Our live coverage of the Ukraine war is moving - please follow the developments at our new blog:
A number of people, including children, have been killed in aerial attacks on Sumy, the regional military administrator has said on Facebook, according to the BBC.
The Kyiv Independent also reported the deaths in the north-eastern city.
⚡️Children among dead after Russian air raid on residential buildings in Sumy.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 8, 2022
Head of Sumy Regional State Administration Dmitry Zhivitsky said in a video message on Facebook on March 7 that at least 10 people were killed as a result of targeted bombings by Russia on Sumy.
Sumy has come under fierce attack from the Russians and was one of the cities where a ceasefire was proposed to allow civilians to escape on Monday. However, the Ukraine government rejected the plan after it emerged that some of the “humanitarian corridors” led to Russia or Belarus.
Updated
Japan has frozen the assets of an additional 32 Russian and Belarusian officials and oligarchs, the ministry of finance announced on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Japan also is banning exports of Russia-bound oil refinery equipment and Belarus-bound general-purpose items that can be used by its military, the ministry said.
Updated
We reported earlier that a senior Russian commander, Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army, has been killed in fighting in Kharkiv.
Our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, reports that the death of the decorated veteran of campaigns in Chechnya, Syria and the Crimea was reported by Ukrainian intelligence after it picked up a telephone conversation between two FSB officers discussing the death.
Other senior officers are believed to have been killed as well.
The two FSB officers also lament that their secure communications were no longer functioning inside Ukraine.
Updated
Ukraine much closer to joining EU, says Kuleba
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has made some very positive noises about the prospects of Ukraine being admitted to the European Union., according to Ukraine’s Unian website.
After a call to the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, on Monday, he said that while distance to EU membership had been as far away as the Moon last week, it was now only from Kyiv to the Ukraine city of Vinnitsa – a distance of just 262km or 162 miles.
The situation has changed. I won’t talk about which specific countries are now skeptical for now, but some of those countries that were negative now really support us. Some still don’t. But wait. This week will be serious news related to our membership in the European Union.
A week ago, let’s say, before joining the EU, we were about the same as from Kyiv to the Moon. And now our accession to the EU is about the same as from Kyiv to Vinnitsa.
Kuleba’s energetic diplomacy also included calls to UK foreign secretary Liz Truss and US secretary of state Anthony Blinken.
Call with @trussliz on practical steps to further strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities. I underscored the urgent need to impose new sanctions on Russia for its continued barbaric war crimes in Ukraine. Grateful to the UK for standing by Ukraine at this critical time.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 7, 2022
Another call with @SecBlinken. We are coordinating intensively on crucial further steps to increase pressure on Russia. As long as Putin refuses to end his meaningless and barbaric war on Ukraine, the pressure will be getting higher. Grateful to the U.S. for standing by Ukraine.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 7, 2022
'Europe could wean itself off Russian gas', says commission's climate chief
Energy is fast-becoming the key battleground in the west’s economic war on Russia. It has been seen as the weakest part of the west’s defences but the US, UK and Europe are in discussions about reducing dependency on Russian oil and gas.
Such a move would choke off the Kremlin’s main source of cash, but also wipe out Vladimir Putin’s main source of leverage over European countries, especially Germany. Russia supplies around 40% of Europe’s gas.
To this end, the European Commission’s climate policy chief said on Monday that Europe could wean itself off Russian gas within years and start curbing its reliance within months.
Frans Timmermans said the plans would “substantially reduce our dependency on Russian gas already this year, and within years will make us independent of the import of Russian gas”.
“It’s not easy, but it’s feasible,” he told European Parliament’s environment committee.
A draft of the Commission plan, seen by Reuters, has several main points:
- cut dependency by increasing gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from other countries, and phasing in alternative gases like hydrogen and biomethane.
- build wind and solar projects faster, and ensure countries fill gas storage before winter to cushion supply shocks.
- fill Europe’s gas storage needs to be 80-90% ahead of next winter. EU gas storage was around 75% full on Sep. 30 last year.
Countries are still divided about the plan. On Monday Olaf Schloz, the German chancellor, said Russian energy imports were “essential” to Europeans’ daily lives and cautioned against banning Russian oil and gas as part of Western sanctions.
If you are just joining us on the blog, or need another quick catch-up on what is happening, here’s an explainer on what we know so far on day 13 of the war in Ukraine:
We’ve got video clips now of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s latest address to the Ukrainian people in which he said they weren’t afraid of anyone. He also hailed the “heroes” both fighting Russian forces and keeping the country going in hospitals and infrastructure.
A western ban on Russian oil imports may more than double the price to $300 a barrel and prompt the closure of the main gas pipeline to Germany, Moscow has warned.
Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008, although Brent crude slipped 0.7% to $122.30 on Tuesday morning after shooting up to $138 briefly on Monday. The all-time high is $147.50.
This 3-day @markets chart for Brent illustrates the significant #oil volatility.
— Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) March 7, 2022
Well off the highs of earlier this morning, WTI even traded just now below Friday’s closing level. Having said that, it would be foolish to call this wild phase over. There is more volatility ahead. pic.twitter.com/LxbgY3g9hL
“A rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” said Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak, saying the price could more than double to over $300 per barrel.
Oil prices at such high levels would be crippling to western economies and would also send the price of natural gas soaring even higher than the already record levels.
Germany last month froze the certification of Nord Stream 2 that was due to pipe gas from Russia to Germany.
“We have every right to take a matching decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,” said Novak.
Here’s an explainer on the importance of oil from Russia, the second biggest exporter in the world after Saudi Arabia.
Updated
Summary
Here are some of the main developments in the last few hours.
-
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rallied the nation again in his late-night video address, saying “You do not back down. We do not back down”, adding that “heroic” resistance was making the war “like a nightmare” for Russia.
- Zelenskiy also again accused Russia of attacking fleeing civilians. Earlier on Monday his government rejected an offer from Moscow to create “humanitarian corridors” for the escape of civilians after it emerged that most of the supposedly safe routes led directly to Russia or Belarus. He accused Moscow of “medieval” tactics.
- The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is deepening as Russian forces intensify their attacks, while food, water, heat and medicine grow increasingly scarce. Some 1.7m Ukrainians are thought to have fled the fighting and the total could reach 5m, the EU said.
- A western ban on Russian oil imports may more than double the price to $300 a barrel and prompt the closure of the main gas pipeline to Germany, Moscow warned on Monday.
- Britain’s home secretary is under fire for the country’s “chaotic policy” towards Ukrainians seeking refuge in the UK. Only 300 have been granted asylum so far.
- Zelenskiy will address UK MPs on Tuesday via videolink and is expected to plead for more arms and a no-fly zone over Ukraine to be enforced by Nato.
- A senior Russian general has been killed in fighting in Kharkiv, according to Ukraine’s defence ministry. It said its forces killed Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov, believed to have been first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army.
- China’s foreign minister has called the country’s relationship with Russia “iron clad” as Beijing continues to refuse to condemn the invasion of Ukraine despite growing pressure from the US and European Union to use its influence to rein in Moscow.
- Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, accused Vladimir Putin of having a plan “to brutalize Ukraine”, as the UN tries to negotiate evacuation corridors. Russia’s ambassador hit back, claiming Ukrainians are shelling themselves.
Updated
China’s foreign minister has called the country’s relationship with Russia “iron clad” as Beijing continues to refuse to condemn the invasion of Ukraine despite growing pressure from the US and European Union to use its influence to rein in Moscow.
Wang Yi said on Monday that Russia was his country’s “most important strategic partner” and ties with Moscow constituted “one of the most crucial bilateral relationships in the world”.
China has broken with the U.S., Europe and others that have imposed sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Beijing has said sanctions create new issues and threaten a political settlement of the conflict.
Wang told reporters in Beijing:
No matter how perilous the international landscape, we will maintain our strategic focus and promote the development of a comprehensive China-Russia partnership in the new era. The friendship between the two peoples is iron clad.
Russian generals killed in fighting, reports claim
A senior Russian general has been killed in fighting in Kharkiv, according to Ukraine’s defence ministry.
The ministry tweeted on Monday that its forces had killed Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov. He is believed to have been first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army.
⚡️Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reports that Russian Major-General Vitaly Gerasimov was killed in action near Kharkiv.
— Oleksiy Sorokin (@mrsorokaa) March 7, 2022
The report also says other high-rank Russian officers were hit. If true, moral among Russian officers is about to plummet.
It follows reports that another senior Russian commander was killed in Ukraine last week.
Maj Gen Andrei Sukhovetsky, commander of an airborne division, was killed in fighting on 28 February, an officers’ organisation in Russia reported, according to Newsweek. Multiple other reports also say Sukhovetsky, who was also said to have been a special forces commander and Syria veteran, was killed by a Ukrainian sniper.
! Ukrainian armed forces announced that they have killed maj. gen. Andrey Sukhovetskiy, a Spetsnaz commander and deputy chief of the 41 Army in Novosibirsk. This appears confirmed by a spokesperson of the Russian Paratroopers Union. If confirmed, major demotivator for RU.
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) March 3, 2022
Russian Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, commander in chief of the 7th division of the Russian army, was killed by Ukrainian army snipers. Sukhovetsky participated in the Russian military operations in Syria and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in Syria. pic.twitter.com/tIdfLf2RPl
— Husam Hezaber (@HusamHezaber) March 4, 2022
A new nuclear research facility in Kharkiv was reportedly damaged by shelling, according to an update from the Atomic Energy Agency. There were not any detected increases in radiation near the damaged facility in north-eastern Ukraine, which produces radioisotopes and is used for research and development. But the issue has alarmed regulators who are to urgently highlighting the rising risks.
“We have already had several episodes compromising safety at Ukraine’s nuclear sites,” General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement. The agency is working to ensure nuclear safety during the conflict. “We must take action to help avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine that could have severe consequences for public health and the environment. We can’t afford to wait,” Grossi said.
Russian forces captured Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant after a night of shelling that produced a fire in a nearby building used for training. IAEA officials expressed “grave concern” over how Europe’s largest plant was being handled, which is now being overseen by a Russian commander. On Sunday, Gross said the takeover “contravenes one of the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security” highlighting the importance that staff continue their safety and security duties “free of undue pressure”.
Read more from the Guardian’s Julian Borger on the issue here:
The Ukraine Presidential Office has released the full transcript of the 9-minute address from Zelensky, given in a video from his office on Monday night:
Monday. Evening. You know, we used to say: Monday is a hard day. There is a war in the country. So every day is Monday.
And now we are used to the fact that every day and every night are like that.
Today is the 12th. 12th evening of our struggle. Our defense.
We are all on the ground, we are all working.
Everyone is where they should be. I am in Kyiv. My team is with me. The territorial defense is on the ground. The servicemen are in positions. Our heroes! Doctors, rescuers, transporters, diplomats, journalists...
Everyone. We are all at war. We all contribute to our victory, which will definitely be achieved. By force of arms and our army. By force of words and our diplomacy. By force of spirit, which the first, the second and each of us have.
Take a look at our country today.
Chaplynka, Melitopol, Tokmak, Novotroitske and Kherson. Starobilsk. Everywhere people defended themselves, although they do not have weapons there. But these are our people, and that’s why they have weapons.
They have courage. Dignity. And hence the ability to go out and say: I’m here, it’s mine, and I won’t give it away. My city. My community. My Ukraine.
Every Ukrainian man and woman who protested against the invaders yesterday, today and will protest tomorrow are heroes.
We shout at the invaders together with you. We stand in the squares and streets with you. We are not afraid with you when the invaders open fire and try to drive everyone away.
YOU do not back down.
WE do not back down.
And the one who repeated: “We are one people” - certainly did not expect such a powerful reaction.
In the south of our country, such a national movement has unfolded, such a powerful manifestation of Ukrainianness that we have never seen in the streets and squares there. And for Russia it is like a nightmare.
They forgot that we are not afraid of paddy wagons and batons. We are not afraid of tanks and machine guns. When the main thing is on our side, truth. As it is now.
Mariupol and Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Sumy. Odesa and Kyiv. Mykolaiv. Zhytomyr and Korosten. Ovruch. And many other cities.
We know that hatred that the enemy brought to our cities with shelling and bombing will not remain there. There will be no trace of it. Hatred is not about us. Therefore, there will be no trace of the enemy. We will rebuild everything. We will make our cities destroyed by the invader better than any city in Russia.
Enerhodar. Chornobyl. And other places where barbarians just don’t understand WHAT they want to capture. WHAT they want to control. Your work, your hard work on critical objects is a real feat. And we see it. We are sincerely grateful for it.
The Ukrainian army holds positions. Well done! It inflicts extremely painful losses on the enemy. Defends. Counterattacks. If necessary - can take revenge. Necessarily. For every evil. For every rocket and bomb. For each destroyed civilian object.
Today in Makariv, Kyiv region, they fired at the bread factory. For what? The old bread factory! Think about it - to fire at the bread factory. Who should you be to do that?
Or to destroy another church - in the Zhytomyr region. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin built in 1862.
These are NOT people.
There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors.
Did it work? Russian tanks worked instead. Russian “Grads”. Russian mines. They even mined the road, which was agreed to transport food and medicine for people and children in Mariupol.
They even destroy buses that have to take people out. But ... At the same time, they are opening a small corridor to the occupied territory. For several dozen people. Not so much to Russia, as to propagandists. Directly to their TV cameras. Like, that’s the one who saves. Just cynicism. Just propaganda. Nothing more. No humanitarian sense.
The third round of negotiations in Belarus took place today. I would like to say - the third and final. But we are realists. So we will talk. We will insist on negotiations until we find a way to tell our people: this is how we will come to peace.
Exactly to peace.
We must realize that every day of struggle, every day of resistance creates better conditions for us. Strong position to guarantee our future. In peace. After this war.
Apart from the dead people and the destroyed cities, the war leaves destroyed the aspirations that once seemed very important, but now ... You don’t even mention them.
Almost three years ago, as soon as the election took place, we entered this building, this office, and immediately began planning our move.
I dreamed of moving from Bankova. Together with the government and parliament. To unload the center of Kyiv and in general - to move to a modern, transparent office - as befits a progressive democratic European country.
Now I will say one thing: I stay here.
I stay in Kyiv.
On Bankova Street.
I’m not hiding.
And I’m not afraid of anyone.
As much as it takes to win this Patriotic War of ours.
Today I signed a decree to present state awards of Ukraine to 96 Ukrainian heroes - our military.
Including…
The Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of the second degree is awarded to:
Major Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Sak. Commander of the mechanized battalion who entered the battle with the battalion tactical group of the enemy and won thanks to a rational approach to combat and non-standard tactics.
Captain Rostyslav Oleksandrovych Sylivakin. Commander of the mechanized battalion, which successfully fought the overwhelming forces of the enemy, liberating Ukrainian towns and villages in the Sumy region.
The Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of the third degree is awarded to:
Lieutenant Ihor Serhiyovych Lozovyi. Acting as part of the group, he stopped a column of enemy vehicles numbering about 150 units, which was moving in the direction of the Zhytomyr-Kyiv route. Destroyed.
Lieutenant Vitaliy Viktorovych Poturemets. He showed exemplary courage and composure in the battle, destroying a column of enemy equipment near the city of Kyiv. He was wounded.
The Order “For Courage” of the third degree is awarded to:
Master Sergeant, Commander of the Automobile Platoon Valentyn Viktorovych Baryliuk. Thanks to his brave actions and personal determination, the tank unit received fuel in time and left the encirclement, destroying the enemy on the way.
All 96 of our heroes are like these five!
Our gratitude to all the military.
Our gratitude to the Armed Forces of Ukraine!
Our gratitude is boundless.
Glory to Ukraine!
Zelensky accused the Russian army of deliberately targeting the evacuation of civilians after talks with Moscow set corridors for their escape, Agence France-Presse reports.
“There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors. Did that work? Russian tanks worked in its place, Russian Grads (multiple rocket launchers), Russian mines,” Zelensky said in a video posted on Telegram, noting that the pathways chosen for deliveries of food and medicine in Marupol were mined by Russian forces.
He added that buses set to evacuate civilians were destroyed.
“They ensure that a small corridor to the occupied territory is open for a few dozen people. Not so much towards Russia as towards the propagandists, directly towards the television cameras,” he said.
Gabrielle Canon here, taking over from Los Angeles.
In a video posted Monday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke from his office for the second time since the invasion 12 days ago. “I’m not hiding. I’m not hiding. And I’m not afraid of anyone,” Zelensky said, noting that he is staying in Kyiv.
Day 12 of Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine. Where’s President Zelensky?
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 7, 2022
“I’m staying in Kyiv. In my office. I’m not hiding. And I’m not afraid of anyone.”
The comic turned president has truly become a wartime leader. pic.twitter.com/dKbzYWwpbo
Though Zelensky remains a prime target, he has consistently assured Ukrainians and the rest of the world that he would remain in the capital city. On 4 March, he had also spoken from his Kyiv office where a short video showed him with a colleague.
The office appearances followed a video in which Zelensky was filmed outdoors, flanked by senior aides, on 25 February, the day after the start of the invasion. “Our troops are here, citizens are here,” Zelensky said in that video, adding: “All of us are here protecting the independence of our country. And it will continue to be this way. Glory to our defenders, Glory to Ukraine, Glory to Heroes.”
• This post was amended on 8 March 2022. Volodymyr Zelensky’s 7 March video was the second from his office in 12 days, rather than the first.
Updated
Interim summary
Hello again to all our readers of the Guardian’s Ukraine crisis live blog, bringing you news developments around the clock. The blogging now passes from your reporters on the US east coast to reporter Gabrielle Canon on the US west coast, who will take you through the next few hours.
Here’s where things stand:
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, just slammed Russia and accused Vladimir Putin of having a plan “to brutalize Ukraine”, as the UN tries to negotiate evacuation corridors.
- But Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, was in the UN Security Council chamber in New York, with a different message, claiming Ukrainians are shelling themselves.
- The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is deepening as Russian forces intensify their shelling and food, water, heat and medicine grow increasingly scarce, with Ukraine accusing Moscow of ‘medieval’ tactics.
- A third round of conflict talks between Ukraine and Russia ended with “small positive developments” relating to potential humanitarian corridors, according to reports, but there were no details and the veracity of anything offered by Russia is in doubt.
The United Nations needs safe passage to deliver humanitarian aid to conflict zones in Ukraine, a senior official with the organization told the Security Council moments ago.
“Civilians in places like Mariupol, Kharkiv, Melitopol and elsewhere desperately need aid, especially life-saving medical supplies,” undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths told an emergency meeting in the chamber in New York on the disaster sparked by Russia’s invasion. Agence France-Presse reports.
“Many modalities are possible, but it must take place in line with the parties’ obligations under the laws of war,” he added.
The AFP continues:
The meeting came as Ukraine and Russia seek an agreement on creating “humanitarian corridors” out of pummeled cities, as the civilian toll from the Russian assault mounts.
Russia said it would open up humanitarian corridors on Tuesday from 0700 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), listing evacuation routes from Kyiv as well as Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy - all of which have been under heavy Russian attack in recent days.
Ukraine had rejected an earlier Russian proposal for humanitarian corridors from those cities, as many of the routes led straight into Russia or its ally Belarus.
Griffiths urged all sides to ensure that the general population and civilian homes and infrastructure are safeguarded during military operations in Ukraine.
“This includes allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis, in the direction they choose,” he said.
The UN also urgently needs a system of “constant communication” with all sides, he said, as well as “assurances to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
Griffiths said the UN had sent a team to Moscow for a first technical meeting at the Russian defense ministry.
The goal, he said, is to work on better humanitarian civil-military coordination to be able to “scale up” UN operations, he added.
A senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials also hoped to avoid the possibility of a “blunder” and to ensure that humanitarian convoys were not targeted by Russian attacks.
To date, the UN has had no involvement in the establishment of humanitarian corridors.
Updated
"It's clear Mr Putin has a plan to brutalize Ukraine" - US envoy to UN
“Children are dying, people are fleeing their homes, for what?” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, is expressing unbridled outrage to the UN Security Council in New York.
Moments ago, Russia’s envoy Vasily Nebenzya, claimed Ukrainians are shelling themselves.
Diplomats are beside themselves with this cruel lie.
“It’s clear Mr Putin has a plan to brutalize Ukraine,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“The humanitarian toll of President Putin’s war on Ukraine is mounting. Children are dying, people are fleeing their homes - for what?” she asked.
The ambassador said that dozens of children are known to have been killed in the military invasion already and the actual number is likely to be far greater and warned that there are already reports of children being struck dumb in shock and trauma from the terrifying situation around them.
The humanitarian toll of Putin’s war on Ukraine is mounting. Children are dying, people are fleeing their homes – and for what? As @UNICEF reports, dozens of children have already been killed. Children should never be involved in conflict, period. https://t.co/B6AbCI5pnL
— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) March 7, 2022
Human Rights Watch further reports, however:
US Ambassador to the UN Thomas-Greenfield condemned Russian use of cluster munitions, saying this indiscriminate weapon "has no place on the battlefield." The US Mission then deleted her comment from the transcript because the Pentagon won't endorse a ban. https://t.co/9fQK4kCWU3
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) March 7, 2022
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, is in the UN Security Council chamber in New York, claiming Ukrainians are shelling themselves.
Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, is in the Security Council, claiming Ukrainians are shelling themselves.
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) March 7, 2022
(Echoes of the Bosnian Serb army which would routinely say similar as it bombed Sarajevo) pic.twitter.com/0n3BIzowKc
This is sparking outrage.
Moments ago, Russia's ambassador to the UN - Vasily Nebenzya - sat in the Security Council, claiming to a room full of the world's top diplomats and by extension to the world itself, that Ukrainians are shelling themselves.
— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) March 7, 2022
There has to be a stronger word than lie. Or shameless.
Here’s Julian again, the Guardian’s world affairs editor, based in Washington, DC, channeling Aida Cerkez.
"What will hurt you the most will be the lies, lies that you are somehow to blame for what is happening to you, lies that you are actually doing what is being done to you. Those lies will poke countless holes into your hearts," Aida Cerkez, Sarajevo journalist's letter to Ukraine
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) March 7, 2022
Full version below:
The letter from Aida Cerkez featured on #Weekend, and can be read here 👇 pic.twitter.com/qvnryz1jcu
— BBC World Service (@bbcworldservice) March 5, 2022
Humanitarian crisis deepens; Ukraine accuses Moscow of 'medieval' tactics
The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is deepening as Russian forces intensify their shelling and food, water, heat and medicine grow increasingly scarce, in what the country condemned as a medieval-style siege by Moscow to batter it into submission.
Civilians who are battening down and those trying to leave now need to be braced for a predicted blast of Arctic freezing air, sweeping south over Russia and Ukraine from midweek, according to forecasters.
Arctic air will move through Russia and Ukraine in the coming days and will be accompanied by a brutal wind-chill.
— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) March 7, 2022
The official Ukrainian meteorological service has been offline for 4 days now. pic.twitter.com/pxXWEzBl2Z
The potential danger is apparently less from snow, and more from wind chill.
The brisk easterly winds accompanied by cold airmass will make it feel more like -15°C or even -20°C when exposed to the wind.
— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) March 7, 2022
Strongest wind-chill in Ukraine expected Wednesday night and through Thursday.
Some snow is possible but the main takeaway here is wind-chill factor.
A third round of talks between the two sides ended with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor, unspecified progress toward establishing safe corridors that would allow civilians to escape the fighting. Russia’s chief negotiator said he expects those corridors to start operating Tuesday.
But that remains to be seen, given the failure of previous attempts to lead civilians to safety amid the biggest ground war in Europe since the second world war, the Associated Press reports.
AP added:
At The Hague, in the Netherlands, Ukraine pleaded with the International Court of Justice to order a halt to Russia’s invasion, saying Moscow is committing widespread war crimes.
Russia “is resorting to tactics reminiscent of medieval siege warfare, encircling cities, cutting off escape routes and pounding the civilian population with heavy ordnance”, said Jonathan Gimblett, a member of Ukraine’s legal team.
Russia snubbed the court proceedings, leaving its seats in the Great Hall of Justice empty.
Efforts to set up safe passage for civilians over the weekend fell apart amid continued Russian shelling.
In one of the most desperate cities, the encircled southern port of Mariupol, an estimated 200,000 people – nearly half the population of 430,000 – were hoping to flee, and Red Cross officials waited to hear when a corridor would be established.
The city is short of water, food and power, and cellphone networks are down. Stores have been looted as residents search for essential goods.
Hospitals are facing severe shortages of antibiotics and painkillers, and doctors have performed some emergency procedures without them.
The lack of phone service left anxious citizens approaching strangers to ask if they knew relatives living in other parts of the city and whether they were safe.
In the capital, Kyiv, soldiers and volunteers have built hundreds of checkpoints to protect the city of nearly 4 million, often using sandbags, stacked tires and spiked cables.
Updated
The US envoy to the UN calls for Russian commitment to allow humanitarian access in Ukraine, reports Reuters.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda-Thomas Greenfield, on Monday said the US is “outraged” by increased reports of Moscow’s attacks harming Ukrainian civilians and called for a pause in hostilities to allow the safe passage of civilians who wish to leave areas of conflict.
Thomas-Greenfield, speaking to the UN Security Council, called for Russia’s “firm, clear, public and unequivocal commitment” to allow and facilitate immediate, unhindered humanitarian access for humanitarian partners in Ukraine.
Updated
Oil depots in the Ukrainian cities of Zhytomyr and Cherniahiv are on fire following Russian air strikes.
From the Kyiv Independent:
Two oil depots in Zhytomyr Oblast on fire after air strikes. According to the State Emergency Service, the targeted oil depots are in Zhytomyr and Cherniahiv.
The fire has been extinguished. No casualties have been reported yet.
Video: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
⚡️Two oil depots in Zhytomyr Oblast on fire after air strikes.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 7, 2022
According to the State Emergency Service, the targeted oil depots are in Zhytomyr and Cherniahiv. The fire has been extinguished. No casualties have been reported yet.
Video: State Emergency Service of Ukraine pic.twitter.com/il97wfmMwI
Russia is trying to recruit Syrians to fight in Ukraine, said the Pentagon, reports the Guardian’s Julian Borger:
Russia has been trying to recruit Syrians to fight in Ukraine to bolster Moscow’s flagging invasion, according to the Pentagon.
A senior US defence official said it is unclear how many Syrians Vladimir Putin is seeking to recruit, but said “we find it noteworthy that he believes he needs to rely on foreign fighters”.
The official added there was no evidence of Syrian fighters actually arriving in Ukraine so far.
The Russian recruitment effort was first reported by a Syrian news website, DeirEzzor24, which said Moscow was seeking volunteers to act as guards on six-month contracts, for between $200 and $300 a month. The same report said the Russian mercenary firm Wagner had been equipping its Syrian operatives, who had served in the Libyan war on the side of the general, Khalifa Haftar, to transfer to Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal reported that some Syrian mercenaries were already in Russia and prepared to enter the fight in Syria.
Read the full article here.
Russia has deployed nearly 100% of its pre-staged troops into Ukraine, according to a senior US official, reported Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has now deployed into Ukraine nearly 100% of the more than 150,000 forces that he had pre-staged outside the country before the invasion, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.
“That’s our best estimate right now,” the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Twelve days after starting its invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have largely stalled north on Kyiv and still do not control the skies over Ukraine, increasingly relying on missile and artillery strikes.
The official said Russia had fired more than 625 missiles at Ukrainian targets.
The Pentagon ordered over the weekend an additional 500 troops to Europe, which would bring the total number of American forces there to about 100,000, the official said, as the United States seeks to guard against the war’s spillover into NATO nations.
Read the full article here (paywall).
The US has not made a decision yet on if it will ban Russian oil, said the White House today, reported Reuters.
During a press briefing today, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that discussions were still happening internally about Russian oil as officials debate on how to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
White House press sec. Jen Psaki: "No decision has been made at this point by the president about a ban on importing oil from Russia, and those discussions are ongoing internally."https://t.co/OICtD2kxqJ pic.twitter.com/8rYQ9edtOD
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 7, 2022
Psaki also added that the Biden administration is “taking all actions necessary to limit prices at the gas pump.”
Jen Psaki says "no decision has been made" by Biden on whether he would sign legislation banning Russian oil imports and the White House is "taking all actions necessary to limit prices at the gas pump"
— Adrian Morrow (@AdrianMorrow) March 7, 2022
Meanwhile, Russia’s deputy prime minister today warned that the price of gas would increase to “$300 dollars per barrel” if the US and EU banned gas imports as punishment.
“It is absolutely clear that a rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” said Alexander Novak in a video statement that was broadcasted on state television, reported Reuters.
“The surge in prices would be unpredictable. It would be $300 per barrel if not more.”
UK prime minister Boris Johnson posted a video alongside Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau and Netherlands prime minister Mark Rutte with a message of unity following Russia’s ongoing attack in Ukraine.
“We stand together with the people of Ukraine in the face of the aggression that they are suffering at the hands of Vladimir Putin and Russia,” said Johnson.
From Boris Johnson:
We stand with Ukraine.
Сполучене Королівство стає разом з Україною.
We staan schouder aan schouder met Oekraïne.
Nous sommes solidaires de l’Ukraine.
We stand with Ukraine.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 7, 2022
Сполучене Королівство стає разом з Україною.
We staan schouder aan schouder met Oekraïne.
Nous sommes solidaires de l’Ukraine.
🇬🇧🇳🇱🇨🇦 for 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/NFtlVWYUSS
US officials have begun gathering information to help determine if Russia has committed any war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine, said a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, reported Reuters.
“We are collecting evidence of possible war crimes, human rights abuses, and violations of international humanitarian law. We support accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions where appropriate,” the official said.
Russian military forces have been attacking civilian targets in Ukraine and Ukraine’s nuclear power plant facilities since embarking on a war two weeks ago.
The United States will send the information it collects with its allies and partners to the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, which has established a commission of inquiry to investigate possible human rights violations by Russia and hold them accountable, the official said.
In addition, the United States and 44 other countries have established an expert mission through the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe to investigate possible violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law by Russia, the official said.
“We will support accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions where appropriate,” the official said.
On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the United States has begun an internal review “to collect evidence and data of the targeting of civilians, of the reported use of horrific weapons of war on the ground in Ukraine.”
Russia and Ukraine have made progress on talks to open up humanitarian corridors, said an Ukraine official, reported Agence France-Presse.
The third round of talks that ended today between Russian and Ukrainian delegations made small progress on opening up humanitarian corridors to deliver aid and evacuate civilians.
“We have achieved some small positive results concerning the logistics of humanitarian corridors,” tweeted Kyiv’s presidential advisor Mikhailo Podolyak after the talks ended in Belarus.
Podolyak added that “intensive” consultations have continued on the main issue of securing a ceasefire in Ukraine.
But Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said during televised remarks that “expectations from negotiations were not fulfilled.”
“We hope that next time we will be able to take a more significant step forward,” Medinsky added.
US president Joe Biden had a video call with UK prime minister Boris Johnson, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, and French president Emmanuel Macron today about the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Here is a summary of the conversation provided by the White House press office:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. held a secure video call today with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom. The leaders affirmed their determination to continue raising the costs on Russia for its unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. They also underscored their commitment to continue providing security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. In addition, they discussed their respective recent engagements with the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
Summary
It’s almost 9pm in Ukraine on what is the embattled nation’s twelfth day of being relentlessly attacked by its neighbour, Russia.
Here is a round-up of the main headlines from today so far:
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Russian shelling is preventing the evacuation of civilians from Kyiv, Mariupol, Sumy, Kharkiv, Volnovakha and Mykolayiv, Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said.
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More than 1.7 million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion have so far crossed into central Europe, the United Nation’s refugee agency said on Monday, as thousands more streamed across the borders.
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A third round of conflict talks between Ukraine and Russia have ended with “small positive developments” relating to potential humanitarian corridors, according to reports. But Russia said it was “too early” to talk about positives.
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The mayor of Lviv said the western Ukrainian city had reached the limits of its capacity to help people displaced by Russia’s assault on Ukraine and appealed to international organisations for help.
- The US assesses that Russia has now committed almost 100% of the forces it had amassed for the Ukraine invasion. That means an estimated 127 battalion tactical groups. The Russian force has launched over 625 missiles, mostly short and medium range surface to air missiles and cruise missiles, US officials say.
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At least 13 civilians have been reported killed in an air strike on a bread factory in the Ukrainian town of Makariv, just outside Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian state emergency service.
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Ukraine has suffered about $10 billion in damage to infrastructure since Russia invaded the country, Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov said on Monday.
- Members of the US Congress pushed President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday to facilitate the immediate transfer of fighter aircraft to Ukraine from Nato and eastern European countries.
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The Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, in Ukraine last week was a “close call” and “must not, under any circumstances, be repeated”, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
- Amnesty International has criticised the Ukrainian authorities for bringing Russian prisoners of war to press conferences. Prisoners of war in Russia’s invasion of its neighbour “must have their rights respected under the Third Geneva Convention”, the non-government organisation said.
- The US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter has accused Belarus of “stabbing [its] neighbour in the back”. He made the comments while denying that United States had confirmed that there were no Belarusian troops in Ukraine, describing it as a “co-aggressor” in Russia’s war on it’s neighbour.
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Russia has accused Ireland of failing to protect its ambassador and staff as required under international law after a truck reversed into the embassy estate forcing open the gates in the process.
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The Russian rouble has slumped to new record lows against the dollar and euro today, losing over a third of its value so far this year. The rouble traded at 131.25 per dollar and 143.3 per euro on Monday morning.
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European Union leaders will discuss Ukraine’s application to join the 27-nation bloc in the coming days, the chairman of EU summits, Charles Michel, said in a tweet on Monday.
- Plans are being drawn up for Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskiy to address British MPs via video link on Tuesday.He is expected to ask for more arms and repeat calls for an implementation of a no-fly zone, according to Ukraine’s embassy to the UK.
- The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said a boycott of Russian oil and gas was “very much on the table”. Over the weekend, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Washington was in “very active discussions” with countries in Europe over banning imports of Russian oil, PA Media reported.
Well, that’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Gloria Oladipo will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news as it happens from Russia’s war on Ukraine. Goodbye for now.
A fourth round of negotiations with Ukraine is expected in the “very, very near future,” says a Russian negotiator, reports Reuters.
Following inconclusive talks in Belarus today, Russian negotiator Leonid Slutsky said that another round of talks will be happening soon, but did not provide an exact date.
“The next, fourth, round will take place in Belarus in the very, very near future,” said Slutsky to Russian state television.
“I will not name the exact date yet. It will be determined, perhaps tomorrow.”
In the southern port city of Mariupol, police were going from basement shelter to basement shelter. The message to those who have been trapped by days of brutal Russian shelling in the besieged city of 430,000 on the Sea of Azov was simple.
Do not come out, terrified residents were warned, until you hear a message on the loud speakers. Do not try to evacuate, despite the promises by Russian forces of safe passage.
The warning was well founded. On the main road out – eyed as a key escape route – heavy Russian shelling continued on Monday, Ukrainian forces said. The previous day officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross had identified it as having been mined.
“The route is not safe,” said Sergei Orlov, the deputy mayor. “We do not have confirmation at the moment that a ceasefire started.”
The day after eight civilians including a family of three were killed by Russian mortar fire while trying to evacuate from Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv, analysts and political leaders were experiencing a sense of deja vu, pointing to the cynical Russian use of humanitarian corridors in Chechnya and more recently in Syria, where Russian – or Russian-brokered – promises of safe passage were either worthless, or used as a ploy to allow the repositioning of forces.
Russia has accused the Republic of Ireland of failing to protect its ambassador and staff as required under international law after a truck reversed into the embassy estate forcing open the gates in the process
A businessman, Desmond Wisley, has been arrested after the incident at lunchtime.
After leaving his truck in the gateway he handed out leaflets showing a picture of a woman and her children shot dead in Irpin, near Kyiv, that has caused shock around the world.
Wisley said:
I have done this to create a safe corridor for the Russian ambassador to leave Ireland, go through Poland [and] let home walk through Europe.
I done it for this lady here and her kids who were killed in Irpin. It really affected me last night and I’m doing it for them. I want the ambassador and his colleagues to leave this country, leave this free country.
A Russian Embassy spokeswoman said:
The incident took place in the presence of Garda officers, who stood idle.
The embassy strongly condemns this criminal act of insanity directed against a peaceful diplomatic mission. The embassy views this incident as a clear and blatant violation of the article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations of 1961.
The incident follows another last week in which a priest, subsequently arrested, threw red paint over the gates of the embassy.
Updated
The US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter has accused Belarus of “stabbing [its] neighbour in the back”.
He made the comments while denying that United States had confirmed that there were no Belarusian troops in Ukraine, describing it as a “co-aggressor” in Russia’s war on it’s neighbour.
In reply to Belarus, Carpenter said:
I repeat that it is a lie that the United States has confirmed that there are no Belarusian troops in Ukraine.
To the representative of Belarus, you have stabbed your neighbour in the back. Do not come here with words to try and excuse that fact.
You are a co-aggressor, your territory has been used as a launch pad for a vicious, barbaric attack on a neighbouring state and you bear responsibility for that.
In a speech on Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine over the past 12 days, Carpenter said:
Today is the twelfth day of President Putin’s unprovoked war on Ukraine. The brutality of this war is both revolting and heartbreaking.
Children have been killed, grandparents driven from their homes, families forced to flee their country in the face of relentless strikes on civilian infrastructure.
Updated
Members of the US Congress pushed President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday to facilitate the immediate transfer of fighter aircraft to Ukraine from Nato and eastern European countries.
It comes after a plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday.
The Associated Press reported:
Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin calling for Washington to commit to replace any donated jets with upgraded Western aircraft, including through concessionary financing and loans as well as subsidised pricing.
Zelenskiy made a “desperate plea for European countries to provide Russian-made planes” for Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders during a video call Saturday with US lawmakers, participants in the call said.
Many air forces in Eastern Europe fly Russian-made warplanes. The transfer of such aircraft to Ukraine would mean that Ukrainian pilots fly the plane without needing additional training.
“I will support efforts in the Senate to implement measures to compensate our allies that provide their aircraft for Ukraine’s defence,” Menendez said in the letter.
More from the US from The Guardian’s world affairs editor Julian Borger just in...
As the ground offensive stalls, the Pentagon says the Russians are relying more on rocket and missile attacks from a distance.
As a result, more civilian areas are being hit, but the Pentagon cannot determine yet whether this is unintentional or deliberate targeting, which would be a war crime.
The Pentagon view is that the Russians want to seal off the east of the country, to stop Ukrainian forces there being able to come to the defence of Kyiv, but it has not worked as yet. Kharkiv has not fallen.
A senior defence official pointed out however that Putin still has the overwhelming bulk of his air power still waiting in the wings and “available for use”.
Plans are being drawn up for Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskiy to address British MPs via video link on Tuesday.
He is expected to ask for more arms and repeat calls for an implementation of a no-fly zone, according to Ukraine’s embassy to the UK.
Details were being finalised on Monday evening, a spokesperson added.
The president has given a series of video addresses from Kyiv to parliamentarians around the world since the war began nearly a fortnight ago, both in private and in public.
Over the weekend, he made a “desperate plea” to members of the US Congress in a private meeting for additional military aid, including planes, drones and anti-aircraft missiles, not currently supplied by the west.
Ukrainian sources said he would be likely to make a similar pitch to British MPs, although the call for a no-fly zone has been rejected by Nato.
Amnesty International has criticised the Ukrainian authorities for bringing Russian prisoners of war to press conferences.
Prisoners of war in Russia’s invasion of its neighbour “must have their rights respected under the Third Geneva Convention”, the non-government organisation said.
The Ukrainian authorities have shown Russian prisoners of war at press conferences to discuss their roles in the military invasion.Videos on social media have also shown captured soldiers contacting family members back home.
Joanne Mariner, Amnesty International’s crisis response director, said:
As the conflict continues, it is essential that all parties to the conflict fully respect the rights of prisoners of war.
Any public appearances can put prisoners of war at risk when they are returned to their home country, and also prove problematic for their families whilst they are detained.
Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention explicitly states that prisoners of war must be protected at all times, particularly from public curiosity.
It is duty of the detaining power to ensure these prisoners’ rights are properly respected from the moment they are captured.
Videos on social media have also shown captured soldiers contacting family members back home.
The Pentagon has been giving its daily update to defence department reporters. The headlines are that the US assesses that Russia has now committed almost 100% of the forces it had amassed for the Ukraine invasion. That means an estimated 127 battalion tactical groups.
The Russian force has launched over 625 missiles, mostly short and medium range surface to air missiles and cruise missiles, US officials say.
The US also deems Ukraine airspace to be still contested, as the country’s forces still have most of their fixed-wing aircraft available and flying, and its air defences are still working.
There are still no signs of Belarus troops inside Ukraine and no sign they are on the point of entering. Meanwhile, Russia is trying to recruit foreign fighters, especially Syrians, to take part in its war in Ukraine. There is no evidence of Syrian fighters actually arriving in Ukraine however. Overall, the offensive on Kyiv is still stalled, the US says.
“We’re not seeing a lot of progress,” a senior defence official said, attributing it to a combination of stiff Ukrainian resistance and “internal challenges” within the Russian forces.
But the official cautioned that Russian troops are making more headway in the south, and Vladimir Putin still has a lot more combat power available to him.
Arms supplies from the US and its allies are still making their way into Ukraine by land routes, which have not as yet been threatened or closed.
“Over time it could become more difficult but we haven’t seen that yet,’’ a senior defence official said.
'Small positive developments' following third round of conflict talks - Reuters
A third round of conflict talks between Ukraine and Russia have ended with “small positive developments” relating to potential humanitarian corridors, according to reports.
The Reuters news agency reported that a Ukrainian negotiator confirmed there had been small developments.
The establishment of corridors to evacuate civilians from war-torn cities has proven difficult in recent days, with Ukraine accusing Russia of continuing its shelling bombardment.
Civilians, including children, have been killed while trying to flee.
More on the outcome of those talks, held on the border with Belarus, as we get it.
The Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, in Ukraine last week was a “close call” and “must not, under any circumstances, be repeated”, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The artillery attack on the huge plant in the south-east of the country was condemned around the world, and denounced as a war crime by Ukraine and the US embassy in Kyiv. No release of radiation was reported.
IAEA director Ggneral Rafael Mariano Grossi made the comments at the opening of a board of governors meeting today at the agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria today. He said:
Russian forces now control the management of the plant and the approval of technical decisions made by the Ukrainian operators. This is not a safe way to run a nuclear power plant.
Nor is it safe or sustainable for internal and external communications to have been disrupted and cut off, as it has been reported to us by the Ukrainian operator and regulator.
I am deeply concerned about this turn of events.
He also said that a nuclear disaster as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine must be averted, adding:
I reiterate my call – and let it be heard loud and clear – we must avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine. Let us not hide behind “all” or “nothing-at-all” solutions.
We see what is happening on the ground in Ukraine. This time, if there is a nuclear accident, the cause will not be a tsunami brought on by mother nature. Instead, it will be the result of human failure to act when we knew we could, and we knew we should.
We must not let that happen.
Ukraine has suffered about $10 billion in damage to infrastructure since Russia invaded the country, Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov said on Monday.
He said that the figure stood as of Sunday, and added:
The majority of [damaged] structures will be repaired in a year, and the most difficult ones in two years.
Kubrakov said 40,000 people had been evacuated from the eastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday.
But Ukraine has appealed to Russia to let civilians leave other cities and an Interior ministry official, Vadym Denysenko, said 4,000 civilians still needed to be evacuated from the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.
“Russia is doing all it can to prevent [humanitarian] corridors,” Denysenko added.
More than 1.7 million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion have so far crossed into Central Europe, the United Nation’s refugee agency said on Monday, as thousands more streamed across the borders.
Reuters reported that Poland - which has the largest Ukrainian community in central Europe - has received more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees since the conflict began on 24 February, with the milestone passed late on Sunday.
“This is a million human tragedies, a million people banished from their homes by the war,” the Polish border guard service tweeted late on Sunday.
A total of 1,735,068 civilians - mostly women and children, as men stayed home to fight - have so far crossed the border into Ccntral Europe, the UNHCR said.
The European Union could see as many as five million Ukrainian refugees if Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine continues, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said.
After the first wave of intermediaries led by Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, a new group have beaten their way to Vladimir Putin’s long table since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or at least sought to intervene by phone.
The current crop includes Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE and now the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour takes a look at the world leaders pushing for peace in Ukraine and their motives...
Ukraine says 13 dead as bread factory hit by Russian air strike
At least 13 civilians have been reported killed in an air strike on a bread factory in the Ukrainian town of Makariv, just outside Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian state emergency service.
The latest multiple fatality incident involving civilians occurred on Monday afternoon.
According to a statement of the Twitter account of Ukraine’s armed forces:
Russian occupiers carried out an air strike on a bakery in Makariv, Kyiv region.
As a result of a shell hit the territory of the bakery, [and] 13 people died with five people were rescued from the rubble.
There were 30 people at the bakery.
Here is a round-up of some of the most striking, and heartbreaking, images from Putin’s war in Ukraine today.
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has assured Lithuania and Latvia of Nato protection and American support as he made visits to two of the three Baltic states that are increasingly on edge as Russia presses ahead with its invasion of Ukraine.
Along with Estonia, which Blinken will visit on Tuesday, the former Soviet republics are Nato members, and the Biden administration is aiming to calm any fears they have about their security in the event Russia chooses to expand its military operations, the Associated Press reported.
In the Latvian capital of Riga, Blinken said the Baltics had “formed a democratic wall that now stands against the tide of autocracy” that Russia is pushing in Europe. “The United States is more committed than ever to standing with you as our democracies rise to the challenge,” he said.
“We are bolstering our shared defense so that we and our allies are prepared,” Blinken said. He stressed that the US commitment to Nato’s mutual defence pact was “sacrosanct” and that Nato and the United States were discussing the permanent basing of troops in the Baltics.
“We will defend every inch of Nato territory if it comes under attack,” he said. “No one should doubt our readiness. No one should doubt our resolve.”
Updated
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asked the international community on Monday to boycott Russian exports and urged a boycott of supply to Russia.
He said:
If they do not want to comply with civilised rules, they should not receive goods and services from civilisation either. Let the war feed them.
He also called on western allies to send aircraft to Ukraine for his air force to use.
Updated
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said a boycott of Russian oil and gas was “very much on the table”.
Over the weekend, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Washington was in “very active discussions” with countries in Europe over banning imports of Russian oil, PA Media reported.
At a Downing Street press conference, Johnson said:
I don’t think Tony Blinken was wrong in the sense that we are all together now moving very, very fast and seeing that something that, perhaps three or four weeks ago, we would never have considered is now very much on the table.
We have to consider how we can all move away as fast as possible from dependence, reliance, on Russian hydrocarbons, Russian oil and gas. Everybody is doing that, everybody is on the same journey. Some countries will find it faster and easier than others, that’s all.
But we’re going to do it together and we are going to work together on making sure that we all have the substitutes and the supplies that we need.
Meanwhile, at the same press conference, Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said breaking away from Russian oil and gas would be a “step-by-step process”.
He said:
We have to make sure to deleverage our dependency on Russian gas, on Russian oil, while acknowledging at the moment that the dependency is, to a certain extent, still there.
Forcing companies to stop doing business with Russia now would have “enormous consequences”, he said, adding:
It would basically undermine supply chains the world over, particularly in Europe. It would also have an impact on Ukraine itself.
The change would have to be “diligent and not overnight”, combined with an acceleration in the take-up of green energy.
Updated
Lviv at limits of capacity to help displaced people, mayor says
The mayor of Lviv said the western Ukrainian city had reached the limits of its capacity to help people displaced by Russia’s assault on Ukraine and appealed to international organisations for help.
Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said several hundred thousand people had already passed through Lviv as they headed west seeking safety, Reuters reported.
Some 200,000 internally displaced persons were now staying in Lviv, and 50,000 were going through Lviv railway station daily.
“We understand there will be another wave [of refugees] ... and call on international humanitarian organisations to come here and help,” he said.
Hello. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest on Putin’s war over the next three and a half hours.
Updated
According to AP, senior US officials secretly travelled to Venezuela over the weekend in an attempt to unfreeze hostile relations with Vladimir Putin’s top ally in Latin America, a top oil exporter whose re-entry into US energy markets could mitigate the fallout at the pump from a possible oil embargo on Russia.
The outcome of the talks with Nicolas Maduro’s government wasn’t immediately clear.
The surprise visit came together after months of quiet backchannelling by intermediaries — American lobbyists, Norwegian diplomats and international oil executives — who have been pushing for Biden to revisit the failed “maximum pressure” campaign to unseat Maduro he inherited from the Trump administration.
But the impetus for a risky outreach to Maduro – who has been sanctioned and is indicted in New York on drug trafficking charges - took on added urgency following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ensuing US sanctions, which promises to reshuffle global alliances and add to rising gas prices driving inflation already at a four-decade high.
The US delegation was led by Juan Gonzalez, the National Security Council’s senior director for the western hemisphere, according to two individuals briefed on the visit on the condition of anonymity to discuss US policy.
He was accompanied by ambassador James Story, the top US diplomat in Caracas when the Trump administration broke off relations with Maduro in 2019 and recognised opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate president.
Updated
Violinist and teacher Vera Lytovchenko has traded a theatre for a basement and played her violin for fellow Kharkiv residents taking cover from Russian bombing.
Lytovchenko said she was inspired by seeing one of her students play in a makeshift bomb shelter at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It was very difficult to play and think about something that wasn’t war. But I decided I must do something,” Lytovchenko said. “We have become a family in this cellar and when I played they cried. They forget about the war for some moments and think about something else.”
Updated
The European Union is in the grip of a “growing gas crisis” aggravated by its dependency on Russia, Brussels will warn, as it makes a further push for energy savings and a switch to renewable power.
According to a draft paper on EU energy prices, which is due to be published on Tuesday, and which has been seen by the Guardian:
Gas and electricity prices will remain high and volatile until at least 2023. Compared to the outlook of last autumn, the situation has deteriorated.
Along with the rest of the world, the EU has been grappling with soaring energy prices for months, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has provoked soul searching about Europe’s gas dependency.
The union imports 40% of its gas from Russia, a figure unchanged in more than 15 years despite repeated gas crises triggered by Moscow cutting off supplies.
The policy paper also confirms that EU competition authorities are investigating the Russian state energy company Gazprom for its “unusual business behaviour”. The Russian company’s EU storage facilities are only 16% full, compared with 44% for non-Gazprom storage, raising suspicions that the Kremlin is using gas as a geopolitical tool.
The paper states:
The commission is currently investigating as a matter of priority all allegations of possible anti-competitive commercial conduct by Gazprom and gathering additional information from relevant market players.
The draft, from last week, makes no comment on extending EU sanctions to Russian oil. On Sunday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Washington was “in very active discussions” with European allies about a Russian oil ban.
The commission makes a series of recommendations, including calling for a rapid agreement on EU energy efficiency laws, estimated to result in 17bn cubic metres (bcm) of energy savings by 2025, part of the EU’s green deal plan.
The European Commission also wants more EU funds for new solar technologies, while member states are urged to use revenues from the EU’s carbon trading scheme to fund the switch to renewable energy.
EU imports of liquefied natural gas hit nearly 10 bcm in January, the highest-ever monthly level, as the union sought alternatives to Russian gas in the buildup to Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine.
The commission says it plans to hold talks with other major LNG buyers, namely China, Japan, South Korea and India, “with a view to avoiding conflictual market practices in the future, which raise the price of energy supplies for all”.
Separately, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU was working on a package of further sanctions against Russia in response to the “Kremlin’s recklessness towards citizens”.
Speaking alongside the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, she said:
We will be discussing the new enforcement package which we are working on right now … We have to make sure that there are no loopholes and that the effect of sanctions is really maximised.
In view of the evolution of the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s recklessness towards citizens: women, children, men, we are of course also working on further sanctions that might be warranted.
She did not elaborate on those details, but went on to say the EU must “get rid of the dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal”.
Updated
UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO HOLD A MEETING LATER ON MONDAY TO DISCUSS HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN UKRAINE - DIPLOMATS (Via Reuters)
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine shows that Nato needs to spend more on defence and improve the way the alliance works, Liz Truss has said (quotes via PA).
The foreign secretary told MPs:
There’s no doubt that the west didn’t act early enough or decisively enough. The reality is President Putin did not take the threats of deterrence seriously enough.
She told the Commons foreign affairs committee:
What we have to do now is we have to strengthen Nato, we particularly have to strengthen the eastern flank. We have already deployed more troops into Estonia but there is more to do. We have to be serious about defence spending, right across Nato.
Updated
Russian shelling preventing evacuation of civilians from besieged cities, Ukraine says
This, from Reuters:
Russian shelling is preventing the evacuation of civilians from Kyiv, Mariupol, Sumy, Kharkiv, Volnovakha and Mykolayiv, Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said.
“This prevents the safe passage of humanitarian columns with Ukrainian and foreign citizens, as well as the delivery of medicines and food,” it said in a statement.
The ministry called on foreign leaders to force Russia to observe a ceasefire to prevent what it said could be a humanitarian catastrophe.
Updated
Gymnastics’ governing body has condemned the “shocking behaviour” of the Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who now faces a lengthy ban for wearing a symbol in support of the invasion of Ukraine on the medal podium of a World Cup event.
After winning bronze in the parallel bars final at the Apparatus World Cup in Doha, Kuliak taped the letter “Z” to the front of his outfit before standing next to the gold medallist, Illia Kovtun of Ukraine, for the national anthems.
The “Z”, a letter that does not exist in the Cyrillic Russian alphabet, is regarded as particularly incendiary given it has been seen daubed on Russian tanks and vehicles in Ukraine and has come to symbolise support for president Vladimir Putin and the invasion.
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Roman Stepanovych is no stranger to war. In an award-winning career for English-language news outlets including the Associated Press and Vice News, the 32-year-old Ukrainian journalist has reported from Syria, Chechnya and Myanmar, as well as covering the conflict closer to home in the Donbas region.
In the 12 days since Russia invaded, however, he has been dealing with an entirely new reality. It is not just his own safety on the line any more: his children, parents, friends and Zaborona, the independent news website he and his wife founded in 2017, are at risk too.
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As Simon Speakman Cordall and Lizzy Davies point out in this piece, the effects of the war in Ukraine are already being felt in the Middle East and north Africa ...
Concerns are growing across the Middle East and north Africa that the war in Ukraine will send prices of staple foods soaring as wheat supplies are hit, potentially fuelling unrest. Russia and Ukraine supply a quarter of the world’s wheat exports, while Egypt is the world’s biggest importer of wheat.
In Tunisia, like many people queueing for bread in Tunis’s sprawling medina, or old town, Khmaes Ammani, a day labourer, said the rising cost of living was leaving him squeezed. “There’s never any money at the end of the month,” he said. “I even have to borrow some. Everything is getting more expensive.”
Nearly half of Tunisia’s wheat imports come from Ukraine, and the Russian invasion has sent prices to a 14-year high. Even though the Tunisian state controls the price of bread, people fear they will inevitably feel the crunch.
“If the price of bread goes up, it’ll mean cutbacks elsewhere,” said Ammani. “We need the bread.”
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The Russian rouble has slumped to new record lows against the dollar and euro today, losing over a third of its value so far this year. The rouble traded at 131.25 per dollar and 143.3 per euro on Monday morning.
The slide comes as more international businesses say they are pulling out of Russia over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Finnish food group giant Valio said it was quitting the Russian market, while accounting firms PwC and KPMG also announced over the weekend they were halting their operations in Russia, amid an exodus of western companies from the country.
“We strongly condemn Russia’s invasion of independent Ukraine,” the Valio president and CEO, Annikka Hurme, said.
Earlier, a string of international firms including Toyota, Honda, Nike, Apple, Exxon, Ford, Netflix and Ikea said they were stopping their work in Russia.
Analysts have offered a bleak forecast of the country’s economy in the face of unprecedented western sanctions.
The Institute for International Finance (IIF) last week predicted a 15% contraction in Russia’s GDP in 2022, double the decline the country saw from the global financial crisis.
“We see risks as tilted to the downside. Russia will never be the same again,” wrote IIF’s chief economist, Robin Brooks.
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The Ukrainian envoy to Israel has voiced frustration with its refusal to provide what his country deems defensive aid against Russia, donning a helmet at a news conference and asking rhetorically how such equipment could be regarded as lethal.
But Yevgen Korniychuk also expressed gratitude for Israel’s efforts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, saying this outweighed any possible military assistance from it.
While condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel has limited itself to humanitarian relief and kept open channels to Moscow. The Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, held surprise talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, there on Saturday.
“Everyone must do everything, everything in their capacity to stop this terrible human tragedy, which no one thought we would see in our lifetimes,” Bennett, who has disclosed few details about the three-hour Kremlin meeting, told a conference.
Koriychuk said Bennett had pledged to try to broker peace “even if there is just one per cent [chance] of success”.
“This is much more important than, for example, sales of weapons or munitions, et cetera, that we are still fighting (about) with the Israeli government,” the diplomat said, adding that Kyiv understood Bennett’s limitations on the assistance issue.
However, Koriychuk noted that Ukraine also had an unmet request for Israeli protective vests and helmets, one of which he stood to place on his head as he spoke:
Please tell me, how you can kill with this thing? This is simply not possible. So I don’t know what these people are afraid of. To provide personal security for Ukrainians ... that’s the simplest thing they can do.
Russia has said anyone providing lethal weaponry for Ukraine to use in the fighting “will bear responsibility”. The Russian embassy in Israel declined comment on the Putin-Bennett meeting.
(Via Reuters)
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European Union leaders will discuss Ukraine’s application to join the 27-nation bloc in the coming days, the chairman of EU summits, Charles Michel, said in a tweet on Monday.
“The EU’s solidarity, friendship and unprecedented assistance for Ukraine are unwavering. We will discuss Ukraine’s membership application in coming days,” he said.
EU leaders are scheduled to discuss the war in Ukraine and the country’s bid to join the EU at an informal summit in Paris on Thursday.
The EU’s solidarity, friendship and unprecedented assistance for #Ukraine are unwavering.
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) March 7, 2022
We will discuss Ukraine’s membership application in coming days.
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The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said that the situation in Ukraine is getting worse every day and that France will continue to put pressure on Russia through sanctions.
“The situation is worsening each day. People die, fatigue settles in ... we have not managed to obtain a ceasefire,” Macron told LCI television.
Russia announced new “humanitarian corridors” on Monday to transport Ukrainians trapped under its bombardment - to Russia itself and its ally Belarus, in a move which was immediately denounced by Kyiv as an immoral stunt.
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Polish planes “will not fight over Ukraine” to support the embattled country’s defence against Russia, Polish government officials said on Monday.
Marcin Przydacz, a deputy foreign minister, said in an interview on Radio Zet:
We will not open our airports and Polish planes will not fight over Ukraine ... Polish planes will not fight over Ukraine.
But, separately, the government’s spokesman Piotr Mueller indicated a final decision had not been made, the Associated Press reported. He said that the decision on whether to send fighter jets presented risks and was a “very delicate matter’.
The comments come after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asked the US to help Kyiv get more warplanes to fight Russia’s invasion and retain control of its airspace.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Washington was looking at a proposal under which Poland would supply Kyiv with Soviet-era fighters and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss.
Poland has been less than enthusiastic about the idea, at least publicly, largely because Russia has warned that supporting Ukraine’s air force would be seen in Moscow as participating in the war and could create a risk of retaliation.
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Italy’s prime minister has called for European Union countries to act swiftly with sanctions against Russian individuals and companies following Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
“And now we have to act, all of us, with speed on this point,” Mario Draghi said in Brussels in brief comments to reporters ahead of a meeting with European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
On Saturday, the Italian government said police seized villas and yachts worth €143m (£118) from five high-profile Russians who were placed on sanctions lists.
In separate remarks after meeting Von der Leyen, Draghi said Italy, France and Germany were swiftly implementing sanctions against Russian oligarchs, while “others less so”. He didn’t give further details, Reuters reported.
“We don’t rule out more sanctions, but we didn’t discuss this (with Von der Leyen),” Draghi said.
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The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine will meet near the Turkish Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya this week, Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said.
Çavuşoğlu said on Monday he would take part in the meeting between Russia’s Sergei Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine, which would be in a “trilateral format”.
The meeting will take place on the sidelines of an international diplomacy forum, the Reuters news agency reported.
Turkey, which has close ties to both Russia and Ukraine, has sought to place itself as a mediator between the warring sides.
I’m Tom Ambrose and will be bringing you the latest news from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine over the next hour and then again later this afternoon.
Refugees trying to escape the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol using so-called humanitarian corridors were left stranded as the road they were directed towards was mined, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.
Dominik Stillhart, director of operations at the ICRC, urged both military forces to come to an immediate agreement on the exact routes and times available for those seeking safe passage out of the country.
He told BBC Radio:
So far we have seen, unfortunately, only agreements in principle. But they have immediately broken down because they lack precision. They lack the kind of … agreements over times, over roads, over whether people can go out or goods can come in.
To just give you an idea, we have a team in Mariupol on the ground. They were ready yesterday [Sunday] despite the fact that it was not entirely clear what exactly the agreement was.
As soon as they reached the first checkpoint, they realised that the road that was indicated to them was actually mined.
Efforts to get people out of Mariupol - the scene of ferocious fighting - collapsed for a second day running on Sunday with both sides accusing each other of breaching a ceasefire agreement.
(Via AFP)
Updated
Here's a summary of this morning's main developments
- Ukraine has criticised a proposal by Moscow to open refugee corridors as “immoral” and “unacceptable” after the Russian defence ministry announced civilians fleeing some cities would only be allowed to leave for Belarus or Russia.
- The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has warned that as many as 5 million Ukrainians are expected to flee the country if the Russian invasion continues, adding that Europe needs to ready itself for huge numbers of refugees.
-
More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the start of the Russian invasion, with 142,300 people arriving on Sunday alone. The Polish government has said it will create an 8 billion zloty ($1.75bn) fund to help the war refugees.
- The British government has denied that the UK is to offer Ukrainian refugees a new humanitarian-based route to the country - and confirmed it was possible only 50 people have been granted visas so far.
- Russia has snubbed a hearing at the United Nations’ top court into a legal bid by Kyiv to halt Moscow’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.
- China says it is open to helping to mediate peace, but has stressed that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow is still very strong.
- Almost 5,000 people were detained for demonstrating in Russia on Sunday, according to an independent monitoring group.
Updated
About 2,000 civilians have so far been evacuated from the town of Irpin near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, police said on Monday.
A police statement did not make clear over what period the evacuations had taken place. Ukrainians fleeing Irpin were caught in shelling by Russian forces on Sunday and forced to dive for cover, Reuters witnesses said.
Meanwhile, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, plan to meet on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum in the Turkish resort of Antalya on 10 March, Russian news agencies are reporting.
Updated
The prime ministers of the Visegrad Four countries - Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - will meet in London on Tuesday to discuss the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said on Monday in a Facebook video.
Orbán also reiterated that the government of Hungary has published a decree which makes it clear that no weapons shipments can go to Ukraine from Hungarian territory.
(Via Reuters)
Levi Strauss & Co is temporarily suspending commercial operations in Russia, including any new investments, joining a slew of western brands that have halted operations in the country following its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.
“In 2021, approximately 4% of the company’s total net revenues were derived from eastern Europe, half of which was related to Russia,” the firm said in a statement.
On Sunday, the streaming giant Netflix, three of the Big Four accounting firms - KPMG, EY and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) - and the credit card company American Express cut ties with Russia.
The French yoghurt maker Danone, which makes around 6% of its sales in Russia and Ukraine, said on Sunday it was suspending investment in Russia and that one of its two factories had closed in Ukraine.
McDonald’s Corp and PepsiCo Inc are among companies continuing to operate in Russia, prompting New York state’s pension fund - a shareholder in the pair - to urge them to consider pausing their operations there.
Updated
The Polish government plans to create an 8 billion zloty ($1.75bn) fund to help war refugees from Ukraine, a government official said on Monday.
The UN estimates more than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia attacked its neighbour on 24 February.
More than 1 million have crossed the border into Poland. Many thousands have been hosted across the country, but the aid effort has been predominantly shouldered by non-governmental organisations, volunteers and municipalities.
The government was due to introduce a bill later on Monday on an aid package to fund food and temporary lodgings for refugees, along with measures allowing them to legally work and access public healthcare and social assistance in Poland.
“Our initial assumption is that the fund we will set up will amount to about 8 billion zloty. That will finance the most urgent supplies and lodging but also the access to the labour market, social benefits and education,” minister Łukasz Schreiber told private broadcaster Radio Plus on Monday.
The bill, which would also provide a 300 zloty one-off benefit for each refugee and financial assistance for Poles hosting Ukrainians, was set to be approved by parliament on Tuesday in a fast track legislative procedure. (Via Reuters)
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has assured Lithuania of Nato protection and American support as he began a lightning visit to the three Baltic states that are increasingly on edge as Russia presses ahead with its invasion of Ukraine.
The former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are all Nato members and Blinken is aiming to reassure them of their security in the event Russia chooses to expand its military operations.
“We are bolstering our shared defence so that we and our allies are prepared,” Blinken said on Monday, stressing that the US commitment to Nato’s mutual defence pact is “sacrosanct”.
“We will defend every inch of Nato territory if it comes under attack,” he said. “No one should doubt our readiness, no one should doubt our resolve.”
Blinken opened his Baltic tour in Vilnius, where Lithuanian support for Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion is palpable as signs of solidarity with Ukrainians are evident in many businesses and on public buildings and buses.
“Unfortunately, the worsening security situation in the Baltic region is of great concern for all of us and around the world,” the Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nauseda, told Blinken.
“Russia’s reckless aggression against Ukraine once again proves that it is a long-term threat to European security, the security of our alliance.”
Nauseda said a policy of deterrence was no longer enough and that “forward defence” was now needed. He predicted that “Putin will not stop in Ukraine if he will not be stopped.”
“It is our collective duty as a nation to help all Ukrainians with all means available,” said Nauseda. “By saying all, I mean, indeed all means all, if we want to avoid the third world war. The choice is in our hands.”
(Via AP)
Updated
We have nowhere to go, and nowhere to go back to. We don’t know what to do next. We are desperate; we didn’t expect the scale of destruction that we saw when we came out of the basement.
Even when we were sitting there and hearing the shelling, we didn’t expect that. The houses are all destroyed. I’ve seen the footage on the internet.
“We don’t have a lot of money to support ourselves or to travel. We need to find a new place where we can start again. We have nothing but a few papers and what is on our phone. Even our family photos that we stored on our computer don’t exist any more.
Updated
Nikolai Kuleba, the ombudsman for children with the office of the president of Ukraine, has written an utterly heart-breaking piece for the Guardian about what the country’s children and their parents are having to endure.
Here’s an excerpt:
Daily, parents call me pleading for assistance to evacuate their children, willing to take any risk to find safety. I cannot help them all now. I cannot tell them they are wrong to ask.
As families are divided, mothers and fathers pin their names to their children’s coats and inhale the smell of their hair before the bus door must shut.
To answer their plea is also to break their hearts. To those who have Ukraine’s children in their care – know they are loved and cherished. Please tell them this and put them to bed each night with a kiss on their foreheads, as their mothers and fathers would.
For the children who are still here, there is no safety, only terror.
Across the country, schools are being deliberately destroyed, leaving wreckage strewn with tiny chairs and brightly coloured paper. Small shoes, left neatly lined up for the next day, are scattered and charred. There is no military purpose to attacking primary schools, only savagery.
An earlier blogpost featuring a tweet from Shaun Walker has been deleted because of possible security concerns.
Updated
My colleagues Jon Henley and Peter Beaumont have written this piece on Ukraine’s furious reaction to Russia’s “humanitarian corridors”, which will only allow people fleeing the war into Russia or Belarus.
Ukraine has criticised a proposal by Moscow to open refugee corridors as “completely immoral” after the Russian defence ministry announced that civilians fleeing some cities would only be allowed to leave for Belarus or Russia.
As Russian forces continued to pound Ukrainian cities, with rockets hitting residential buildings, Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said negotiations were under way with Russia on establishing safe routes out.
But humanitarian corridors were unlikely to be set up while Russian forces keep trying to advance, Arestovich said, adding that although Ukrainians should be able to decide individually where they wanted to go, evacuating to Russia was not advisable.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian presidency, meanwhile, said people must be allowed to flee their homes through Ukrainian territory. “This is a completely immoral story. People’s suffering is used to create the desired television picture,” he said.
Nothing to add to this picture ...
Russia backs UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi’s idea of a trilateral meeting with Ukraine on ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities there during Russia’s invasion - but not at Chernobyl as Grossi wants, Moscow’s envoy to the watchdog said.
“Russia supported Grossi’s idea regarding a trilateral meeting and we expect that the Ukrainians will also be cooperative,” Russia’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mikhail Ulyanov, told reporters on Monday.
“I believe Chernobyl is not the best place for such a meeting. There are numerous capitals in the world.”
(Via Reuters)
Updated
A Foreign Office minister has denied that the UK is to offer Ukrainian refugees a new humanitarian-based route to the country, as he confirmed that it was possible only 50 people have been granted visas so far.
James Cleverly, the minister for Europe and America, said the figures for refugees processed “will move very, very quickly”, but said it was taking time because there were procedures that needed to be followed.
So far the UK has only been accepting those of the 1.3 million-plus Ukrainians to have fled the country since Russia invaded if they have family connections in the UK. On Monday, the Sun quoted Priti Patel, the home secretary, as saying she was “investigating the legal options to create a humanitarian route”.
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According to snaps from Reuters, Volodmyr Zelenskiy has said that the future of Europe is being decided by Ukrainian resistance, and has called for western leaders to give him military aircraft. The Ukrainian president has also urged a boycott of Russian oil and exports.
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Russia hasn’t bothered to attend today’s international court of justice hearing in the Hague, AP reports.
Russia has snubbed a hearing at the United Nations’ top court into a legal bid by Kyiv to halt Moscow’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.
A row of seats reserved for Russian lawyers at the international court of justice was empty Monday morning as the hearing opened.
The court’s president, American judge Joan E Donoghue, said Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands informed judges that “his government did not intend to participate in the oral proceedings”. The hearing went ahead without the Russian delegation.
Updated
For the sake of completeness ...
Somewhat bizarre to have endless messages in my mentions telling my this is photoshopped and “schooling” me in being able to recognise fakes. I took the photograph myself three hours ago. Here it is from further away. pic.twitter.com/VCmxwyCiYV
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 7, 2022
Some people on Twitter are incorrectly claiming that the picture Shaun Walker tweeted from Odesa earlier today was photoshopped. It wasn’t. Shaun took the picture himself this morning.
Road sign in Odessa
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 7, 2022
Straight on: fuck off
Left: fuck off again
Right: fuck off to Russia pic.twitter.com/2c1dzKxno9
Some more detail here, via Reuters, on Kyiv’s fury over the new “humanitarian corridors” announced by Russia.
According to maps published by the RIA news agency, the corridors will only allow civilians to head for non-Ukrainian territories, with the corridor from Kyiv leading to Belarus, while civilians from Kharkiv will only be permitted to go only to Russia.
Russia will also mount an airlift to take Ukrainians from Kyiv to Russia, the country’s defence ministry said.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told Reuters the move was “completely immoral”, adding that Russia was trying to “use people’s suffering to create a television picture”.
They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine. This is one of the problems that is causing the humanitarian corridors to break down. They seem to agree to them, but they themselves want to supply humanitarian aid for a picture on TV, and want the corridors to lead in their direction.
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President Macron has, among other things, asked for international law to be respected, for the protection of civilian populations and the unfettered access of [humanitarian] aid.
He reminded [Putin] of the importance of a negotiated solution fully acceptable to the Ukrainians. Respect for international humanitarian law is first of all to stop the bombings and the [military] offensive.
That is what we have asked for in a repeated manner since the start of the war. We have asked for the Russians to stop the combat, to protect civilians and allow unfettered access to aid. We remind you that it is Russia waging war on Ukraine and not Ukraine waging war on Russia
Updated
South Korea announces further economic sanctions on Russia
South Korea has become the latest country to announces further economic action in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports:
From Tuesday, South Korea will immobilise any assets held by the Russian central bank in won currency and stop transactions with Russia’s central bank, following similar moves by the US and the EU, its finance ministry said.
South Korea also announced new penalties on key Russian sovereign wealth funds, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation and Russian Direct Investment Fund, as well as Rossiya Bank, to cut them off from any business with South Korean people and companies.
The measures follow South Korea’s decision last week to ban transactions with seven major Russian banks and their affiliates, including Sberbank.
Details of any Russian central bank assets held in won cannot be disclosed without the holder’s consent, a finance ministry official said.
Updated
As many as 5 million Ukrainians are expected to flee the country if Russia’s bombing of Ukraine continues, the EU’s top diplomat has just warned. Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, says Europe needed to ready itself for the arrivals:
We must prepare to receive around five million people ... We must mobilise all the resources of the EU to help those countries receiving people. We will need more schools, more reception centres - more of everything.
Borrell also pledged more scrutiny of EU aid spending in countries that have supported Russia diplomatically or abstained from criticising Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
As AP reports here, legal moves are afoot to try to stop the war even as the fighting, bombing and refugee flight continue ...
As Russian forces pound Ukrainian cities with rockets despite announcing a ceasefire to allow civilians to flee some areas, lawyers representing Kyiv and Moscow face off on Monday at the United Nations’ top court in a legal bid to halt the devastating war.
The International Court of Justice is opening two days of hearings at its headquarters, the Peace Palace, into Ukraine’s request for its judges to order Russia to halt its invasion. Ukraine is scheduled to present its arguments on Monday morning and Russia can respond on Tuesday.
Ukraine has asked the court to order Russia to “immediately suspend the military operations … that have as their stated purpose and objective the prevention and punishment of a claimed genocide” in the separatist eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
A decision is expected on the request within days, though it remains to be seen if Russia would abide by any order the court might issue.
If the court were to order a halt to hostilities, “I think the chance of that happening is zero,” said Terry Gill, a professor of military law at the University of Amsterdam. He noted that if a nation does not abide by the court’s order, judges could seek action from the United Nations security council, where Russia holds a veto.
The request for so-called provisional measures is linked to a case Ukraine has filed based on the Genocide Convention. Both countries have ratified the 1948 treaty, which has a clause allowing nations to take disputes based on its provisions to The Hague-based court.
Kyiv argues that Moscow’s claims of genocide by Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk thatPresident Vladimir Putin used as a pretext for his invasion are fabricated.
“Ukraine emphatically denies that any such genocide has occurred, and that the Russian Federation has any lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine for the purpose of preventing and punishing genocide,” the country said in its claim to the court.
Ukraine’s nine-page legal filing launching the case argues that “Russia has turned the Genocide Convention on its head” by making a false claim. It adds that “Russia’s lie is all the more offensive, and ironic, because it appears that it is Russia planning acts of genocide in Ukraine.”
The success of Ukraine’s request will depend on whether the court accepts it has “prima facie jurisdiction” in the case, which is not a guarantee that the court ultimately would proceed with the suit. Cases at the international court of justice typically take years to complete.
Updated
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has stressed that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow is still very strong - despite international condemnation of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine - and says China is open to helping mediate peace.
Beijing has walked a tight diplomatic tightrope throughout the crisis, refusing to condemn its close ally Moscow after only last month touting a “no limits” strategic partnership between the two countries.
“The friendship between the two peoples is rock-solid, and both sides’ future cooperation prospects are very vast,” Wang told an annual press briefing on Monday.
But he said China was “willing to work with the international community to carry out necessary mediation, when necessary”.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said last week that China should mediate future peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as Western powers cannot fulfil the role.
Beijing has repeatedly said it would play a “constructive role in calling for negotiations” to resolve the crisis, but has not previously committed to joining or hosting any peace talks.
Wang also said China would send humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
He described the China-Russia relationship as “the world’s most crucial bilateral relationship”, which “is conducive to world peace, stability and development”.
The foreign minister referred to last month’s partnership commitment as “clearly and unmistakably showing the world” that both countries “jointly oppose the revival of the Cold War mentality and stoking ideological confrontations”.
Wang also said the informal alliance would “not brook interference by third parties”, in a warning to the US and its Western allies who in recent days have lobbied China to play a more active role in mediating the conflict. (Via AFP)
Here’s an example of the widespread scepticism that’s meeting Russia’s claims of a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors (Via PA):
The UK’s Europe minister, James Cleverly, said Russia’s latest offer of a ceasefire and an escape route for civilians was “cynical beyond belief”.
Two previous attempts to create humanitarian corridors have ended with civilians being shelled as they tried to flee to safety.
Evacuation routes published by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency showed that civilians will only be able to leave to Russia and Belarus.
Cleverly told BBC Breakfast:
It appears cynical beyond belief. There is a view that Vladimir Putin believed there was a widespread desire of Ukrainians to be closer to Russia, to be more Russian. I think that has been proven to be a complete nonsense by the circumstances we are seeing. Providing evacuation routes into the arms of the country that is currently destroying yours is a nonsense.
He added:
Ultimately the most humanitarian thing the Russians could do is end this completely illegal, completely unjustified invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s our full story on how more than one million people have arrived in Poland after fleeing the war in Ukraine:
My colleague Shaun Walker’s latest post on Ukraine’s pithy road signage ...
Road sign in Odessa
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 7, 2022
Straight on: fuck off
Left: fuck off again
Right: fuck off to Russia pic.twitter.com/2c1dzKxno9
A spokesman for Volodymr Zelenskiy has just described Russia’s stance on the humanitarian corridors as “completely immoral”.
Russia’s announcement of a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors doesn’t appear to have stopped its forces targeting Ukrainian cities, according to Associated Press in Lviv:
Even as Russia announced a ceasefire starting Monday morning and the opening of humanitarian corridors in several areas, its armed forces continued to pummel Ukrainian cities, with multiple rocket launchers hitting residential buildings.
The limited ceasefire announcement came a day after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety were forced to shelter from Russian shelling of cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south. Officials from both sides planned a third round of talks Monday.
Russian forces continued their offensive, opening fire on the city of Mykolaiv, 480km south of the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine’s General Staff said Monday morning. Rescuers said they were putting out fires in residential areas caused by rocket attacks.
Shelling also continued in the suburbs of Kyiv, including Irpin, which has been cut off from electricity, water and heating for three days.
“Russia continues to carry out rocket, bomb and artillery strikes on the cities and settlements of Ukraine,” the General Staff said. “The invaders continue to use the airfield network of Belarus to carry out air strikes on Ukraine.”
The Russians have also been targeting humanitarian corridors, taking women and children hostage and placing weapons in residential areas of cities, according to the General Staff.
A Russian task force said a ceasefire would start Monday morning, the 12th day of the war, for civilians from Kyiv, the southern port city of Mariupol, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and Sumy.
It wasn’t immediately clear if fighting would stop beyond the areas mentioned in the task force’s statement, or when the ceasefire would end.
The announcement follows two failed attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, from which the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated 200,000 people were trying to flee. Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the failure. The Russian task force said Monday’s ceasefire and the opening of the corridors was announced at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
Evacuation routes published by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, citing the Defence Ministry, show that civilians will be able to leave to Russia and Belarus. Russian forces will be observing the ceasefire with drones, the task force said.
The British government - which has been accused by France of showing a “lack of humanity” when it comes to helping the Ukrainian refugees who have fled the Russian invasion - has defended its response.
The UK’s Europe minister, James Cleverly, said a new scheme had only just launched following criticism that it was far too restrictive.
We have processes in place whereby people with family here in the UK and indeed those without family in the UK can come to the UK. I would remind you that the process has only just started and the vast majority of people are physically still in the countries neighbouring Ukraine.
Cleverly also told Times Radio that the UK Britain would consider banning oil imports from Russia, after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Washington and Europe were exploring the idea.
We import very, very little Russian hydrocarbons anyway. So that’s something that we will of course, consider.
A total of around 1.067 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the Russian invasion on 24 February, with 142,300 arriving on Sunday alone, the Polish Border Guard has said.
The force said Monday was also shaping up to be another day of massive arrivals:
Traffic on the Polish-Ukrainian border is growing, today at 07.00, 42,000 people arrived in Poland from Ukraine.
(Via Reuters)
Updated
Good morning. This is Sam Jones, taking over the blog from my colleague Samantha Lock. A quick update on yesterday’s story on the massive arrests of people taking part in anti-war protests in Russia. According to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info, almost 5,000 people were detained for demonstrating in Russia yesterday.
Почти 5000 человек были задержаны 6 марта на антивоенных акциях протеста.
— ОВД-Инфо (@OvdInfo) March 7, 2022
Задержания проходили в Москве, Санкт-Петербурге, Екатеринбурге и еще в 66 российских городах.
Список задержанных и подсудность отделов полиции: https://t.co/hX3yFaeKzu. pic.twitter.com/ynsZivpSpL
Amid reports of probable Russian attacks on Ukrainian communication infrastructure, Cyber resistance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, with hacking collective Anonymous claiming earlier today to have hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One, Moscow 24 to broadcast footage from Ukraine.
The group added that activists are also broadcasting troll faces on Russian military radio.
The hacking collective #Anonymous hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi (like Netflix) and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One, Moscow 24 to broadcast war footage from Ukraine [today] pic.twitter.com/hzqcXT1xRU
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) March 6, 2022
Activists are broadcasting troll faces on Russian military radio pic.twitter.com/lovN3WNVa2
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) March 6, 2022
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Russia is “probably targeting” Ukraine’s communication infrastructure to reduce access to reliable news sources, Britain’s ministry of defence has said.
A recently published defence intelligence update reads:
Russia is probably targeting Ukraine’s communications infrastructure in order to reduce Ukrainian citizens’ access to reliable news and information.
Russia reportedly struck a TV tower in Kharkiv yesterday, suspending broadcasting output. This follows a similar strike on a TV tower in Kyiv on 01 March 2022.
Ukrainian internet access is also highly likely being disrupted as a result of collateral damage from Russian strikes on infrastructure. Over the past week, internet outages have been reported in Mariupol, Sumy, Kyiv and Kharkiv.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 07 March 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 7, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/D3NG9b9zMX
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/lIjezjELsE
US President Joe Biden’s advisers are discussing a possible visit to Saudi Arabia to help repair relations and convince the Kingdom to bolster oil production, Axios reports.
The news also comes amid reports from the New York Times that Biden officials travelled to Venezuela over the weekend to meet with the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Those in Washington have suggested Venezuela’s oil could replace Russia’s.
A White House spokesperson told Axios: “We don’t have any international travel to announce at this time, and a lot of this is premature speculation.”
The questions of global energy supply and a possible rearrangement of world alliances has come to the fore in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US currently relies on Russia for 10% of its imports of crude oil and petroleum products, sources suggest.
On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said US lawmakers were “exploring” possible legislation to isolate Russia, including a total ban on Russian oil and energy products to the US.
It’s been a rough start to the week on the financial markets with Brent crude soaring by more than $20 earlier today to more than $139 – less than $10 off its all-time high of $147.50 set in July 2008. It has now dropped back to $129 and with some analysts saying it could reach $200, stock markets have read the signals loud and clear, selling off heavily again in Asia.
The Nikkei in Tokyo was down almost 3%, the Hang Seng was off 3.6% and the Shanghai index has lost 2.3%. In futures trade, the FTSE100 is off 2.6% and the S&P500 down 1.3%.
European Opening Calls:#FTSE 6828 -2.28%#DAX 12725 -2.82%#CAC 5909 -2.52%#AEX 657 -2.21%#MIB 21858 -2.70%#IBEX 7495 -2.92%#OMX 1947 -1.96%#SMI 11177 -1.09%#STOXX 3470 -2.42%#IGOpeningCall
— IGSquawk (@IGSquawk) March 7, 2022
The panic on trading floors sent safe havens sharply higher, with gold hitting as much as $2,000.86, its highest since mid-2020.
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New Zealand will rush a bill through parliament this week that will significantly ramp up its sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs, in line with its western allies.
The Russia Sanctions Bill is the “first of its kind” in New Zealand, which has no legal framework for passing broader, unilateral sanctions and usually only does so when called on by the UN security council. As a permanent member of the body, Moscow has vetoed any action against it.
“A bill of this nature has never been brought before our parliament, but with Russia vetoing UN sanctions we must act ourselves to support Ukraine and our partners in opposition to this invasion,” the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said.
Ukrainian authorities claim to have re-taken the city of Chuhuiv in eastern Ukraine.
According to a report released by Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces, Russian forces “suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment”.
The Guardian has been unable to verify these reports.
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Japan is reportedly in discussion with the United States and other European countries about possibly banning Russian oil imports, Kyodo News reported on Monday.
Asked about a potential embargo on Russian oil imports, Japanese chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno declined to comment on the country’s communication with the United States.
Russia accounted for 3.63% of Japan’s imports of crude oil last year, Reuters reports.
The report comes after US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Sunday the United States and European allies were exploring the possibility.
While sanctions imposed on Russia are not expected to directly affect Japan’s ability to ensure a stable supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG), they could indirectly affect energy-related projects, industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said.
“We will closely monitor (developments),” he said in parliament, adding that Japan would act appropriately in step with the Group of Seven.
We’re receiving more information surrounding the corridors Russia has reportedly agreed to open this morning.
According to various Russian state media outlets all citing Russia’s defence ministry, the corridors - which will be opened from the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy - are being set up at the personal request of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Some corridors appear to involve the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians to Russian cities and Belarus.
According to routes published by the RIA Novosti news agency, the corridor from Kyiv will lead to Belarus, and civilians who are seeking to flee Kharkiv will only have one corridor leading to Russia.
Corridors from Mariupol and Sumy will lead both to other Ukrainian cities and to Russia.
Those who want to leave Kyiv will also be able to be airlifted to Russia, the ministry said, adding that it would use drones to monitor the evacuation and “attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilised world ... are useless this time”.
Two planned evacuation operations from Mariupol and the nearby city of Volnovakha failed over the last two days as both sides accused each other of failing to stop shooting and shelling.
In Mariupol alone, Ukrainian authorities said they planned to evacuate over 200,000 civilians, or half of the city’s population. However, Russia claimed its forces resumed their offensive in Mariupol and Volnovakha due to “unwillingness of the Ukrainian side.”
This is the third "attempt" at humanitarian corridor, this time at Macron's request. It also comes on the same day talks are being held.
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) March 7, 2022
I would not discount that this is meant to create a false narrative that Moscow "really tried", and blame Ukraine for whatever happens next.
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Reports are filtering in of a Russian attack on the city of Mykolaiv near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.
Russian forces reportedly bombarded the city with artillery fire on Monday morning, just one day after Ukrainian troops pushed them from the city limits.
Footage purporting to show a heavy artillery barrage against Mykolaiv was uploaded to Twitter by New York Times reporter Michael Schwirtz.
“From my vantage, I could see flashes from the attack lighting up the night sky along a large swath of the city,” Schwirtz wrong alongside a 10-second clip.
The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych, confirmed reports in a message posted to Facebook, writing that Russian troops had targeted residential buildings in the city, and shared a video of a block of flats engulfed in flames.
“There are many shells in the city that did not explode... do not approach, do not lift, and do not try to move them yourself,” Senkevych warned.
Миколаїв. Російські терористи обстрілювали житловий будинок. pic.twitter.com/WI6RE6cHuq
— Верховна Рада України (@verkhovna_rada) March 7, 2022
Russian forces appear to have launched a heavy artillery barrage against Mykolaiv, a day after Ukrainian troops pushed them from the city and recaptured the airport. From my vantage, I could see flashes from the attack lighting up the night sky along a large swath of the city. pic.twitter.com/cm4E0cNtN3
— Michael Schwirtz (@mschwirtz) March 7, 2022
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Russian forces announce ceasefire and open corridors - reports suggest
The Russian military will reportedly hold fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities, the Interfax news agency reports.
Corridors will be opened from Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy at the request of French president Emmanuel Macron, the agency cities the Russian defence ministry as saying.
RIA Novosti also reports:
The Russian armed forces, following a request from French President Emmanuel Macron to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, declare a ceasefire regime from 10:00 and open humanitarian corridors, the Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine said in a statement. Thus, civilians will be able to leave Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkov and Sumy.
At the same time, during the opening of humanitarian corridors, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will carry out continuous objective monitoring of the evacuation, including with the use of UAVs. Therefore, we warn that all attempts by the Ukrainian side to once again deceive Russia and the entire civilised world in disrupting the humanitarian operation, allegedly through the fault of the Russian Federations this time around are useless and pointless.”
The corridors will reportedly be in place from 10am Moscow time.
Russian state media outlet Russia Today quotes the ministry: “Kyiv’s attempts to accuse Russia of disrupting the humanitarian operation this time are meaningless, control will be carried out with the help of drones.”
On Thursday, both Ukrainian and Russian sides agreed to open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians out of some combat zones, however Ukraine’s president said Russia withdrew on their promise. “We heard the promise that there would be humanitarian corridors. But there are no humanitarian corridors,” he said in a national address on Sunday night.
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'We will not forgive. We will not forget', Zelenskiy warns
In case you missed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s national address earlier, here are the highlights below.
In a characteristically impassioned address to his nation late on Sunday evening, Zelenskiy warned Russian troops he would punish those who committed atrocities in Ukraine adding that the “only quiet place” that awaits them would be the grave.
An excerpt of his speech, as translated by Ukrainian broadcaster Ukrinform, reads:
We will not forgive the destroyed houses. We will not forgive the missile that our air defence shot down over Okhmatdyt today. And more than five hundred other such missiles that hit our land. All over Ukraine .. hit our people and children.
We will not forgive the shooting of unarmed people. Destruction of our infrastructure.
We will not forgive.
Hundreds and hundreds of victims. Thousands and thousands of sufferings.
And God will not forgive. Not today. Not tomorrow. Never.
And instead of Forgiveness, there will be a Day of Judgment. I’m sure of it.”
Zelenskiy warned Russian forces they would face “a day of judgement” for the “deliberate murder” inflicted on his country.
How many such families have died in Ukraine?
We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war on our land.
We will find every bastard who shot at our cities, our people, who bombed our land, who launched rockets.
There will be no quiet place on this earth for you. Except for the grave.”
Meanwhile, in case you missed our report earlier, the UK’s ministry of defence released its latest intelligence brief, speculating that Russian forces made “minimal ground advances” over the weekend.
Russian forces probably made minimal ground advances over the weekend. It is highly unlikely that Russia has successfully achieved its planned objectives to date.”
The ministry noted a “high level of Russian air and artillery strikes” that continued to hit military and civilian sites in Ukrainian cities over the past 24 hours.
“Recent strikes have targeted Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv, and been particularly heavy in Mariupol,” the report added.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 06 March 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 6, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/eiocXaCcoT
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/MOPCAhea6i
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Some images from Irpin on Sunday, where Russian shells killed eight civilians who were trying to flee.
The Ukrainian military is reporting that Russian forces are continuing to launch rocket and artillery strikes from Belarus on settlements in Ukraine.
In an operational report released just before 7am local time, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said Russia continues to “violate the rules of international humanitarian law” by shelling civilians and green corridors as well as deploying equipment and ammunition in residential neighbourhoods.
The military also notes the city of Irpin on the western outskirts of Kyiv has been “deprived of light, water and heat for more than three days” adding: “there is no food and water, the occupiers banned the residents from leaving their homes.”
In an earlier report released late on Sunday night, the military said Russian troops were regrouping and accumulating resources “to storm Kyiv”.
The moment two Ukrainian reservists decided to tie the knot at a Kyiv checkpoint has been captured on video.
On day 11 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, long-term partners Lesia Ivashchenko and Valerii Filimonov married at a checkpoint in Kyiv on 6 March.
The couple, both members of Ukraine’s territorial defence unit, decided to forgo formal wear and don their uniforms instead.
US 'exploring' legislation to ban imports of Russian oil
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the chamber is “exploring” legislation to ban imports of Russian oil and that Congress intends to enact this week $10 billion in aid for Ukraine.
A letter published to the speaker of the house official website reads:
The Biden Administration has requested $10 billion in humanitarian, military and economic support for Ukraine.
The Congress intends to enact this emergency funding this week as part of our omnibus government funding legislation. And an urgent request from President Zelensky is to help ensure air support for the Ukrainian armed forces.
In addition, the House is currently exploring strong legislation that will further isolate Russia from the global economy.
Our bill would ban the import of Russian oil and energy products into the United States, repeal normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, and take the first step to deny Russia access to the World Trade Organization. We would also empower the Executive branch to raise tariffs on Russian imports.”
Oil prices have soared more than 10% and are closing in on their all-time high levels after the risk of a US and European ban on Russian crude threatened a stagflationary shock for world markets.
The global benchmark of Brent crude hit US$139.13 a barrel at the start of trading on Monday, a leap of more than $20 on Friday’s close of $118.03. The rise came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the White House and allies were in talks about banning imports from Russia.
The all-time of $147.50 was reached in July 2008 but some analysts think that mark could be surpassed because of the geopolitical impact of the Ukraine crisis.
Stock markets headed the opposite way with more big losses when trading began on Monday. The Nikkei in Tokyo was down more than 3%, as was the Hang Seng in Hong Kong. In futures trade, the FTSE100 off 2.6% and the S&P500 down 1.3%.
The panic on trading floors sent safe havens sharply higher, with gold hitting as much as $2,000.86, its highest since mid-2020.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock. Here is a rundown of the latest developments:
- Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivered a strident address to his nation on Sunday night, warning Russian troops he will punish those who committed atrocities in Ukraine while saying the “only quiet place” that awaits them is the grave. “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war on our land.”
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Zelenskiy spoke of the death of a family who were attempting to flee the Ukrainian city of Irpin, near Kyiv in northern Ukraine, in an emotional plea to honour humanitarian corridors that Russian forces appear to have ignored. Eight civilians were killed in the city as evacuations were under way, according to mayor Oleksandr Markushyn.
- The Ukrainian president criticised western leaders for failing to respond to the Russian defence ministry’s announcement that it would strike Ukraine’s military-industrial complex. “I didn’t hear even a single world leader react to this,” he said. “The audacity of the aggressor is a clear signal to the west that the sanctions imposed on Russia are not sufficient.”
- A plane carrying Russian diplomats expelled by the United States left New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport en route to Moscow about 7.30pm EST, according to Flight Radar24 data.
- The US does not believe a Russian amphibious assault in or near the Ukrainian city of Odesa is imminent, a senior US defence official said, according to Reuters. There have been growing concerns about a possible attack on the city.
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Russia has instructed all state-owned websites and services to switch to the Russian domain name system by 11 March, according to Russian state media outlets. Many fear the move is a sign that Russia is beginning active preparations for disconnection from the global internet.
- Meanwhile, hacking collective Anonymous claimed to have hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One and Moscow 24 to broadcast footage from Ukraine.
- Ukraine will ask the United Nations’ top court on Monday to issue an emergency ruling requiring Russia to stop its invasion, arguing that Moscow’s justification for the attack is based on a faulty interpretation of genocide law, Reuters reports.
- British prime minister Boris Johnson has pledged to send more defensive equipment and $100m to Ukraine to hold off Russian troops and mitigate financial pressures facing the country, but was accused of moving too slowly and timidly to clamp down on oligarchs’ dirty money in the UK.
- The UK’s ministry of defence released its latest intelligence report, speculating that Russian forces made “minimal ground advances” over the weekend, while a “high level of Russian air and artillery strikes” continued to hit military and civilian sites across the cities of Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.
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Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who sported an insignia linked to the invasion of Ukraine on a medals podium alongside a Ukrainian competitor, has been called out for his “shocking behaviour”.
- More than 4,300 people have been arrested in Russia after demonstrators took to the streets across 21 cities to condemn Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Another round of talks between Ukraine and Russia is due on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials. However, in a phone conversation with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Putin said the conflict would only stop if Ukraine stopped fighting and Russia’s demands were met. The Russian president also said Ukraine’s negotiators should take a more “constructive” approach in talks with Moscow to take into account the reality on the ground. Ukraine has said it is not willing to compromise on its territorial integrity.
- Oil prices have soared more than 10% and are closing in on their all-time high levels after the risk of a US and European ban on Russian crude threatened a stagflationary shock for world markets.
For any tips and feedback please contact me through Twitter or at samantha.lock@theguardian.com
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