (pictured), officials say.

“I believe (Bennett) can play an important role, because Israel is a country with a lot of history and parallels, as well as having a large migration of Jews from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus,” Zelenskyy said. Earlier on Saturday, a top Ukrainian adviser denied a report that had suggested that Bennett had urged Ukraine to give in.

What is Vande Bharat mission?

 Last week, an Air India plane, under the Vande Bharat Mission, evacuated 240 Indians before the Ukrainian airspace was shut for air traffic. Here’s what you should know about Vande Bharat Mission

On February 18th, Air India announced that it would operate three flights between India and Ukraine on 22nd, 24th and 26th under the Vande Bharat Mission to help Indian citizens fly back home. The second special Air India flight turned back mid-air in the morning hours of February 24 after Ukraine closed its airspace due to Russian invasion. While the government is devising alternate plans to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine, let us take a look at the Vande Bharat Mission.

Immediately after the outbreak of Coronavirus in 2020, India’s aviation regulator, The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), had suspended all commercial international flights in March of that year. This restriction has been extended till February 28, 2022. Most of the other countries had also suspended the flights to check the disease. However, a large number of requests were received from Indian nationals abroad for repatriation. In response, the government had commenced operation under the Vande Bharat Mission on May 7, 2020 to facilitate return of stranded Indian nationals abroad in a phased manner.