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Fighting traps residents in Mariupol; Putin calls on Ukraine to surrender

Published 03/05/2022, 09:02 PM
Updated 03/06/2022, 10:25 PM
© Reuters. An elderly woman is helped while crossing a destroyed bridge as she tries to leave the city of Irpin, in the Kyiv region, Ukraine March 5, 2022. Jedrzej Nowicki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS

By Pavel Polityuk and Aleksandar Vasovic

LVIV/KYIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Fighting stopped about 200,000 people from evacuating the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol for a second day in a row on Sunday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to press ahead with his invasion unless Kyiv surrendered.

Most people trapped in the port city are sleeping underground to escape more than six days of near-constant shelling by encircling Russian forces that has cut off food, water, power and heating supplies, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

In a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Putin said he was ready for dialogue to end the fighting but that any attempt to draw out talks would fail, according to the Kremlin.

The suspension of what Moscow describes as a special operation, "is only possible if Kyiv stops military operations and carries out well-known Russian demands," the Kremlin said in a readout of the Putin-Erdogan call.

The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion on Feb. 24 stood at 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding that hundreds more were injured.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said most civilian casualties were caused by the use of "explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes."

Russia has launched about 600 missiles so far, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said the Russians were "beginning to accumulate resources for the storming of Kyiv".

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Moscow has repeatedly denied attacking civilian areas.

In Irpin, a town some 25 km (16 miles) northwest of the capital Kyiv, men, women and children trying to escape heavy fighting in the area were forced to take cover when missiles struck nearby, according to Reuters witnesses.

Soldiers and fellow residents helped the elderly hurry to a bus filled with frightened people, some cowering as they waited to be driven to safety.

The invasion has drawn widespread condemnation around the world, sent more than 1.5 million Ukrainians fleeing from the country, and triggered sweeping Western sanctions against Russia aimed at crippling its economy.

The Biden administration said on Sunday it was exploring banning imports of Russian oil, despite concerns the move would drive prices even higher.

Oil prices have soared to their highest levels since 2008 and jumped 10% in early Asian trade on Monday. Russia provides 7% of global supply.

"War is madness, please stop," Pope Francis said in his weekly address to crowds in St Peter's Square, adding "rivers of blood and tears" were flowing in Ukraine's war.

Russian media said Putin also spoke by phone for almost two hours with French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron told Putin he was concerned about a possible amphibious attack on Ukraine's historic port city of Odessa, Macron's office said.

The United States does not believe such an attack is imminent, the senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

'NO TO WAR'

Anti-war protests took place around the world, including in Russia itself, where police detained more than 4,600 people, an independent protest monitoring group said.

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The interior ministry said 3,500 demonstrators had been held, included 1,700 people in Moscow and 750 in St Petersburg.

Thousands of protesters chanted "No to war!" and "Shame on you!", according to videos posted on social media by opposition activists and bloggers. Reuters was unable to independently verify the footage and photographs.

Demonstrations also took place in Western capitals as well as in India and Kazakhstan, after jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called for worldwide protests against the war.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, authorities had said on Sunday they would make a second attempt to evacuate some of the 400,000 residents. But the ceasefire plan collapsed, as it had on Saturday, with each side blaming the other.

"They're destroying us," Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko told Reuters in a video call, describing the city's plight before the latest evacuation effort failed. "They will not even give us an opportunity to count the wounded and the killed because the shelling does not stop."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has seen credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians in Ukraine, adding that Washington was documenting them to support a potential war crimes investigation.

Moscow says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.

The U.S. defense official estimated Russia has deployed about 95% of the combat forces it had staged outside Ukraine.

In the capital, Ukrainian soldiers bolstered defences by digging trenches, blocking roads and liaising with civil defence units as Russian forces bombarded areas nearby.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian rockets had destroyed the civilian airport of the central-western region capital of Vinnytsia. Troops who committed atrocities against civilians would ultimately face punishment, he said.

"For you there will be no peaceful place on this earth, except for the grave," he said in a televised evening address.

Russian forces opened fire at a protest against their occupation of the southern Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka on Sunday, wounding five people, Ukrainian news agency Interfax Ukraine said, citing eyewitnesses.

PLEA FOR MORE WEAPONS

Kyiv renewed its appeal to the West to toughen sanctions and also requested more weapons, including Russian-made planes.

Speaking on a trip to neighbouring Moldova, Blinken said Washington was considering how it could backfill aircraft for Poland if Warsaw 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".

The West, which calls Putin's reasons for invading baseless, has expanded efforts to rearm Ukraine, sending in items from Stinger missiles to anti-tank weapons. But Washington and its NATO allies have resisted Ukraine's plea for a no-fly zone, saying it would escalate the conflict beyond Ukraine's borders.

Ukrainians continued to pour into Poland, Romania, Slovakia and elsewhere. The United Nations said over 1.5 million had fled in Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two.

Western sanctions have pushed many companies to exit investments in Russia, while some Russian banks have been shut out of a global financial payment systems, driving down the rouble and forcing Moscow to jack up interest rates.

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On Sunday, more companies cut ties with Russia: American Express Co (NYSE:AXP), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX)., accounting giants KPMG and PwC, and video sharing app TikTok.

But Chinese firms so far are staying put.

Ukraine's military said more than 11,000 Russian troops had been killed so far and 88 Russian aircraft shot down since the start of the invasion. Reuters could not corroborate the claim. Russia has not given regular updates on its death toll.

Tass news agency cited Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying virtually the entire Ukrainian air force had been destroyed. In the last 36 hours alone, he said, Ukraine had lost 11 combat aircraft and two helicopters. Reuters had no way of corroborating the claim.

Latest comments

no amount of $ can buy freedom. it's earned through conviction and bravery. we can line our coffers in the meantime but if our lives were on the line, no one would care about the stock market.
Allies are in a war and just don’t know it yet. *******pulled same shenanigans with invading Poland and everybody just let it go. That gave *******time to get resources and build more war tools. Austria down and others then once he was powerful we started fighting. Back then Allies gave same reason not to get into war—-fear of starting world war 2. Now same excuse. Wake up. This is the dreaded war Americans and the Wes that’s feared for 5-0 years and it’s happening. So what are we going to do this time?
First on to call for surrender is losing.. everybody knows that. Putin the psychopath just lost.
- Hungary is asking for help. We cannot support the many refugees we are in a poor country. We're running out of money soon. Our national currency is also going down for you. Should Western countries be ruined too?
you need new leadership in hungary, you politicians su k big time
Orban, your fascist leader, has been one of Putins biggest cheerleaders, along with trump. Now, sadly, Ukraine, you and all the rest of the world reap the consequences
 President Trump was Russia’s worth foe. An emboldened Putin is the work of China and Biden. ‘22 ‘24
Putin says Ukraine should just get on their knees and accept being invaded and owned? Sure.
Been wondering, why does the US leadership and Democrats care so much about the people of the Ukraine but were willing to leave the people of Afghanistan to the Taliban?  How is letting the Taliban govern Afghanistan different from letting Russia govern the Ukraine, especially considering what they allowed Bin Laden to accomplish on US soil?  What's the difference?  All human lives are equal are they not? Could it be the white euro centric view that liberals hold so dear?  Both deserve help.
Yes the afghans that were willing to fight have been killed by taliban when we left them there. Watch personal accounts on YouTube. Also, afghans were the main intel and translators for our soldiers and special ops in Afghanistan.
The west is more frightened by the nuclear deterrent posed by Russia and not the low priority of human suffering and tterrorist training camps that have just sprung up in Afghanistan. Easier for Biden to sweep Afghanistan under the rug or at least brush it off. Can’t brush off a nuclear super power and not get crushing political fallout. No pun intended.
Your ignorance is astounding. Trump negotiated a US withdrawal from Afghanistan with the Taliban in Dohar, Quatar on Februar 29, 2020. If that makes your head explode, change the channel, your news sources have been keeping you dumb.
If the Ukrainian claim of the Russian casualties are half correct....still, A big trauma for Russia.
Putin's whining is a direct correlation to his risk at home - he made a huge tactical blunder and as much as this doesn't look like the Ukraine is winning, when Putin is removed by his own - they will have won! Terrible tragedy but too them living under a russian appointed despotic leader would be no different - which is why they are fighting so hard and why Putin is whining so much!
"Putin said ... would not end until Kyiv stopped fighting" --   "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.."  "It rubs the lotion on its skin" so it gets skinned instead of hosed.
That is why so many people from India are in support of Putin on this site. Blaming the victims is in their culture.
Russia denies being in Ukraine
And that is evidence of the extent to which Putin will lie to his people.
We Need Peace!
when the body bags reach Russia soon enough....the mood will change ... already the Russian be soldiers are sabotaging their vehicles etc ..to avoid fighting.....and more have dumped their guns and run across as refugees pretentending to be Ukrainians.Poland has been detaining Russian deserters ..
 you think they aren't aware something is going on - i mean the russian stock market hasn't opened in a week - right now they just don't specifically how bad it is but the longer this goes on - the worse it will be for poutine!
You don't know what you are talking about.
Putin loser
I can only pray nato is using misinformation for time to build combat power. I refuse to believe the west is being subdued at the end of putins gun
NATO can't get directly involved or we have WW3.
us loves fighting but it gets us in trouble
protests and aid are not going to cut it. The world can not go forward until putins Russia is destroyed
You Russian mfrs better be glad you are far from US. There are 300million Americans, i got money says 50million would eat your face. Dont make us want to come there.
bideos failed policies is making everyday Americans gringe at the pumps. is he pushing us to war now by more failed policies?
  No
True. Americans are armed to the teeth, and we are all excellent shots. I’d love to see China or Russia try to bring a fight to us here. I picked up an extra 1,000 rounds last week because they were on sale. If sheet hits the fan, I say we liberate Canada while we’re at it.
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