70 Ukrainian soldiers killed after Russian artillery hits military base

More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the head of the region wrote on Telegram.

Dmytro Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-story building and rescuers searching rubble. In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also were killed during the fighting on Sunday. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

___ New York—Three major Hollywood studios have moved to pause their upcoming theatrical releases in Russia, including rolling out “The Batman” in theaters there this week.

Warner Bros., the Walt Disney Co. and Sony Pictures s aid Monday that they would “pause” the release of their films in Russia. Each studio has significant upcoming releases that had been set to debut internationally in the coming weeks. “The Batman,” one of the year's more anticipated films, launches Friday in North America and many overseas territories.

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Warner Bros.' move closely followed a similar decision Monday by the Walt Disney Co. The studio had planned to open the Pixar film “Turning Red” in Russia on March 10. That film is going straight to Disney+ in the U.S.

Sony followed suit, saying it would delay its release of the comic book film “Morbius” in Russia.

Russia is not a leading market for Hollywood, but the country typically ranks in the top dozen countries globally in box office.

___ Canberra—Australia will provide Ukraine with $50 million in missiles, ammunition and other military hardware to fight Russian invaders.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday elaborated on his country's plans after revealing a day earlier that his government would provide Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with lethal military equipment. Morrison promised only non-lethal military equipment last week.

“President Zelenskyy said: Don't give me a ride, give me ammunition,' and that's exactly what the Australian government has agreed to do,” Morrison said.

Australia had committed $50 million to provide both lethal and non-lethal defensive support for Ukraine through NATO, he said.

“The overwhelming majority of that ... will be in the lethal category,” Morrison said.

“We're talking missiles, we're talking ammunition, we're talking supporting them in their defense of their own homeland in Ukraine and we'll be doing that in partnership with NATO,” Morrison said.

“I'm not going to go into the specifics of that because I don't plan to give the Russian government a heads up about what's coming their way, but I can assure them it is coming your way,” he added.

___ Kyiv—Satellite photos show a convoy of Russian forces north of Ukraine's capital stretching for 40 miles.

The vast convoy of armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 17 miles (25 kilometers) from the center of Kyiv and stretched for about 40 miles, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies.

The Maxar photos also showed deployments of ground forces and ground attack helicopter units in southern Belarus.

___ Washington—Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. is telling senators her country needs more military weapons as it fights the Russian invasion.

Senators emerged from a Monday evening meeting with Ambassador Oksana Markarova at the Capitol as Congress is preparing supplemental funding to help Ukraine during the crisis. The White House is seeking at least $6.4 billion in military and humanitarian aid.

“They need more arms,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

“It's David versus Goliath,” said Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee. “I think that any human being reading the reports coming out of there realize that this is dire.” Senators in the U.S. are working to provide ammunition such as anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine -- what Risch called an “all of the above” effort.