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Russia has announced a ceasefire and said it will open several humanitarian corridors even as it continues to pummel Ukrainian cities, with several rockets hitting residential buildings.
The limited ceasefire was due to start on Monday morning, the twelfth day of the war, for civilians from Kyiv, the southern port city of Mariupol, the second-largest city of Kharkiv, and Sumy, AP quoted a Russian task force as saying.
It was not immediately clear if fighting would stop beyond the areas mentioned by the task force, or when the ceasefire would end.
Ukraine said that while negotiations were taking place with Russia on establishing the corridors, they were unlikely to be set up while Russian forces keep trying to advance, Reuters reported.
Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said each Ukrainian should be allowed to decide where they want to go but advised against evacuation to Russia.
Ukraine earlier on Monday said Russia's proposal on humanitarian corridors was “completely immoral” after Moscow suggested it would allow people to flee Ukrainian cities provided they went to Belarus or Russia.
A third round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian leaders is planned for Monday.
The ceasefire announcement follows two failed attempts to rescue civilians from Mariupol, from which the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated 200,000 people were trying to flee.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the failure.
The task force attributed the ceasefire and the opening of the corridors to the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
Mr Macron’s office said he asked for a broader end to military operations in Ukraine and protections for civilians.
Routes published by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, quoting its Defence Ministry, showed Ukrainian civilians will be able to go to Russia and Belarus.
Russian forces will be observing the ceasefire with drones, the task force said.
The ceasefire announcement came a day after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety were forced to take shelter from Russian shelling that pummelled cities in central, northern and southern Ukraine.
The outskirts of Kyiv, Chernihiv in the north, Mykolaiv in the south, and Kharkiv had faced stepped-up attacks late on Sunday, Mr Arestovich said.
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US soldiers practise firing FIM-92 Stinger missiles. Photo: US Army -
A Mexican soldier with a Russian-made SA-18 anti-aircraft missile launcher in 2011. AFP -
A Ukrainian soldier takes part in an exercise using NLAW anti-aircraft missiles close to the city of Lviv. The UK has delivered 2,000 NLAWs to Ukraine. AP -
Undated handout photo issued by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) of a Starstreak HVM (High Velocity Missile) surface-to-air missile system on display. -
Soldiers in Ukraine launch US Javelin missiles during a military exercise. AP -
German troops hold Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank weapons in a demonstration in Munster. Getty Images -
A US Marine fires a M72 light anti-armour weapon during an exercise in Camp Fuji, Japan. Alamy -
A Hezbollah militant aiming a Kornet anti-tank guided missile in southern Lebanon. AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers with Stugna-P anti-tank weapons during a military exhibition in 2018. Getty Images
Heavy artillery hit residential areas in Kharkiv while shelling damaged a television tower, said local officials.
The French President accused Mr Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism over Moscow’s condition for humanitarian corridors.
“All this is not serious, it is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable,” the French leader told LCI television in an interview on Monday. He added that promises to protect civilians so that they could merely flee towards Russia were “hypocritical".
“Humanitarian actors need to be able to intervene, so we must get full ceasefires when they intervene to place under protection women, children, men who need to be protected. And (we must) be able to get them out of the conflict area,” Mr Macron said.
British prime minister Boris Johnson said: “Clearly, what’s happening now is that Putin is doubling down on his aggression and he is deciding to attack in a pretty indiscriminate way.
“That’s producing huge waves of people. We’re going to have to respond to that and we will.”
He said he would speak to US President Joe Biden and other leaders later on Monday.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Russia stood ready to hold fire “in a moment” if Kyiv meets a list of demands.
Mr Peskov said for peace to come about the Ukrainians must lay down their weapons, and the government must change the constitution to enshrine neutrality, recognise the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, and acknowledge Crimea as a Russian territory.
His comments formed the most explicit Russian statement so far of the terms it wants to impose on Ukraine to halt what it calls its “special military operation".
Mr Peskov told Reuters in a telephone interview that Ukraine was aware of the conditions. He added: “And they were told that all this can be stopped in a moment.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Ukrainian side.
The UN rights office said on Monday that 406 civilian deaths had been recorded in Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion, and 801 injuries. The true totals are likely to be much higher.
Russian forces said they were preparing for an assault on Kyiv, as terrified civilians failed for a second day to escape besieged Mariupol, AFP reported.
With Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy urging his people to fight in the streets, Mr Putin said Moscow’s attacks could be halted “only if Kyiv ceases hostilities”.
“The enemy continues the offensive operation against Ukraine, focusing on the encirclement of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mykolayiv,” said the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It added that Russian forces had begun to “accumulate resources for the storming of Kyiv".
“Instead of humanitarian corridors, they can only make bloody ones,” Mr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. “Today a family was killed in Irpin. Man, woman and two children. Right on the road. As in a shooting gallery.”
As he has often done, Mr Putin blamed Ukraine for the war, telling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday that Kyiv needed to stop all hostilities and fulfil “the well-known demands of Russia”.
The mayor of Irpin, a small town outside Kyiv, described seeing two adults and two children killed “in front of my eyes” when a shell hit them.
“It is impudence; they are monsters,” Oleksandr Markushyn said on Telegram. He said part of the city was in Russian hands. “Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered.”
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Cars are left abandoned on a road as residents flee the town of Irpin, Ukraine after days of heavy shelling. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier helps a family fleeing from Irpin. Reuters -
A bus passes the Duke of Wellington statue, which has a traffic cone in the colours of the flag of Ukraine placed on top of it, in Glasgow, Scotland. AP -
Ukrainian children sleep at the reception point at the train station in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Smoke rises as a Ukrainian soldier stands by the only escape route used by locals to flee from the town of Irpin. Reuters -
A man flees from Irpin. Reuters -
A screengrab from footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry shows a purported Russian tank unit advancement in the Kyiv region. AFP -
People walk on debris of residential buildings damaged by shelling in the Zhytomyr region. Reuters -
A damaged residential building after Russian multiple rocket launchers shelled the area in the southern city of Mykolaiv. AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers sit in their armoured vehicle after fighting against Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists near Zolote village, Luhansk region. AFP -
A woman offers accommodation for people fleeing Ukraine at the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. Getty Images -
A soldier holds a helmet as a wedding crown during the ceremony for members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces Lesia Ivashchenko and Valerii Fylymonov, at a checkpoint in Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers carry a woman fleeing the town of Irpin. AP -
A factory and warehouse burn after being bombarded in Irpin. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers near Zolote. AFP -
A Ukrainian refugee boy, wearing a blanket on his shoulders, warms his hands with a gas heater shortly after crossing the Siret border into northern Romania. EPA -
People demonstrate against the Russian military operation in Ukraine in Buenos Aires, Argentina. EPA -
First responders work at the scene after a missile hit a building at Havryshivka Vinnytsia International Airport in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman at a checkpoint on the road to Kyiv after her evacuation from a nearby town. AFP -
A placard in the Ukrainian colours is held up at an anti-war demonstration the Bebelplatz square in Berlin, Germany. Reuters -
A Ukrainian serviceman helps an elderly woman in Irpin, 20 kilometres north-west of the capital Kyiv. AP Photo -
Protesters cry during a demonstration in support of Ukraine at the Plaza Catalunya square in Barcelona. AFP -
A man walks past a machine gun at a checkpoint next to the last bridge on the road that connects the town of Stoyanka to the outskirts of Ukraine's capital Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen put a wounded man on a stretcher in Irpin. AP Photo -
People board a train to return to Ukraine after getting supplies in Zahony, Hungary. AP Photo -
Balloons in the colors of Ukraine during a demonstration against the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Mainz, Germany. AP -
A Ukrainian girl helps to weave a camouflage net for the Ukrainian army, in Odesa. EPA -
Molotov cocktails prepared by a group of volunteers in Odesa. Hundreds are made every day. EPA -
Ukrainian servicemen assist people fleeing the town of Irpin after crossing the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian air strike. AP Photo -
A woman holds a dog while crossing the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, while assisting people fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine. AP Photo -
Marina Yatsko and her boyfriend Fedor comfort each other at a hospital in Mariupol after her 18-month-old son Kirill was killed by shelling. AP Photo -
Ukrainian civilians receive weapons training in a cinema in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP Photo -
Residents flee the town of Irpin, near Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
Ukrainian soldiers carry a sick woman as civilians flee Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, after Russian attacks. AP Photo -
Captured Russian soldiers at a press conference in the Interfax news agency in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
Ukrainians beneath a destroyed bridge in Irpin. AP Photo -
A woman fleeing Ukraine on a bus near the border crossing in Korczowa, Poland. AP Photo -
A Ukrainian soldier and a militia man help a fleeing family on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 5, 2022. AP Photo -
Smoke rises after shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol. AP Photo -
People at a hospital during shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol. AP Photo -
Displaced Ukrainians at the Resurrection New Athos Monastery in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP
Fighting has forced 1.5 million people to flee the country, with the head of the UN refugee agency calling it “the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe” since the Second World War.
The most recent attacks dashed hopes that more people could escape the fighting in Ukraine, where Russia’s plan to quickly overrun the country has been stymied by fierce resistance.
Russia has made significant advances in southern Ukraine and along the coast, but many of its efforts have stalled, including an immense military convoy that has been almost motionless for days north of Kyiv.
Food, water, medicine and almost all other supplies are in short supply in Mariupol, where Russian and Ukrainian forces had agreed to an 11-hour ceasefire that would allow civilians and the wounded to be rescued.
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Laura Lange, 32, said she, her partner and their two-year-old daughter have a “comparatively large flat” and are happy to offer a room to a family in need of shelter. All photos: Daniel Bardsley for The National -
Jonas Herzer, left, is offering accommodation to Marouane Assila, centre, and Ilias Elhayani. -
Kristina Eberhartz, 73, and her husband, Wolfgang, 75, have taken in Halyra Yaremchuk, 37, her husband, Daniel Gerongo Zamara, 28, and the couple’s children, Nattia, 3, and Nicholas, four months. -
Signs at Berlin's main strain station offer help and accommodation for refugees fleeing Ukraine. Passengers said trains from Ukraine were packed with people trying to leave the country. -
Volunteers are offering free food, transport and accommodation for families of all nationalities. -
Berliners hold up signs offering arrivals a place to stay. -
A free market offers goods, basic meals and snacks. -
Refugees fleeing Ukraine are being given accommodation in Berlin.
But Russian attacks quickly closed the humanitarian corridor, Ukrainian officials said.
“There can be no ‘green corridors’ because only the sick brain of the Russians decides when to start shooting and at whom,” Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said on Telegram.
Meanwhile, international sanctions intended to punish Moscow have done little to slow the invasion, and the US has said it is holding discussions with Europe on a ban on Russian oil imports.
The comments sent the price of Brent crude soaring to its highest level in about 14 years, with markets in Tokyo and Hong Kong slumping.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said President Putin had “underestimated the unity of the West” in responding to his declaration of war on Ukraine.
Speaking to the House of Common Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, she said Russia had been taken aback by Britain and America’s decision to release intelligence suggesting Moscow was planning to stage a false flag operation as a pretext to war.
Ms Truss argued the publishing of such information had been “absolutely critical in wrong-footing the Russians ahead of the invasion because they haven’t been able to declare the false pretext that they wanted to do, they haven’t been able to use the element of surprise”.
However, she said in the months leading up to their attack on Ukraine, the Russians did not take the West's sanctions threats and warnings of resistance from Ukrainians seriously because they did not believe either party would respond in a robust manner.
“They underestimated the unity of the West,” she said. “I think what we’ve seen since is that they’ve been surprised by the severity of the sanctions, the unity not just of the G7 but also countries like Singapore, South Korea, Australia have also joined the sanctions, so has Switzerland, and I think they have also not believed the Ukrainians would fight.
“I think the Russians have been very, very surprised.”
Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PricewaterhouseCoopers are the latest companies to cut business ties with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Deloitte said in a statement that it will no longer operate in Russia and Belarus, where it has about 3,000 staff.
Earlier, EY said it “has commenced a restructuring of its Russian member firm to separate it from the global network” and said it would no longer serve any Russian government clients or anyone linked to the Kremlin.
PwC said PwC Russia will leave the global network, and KPMG announced similar measures for its business. PwC has 3,700 staff in Russia, while its rival has more than 4,500 people in Russia and Belarus. “They did not ask for this senseless war,” a PwC note to staff seen by Bloomberg said. PwC member firms outside Russia will exit any work for Russian entities and individuals subject to sanctions.
