Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Sunday that Ukraine will not forgive Russia for all the victims and suffering the war it started had caused.
The latest call between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron on Sunday focused primarily on the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear plants. The international energy agency the IAEA has expressed serious concern as they fall into Russian hands.
Thousands of people in Russia were arrested on Sunday for protesting against the invasion.
Follow the latest developments in our live blog below:
Monday’s key points:
- Russia has pledged to hold fire and allow humanitarian corridors from 0800 CET to allow civilians to be evacuated from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy, according to state media.
- There has been no confirmation from Kyiv and the offer appears to involve transporting civilians to Russia.
- More shelling was reported early on Monday in Kyiv suburbs and at Mykolaiv, 500km south of the capital.
- Two attempts to evacuate civilians in besieged Mariupol failed on Sunday with Ukraine accusing Russia of once more shelling the area. Civilians were reportedly killed in shelling outside Kyiv.
- President Zelenskyy warned that Russia intends to attack Ukraine’s defence enterprises on Monday, saying hundreds of thousands of civilians live nearby. Earlier he issued a new appeal for a Western-imposed no-fly zone and warplanes.
- At least 4,640 people were arrested in anti-war protests in Russia on Sunday in 65 cities, according to OVD-Info.
- The IAEA said Ukraine is having trouble communicating with staff at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, amid safety concerns.
- The next round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place on Monday.
- The UN Human Rights Office said that 364 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the beginning of the invasion.
- More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began 10 days ago.
- More tech companies, including TikTok and Netflix, suspended their services in Russia.
Moscow’s ceasefire offer involves evacuating civilians to Russia
‘Heavy shelling continues’ in some areas despite ceasefires
Even as Russia announced a ceasefire starting Monday morning and the opening of humanitarian corridors in several areas, its armed forces continued to pummel Ukrainian cities, with multiple rocket launchers hitting residential buildings.
Russian forces continued their offensive, opening fire on the city of Mykolaiv, 480 kilometres south of the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine’s General Staff said Monday morning. Rescuers said they were putting out fires in residential areas caused by rocket attacks.
Shelling also continued in the suburbs of Kyiv, including Irpin, which has been cut off from electricity, water and heating for three days.
“Russia continues to carry out rocket, bomb and artillery strikes on the cities and settlements of Ukraine,” the General Staff said. “The invaders continue to use the airfield network of Belarus to carry out air strikes on Ukraine.”
The Russians have also been targeting humanitarian corridors, taking women and children hostage and placing weapons in residential areas of cities, according to the General Staff. (AP)
Thousands detained in anti-war protests in Russia
Thousands arrested during anti-war protests in Russia, authorities say
euronewsThousands of people have been detained during a series of anti-war protests across Russia on Sunday.
Russian army announces ‘humanitarian corridors and local ceasefires’
Russia’s military will hold fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities on Monday, the defence ministry has said. There has been no confirmation from Ukraine.
A statement said Russian forces will declare a ‘silent regime’ and allow corridors to be opened at 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT, 0800 CET) 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.
The cities have been plagued by intense Russian bombardment of civilian areas.
The ministry added that those who leave Kyiv will then be airlifted to Russia and that drones will be used to monitor the evacuation.
“Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilised world … are useless this time,” the ministry said.
The Russian move comes after fighting halted weekend evacuation efforts and civilian casualties from Russia’s invasion mounted. (with Reuters and AFP
Latest reports from around Ukraine
Sunday evening, heavy shelling also came to Mykolaiv in the south and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city. Heavy artillery hit residential areas in Kharkiv and shelling damaged a television tower, according to local officials.
Efforts to evacuate residents from the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin on Sunday were mostly unsuccessful.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko blamed Russian artillery fire for halting a second attempt in as many days to evacuate an estimated 200,000 civilians from Mariupol, where food, water and medicine are scarce.
A senior American defence official said Sunday the U.S. believes that about 95% of the Russian forces that had been arrayed around Ukraine are now inside the country. Ukrainian air and missile defenses remain effective and in use, and the Ukrainian military continues to fly aircraft and to employ air defense assets, the official said.
Ukrainian forces were also defending Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port city, from Russian ships, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Sunday announced plans to strike Ukraine’s military-industrial complex. (AP)
Thousands trapped under siege in Mariupol after evacuation attempts fail
Reuters reports that about 200,000 people remain trapped in the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol on Monday after fighting stopped evacuation efforts over the weekend, with no sign that massive international sanctions were deterring Moscow from its invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities say most people are sleeping underground to escape more than six days of shelling by Russian forces that has cut off food, water, power and heating supplies.
Read our report on how the evacuation effort went wrong on Sunday:
New attempt to evacuate Ukrainian city halted ‘due to Russian attack’
A second attempt to evacuate civilians from a southern Ukrainian port city where supplies are running short was stopped due to a Russian assault, a Ukrainian official said.
Zelenskyy slams ‘deliberate murder’ by Putin’s forces
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Ukraine will not forgive Russia for all the victims and suffering the war it started had caused.
The address came on a special religious day known as “Forgiveness Sunday” on which according to the Eastern Orthodox Church tradition people ask each other for forgiveness, usually answering “God forgives and I forgive.”
“We will not forgive the shelled houses. We will not forgive the missile that our air defence shot down today over Okhmatdyt. And even the more than five hundred other such missiles that hit our land in Ukraine, our people, our children,” Zelekskyy in his speech.
About eight civilians were killed by Russian shelling in the town of Irpin on Sunday, on the northwest outskirts of Kyiv, according to Mayor Oleksander Markyshin. The dead included a family.
“Today a family was killed in Irpin. Man, woman and two children. Right on the road. As in a shooting gallery. When they tried to just get out of the city, to be saved. Whole family,” the Ukrainian president said, adding “And how many such families in Ukraine died?”
He also said that Russia officially announced it will shell Ukraine’s defence enterprises on Monday, that were built back in the Soviet time. “Thousands of people work there. Hundreds of thousands live nearby. This is murder. Delibarate murder,” Zelenskyy said. (AP)