NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

Students from the Royal Irish Academy of Music playing music in solidarity with Ukraine outside Leinster House. Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Up to 20,000 Ukrainian refugees could be taken in by Ireland, with the possibility that Irish families may be asked to open their homes, Minister Simon Coveney said.
• The Taoiseach told the Dáil that three Irish-based companies linked to Russian individuals or banks who’ve been sanctioned by the EU have been identified
• A UCD professor resigned from a part-time managerial role over the Dublin university’s statement about the Russian invasion of Ukraine
• Cabinet gave the go-ahead to reform Ireland’s defamation laws, with new amending legislation to be proposed “at the earliest opportunity” this year
• A nuclear gauge and other items were stolen from a van in Co Louth
• A firefighter was hospitalised after the vehicle he was travelling in crashed while responding to an incident in Co Meath
• A referendum on putting a right to housing into the Constitution could be held next year, the housing minister has said. 

WORLD

Demonstrators protest against the war in front of the European Parliament. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#KYIV: A TV mast in Kyiv was struck by a blast today, and a 65km-long Russian military convoy was seen on the outskirts of the capital city on the sixth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Columnist and security analyst Tom Clonan has a highly informative piece for us here on what could happen next: “Zelensky’s decision to stand and fight in Kyiv will be particularly provocative to the Kremlin. If he had fled the country with his family, this would have had a devastating effect on the morale and command and control of the Ukrainian military.”

#AN EMOTIONAL CALL: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the European Parliament to “prove that you are with us” as they fight against Russia’s invasion.

#SPORT BOYCOTT: Russia continued to pay a heavy sporting price for its invasion of Ukraine, frozen out of a list of sports, with perhaps the most painful blows coming from ice skating and athletics.

PARTING SHOT

If you read one thing today on Putin’s war in Ukraine, read this: a piece on the Great Information War, and how it’s spread to Ireland.

FactCheck newsletter: Russia is fighting an 'Information War' - and it's spread to Ireland https://t.co/km5b8KD1wW

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) March 1, 2022