Ukrainian “intransigence” means Russia will pursue its invasion, Vladimir Putin told Emmanuel Macron. The Kremlin seeks the “neutralisation, demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of Ukraine after achieving “full control” by diplomatic or military means, the Elysee said, adding: “The worst is still to come.”
In a separate televised address, Putin made many of the same points, also claiming the “special military operation” was going according to plan and hailing his soldiers as heroes. He said without evidence that Ukrainian troops had tortured and killed Russian prisoners of war and were using human shields.
After a second round of talks, both sides agreed to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said. “In those places where the corridors themselves will be located, it will be possible to cease fire for the duration of the evacuation,” he said.
Russian forces are in control of both local and regional government buildings in the strategically important Black Sea port Kherson, local authorities said, while the port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov is also reportedly surrounded by Russian troops and without power, heating or water, the city council said
With the Black Sea port of Odesa also preparing for an amphibious assault, analysts believe Russia is implementing a plan to cut Ukraine off from the sea and create a land corridore from its border westwards to Romania.
Ukraine’s defensive lines are holding against the Russian attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. He warned later that unless western military aid was increased, the Baltic states would be Russia’s next target.
The Russian advance on Kyiv has been delayed by “staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion” and is still more than 19 miles (30km) from the centre of the city, Britain’s defence ministry said.
At least 350 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured, according to Ukraine’s emergency service. Transport facilities, hospitals, kindergartens and homes have been destroyed, it said.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would not tolerate what he said was a military threat from Ukraine. He said, without evidence, that the US was worried about losing control over what he called chemical and biological laboratories in Ukraine.
More than a million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces invaded last week, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has said.
Ukraine claimed nearly 7,000 Russian troops had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion. Moscow said 498 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine since the start of its campaign, its first statement on casualties.
The international criminal court confirmed it is opening an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine and has begun collecting evidence.
Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from the Winter Paralympic Games for their countries’ roles in the conflict, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said, in a reversal of its previous stance.
French authorities seized a superyacht linked to the Rosneft boss Igor Sechin in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat, a day after unconfirmed reports that German officials had seized a $600m superyacht belonging to the oligarch Alisher Usmanov in Hamburg.
