Desk Report
Publish: 07 Mar 2022, 03:58 pm
Ceasefire In 4 Cities
Photo: Collected
Russia’s military will hold fire and open humanitarian
corridors in several Ukrainian cities on Monday, the Defence Ministry said,
after fighting halted weekend evacuation efforts and civilian casualties from
Russia’s invasion mounted.
“Russian forces, for humanitarian purposes, are declaring a
‘regime of silence’,” the Russian Defence Ministry said. “ … and the opening of
humanitarian corridors.”
The corridors were to open at 10am Moscow time (3pm Hong
Kong time) 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.
A spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 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.”
Russia’s invasion has been condemned around the world, sent
more than 1.5 million Ukrainians fleeing abroad, and triggered sweeping
Western-led sanctions aimed at crippling the Russian economy.
Russia calls the campaign it launched on February 24 a
“special military operation”. It has repeatedly denied attacking civilian areas
and says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.
Oil prices soared to their highest levels since 2008 in
Asian trade after the Biden administration said it was exploring banning
imports of Russian oil. Russia provides 7 per cent of global supply.
Japan, which counts Russia as its fifth-biggest supplier of
crude oil, is also in discussion with the United States and European countries
about possibly banning Russian oil imports, Kyodo News reported on 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 said.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russian
forces were “beginning to accumulate resources for the storming of Kyiv”, a city
of 3 million, after days of slow progress in their main advance south from
Belarus.
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 have cut off food, water, power and heating,
according to the Ukrainian authorities.
About half of the 400,000 people in the city were due to be
evacuated on Sunday but that effort was aborted for a second day when a
ceasefire plan collapsed as the sides accused each other of failing to stop
shooting and shelling.
Ukrainian authorities said on Monday the southern city of
Mykolayiv was being shelled.
The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine
since Russia launched the invasion was 364, including more than 20 children,
the United Nations said on Sunday, adding that hundreds were wounded.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States
had seen credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians and it was
documenting them to support a potential war crimes investigation.
Zelensky warned Russians who committed atrocities against
civilians they would face punishment.
“For you, there will be no peaceful place on this earth,
except for the grave,” he said in a televised evening address.
As anti-war protests took place around the world, Ukraine
renewed its appeal to the West to toughen sanctions and also requested more
weapons, including Russian-made planes.
Blinken said the United States was considering how it could
backfill aircraft for Poland if it decided to supply its warplanes to Ukraine.
Putin says he wants a “demilitarised”, “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
it will impose sanctions on Russia, including a plan to stop superyachts,
ships and aircraft from entering its waters or airspace.
South Korea toughened 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 the effort to stop
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warning that the world was in danger of being
reshaped by an “arc of autocracy”.
“No country will have a bigger impact on concluding this
terrible war in Ukraine than China,” Morrison said in response to a question
after a speech at the Lowy Institute think tank.
Western sanctions have pushed many companies to exit
investments in Russia, while some Russian banks have been shut out of global financial payment systems, driving down the rouble and forcing Moscow to jack
up interest rates.
On Sunday, more companies cut ties with Russia: American
Express, Netflix, accounting giants KPMG and PwC, and video sharing app TikTok.
But Chinese firms are staying put.
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Topic : Humanitarian Corridors Ceasefire Russia Ukraine
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