A second attempt at a cease-fire meant to allow civilians and the wounded to be evacuated from besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine came apart under shelling from Russian forces Sunday, leaving the port city in dire need of food, water, medicine and other supplies.
Ukrainian officials said Russian attacks quickly closed the humanitarian corridor that had been negotiated, dashing hopes that more people could escape the fighting.
“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.
Efforts to evacuate civilians also fell through in Volnovakha in the east as well as the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, where presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich described the situation as “catastrophic.”
Although the Ukrainians were putting up stiff resistance and ruining Russian plans for a quick takeover, the conflict has taken a heavy toll as the invading forces have launched 600 missiles since the war started Feb. 24.
Russian airstrikes damaged the Donetsk-Mariupol gas pipeline, likely leaving dozens of Ukrainian towns and villages in the area without gas or heat, officials in the Donetsk region said. A Russian missile strike hit a gas line in Irpin, 15 miles west of Kyiv, cutting off gas and heat to local residents, the government said.
Also, Ukraine notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that regular staff operates the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, but that plant management is now under orders from the commander of the Russian forces that took control of the site last week. Ukraine reports that any action of plant management – including measures related to the technical operation of the six reactor units – requires prior approval by the Russian commander.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi expressed “grave concern” about the reorganization, saying professional staff must have the “capacity to make decisions free of undue pressure.”
Ukraine Defense Minister Alexei Danilov said his country has survived the first wave of Russia’s large-scale offensive but Russia is preparing a second wave. Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Odesa remain strategically important cities for Russia’s war, he said. Russian troops want to encircle key cities, bleed the Ukrainian army and create a humanitarian catastrophe, Danilov said.
“The myth of Putin’s most modern and powerful army in the world has been destroyed and burned on the roads of Kyiv and Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mykolaiv,” Danilov said. “But the enemy is still dangerous.”
Blinken said the U.S. is investigating and documenting the reported attacks to determine whether war crimes are being committed.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Sunday urged the world to rally around Ukraine as it fights to remain independent amid Russia’s invasion of the country.
“We see our future as a democratic, modern European country, and we expect support from (the) whole world, because we are fighting not just for Ukraine, we are fighting for wellness,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We are fighting for all (the) world. We have to stop Putin all together.”
In addition to global unity and the weapons Ukraine has requested from its global allies, Klitschko said the country needs more pressure and sanctions on Russia, and that despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat made Saturday to eliminate Ukraine, the country has “great ambition” to remain independent from Russia.
“Our country is not just buildings; people (are our) main power,” he said. “Ukraine was always a friendly nation, we (were) always a friendly country. We never (were) aggressive to anyone. But right now we have a huge motivation to defend our future and our country.”
– Ella Lee
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Sunday warned that those calling for a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine may not fully understand the ramifications of the act.
“That means flying AWACS 24 hours a day. That means the willingness to shoot down and engage Russian airplanes in the sky. That means, frankly, you can’t put those planes up there unless you’re willing to knock out the anti-aircraft systems that the Russians have deployed, and not just in Ukraine, but in Russia, and also in Belarus,” Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Basically, a no fly zone – if people understand what it means – means starting World War III,” he continued.
The Florida senator also responded to online criticism he faced Saturday for sharing pictures of a Zoom call with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian ambassador asked Congress to refrain from doing so for security reasons, saying the ambassador made that request late into the call and that he does not believe he put Zelenskyy at risk.
– Ella Lee
U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Sunday doubled down on the United States’ position that it will not be enacting a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
“President Biden has been very, very clear that American troops will not be put on the ground or in the air to escalate this war and make this an American war against the Russians,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But we’ve also been very clear that we will support Ukraine in every other way possible.”
Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. is in talks with Poland and NATO to provide jets to Ukraine or crack down on tougher sanctions for Russia but stopped short of confirming that help is guaranteed. She added that despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued aggression in Ukraine, negotiation is still on the table.
“We have been working since the beginning of this to bring the Russians to the negotiating table, and that offer is still on the table – not just by us but also by our European colleagues,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
– Ella Lee
Defense officials in the United Kingdom said they believe Russia is targeting populated areas in multiple locations, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol in an effort to break Ukrainian morale, according to a statement released early Sunday.
“Russia has previously used similar tactics in Chechnya in 1999 and Syria in 2016, employing both air and ground-based munitions,” the statement said. It also credited the scale and strength of the Ukrainian resistance for targeting Russian supply lines and slowing the advance of ground forces.
“There is a realistic possibility that Russia is now attempting to conceal fuel trucks as regular support trucks to minimise losses,” the statement read.
Moody’s on Sunday again slashed Russia’s credit rating and listed its future outlook as “negative.” The financial services company downgraded Russia’s rating based on expectations that the Central Bank will further restrict payments across borders, including debt service on government bonds.
The rating – Ca – is now closer to junk status, “driven by severe concerns around Russia’s willingness and ability to pay its debt obligations,” Moody’s said in a statement issued early Sunday.
“Concerns around the government’s willingness to pay and the unpredictability of government actions could result in larger than historical average losses for investors,” the statement said.
– Katie Wadington
The media entity also referenced a law signed Friday by Russian President Vladimir Putin that could subject journalists to prison sentences if they deviate from Kremlin-approved descriptions of the war. It said RFE/RL journalists would “continue to tell the truth about Russia’s catastrophic invasion of its neighbor,” reporting on developments from outside Russia.
“This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime’s assault on the truth,” President and CEO Jamie Fly said.
RFE/RL, which has maintained a physical presence in Russia since 1991, said nine of its Russian language websites have been blocked in the last week after it refused to comply with demands to delete information about the invasion of Ukraine.
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