Russian shelling prevents evacuations once again - Ukraine

 Russian shelling prevents evacuations once again - Ukraine

UK announces further £175m of support for Ukraine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been speaking at a press conference alongside Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau and Dutch premier Mark Rutte.

He says the United Kingdom will give £175m of aid to Ukraine, saying it takes the UK's total commitment to nearly £400 million.

UK ambassador has left Ukraine




Britain's ambassador to Ukraine has left the country because of the "serious security situation", Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says.

Earlier in the invasion Ambassador Melinda Simmons and a reduced embassy staff moved from the capital Kyiv to Lviv in western Ukraine, where the threat was considered less acute.

Giving evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Truss said all UK diplomatic missions in the country have now closed.

West 'didn't act early enough' on Russian threat - Truss




UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says the West "didn't act early enough or decisively enough" in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's build-up of troops on the border with Ukraine.

"The reality is President Putin did not take the threats of deterrence seriously enough," she told MPs.

With the invasion of Ukraine, Truss said Russia had "shattered the security architecture of Europe".

"What we have to do now is we have to strengthen Nato, we particularly have to strengthen the eastern flank," she told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday.

"We have already deployed more troops into Estonia, but there is more to do. We have to be serious about defence spending, right across Nato."

Ukrainian negotiator urges halt to attack on civilians

As a third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine begins, the Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak urges Russia to halt attacks on civilians.

In a tweet, he says: "In a few minutes, we will start talking to representatives of a country that seriously believes large-scale violence against civilians is an argument. Prove that this is not the case."

Ukraine arrives for third round of talks with Russia

It's being reported by local news agencies that the Ukraine delegation has arrived in Belarus for the third round of talks - after two previous sittings failed to make any progress toward peace.

It is understood the focus of the talks will once again be humanitarian corridors - to allow Ukrainian civilians to escape from military action as heavy Russian shelling of city centres continues in the south and the east of the country.

A previous attempt to establish humanitarian corridors on Saturday collapsed when the ceasefire failed to hold.

Overnight on Sunday, a new proposal from Russia was branded "unacceptable" by Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, after it became clear that people fleeing Kyiv would be offered safe passage to Russia's ally Belarus, while those in Kharkiv will have a corridor leading only to Russia itself.

Of the four cities mentioned, only the smaller ones - Mariupol and Sumy - have evacuation routes that lead to other parts of Ukraine. A spokesman for Ukraine's President Zelensky called it "a completely immoral story".

More than 1.7m Ukrainians have so far fled the war-torn country, as the invasion continues into its 12th day.

Russian billionaire calls for 'peace as soon as possible'


Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has taken to Telegram to call for peace "as soon as possible" in Ukraine.

Reacting to a TED talk by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he agreed with Harari that "we need peace".

Deripaska - who founded some of Russia's largest industrial companies - added that the "whole world will be different, and Russia will be different" following the conflict.




Summary

  1. Russian shelling is still preventing the evacuation of civilians from besieged cities, Ukraine says
  2. Attacks are said to continue despite a proposal from Russia to create safe escape routes
  3. Russia said earlier that humanitarian corridors would allow people to leave Kyiv, Mariupol, Sumy and Kharkiv today
  4. But Ukraine branded the proposal "immoral" after it emerged many of the routes would only take civilians to Russia or its ally Belarus
  5. Two ceasefire attempts in Mariupol, where people are running out of food, collapsed at the weekend
  6. About 1,000 people have been able to flee Irpin, north-west of the capital Kyiv, despite continued Russian shelling
  7. Oil prices have soared to a 13-year high due to the crisis








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