Russia-Ukraine crisis Live: Putin says will stop military ops only if demands met; Ukraine refugees touch 1.5-million mark

Russia Ukraine Conflict Live News, Russia Ukraine War Crisis News Today, 6 March: A second attempted ceasefire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed on Sunday, with Pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine's National Guard accusing each other of failing to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to leave.

Russia Ukraine Crisis Live: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said that the military operation in Ukraine will only be halted if Russia’s demands are met. He has also likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war”, while a second attempted ceasefire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed on Sunday, with Pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine’s National Guard accusing each other of failing to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to leave.

Meanwhile, the number of people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has topped 1.5 million, making it Europe’s “fastest-growing refugee crisis” since World War-II, the United Nations said on Sunday.

More than 11,000 Russian troops have been killed since Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff said on Sunday. A day earlier, it put Russian casualties at over 10,000. It did not report Ukrainian casualties.

Russia Ukraine War Latest News

• The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine was expected to reach 1.5 million on Sunday as Russia's attack continued for an 11th day and Ukraine pushed for further Western help, including more sanctions and weapons.
• Another try at evacuating civilians from Mariupol The city council of Ukraine's Mariupol said an evacuation of some of 400,000 residents trapped by Russian forces would start at noon (1000 GMT) under a temporary ceasefire that will last till 9 p.m. A similar plan had to be abandoned on Saturday after the ceasefire was not fully observed, with both sides trading blame.
• A city mayor trying to get people out The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, used to dream of revitalising the city. Now he says his main priority is to help many of the 400,000 people stuck in the besieged southeastern city to escape.
• Strong resistance continues Blasts were heard overnight in Kharkiv, the second-largest city, Ukrainian media said, while the armed forces said they were conducting defensive operations in the eastern Donetsk, Chernihiv and elsewhere. British military intelligence said Russian forces were targeting populated areas in Ukraine but that the strength of resistance was slowing the Russian advance. * Talk of fighter jets for Ukraine After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked U.S. lawmakers for help securing aircraft from European allies, Washington said it was working with Poland as it considers providing fighter jets.
• Russian credit maxes out Visa and Mastercard, also following a request from Zelenskiy, said they were suspending operations in Russia and would work with clients and partners to cease all transactions there.
• Shuttle diplomacy Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became the first world leader on Saturday to meet face to face with Putin since he launched the invasion. He then spoke with Zelenskiy in an attempt to mediate an end to the war in coordination with the United States, France and Germany.

City that Russia take from Ukraine:

Russia formally incorporated Crimea as two Russian federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol on 18 March 2014. Following the annexation, Russia escalated military presence on the peninsula and leveraged nuclear threats to solidify the new status quo on the ground.