Ukraine says evacuations under way for 18,000 people in Kyiv and nearby towns

Evacuations being attempted through six 'humanitarian corridors' Russia promised, including routes from Mariupol

Ukrainians under a bridge as they try to flee across the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said efforts are under way to evacuate about 18,000 people from Kyiv and embattled towns near the capital.

The efforts are part of broader evacuation attempts via humanitarian corridors in Ukraine, Mr Zelenskyy said. He warned the Russian forces against breaching ceasefire promises.

He appealed again for foreign air support, saying “send us planes”.

While western powers have sent military equipment and beefed up forces on Ukraine’s eastern flank, they have been wary of providing air support and getting drawn into a direct war with Russia.

Mr Zelenskyy also issued an appeal, in Russian, in which he urged Russian soldiers to leave.

“Our resistance for almost two weeks has shown you that we will not surrender, because this is our home. It is our families and children. We will fight until we can win back our land,” he said. “You can still save yourselves if you just go home.”

A humanitarian corridor out of the besieged Ukrainian city of Sumy will continue to function on Wednesday, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said.

About 5,000 people took buses out of the north-east city on Tuesday after Moscow and Kyiv agreed on the corridor, he said, and about 1,000 cars were also able to leave, moving towards the city of Poltava in central Ukraine.

An air raid alert was declared on Wednesday morning in and around Kyiv, with residents of the Ukrainian capital urged to go to bomb shelters as quickly as possible.

“Kyiv region – air alert. Threat of a missile attack. Everyone immediately to shelters,” regional administration head Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.

About two weeks into the war, while Russian troops have advanced deep along Ukraine’s coastline, their operation has been brought to a standstill in some areas, including around Kyiv, by fiercer resistance than expected from the Ukrainians.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was scheduled to fly to Turkey on Wednesday and meet Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday, Mr Cavusoglu’s office said.

The trilateral meeting will take place on the sidelines of a summit being hosted by Turkey, a Nato member nation.

No further details were announced.

The city of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, has been surrounded by Russian soldiers for days and a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the encircled city of 430,000.

For days, as Moscow’s forces laid siege to Ukrainian cities, attempts to create corridors to safely move out civilians stumbled as fighting continued.

Mariupol is in a “catastrophic situation”, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Ukraine will on Wednesday try to evacuate civilians through six humanitarian corridors, including those from Mariupol, Ms Vereshchuk said.

The people of Mariupol have “been effectively taken hostage” by the siege, Natalia Mudrenko, the highest-ranking woman at Ukraine’s UN Mission, told the Security Council.

Authorities in Mariupol planned to start digging mass graves for the dead.

The shelling has destroyed buildings and the city has no water, heat, working sewage systems or phone service.

US rejects Poland's offer

Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Tuesday rejected Poland’s offer to give the US its Mig-29 fighter jets, for use by Ukraine.

Poland’s declaration that it intended to deliver 28 jets to the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany raised the concerning prospect of warplanes departing from a US and Nato base to fly into airspace contested by Russia in the Ukraine conflict, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

“We will continue to consult with Poland and our other Nato allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” Mr Kirby said.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the vertical tail fin of a Russian Su-34 bomber lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

An apartment building damaged after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

A woman puts her head in her hands as she sits on a cot in a shelter, set up for displaced persons fleeing Ukraine, inside a school gymnasium in Przemysl, Poland. AP Photo

Belarussian and suspected Russian helicopters on the flight line at Machulishchy Air Base outside Minsk, Belarus. AP Photo

Children look on as people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine shelter in a school, in Drohobych, Ukraine. Reuters

Families eat in the shelter. Reuters

A woman looks out from a building damaged by Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, 100 kilometres away from Odesa, western Ukraine. AFP

A wounded Ukrainian man waits in the corridor of the central hospital of Mykolaiv. AFP

An elderly woman is carried in a shopping cart after being rescued from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

A woman reacts as a train carrying children from Kyiv's Central Children's Hospital leaves the Ukrainian capital on its way to Lviv. Reuters

A girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP

An elderly woman is coated in snow as she sits in a wheelchair after being rescued from Irpin. AP

Belarusian volunteers take part in military exercises at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv. AP

Lessa, left, director of a nursery school turned into a refugee shelter, cries as she hugs Olega, who arrived from Kyiv with her baby, near Lviv. EPA

Ukrainians pass a damaged bridge as they flee from Irpin. AP

A man carries an elderly woman as people continue to leave Irpin. AP

A soldier stands on a barricade made of sandbags in central Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters

A charred Russian tank and captured tanks in the Sumy region. Reuters

People rest at a temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Przemysl, Poland. AFP

Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands, Maksym Kononenko, third right, and his wife Tetiana Doroshenko, fourth left, attend a meeting of members of the Ukrainian community with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, third left, and Queen Maxima, second left, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, in The Hague. EPA

A Ukrainian soldier looks at the destruction after shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv. AFP

A refugee holds her dog as they wait for trains to Poland in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters

A woman ties ribbons in Ukrainian national flag colours in a girl's hair as people wait at a refugee assistance centre in Prague, Czech Republic. EPA

A Ukrainian soldier carries an elderly woman crossing the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

Lena, who had never left Ukraine before fleeing into Moldova, feeds Dasha, 3, soon after crossing the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Refugees without immediate plans to move further inland can stay the night in tents set up on Moldova's side of the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Tatiana and her son wait for a van that will carry them from the Moldovan border to Chisinau. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Each night, the Palanca refugee camp in Moldova feeds up to 300 people who arrive with no onward plans. Erin Clare Brown for The National

People pass a damaged bridge while fleeing the town of Irpin, close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. AP

A Ukrainian soldier stands guard next to a church in Irpin. EPA

A firefighter holds the baby of a Ukrainian refugee at the border in Romania. AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv. Reuters

A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint in Kyiv. AP

Ukrainian activist Ihor Mazur, left, a veteran of the war in the country's east, looks at a night-vision device in Kyiv. AP

Ambassadors attend a UN Security Council meeting on threats to international security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in New York. Reuters

Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya holds a paper with an image of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as he addresses the Security Council in New York. Reuters

A road sign put up in support of Mr Zelenskyy outside Russia's embassy in Washington. AFP

Ukrainian refugees at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. EPA

Lethal and non-lethal Ukrainian aid is loaded on to a plane bound for Poland by Canadian soldiers in Trenton, Ontario. Reuters

Volunteers carry medical aid and necessities at a train station in Lviv. EPA

Everton players wear T-shirts in support of Ukraine as they warm up for an English Premier League football match against Tottenham Hotspur. AP

A residential building damaged by Russian shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Reuters

A man walks past a checkpoint in heavy snow in Lviv. Getty

A man fleeing fighting in Irpin waits to cross a river after Russian forces entered the city. Getty

Soldiers assist Irpin residents underneath a damaged bridge as they flee. Getty

Ukrainian civilians who volunteered to join the Territorial Defence Forces take part in a training exercise in Odesa after Russia's invasion. Reuters

Men carry a body to a lorry as people flee from the frontline town of Irpin. EPA

A Ukrainian police officer runs with a child as the sound of shelling echoes nearby in Irpin. AP

Parents and children struggle to board a train in Lviv. AP

The Polish foreign ministry announced the plan in a statement, saying the jets would be delivered to Ramstein, free of charge.

“At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities,” it said.

The Polish government also appealed to other owners of Mig-29 jets to follow suit.

The proposed gift of more warplanes would be a morale booster for Ukrainians reeling under Russia's assault.

But it also raises the risk of the war expanding beyond Ukraine.

Russia's warning

Russia has said that supporting Ukraine’s air force would be tantamount to joining the war, and could spur retaliation.

White House officials were blindsided by the Polish announcement on the Migs.

US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told senators at a hearing on the Ukraine crisis on Tuesday that she learnt of Poland’s plans only while driving to the hearing.

“To my knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us,” Ms Nuland said.

Ukraine has been pleading for more warplanes as it resists more powerful Russian forces.

Washington has been looking at a proposal under which Poland will supply Ukraine with the Mig-29s and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss.

Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly the Soviet-era fighter jets.