RUSSIA-UKRAIN WAR: New humanitarian corridors are set to open for civilians trying to escape besieged cities in Ukraine.
Russia said the routes would open in five cities that its forces have been shelling, but Ukraine has repeatedly warned Moscow is not genuinely looking to allow civilians to flee and yesterday accused Russian forces of bombing one corridor.
“Such actions are nothing other than a genocide,” the Ukrainian defence ministry wrote on Facebook.
US President Joe Biden said a US oil embargo on Russia would cut “the main artery” of Moscow’s economy, and vowed Ukraine would “never be a victory” for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official said Ukraine must hold off Russia’s attack for the next seven to 10 days to deny Moscow claiming any sort of victory, as more than 2 million refugees fled the biggest assault on a European country since World War II.
Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said Russia was desperate for at least some kind of victory, citing the cities of Mariupol or the capital Kyiv as the most likely targets.
About 5,000 people were evacuated from the northeastern city of Sumy yesterday, said regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy.
About 1,000 cars were also able to leave, moving towards the city of Poltava, he said, adding the corridor would continue to function today.
Mr Zhyvytskyy said separately that Sumy’s residential area had been bombed overnight, with one bomb killing 22 civilians. He called the incident “mass murder”.
Ukraine has accused Russian forces of shelling another evacuation route, from Mariupol in the south of the country.
Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defence Control Centre, was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency that Russian forces would “observe a regime of silence” from 10am Moscow time (7am Irish time) to ensure safe passage for civilians wishing to leave Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
It was unclear if the proposed routes would pass through Russia or Belarus, conditions previously opposed by the Ukrainian government.
The Kremlin describes its actions as a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and unseat leaders it calls neo-Nazis. Ukraine and Western allies call this a baseless pretext for a war of choice that has raised fears of wider conflict in Europe.
The United States banned imports of Russian oil in a major new step in the Western-led effort to halt the war by crippling Russia’s economy, sparking a further increase in the oil price.
Prices have surged more than 30% since Russia – the world’s second-largest exporter of crude – invaded its neighbour on 24 February. Benchmark Brent crude futures were last at $130.6 per barrel.
Britain said it would phase out the import of Russian oila nd oil products by the end of 2022, while the European Union published plans to cut its reliance on Russian gas by two thirds this year.
The Ukrainian government has announced a ban on the export of rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sugar, salt and meat.
Australia’s intelligence chief said there was a”troubling new strategic convergence” between China and Russia and the risk of “major-power conflict” had grown since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a democratic country of 44 million people, has caused particular alarm in self-governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own and has vowed to reclaim, by force if necessary.
Chinese President Xi Jinping described the situation in Ukraine as worrying and called for “maximum restraint,” Chinese state media has reported.
US intelligence chiefs told the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee that China appeared to have been unsettled by the difficulties Russia was facing in Ukraine and the strength of the Western reaction.
The International Monetary Fund’s executive board is poised to approve $1.4 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine to help it respond to Russia’s invasion.
As Western military aid poured into Ukraine over the Polish and Romanian borders, theUnited States turned down a surprise Polish offer to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to a US base in Germany to help replenish Ukraine’s air force.
The prospect of flying combat aircraft from NATO territory into the war zone “raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” the Pentagon said.
In the seaside Ukrainian town of Mariupol, people were fast running out of electricity, heat, food, and drinking water after more than a week of bombardment, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
“The situation in Mariupol is apocalyptic,” Red Cross spokesperson Ewan Watson said.