Lviv/Kyiv (Ukraine), March 5
Russia is not observing an agreed ceasefire in certain areas, thwarting a joint plant to allow civilians to evacuate from front line cities such as Mariupol, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a televised broadcast, hours after Moscow announced its forces had stopped firing near two besieged Ukrainian cities on Saturday to allow safe passage to civilians fleeing fighting.
The Russian defence ministry said its units had opened humanitarian corridors near the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha which were encircled by its troops, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
"From 1000 am Moscow time (0700 GMT), the Russian side declares a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave Mariupol and Volnovakha," Russian news agencies quoted the Russian defence ministry as saying.
In Mariupol, citizens would be allowed to leave during a five-hour window, it quoted the city's officials as saying, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered into its 10th day.
The southeastern port city has come under heavy bombardment, a sign of its strategic value to Moscow due to its position between Russian-backed separatist territory in east Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
“This night the shelling was harder and closer,” a staff member from Doctors without Borders/Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) said, according to the aid agency, adding there was still no power, water, heating or mobile phone links and food was scarce.
The Ukrainian government said the plan was to evacuate around 200,000 people from Mariupol and 15,000 from Volnovakha, and the Red Cross is the ceasefire's guarantor.
But the city council later said Russia was not observing the ceasefire entirely. "We are negotiating with the Russian side to confirm the ceasefire along the entire evacuation route," it said. There was no direct response from the Russian side.
Ukraine's government was looking into reports from its military that the Russian troops were using the ceasefire to advance towards Mariupol, Ukraine's Minister for Reintegration of Temporary Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, said.
The Russian defence ministry said a broad offensive would continue in Ukraine, where it denies targeting civilians.
“The armed forces of the Russian Federation continued to carry out strikes on the military infrastructure of Ukraine,” Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, adding that forces from separatist-held Donetsk in Ukraine's east were continuing to tighten the encirclement of Mariupol.
Mariupol city authorities urged civilians to leave.
“We are simply being destroyed,” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said.
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Russia and Ukraine will hold a third round of talks on Monday about ending hostilities, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamiya said in a Facebook post on Saturday, without providing further details.
On Thursday, the sides agreed to open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians out of some combat zones, although there have been delays in implementing them. Reuters
President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war and warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be tantamount to entering the conflict. Read story here
The U.N. human rights office says it has confirmed the deaths of 351 civilians in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. The Geneva-based office said that another 707 civilians were injured between February 24 and midnight Friday.
German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF say they are suspending reporting from their Moscow studios after Russia passed a law foreseeing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading what is deemed to be fake information about its armed forces.
The measure was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on Friday and already prompted some foreign media including the BBC and Bloomberg to say they were suspending operations within Russia.
ARD and ZDF said in a statement that they are examining the consequences of the new legislation and suspending reporting from the Moscow studios for now.
The passing of the law comes amid a broader crackdown on media outlets and social media in Russia.
Aeroflot, Russia's flagship carrier, has announced that it will halt all international flights except to Belarus starting March 8. Read story here
Hundreds have gathered in central London Saturday to protest Russia's assault on Ukraine, with the conflict in its 10th day.
Carrying placards reading 'Protect Europe: Save Ukraine? and waving the country's blue and yellow flag, demonstrators chanted, “Stop Putin, stop the war.”
The rally in London's Trafalgar Square began with a prayer from Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the papal nuncio to Great Britain. He said: “Today we are all Ukrainians”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that everything was going to plan in Ukraine and the Russian army would fulfil its aims as part of the special military operation.
Russia's central bank has capped the amount of money Russians can send to family and relatives abroad at $5,000 per month, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Saturday, citing a letter from the regulator. The Russian authorities have taken a series of measures to curb capital outflows amid Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. Reuters
Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol said an evacuation of civilians planned for Saturday had been postponed as Russian forces encircling the city were not respecting an agreed ceasefire.
In a statement, the city council asked residents to return to shelters in the city and wait for further information on evacuation. Reuters
Around 600 students who were stuck in Sumy, the northeastern state of Ukraine, have accused the Indian government of not doing enough to evacuate them from a war zone.The students are all from Sumy Medical University, presently living amidst shelling and bombings in war zone area. Read full story
The UN migration agency, citing figures from government ministries in countries where they have arrived, said Saturday that 787,300 of them went to Poland. Some 228,700 fled to Moldova, 144,700 to Hungary, 132,600 to Romania and 100,500 to Slovakia.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Saturday that 66,224 Ukrainian men had returned from abroad to join the fight against Russia's invasion. Read story here
The Kremlin said on Saturday that the West was behaving like bandits but that Russia was far too big to be isolated as the world was much larger than just the United States and Europe. Read story
Since the beginning of Moscow's war on Kyiv, the Russian forces have lost more than 10,000 people, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has claimed. Read story here
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine on Saturday said it is exploring all possible ways to safely evacuate the Indian nationals from the eastern Ukranian cities of Sumy and Pisochyn. Read full story
Russia has informed the UN Security Council that Russian buses are ready at crossing points to go to the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy to evacuate Indian students and other foreign nationals who are stranded there, amidst the raging conflict in the East European country. Read full story
Three IAF aircraft carrying 629 Indians from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries landed at the Hindon air base here on Saturday morning, the air force said. Read full report
Formed in a fury to counter Russia's blitzkrieg attack, Ukraine's hundreds-strong volunteer “hacker” corps is much more than a paramilitary cyberattack force in Europe's first major war of the internet age. Read full story
The Russian military captured Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine and a huge blaze was put out. No damage was caused to the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia plant, said UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi. Read full story
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