Russia’s military held fire and opened humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities on Monday, the Defence Ministry said, after fighting halted weekend evacuation efforts and civilian casualties.
The corridors opened at 10 am Moscow time (0700 GMT) from the capital Kyiv as well as the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy and were 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.
“Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilised world … are useless this time,” the ministry said.
Russia calls the campaign it launched on Feb. 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% of the 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 Reuters.
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 fighting that has 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 claimed the United States had seen credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians and was documenting them to support a potential war crimes investigation.
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 super yachts, ships and aircraft from entering its waters or airspace.
