- Humanitarian Corridor Talk Comes After Failed Ceasefire
- Oil prices rise as US considers oil ban in Russia
- Australia urges China to do more to stop Russian invasion
- Ukraine says Russian troops are preparing to storm Kyiv
LVIV/KYIV, Ukraine, March 7 – The Russian military will open fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities on Monday, the defense ministry said after fighting halted evacuations over the weekend and increased civilian casualties as a result of the Russian invasion .
The corridors will open at 10:00 Moscow time (07:00 Moscow time) from the capital of Kyiv, as well as from the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy, and are being created on the personal instructions of French President Emmanuel Macron, the department said.
According to the maps published by RIA, the corridor from Kyiv will lead to Russia’s allied Belarus, and the civilians of Kharkov will only have a corridor leading to Russia. Corridors from Mariupol and Sumy will lead both to other cities of Ukraine and to Russia.
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The ministry said those who want to leave Kyiv could also be airlifted to Russia, adding that drones would be used to monitor the evacuation.
“Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the entire civilized world … are useless this time,” the ministry said.
The Russian invasion was condemned around the world, causing more than 1.5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad, and sparked massive Western-led sanctions aimed at hurting the Russian economy.
Russia calls the February 24 campaign a “special military operation.” He has repeatedly denied attacks on civilian areas and says he has no plans to occupy Ukraine.
Oil prices soared to their highest level since 2008 in Asian trade after the Biden administration said it was looking into a ban on Russian oil imports. Russia provides 7% of world supplies. More
Japan, which considers Russia the fifth largest supplier of crude oil, is also in talks with the United States and European countries about a possible ban on Russian oil imports, Kyodo News reported on Monday.
Europe is dependent on Russia for crude oil and natural gas but has become more open to the idea of banning Russian products, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russian forces “are starting to accumulate resources for the assault on Kyiv, with a population of 3 million, after several days of slow progress in their main offensive south of Belarus.”
Some 200,000 people remained trapped in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol, according to Ukrainian authorities, most of whom slept underground to escape more than six days of shelling by Russian forces that cut food supplies, according to Ukrainian authorities. , water, electricity and heating. More
About half of the city’s 400,000 people were due to be evacuated on Sunday, but that attempt was cut short on the second day when the ceasefire collapsed as the sides blamed each other for failing to stop firing and shelling.
Ukrainian authorities said on Monday that the southern city of Mykolaiv was under fire.
“ARC OF SELF-CRACY”
The number of civilians killed in fighting in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion stood at 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said Sunday, adding that hundreds have been wounded. More
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States has received credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians and is documenting them to support investigations into possible war crimes. More
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russians who have committed atrocities against civilians will be punished.
“There will be no peaceful place for you on this earth, except for the grave,” he said in an evening television address.
As anti-war protests erupted around the world, Ukraine again turned to the West to tighten sanctions and also requested more weapons, including Russian-made aircraft.
Blinken said the United States is considering how it could replace the planes for Poland if it decides to supply its warplanes to Ukraine.
Putin says he wants a “demilitarized”, “denazified” and neutral Ukraine, and on Saturday likened Western sanctions “to a declaration of war.”
New Zealand became the latest country on Monday to announce sanctions against Russia, including a plan to ban superyachts, ships and planes from entering its waters or airspace. More
South Korea has tightened its financial sanctions against Russia by banning transactions with Russia’s central bank.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged China to act on its declarations of promoting world peace and join efforts to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warning that the world could be reshaped by an “arc of autocracy.” More
“No country will have a greater impact on ending this terrible war in Ukraine than China,” Morrison said in response to a question after speaking at the Lowy Institute think tank.
Western sanctions have pushed many companies away from investing in Russia, while shutting down some Russian banks from global financial payment systems, causing the ruble to depreciate and forcing Moscow to raise interest rates.
More companies cut ties with Russia on Sunday: American Express Co (AXP.N), Netflix Inc., accounting giants KPMG and PwC, and video-sharing app TikTok.
But Chinese firms remain in place. More
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Reuters reporting; Writing by Humeira Pamuk and Stephen Coates; Edited by Lincoln Fist, Robert Birsel and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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