Washington, March 7 (AP): On the 11th day of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Russian troops shelled besieged cities and a second attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol failed as the besieged port city was shelled.
Ukrainian officials said the strikes disrupted what was then considered a ceasefire after a pro-Russian official said the safe way was to open the corridor.
The number of Ukrainians forced out of their country rose to 1.5 million, and Kremlin rhetoric increased, with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning that Ukrainian statehood was under threat. He likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to a “declaration of war”. Here’s a look at important things to know about the conflict on Sunday: Violence spurred civilian evacuation plans Ukraine’s Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashenko halted a second attempt in several days to evacuate civilians from Mariupol For blamed Russian artillery fire.
The plan agreed with the Russian military was to allow people to flee war and shelling along the designated humanitarian “Green Corridor”, but Gerashenko said on Telegram that the Russians had not respected the ceasefire.
A day earlier, Ukrainian officials similarly said Russian artillery fire and airstrikes prevented residents from moving to Mariupol and the nearby town of Volnovakha before agreeing to an evacuation. Then, Putin accused Ukraine of foiling the effort.
Russia has sought to cut off Ukraine’s access to the Azov Sea in the south. The capture of Mariupol could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
What else is happening on the ground? Ukrainian officials said Russian forces launched hundreds of missiles and artillery strikes across the country, including powerful bombs dropped on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the Kyiv capital. But a mile-long Russian armored column threatening the capital remained stalled outside Kyiv.
Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were occupying major cities in the central and southeastern part of the country, while Russians were trying to blockade and encircle Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Sumy.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Oleksey Erestovich, said Ukrainian forces were protecting Ukraine’s largest port city, Odessa, from Russian ships.
Russian troops captured the southern port city of Kherson last week.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday announced plans to strike Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, which has been criticized by Zelensky for not responding to Western leaders.
Zelensky said those who ordered and perpetrated such crimes should be brought to justice.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement carried by state news agency Tass that employees at those plants should not go to work.
Zelensky calls for a no-fly zone Zelensky takes forward his call for foreign countries to impose a no-fly zone on Ukraine. Establishing a no-fly zone would risk escalating conflict by directly involving foreign forces. Although the United States and several Western countries supported Ukraine with arms shipments, they sent no troops.
Zelensky said in a video address on Sunday that “the world is strong enough to close our skies” and this weekend US officials urged his country to fight the invasion and maintain control of its airspace. Helped to get the war plane.
NATO countries have denied policing a no-fly zone, which would prevent all unauthorized aircraft from flying over Ukraine.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday that some Ukrainian fighter jets had redeployed to Romania and other neighbors in Ukraine that he did not identify. He warned that an attack by planes operating from those nations could be considered by them to be involved in the conflict.
Also on Sunday, European Union leader Charles Michel said the closure of Ukraine’s airspace could spark a world war.
According to a video released by the Ukrainian government, directly witnessed or confirmed in Chernihiv, those watching a Russian military plane fall from the sky and crash in Chernihiv were in ecstasy. Hundreds of protesters in Kherson waved the blue and yellow flags of Ukraine and shouted, “Go home.” In Mariupol, Associated Press reporters watched as doctors tried unsuccessfully to save the lives of injured children, pharmacies ran bare and hundreds of thousands of people faced shortages of food and water in cold weather.
In Irpin, near Kyiv, a sea of people trampled on the remains of a destroyed bridge on foot and even in wheelbarrows to cross a river and leave the city. With the help of Ukrainian soldiers, they dug into flimsy bags filled with pets, babies, purses and less-than-goodies. Some weak and elderly people were carried on the way in blankets and vehicles.
Kyiv’s central railway station was filled with people desperate to leave, and continuous gunfire could be heard from the center of the capital city.
Diplomatic Efforts Intense diplomatic efforts continued, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Moldova pledging US support to the small western-leaning former Soviet republic. The country is facing an influx of refugees from Ukraine and is watching Russia’s intensifying war with its neighbour.
Blinken says the United States and its allies are having “very active discussions” about imposing sanctions on Russian oil and natural gas imports. (ap) vn vn
(This story has been published as part of an auto-generated Syndicate wire feed. Headline or body have not been edited by ABP Live.)