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A Russian airstrike ripped apart a theater where hundreds of people have been living in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a “self-purification” to rid his country of anyone who questions his invasion, Associated Press reported.

The bombardment Wednesday of the theater, which had become a makeshift shelter as combat tore across the port city over the past three weeks and made thousands homeless, left many people buried in the burning rubble, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement. There was no immediate word on how many people were killed or injured. 

At least as recently as Monday, the pavement in front of and behind the once-elegant theater was marked with huge white letters spelling out “CHILDREN” in Russian, according to images released by the Maxar space technology company.

"My heart breaks from what Russia is doing to our people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday night, hours after he delivered a speech via video to the US Congress that garnered several ovations, according to the Associated Press.

The Russian defense ministry denied bombing the theater or anywhere else in Mariupol on Wednesday.

Russian attacks have battered cities and villages across large parts of Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, where residents have been huddling in homes and shelters. Russian troops shelled areas in and around the city on Wednesday, including a residential neighborhood just 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the presidential palace. A 12-story Kyiv apartment building erupted in flames after being hit by shrapnel.

Putin went on television to excoriate Russians who don’t back him, even as both sides expressed optimism over efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting, 

Russians “will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths,” he said. “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country.”

He said the West is using a “fifth column” of traitorous Russians to create civil unrest. 

“And there is only one goal, I have already spoken about it — the destruction of Russia,” he said. 

The speech appeared to be a warning that his authoritarian rule, which had already grown tighter since the invasion began on Feb. 24, shutting down Russian news outlets and arresting protesters, could grow even more repressive, Associated Press reported.

In a sign of that, Russian law enforcement announced the first known criminal cases under a new law that allows for 15-year prison terms for posting what is deemed to be “false information” about the Ukraine war. Among those charged was Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a Russian-language cookbook author and blogger living abroad. 

But is also came amid signs that talks were finally making progress. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after Tuesday’s meeting that a neutral military status for Ukraine was being “seriously discussed” by the two sides, while Zelenskyy said Russia’s demands for ending the war were becoming “more realistic.”

Wednesday’s talks, held by video, appeared to wade more deeply into technicalities. 

Zelenskyy adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said Ukraine demanded a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees for Ukraine from several countries.

“This is possible only through direct dialogue” between Zelenskyy and Putin, he tweeted.

An official in Zelenskyy’s office told The Associated Press that the main subject under discussion was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would be.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said Ukraine was insisting on the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in the negotiations and on a legally binding document with security guarantees for Ukraine. In exchange, the official said, Ukraine was ready to discuss a neutral status, according to the Associated Press.

Russia has demanded that NATO pledge never to admit Ukraine to the alliance or station forces there.

Earlier Wednesday, Zelenskyy went before the US Congress via video and, invoking Pearl Harbor and 9/11, pleaded with America for more weapons and tougher sanctions against Russia, saying: “We need you right now.”

US President Joe Biden announced the US was sending an additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine. He also called Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” in his sharpest condemnation since the invasion began.

Russian forces destroyed a theater in Mariupol where hundreds of people were sheltering Wednesday and rained fire on other cities, Ukrainian authorities said, even as the two sides projected optimism over efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting, Associated Press reported.

The airstrike ripped apart the center of the once-elegant building, where hundreds of civilians had been living since their homes had been destroyed in the fighting, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement. 

Many people were buried in the rubble, the statement said, though there was no immediate word on how many had been killed or injured. Satellite imagery from Monday showed the word “CHILDREN” written in Russian in large, white capital letters on the pavement in front of and behind the building, the Maxar space technology company said.

“My heart breaks from what Russia is doing to our people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address, calling for more sanctions on Russia after the bombing.

The Russian defense ministry denied bombing the theater or anywhere else in Mariupol on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

In Kyiv, residents huddled in homes and shelters during a citywide curfew that was set to run until Thursday morning, as Russian troops shelled areas in and around the city, including a residential neighborhood 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the presidential palace. A 12-story apartment building in central Kyiv erupted in flames after being hit by shrapnel. 

And 10 people were killed while standing in line for bread in the northern city of Chernihiv, the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office said.

Earlier Wednesday, Zelenskyy went before the US Congress via video and, invoking Pearl Harbor and 9/11, pleaded with America for more weapons and tougher sanctions against Russia, saying: “ We need you right now.”

US President Joe Biden announced that the US is sending an additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, including more anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons and drones. He also called Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” in his sharpest condemnation of the Russian leader since the invasion began, Associated Press reported.

International pressure against the Kremlin mounted and its isolation deepened as the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, ordered Russia to stop attacking Ukraine, though there was little hope it would comply. Also, the 47-nation Council of Europe, the continent’s foremost human rights body, expelled Russia.

While Moscow’s ground advance on the Ukrainian capital appeared largely stalled, Putin said during a speech Wednesday that the operation was unfolding “successfully, in strict accordance with pre-approved plans.” He also decried Western sanctions, accusing the West of trying to “squeeze us, to put pressure on us, to turn us into a weak, dependent country.”

And he accused Russians who are sympathetic to the West or have adopted Western lifestyles of being a “so-called fifth column” and “national traitors.”

The anti-Western speech came as Russian law enforcement announced the first known criminal cases under a new that allows for prison terms of up to 15 years for posting what the Kremlin deems is false information about the war. Among those charged was Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a Russian-language cookbook author and popular blogger living abroad, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia resumed talks via video on Wednesday, with Zelenskyy adviser Mikhailo Podolyak saying Ukraine was demanding a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and legal security guarantees for Ukraine from several countries.

“This is possible only through direct dialogue” between Zelenskyy and Putin, he tweeted.

An official in Zelenskyy’s office told The Associated Press that the main subject under discussion was whether Russian troops would remain in the two separatist regions of eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would be.

Just before the war, Russia recognized the independence of two regions controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014 and extended the borders of those regions to areas Ukraine had continued to hold, including the strategically important port city of Mariupol, which has endured a brutal siege.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said Ukraine was insisting on the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in the negotiations and on the signing of a legally binding document with security guarantees for Ukraine. In exchange, the official said, Ukraine was ready to discuss a neutral status.

Russia has demanded that NATO pledge never to admit Ukraine to the alliance or station forces there.

After Tuesday’s negotiations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said a neutral military status for Ukraine was being “seriously discussed” by the two sides, while Zelenskyy said Russia’s demands for ending the war were becoming “more realistic.”

Hopes for diplomatic progress to end the war rose after Zelenskyy acknowledged Tuesday in the most explicit terms yet that Ukraine is unlikely to realize its goal of joining NATO. Putin has long depicted Ukraine’s NATO aspirations as a threat to Russia.

Nine out of 10 Ukrainians could face poverty and extreme economic vulnerability if the war drags on over the next year, wiping out two decades of economic gains, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, said that his agency was working with the Kyiv government to avoid a worst case scenario of the economy collapsing. It aimed to provide cash transfers to families to buy food to survive and keep them from fleeing while propping up basic services.

“If the conflict is a protracted one, if it were to continue, we are going to see poverty rates escalate very significantly,” Steiner told Reuters.

“Clearly the extreme end of the scenario is an implosion of the economy as a whole. And that could ultimately lead to up to 90% of people either being below the poverty line or being at high risk of (poverty),” he said in a video interview from New York.

The poverty line is generally defined as purchasing power of $5.50 to $13 per person per day, he added in a video interview from New York. Before Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, an estimated 2% of Ukrainians lived below the $5.50 line, he said.

Ukraine’s top government economic adviser Oleg Ustenko said last Thursday that invading Russian forces have so far destroyed at least $100 billion worth of infrastructure and that 50% of Ukrainian businesses had shut down completely, according to Reuters.

“We estimate that up to 18 years of development gains of Ukraine could be simply be wiped out in a matter of 12 to 18 months,” Steiner said.

UNDP is looking at “tried and tested” programmes that it has used in other conflict situations, he said.

“Cash transfers programmes particularly in a country such as Ukraine where the financial system and architecture is still functional, where ATMs are available, a critical way in which to reach people quickly is with cash transfers or a temporary basic income,” he said.

The logistical challenges were significant but “not insurmountable”, he said.

“Clearly some of the recent announcements by World Bank and International Monetary Fund in terms of credit lines and funding that is being made available will obviously assist Ukrainian authorities to be able to deploy such a programme,” he said.

The UNDP report said that an emergency cash transfer operation, costing about $250 million per month, would cover partial income losses for 2.6 million people expected to fall into poverty. A more ambitious temporary basic income programme to provide $5.50 per day per person would cost $430 million a month, Reuters reported.

Ukraine’s economy is expected to contract by 10% in 2022 as a result of Russia’s invasion, but the outlook could worsen sharply if the conflict lasts longer, the IMF said in a staff report released on Monday.

The World Bank on Monday approved nearly $200 million in additional and reprogrammed financing to bolster Ukraine’s support of vulnerable people. The funding comes on top of $723 million approved last week and is part of a $3 billion package of support that the World Bank is racing to get to Ukraine and its people in coming weeks, according to Reuters.

In the most recent assembly elections, India’s ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consolidated its hold in five states including in the most populous Uttar Pradesh. This has increased BJP’s prospects of winning national elections for a third consecutive time in 2024. With the exception of Punjab, the BJP also gained in Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand.

This suggests the BJP has wooed the masses with its ‘Hindu nationalist’ agenda. Over the past 70 years, Uttar Pradesh has had 21 chief ministers but none could do what Yogi Adityanath has: return to power for a second time after completing a full five-year term.

Adityanath is emerging as a powerful BJP leader, and a section of the party projects him as a future prime minister. As he leads a populous 204m-strong state that shares a border with Nepal, Nepali politicians and experts are also gauging his victory’s possible implications for Nepal.

Adityanath is a vocal supporter for the reinstatement of Nepal’s Hindu state. Sharat Pradhan and Atul Chandra document his remarks on secularism in Nepal in their recent book, ‘Yogi Adityanath: Religion, Politics, and Power, The Untold Story’. 

“That secularism is not his cup of tea has been expressed quite explicitly by Adityanath in his article penned under the headline, ‘Antar-raashtreey saazishon ke jaal me phansta Himalayee Rashtra Nepal’ (“The Himalayan state of Nepal has been caught in international conspiracies”).

Describing 18 May 2006 as a ‘Black Day’, when the country’s kangaroo parliament passed an ‘unfortunate and unexpected ‘resolution declaring Nepal a secular state, Adityanath blames Maoists, Islamic militants, and Christians for the ‘unconstitutional’ decision,” the article says.

Asmita Bhandari, Acting President, World Hindu Federation International Committee, for her part says Adityanath’s emergence is good news for Nepal. “He has a special relationship with Nepal. He is not only the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh but also the head priest of Gorakhnath temple,” Bhandari says. “He wants to see Nepal as a Hindu state.”

In meetings with Nepali politicians, BJP leaders are becoming more vocal on the Hindu agenda. Dhananjay Tripathi, assistant professor, department of international relations, South Asian University, says the BJP won’t directly support the Hindu-state agenda but some Hindu front organizations could lend their support to their pro-Hindu counterparts in Nepal.

“As Hindu forces become influential in India, they will try to push and prod like-minded forces in Nepal,” says Tripathi. He, however, does not believe the agenda will much influence Nepali voters. “The kind of appeal the BJP has in India is hard to replicate for any of Nepal’s political parties,” he says.

The two countries have distinct domestic politics, Tripathi says. Unlike in India, there are no entrenched religious divisions or polarized debates among Hindus, Muslims and those of other faiths. Over the past couple of decades, communist parties have become dominant in Nepal, adds Tripathi, which also distinguishes the country from India.

Tripathi argues that political debates here are centered more on monarchy, democracy and republic than on religion. In Nepal, there are strong Hindu sentiments in major parties but their top leaderships remain committed to the secular state.

Civil society member Hari Sharma says the BJP’s victory in India could encourage Nepal’s anti-secularists and influence its liberal forces. “Take Nepali Congress. Last September, a Congress delegation under Prakash Sharan Mahat visited India. They did not hold fraternity talks with other political parties there, except with the BJP,” says Sharma. “Instead, after New Delhi, they went straight to Uttar Pradesh and met Yogi Aditayanath.”

He speaks of the need to maintain good rapport with all of India’s important political parties. As Hinduism is a populist agenda, Sharma adds, Nepali parties may be thinking it could increase their votes too. “They may also want to appease Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But appeasing Modi would not serve our national interest,” he says.

In line with what Sharma says, a group in the ruling Nepali Congress, with Central Working Committee member Shankar Bhandari at its lead, is pressing party leadership to stand in favor of the Hindu state.

Bhandari says he takes India’s recent electoral outcomes in a positive light but he thinks the Nepali campaign for Hindu state won’t be much influenced by the BJP.

“We want to declare Nepal a Hindu state as the majority of Nepalis are in its favor. Our politicians have betrayed people by embracing secularism, an agenda pushed by foreign powers,” Bhandari says. He says Nepali parties cannot entirely shun the Hindu agenda; nor can they fully support it.

Inside CPN-UML, the main opposition party, there is no organized group in favor of the Hindu state. But in recent times its Chairman KP Sharma Oli has been trying to appeal to the Hindu constituency. Most recently, Oli renewed his statement about Lord Ram being born in Nepal.

Political analyst Lokraj Baral does not think Oli will achieve much by invoking Ram, as he does not speak based on facts. “But he may nonetheless get some public support for his pro-Hindu line,” Baral says.

The backers of Hindu state are buoyed by India’s recent electoral outcome.

Dhawal Shumsher Rana, General Secretary of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, a pro-Hindu party, says BJP’s victory will have “some but not significant impact on Nepal. Till date, our party has had no formal collaboration with the BJP. But we also can’t rule it out,” he says. 

Baral says BJP’s emergence in India has not brought a significant Hindu wave in Nepal. Even though Nepali politics is tough to predict, “it is hard to believe that the BJP wave in India will significantly affect Nepal. It has been nearly a decade since the BJP came to power in India and Hindutwa’s impact on Nepal has been minimal.”

Asmita Bhandari says big political parties can learn from India that the Hindu religion as a political issue has some appeal. “You may now find that our major parties are ready to take up the Hindu state agenda,” she says.