March 7, 2022

Russia’s military will hold fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities on Monday, the defense ministry said, after fighting halted evacuation efforts over the weekend and increased civilian casualties from the Russian invasion.

The corridors will open at 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) from the capital Kyiv, as well as the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy, and will be set up at the personal request of French President Emmanuel Macron, the ministry said.

According to maps released by the RIA news agency, the corridor from Kyiv will lead to Russian ally Belarus, and only one corridor to Russia will be available to civilians from Kharkiv. Corridors from Mariupol and Sumy will lead both to other Ukrainian cities and to Russia.

Those wanting to leave Kyiv can also be flown to Russia, the ministry said, adding it would use drones to monitor the evacuation.

“Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the entire civilized world are useless this time,” the ministry said.

Russia’s invasion has met with worldwide condemnation, more than 1.5 million Ukrainians have fled abroad and sweeping Western sanctions aimed at crippling Russia’s economy have been unleashed.

Russia calls the campaign it launched on February 24 a “military special operation”. It has repeatedly denied attacking civilian areas and says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.

Oil prices rose to their highest level since 2008 in Asian trade after the Biden administration announced it was considering a ban on Russian oil imports. Russia provides 7% of the world supply.

Japan, which counts Russia among its fifth-biggest suppliers of crude oil, is also negotiating with the United States and European countries over a possible ban on Russian oil imports, Kyodo News reported Monday.

Europe relies 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 beginning to gather resources to storm Kyiv, a city of 3 million people, after days of slow progress in their main advance south of Belarus.

According to Ukrainian authorities, about 200,000 people remained trapped in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol, most sleeping underground to escape more than six days of shelling by Russian forces that cut off food, water, electricity and heating.

About half of the city’s 400,000 people were due to be evacuated on Sunday, but those efforts were cut short for a second day when a ceasefire plan collapsed as sides accused each other of failing to stop shooting and shelling.

Ukrainian authorities said on Monday the southern city of Mykolayiv was under shelling.

“ARCH OF AUTOCRACY”

The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began was 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding that hundreds were injured.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had seen credible reports of premeditated attacks on civilians and was documenting them to aid a possible war crimes investigation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russians who committed atrocities against civilians that they would be punished.

“There will be no peaceful place for you on this earth but the grave,” he said in a televised evening address.

As anti-war protests swept across the world, Ukraine renewed its appeal to the West to tighten sanctions and also called for more weapons, including Russian-made planes.

Blinken said the United States was considering how to resupply planes for Poland if it decided to supply its fighter jets to Ukraine.

Putin says he wants a “demilitarized,” “denazified,” and neutral Ukraine, comparing Western sanctions “to a declaration of war” on Saturday.

New Zealand was the latest country to announce on Monday it will impose sanctions on Russia, including a plan to block superyachts, ships and planes from entering its waters or airspace.

South Korea tightened its financial sanctions against Russia by banning transactions with the Russian central bank.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called on China to heed its declarations to promote world peace and join efforts to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warning that the world was in danger of being “swept away” by an “arch of autocracy.” “ to be transformed.

“No country will have a greater impact on the conclusion of this terrible war in Ukraine than China,” Morrison replied to a question after a speech at the Lowy Institute think tank.

Western sanctions have pushed many companies to abandon investments in Russia, while some Russian banks have been locked out of a global financial payments system, pushing the ruble lower and forcing Moscow to hike interest rates.

On Sunday, more companies severed ties with Russia: American Express Co, Netflix Inc., accounting giants KPMG and PwC, and video-sharing app TikTok.

But Chinese companies remain where they are.

REUTERS