Russian forces on Wednesday also bombed a theater in Mariupol where civilians took shelter. The authorities said 130 people were rescued but many more could remain under the debris.
Mariupol, a strategic port on the Azov Sea, has been encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies, and has faced a relentless bombardment.
Here are the 10 developments from Ukraine-Russia:
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said seven humanitarian corridors would open on Sunday to enable civilians to leave frontline areas. Ukraine has evacuated a total of 190,000 people from such areas since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, Vereshchuk said on Saturday, though Ukraine and Russia blame each other for hobbling the process.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the siege of Mariupol will go down in history for what he’s calling war crimes by Russia’s military. “To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” he said early Sunday in his nighttime video address to the nation.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the suspension of activities of some opposition parties with alleged connections to Russia, citing martial law. “Given the full-scale war and ties of some political structures with this state (Russia), the National Security Council of Ukraine has decided to suspend any activity of a number of political parties,” Zelenskiy said in a video message on Sunday.
Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station caused a stir when they posed in yellow and blue uniforms, but Moscow on Saturday denied that was a show of support for Ukraine. Roscosmos spokesman Dmitry Strugovets said the yellow flight suits symbolize the emblem of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, from which all three cosmonauts graduated.
After Biden warned Xi of “consequences” if China provided material support to Russia’s war effort, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing has “always stood for maintaining peace and opposing war” and that “time will prove that China’s claims are on the right side of history.
Ukraine will receive Stingers, Javelins and other U.S. weaponry announced by President Joe Biden in the coming days, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said. “Those will be useful for our army will be on the territory of Ukraine in the nearest future,” Danilov said in an interview on Ukrainian television.
The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said that 112 children have been killed. Pope Francis made a surprise visit to young refugees being treated in a paediatric hospital in Rome.
Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Sunday it continues to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine in line with requests from European consumers. The company said the requests stood at 106.6 million cubic metres for March 20.
Russian forces have bombed an art school in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where about 400 residents had taken shelter, the city council said on Sunday. There was no immediate word of casualties from the Saturday attack, although the council said the building was destroyed and there were victims under the rubble.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Saturday for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow and also urged Switzerland to do more to crack down on Russian oligarchs who he said were helping wage war on his country with their money.
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