Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday accused the Russian army of scuppering the evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridors agreed after talks with Moscow.
"There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors. Did that work? Russian tanks worked in its place, Russian Grads (multiple rocket launchers), Russian mines," Zelenskyy said in a video posted on Telegram.
The Ukrainian leader said Russian forces mined the road chosen to bring food and medicine to the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
At least 13 people were killed on Monday when shelling hit an industrial bakery in Makariv, around 50 kilometres west ofUkraine's capital Kyiv, Ukrainian rescue services said.
Rescuers posted a message on Telegram saying around 30 people were within the area of the bakery at the moment of the shelling. The message was deleted shortly afterwards with no further details provided.
Reuters Photo
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his forces are doing everything to evacuate the stranded Indian citizens, mostly students, from the war-torn eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, according to his office.
Credit: PTI Photo
British foreign minister Liz Truss said on Monday India had a level of dependency on Russia which might go some way to explain its decision to abstain on a vote at the United Nations to deplore Russia over Ukraine.
A Ukrainian delegation on Monday arrived in Belarus for talks with representatives from Russia for a third round of talks on the conflict in Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian delegation arrived at the Belovezhskaya Pushcha (a national park on the Poland-Belarus border) in two helicopters for talks with Russia," TASS state news agency reported.
A spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry on Monday demanded France protect Moscow's representative offices in the country, alleging an attack had occurred at a building used by a Russian government agency in Paris.
"We demand that the French authorities ensure the proper security of our official institutions," wrote Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, on Telegram.
Tomorrow, 2 special Civilian flights are expected to operate from Suceva, bringing in more than 400 Indians back home: Ministry of Civil Aviation (ANI)
Under #OperationGanga to rescue Indian citizens, 1314 Indians have been airlifted today by 7 spl civilian flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. With this, more than 17,400 Indians have been brought back since the spl flights began on 22nd Feb: Ministry of Civil Aviation (ANI)
After three ceasefires by the Russian army and failed evacuation efforts—with shelling during ceasefires cited as the reason for failures—Russia continues to be determined to seize Mariupol.
Prime Minister Modi stressed the importance of safe evacuation of Indian citizens from Sumy at the earliest. President Putin assured Prime Minister Modi of all possible cooperation in their safe evacuation: GoI sources (ANI)
PM Modi spoke on the phone to Russian President Putin. The phone call lasted for about 50 min. They discussed the evolving situation in Ukraine. President Putin briefed PM Modi on the status of negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian teams: GoI Sources(ANI)
Ukraine will square off with Russia at the UN's top court on Monday, with Kyiv asking judges in The Hague to order Moscow to immediately halt its invasion.
Kyiv lodged an urgent case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on February 27, saying that Russia had illegally justified its war by falsely alleging genocide in Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Ukraine alleges that it is Russia that is planning "acts of genocide" in the offensive launched by President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
A spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian citizens should be allowed to leave their homes through Ukrainian territory, and accused Russia of deliberately hampering previous evacuation attempts.
"This is a completely immoral story. People's suffering is used to create the desired television picture," the spokesman said in a written message. "These are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine."
Russian forces have seized Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe' biggest, and the spent-fuel and radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl, next to the now defunct power plant where the world's worst nuclear accident happened in 1986.
The rouble weakened to 130.9338 to the dollar after closing at 121.037 on Friday, according to Refinitiv data. On the EBS trading platform, the rouble softened to as low as 140.00 against the dollar.
Bid/offer spreads were between 10 and 15 cents, pointing to an increasingly illiquid market.
China has refused to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine or call it an invasion while asking Western countries to respect Russia's "legitimate security concerns."
Credit: Special Arrangement
Clatan Osmand, who had sought shelter in Slovokia on March 2, landed at Mangaluru International Airport on Monday. Clatan had left for Kyiv in Ukraine in December to pursue medicine. Credit: Special Arrangement
The Congress party is alarmed and distressed over the escalation of military conflict in Ukraine. The loss of innocent lives, widespread destruction, mass exodus of people and the aggravated human sufferings is unacceptable.
We remain gravely concerned about the safety of thousands of Indian students and citizens trapped in war zones.
The Congress party earnestly appeals for an immediate end to all hostilities and the creation of geographically defined humanitarian corridors for safe evacuation respected by both sides.
Over 30 people have been detained at anti-war rallies, with many being beaten up.
(NEXTA)
PM Modi spoke to the Ukrainian President. Modi thanked President Zelensky for the help extended by the Ukraine government in the evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine.
The phone call lasted for about 35 minutes. The two leaders discussed the evolving situation in Ukraine. PM appreciated the continuing direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.
The corridors will opened at 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) from the capital Kyiv as well as the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy and are being set up at the personal request of French President Emmanuel Macron, the ministry said.
According to maps published by the RIA news agency, the corridor from Kyiv will lead to Russian ally Belarus, and civilians from Kharkiv will only have a 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 it would use drones to monitor the evacuation.
Zelenskyy and Global Citizen on Sunday released the first of what they hope will be daily calls to action for the nonprofit's millions of members, as well as its governmental, corporate and philanthropic partners.
The Indian rupee hit a lifetime low in opening deals on Monday as a sharp surge in global crude oil prices threatened to push up imported inflation and widen the country's trade and current account deficits.
The partially convertible rupee was trading at 76.92/93 per dollar, after touching 76.96, its weakest level ever. It had closed at 76.16 on Friday.
The benchmark 10-year bond yield was trading at 6.86%, up 5 basis points on the day.
Oil prices soared more than 6%, touching their highest since 2008 on Monday after the United States and European allies mull a Russian oil import ban while delays in the potential return of Iranian crude to global markets fuelled tight supply fears.
The surge in edible and crude oil prices are bound to feed into headline inflation, which has already breached the upper tolerance limit of the Reserve Bank of India’s 2 per cent-6 per cent target range. While the RBI has blamed supply side shocks for the spike, higher prices will nevertheless eat into disposable incomes of consumers, the backbone of the economy that has yet to fully start spending after the pandemic.
Read more
An 11-year-old boy from Ukraine has crossed the border into Slovakia with just a plastic bag, a passport and a telephone number written on his hand, Slovak police said Sunday. "He came all alone from Zaporizhzhia because his parents had to stay in Ukraine," police spokeswoman Denisa Bardyova told AFP.
Social media giant TikTok announced Sunday it is suspending the posting of all video content from Russia in order to keep its employees safe and comply with the country's new "fake news" regulations.
Read more
Civilians trying to leave Kyiv and the nearby town of Irpin also came under fire from Russian forces. Mortar shells fired at a battered bridge used by people fleeing the fighting killed a mother and her two children, as well as a family friend helping them leave.
Mariupol, across the country from Kyiv, is a key objective in the Russians’ effort to cut Ukraine off from the Sea of Azov and create a land bridge to Crimea. Residents are facing increasingly dire conditions in the city, which has been deprived of food, heat and electricity for days as Russian forces shell the town.
Although Russia had announced a temporary pause in fighting in some combat zones to allow civilians to flee, its continued shelling around evacuation paths made the notion of a cease-fire all but meaningless. And away from the front lines, the Russians were continuing to target civilian areas.
After five meetings since Russia's invasion of its eastern European neighbor on February 24, the 15-member council will gather again on Monday for two sessions on humanitarian aid -- one public and one behind closed doors.
So far, Russian forces have been so preoccupied in other parts of the country that they have not targeted the arms supply lines, but few think that can last.
The euro extended its slide, hitting parity against the safe haven Swiss franc, and commodities of all stripes were on the rise as the Russian-Ukraine conflict showed no sign of cooling.
1. Fighting stopped about 200,000 people from evacuating the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol for a second day in a row on Sunday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to press ahead with his invasion unless Kyiv surrendered. The ceasefire plan collapsed, as it had on Saturday, with each side blaming the other. "They're destroying us," Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko told Reuters in a video call, describing the city's plight before the latest evacuation effort failed. "They will not even give us an opportunity to count the wounded and the killed because the shelling does not stop."
2. Most people trapped in the port city are sleeping underground to escape more than six days of near-constant shelling by encircling Russian forces that has cut off food, water, power and heating supplies, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
3. In a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Putin said he was ready for dialogue to end the fighting but that any attempt to draw out talks would fail, according to the Kremlin.
4. The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion on Feb. 24 stood at 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding that hundreds more were injured.
5. The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion on Feb. 24 stood at 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding that hundreds more were injured.
6. The invasion has drawn widespread condemnation around the world, sent more than 1.5 million Ukrainians fleeing from the country, and triggered sweeping Western sanctions against Russia aimed at crippling its economy.
7. The Biden administration said on Sunday it was exploring banning imports of Russian oil, despite concerns the move would drive prices even higher.
8. "War is madness, please stop," Pope Francis said in his weekly address to crowds in St Peter's Square, adding "rivers of blood and tears" were flowing in Ukraine's war.
9.
On Sunday, more companies cut ties with Russia: American Express Co, Netflix Inc., accounting giants KPMG and PwC, and video sharing app TikTok.
But Chinese firms so far are staying put.
10. Kyiv renewed its appeal to the West to toughen sanctions and also requested more weapons, including Russian-made planes. Putin says he wants a "demilitarised", "denazified" and neutral Ukraine, and on Saturday likened Western sanctions "to a declaration of war".
The precious metal hit a peak of $2,000.86 an ounce, its highest level since September 2020.
More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, according to the latest UN data on Sunday.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had recorded 1,534,792 refugees on its dedicated website by 1335 GMT, almost 166,000 more than the previous count on Saturday. (AFP)