What is known about the Russian war in Ukraine?

Russia announced another ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave Ukraine on Monday, but nothing has happened so far. Two previous attempts at a ceasefire have failed, and Russian forces continue to strike Ukrainian cities with rockets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a global boycott of all Russian products, including oil, ahead of a third round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials scheduled for Monday.

More than 1.7 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee the country since the start of the war. President Zelenskyy urged his people to continue the resistance, and Ukraine’s foreign minister said more than 20,000 people from 52 countries had voluntarily expressed a desire to fight in Ukraine’s newly formed international legion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed Western sanctions against Russia as similar to a “declaration of war.”

These are the main things you need to know about war:

VIOLENCE INTERRUPTS PLANNED CIVIL EVACUATIONS

Moscow has offered to open evacuation corridors mainly to Russia and its ally Belarus, prompting strong criticism from Ukraine and other countries.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko has blamed Russian artillery attacks for halting efforts to evacuate some 200,000 civilians from Mariupol, where there is a shortage of food, water and medicine. President Putin accused Ukraine of sabotaging the effort.

Russia is trying to block Ukraine’s access to the Azov Sea in the south of the country. The occupation of Mariupol could allow Russia to create a land corridor that would link it to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER FIELD DEVELOPMENTS?

Russian forces have carried out hundreds of rocket and artillery attacks, dropping powerful bombs on populated areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital Kiev, Ukrainian officials said. But a 60-kilometer-long Russian armored convoy threatening the capital remains stranded outside Kiev.

On Sunday evening, Mikolaiv in the south and Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, were also hit by artillery fire from Russian forces.

A senior U.S. defense official said Sunday that the United States believes about 95 percent of the Russian forces stationed around Ukraine are now inside the country. Ukraine’s air and missile defense remains effective, and the Ukrainian military continues to use aircraft and air defense equipment, the US official said.

Ukrainian forces are also defending Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port city, from Russian ships, said Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday announced plans to strike Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and said suspected Ukrainian forces were plotting to blow up an experimental nuclear reactor in Kharkiv and blame Russia for their action. Russian officials did not provide any evidence to support their claims, which could not be independently verified.

ZELENSKYY CONTINUES CALLS FOR ESTABLISHING A NO-BROADCASTING AREA OVER UKRAINE

President Zelenskyy called on foreign countries to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. The creation of a no-fly zone would jeopardize the escalation of the conflict by directly involving foreign armies. Although the United States and many Western countries have supported Ukraine with arms shipments, they have not sent troops to that country.

President Zelenskyy said in a speech Sunday that “the world is strong enough to close our skies” and over the weekend he urged US officials to help supply his country with fighter jets to protect its airspace.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that several Ukrainian fighter jets had been deployed in Romania and other Ukrainian neighbors, whom he did not identify. He warned that an attack by aircraft operating from these countries could be considered as their involvement in the conflict.

INFORMATION CONFIRMED BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

A video released by the Ukrainian government shows a number of witnesses in Chernihiv cheering as a Russian military plane crashes to the ground. In Kherson, hundreds of protesters waved Ukrainian flags and chanted “go home” as a Russian convoy moved through the city streets.

In Mariupol, Associated Press reporters saw doctors trying unsuccessfully to rescue injured children. Pharmacies are almost empty and hundreds of thousands of people are facing food and water shortages in cold weather.

In Irpin, near Kiev, a river of people was walking, some of them in wheelchairs over the ruins of a ruined bridge to cross a river in their attempts to leave the city. Assisted by Ukrainian soldiers, they took pets, babies and bags full of basic things. Several people with disabilities and the elderly were transported along the trail in blankets and wheelchairs.

Kiev’s central train station continues to be crowded with desperate people trying to flee the city as frequent bombings can be heard from the center of the country’s capital.

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS?

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, as part of a tour of the three Baltic states, members of NATO, increasingly concerned about Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He vowed that NATO and the United States would support these countries.

Secretary Blinken said Sunday that the United States and its allies are having a “very active discussion” about banning Russian oil and natural gas imports as the New Zealand government plans to speed up legislation that would pave the way. imposing economic sanctions on Russia.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine will meet near the Turkish coastal city of Antalya in the Mediterranean this week.

China’s foreign minister called Russia Beijing “Beijing’s most important strategic partner” and has continued to refuse to condemn the attack on Ukraine.

While most of the world shuns Putin, one of the few leaders to maintain an open line of communication with the Russian leader is French President Emmanuel Macron. However, in an interview with the French network LCI on Monday, Mr Macron criticized Moscow’s “hypocritical” rhetoric and “cynicism” over its offer to open humanitarian corridors to Russia for Ukrainian civilians. “This is cynicism” that is “unbearable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Russian lawyers opposed a hearing in the UN high court following an attempt by Kiev to halt Russia’s destructive attack on Ukraine.

President Putin continued to blame the Ukrainian leadership for the war, saying: “They are questioning the future of Ukrainian citizenship.” In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, President Putin said the attack could be stopped “only if Kiev ceases hostilities,” according to a Kremlin statement.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

So far, it has been quite difficult to know the exact number of victims of the conflict. The UN human rights office said Monday that it has confirmed the deaths of 406 civilians since the start of the Russian attack. The UN said 801 injured civilians have been confirmed since midnight Sunday. The UN says it believes the real figures are significantly higher.

The World Health Organization said it had verified at least six attacks that resulted in the killing of six health care workers and the wounding of 11 others.

Ukrainian refugees continue to flood into neighboring countries, including Poland, Romania and Moldova. The number of people who have fled Ukraine since the start of the fighting has reached 1.7 million, the UN refugee agency said on Monday.

Ukraine has rejected a Russian proposal to evacuate refugees to Russia and Belarus, calling it “unacceptable.”

BUSINESS IN RUSSIA

A growing number of international businesses have withdrawn from Russia, its vital financial sector, technology and a number of consumer products in response to Western economic sanctions and global anger over the war.

Two of the world’s four largest accounting firms, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, said on Sunday they were withdrawing from Russia, ending relations with member firms based in the country.

TikTok said users would not be able to post new videos in Russia in response to the government’s crackdown on what people might say on social media about the attack in Ukraine, and American Express announced it was suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus.

Netflix also announced that it has suspended its services in Russia.

top channel