The Kremlin claims that humanitarian corridors to get civilians out of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant are functioning after the Russian army announced a three-day ceasefire at the site.
“The corridors are functioning today,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters, adding that the steelworks remain besieged by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s army says Russia is “trying to destroy” its remaining soldiers holed up in the steel plant, with Kyiv’s last defenders in the destroyed city saying Moscow forces have broken into the giant factory.
– Kremlin accuses West on arms, intelligence –
The Kremlin accuses the West of preventing a “quick” end to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine by supplying weapons and intelligence to the country.
“The United States, Britain, NATO as a whole hand over intelligence… to Ukraine’s armed forces on a permanent basis,” spokesman Peskov tells reporters.
“Coupled with the flow of weapons that these countries are sending to Ukraine, these are all actions that do not contribute to the quick completion of the operation,” he says, adding that this was “incapable of hindering the achievement” of the goals of Russia’s military operation.
– Zelensky appeals for cash –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launches a global crowdfunding platform — United24 — to help Kyiv win the war with Russia and rebuild the country’s infrastructure.
“Every donation matters for victory,” he says in English in a video on his Twitter page.
– Sell seized assets: EU chief –
The EU should confiscate and sell Russian assets it has seized and use the proceeds to rebuild Ukraine, EU chief Charles Michel says, echoing an idea already floated in the United States.
The EU said early last month it had frozen 30 billion euros ($32 billion) in assets linked to blacklisted Russian and Belarusian individuals.
– Evacuations –
After more than 300 civilians are evacuated from Mariupol on Wednesday, Zelensky asks United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres to help save the lives of the remaining wounded Ukrainians trapped in Azovstal.
“The lives of the people who remain there are in danger. Everyone is important to us,” he says.
– Nuclear-capable missile practice –
Russia says its forces have practiced simulated nuclear-capable missile strikes during war games in Kaliningrad, an exclave on the Baltic Sea located between EU members Poland and Lithuania.
Moscow practiced simulated “electronic launches” of nuclear-capable Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems, the defence ministry says in a statement.
– Eastern assault continues –
Russian forces continue to pound sites in the east of the country, Ukraine’s general staff says, as Moscow seeks to establish “full control” of the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk and to maintain a land corridor to occupied Crimea.
The governor of the Donbas region Pavlo Kyrylenko says at least 25 civilians were wounded in an overnight Russian strike on the city of Kramatorsk.
– Russia expels Danish diplomats –
Moscow says that seven members of Denmark’s embassy in Russia have been declared persona non grata and have two weeks to leave Russia, in a tit-for-tat move following the expulsion of 15 Russian diplomats from Denmark and the country’s military aid to Kyiv.
– Artworks returned –
Russia says that a collection of artworks by the likes of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse and Monet — the so-called Morozov Collection — has been safely returned after the show proved a runaway success in Paris.
The French government says that two key paintings have been held back due to Western sanctions against Russia.
