Ukrainian war: Russia has stated “silence mode” and is ready to provide humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from a number of cities, including Kyiv.
Here are the top 5 latest updates on this big story
- Moscow has announced a new humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine on Wednesday to carry out the evacuation of the civilian population, as the number of refugees created by the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two surpassed 2 million. Russia said its forces will stop firing from 10 am Moscow time (0700 GMT). This comes after civilians fled the besieged city of Sumy yesterday in the first successful “humanitarian corridor” opened since Russia’s invasion.
- After 21 people, including two children, were killed in airstrikes on Sumy, the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, on Tuesday condemned the Kremlin’s “mass murder” of civilians, including children, in an open letter to the global media on the Russian invasion.
- US President Joe Biden termed the package of economic sanctions enforced against Russia “most significant in history” and claimed that it has caused consequential damage to the Russian economy.
- Starbucks, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo said they have decided to halt or restrict business in Ukraine, noting the growing human cost of the Russian invasion. Oil giants BP and Shell announced an immediate halt to Russian oil and gas purchases and the European Union planned to slash gas imports by two-thirds.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday described the situation in Ukraine as worrying and called for “maximum restraint,” saying the priority should be preventing the situation there from spinning out of control, Chinese state media reported.