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Ukraine-Russia war updates: Ukrainian officials say evacuation of civilians from bombarded cities is underway — as it happened

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Ukraine officials say humanitarian corridors out of the cities of Sumy and Irpin are open, but some remain sceptical that civilians will be able to leave safely.

Look back on all of Tuesday's updates as they happened.

Key events

Live updates

By Jessica Riga

We're going to close the blog here

Thank you for reading along with us today.

You can stay up to date with all the latest updates here on the ABC News website and on our app.

We'll be back soon with more live coverage. Until then, goodnight. 

By Jessica Riga

Energy giant Shell to sever ties with Russia over Ukraine invasion

Here's more on the announcement from Shell we reported on earlier. 

A week after coming under pressure for continuing to do business in Russia, Shell says it will stop buying Russian oil and gas and will shut down all its operations in the country.

You can read the full story here.

By Jessica Riga

Putin signs law allowing government to quickly raise pensions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing his government to quickly raise pensions, part of a set of anti-crisis measures after Russia was hit by a wave of economic sanctions over Ukraine, the RIA news agency is reporting. 

Another new initiative signed into law by Mr Putin gave individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses the right to request "credit holidays," RIA reported.

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Brazil wants peace in Ukraine but does not take sides, minister says

Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Franca has said that the South American nation wants to help forge peace in Ukraine but failed to condemn Russia's invasion, arguing his country would not take sides in the conflict.

"Brazil's position is clear... we are on the side of world peace. We think we can reach that...by helping to find a way out (of the conflict) and not by taking sides," he said. 

He said Brazil does not look at Russian's invasion of Ukraine from a position of "indifference" but of "impartiality."

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Moscow scolds Irish envoy after truck driven into Russian embassy gates

Russia has called in the Irish ambassador to demand an apology and lodge a formal complaint after a man drove a lorry through the gates of Russia's embassy to Dublin to protest against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the foreign ministry says.

The Russian ministry accused protesters near its embassy of "essentially adopting tactics widely used by terrorists", demanded Ireland compensate Moscow for damage and said it wanted those responsible for the incident punished.

"We ... expect the authorities of the country to conduct an objective investigation and punish those responsible," it said in a statement.

Videos posted on social media showed a driver reversing a truck through the gates of the embassy and stopping after one gate was torn off.

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Latvian member of parliament joins foreign fighters in Ukraine

Latvian member of parliament Juris Jurass has joined the fight against Russian forces in Ukraine, his party has announced.

Mr Jurass, 46, heads parliament's Legal Affairs Committee.

Janis Bordans, justice minister and chairman of the New Conservative Party, part of the governing coalition, told Reuters he respects the decision. 

"He is in Ukraine. He has joined the fighters for freedom in Ukraine. That was his personal decision, and I fully respect it,"

Mr Bordans declined to provide more information for safety reasons.

Ukraine has established an "international" legion for people from abroad and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly urged foreigners to fight side-by-side with Ukrainians to show support for his country.

Last week, Mr Zelenskyy said that more than 16,000 foreigners had volunteered, without specifying how many had arrived.

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Estonia calls for restricting cryptocurrencies to close sanctions loopholes

Estonia's Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, is pushing for harsher financial sanctions to be levied against Russia.

The European Union has so far agreed that seven Russian banks should be locked out of SWIFT, the international payment system

Ms Kallas says Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, should also be sealed off from SWIFT.

She also says there are loopholes to the sanctions that need to be addressed, including the use of cryptocurrency.

"This tragedy demands first our continued and united support. Second, our focus must be on the full isolation of Russia. But we need to be prepared that the worst is still to come," she said. 

By Jessica Riga

Macron's photographer shares moments after phone call with Putin

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, but these photos just released by Macron's official photographer, Soazig de la Moissonnière, capture the moments after the phone call.

In a statement Élysée Palace said Macron used the call to express his concern about the risks to nuclear safety and called for Russia to respect for international humanitarian law.

By Jessica Riga

Xi Jinping calls for restraint in Ukraine, says China is 'pained' to see war reignited in Europe

Here's more on those comments from Xi Jinping I reported on earlier. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "maximum restraint" in Ukraine and said China is "pained to see the flames of war reignited in Europe," state media reported, in his strongest statement to date on the conflict.

Mr Xi, speaking at a virtual meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said the three countries should jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Mr Xi described the situation in Ukraine as "worrying" and said the priority should be preventing it from escalating or "spinning out of control", CCTV cited him as saying.

He also said France and Germany should make efforts to reduce negative impacts of the crisis, and expressed concern about the impact of sanctions on the stability of global finance, energy supplies, transportation and supply chains.

China, which has refused to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine or to call them an invasion, has repeatedly expressed its opposition to what it describes as illegal sanctions on Russia.

You can read the full story here.

By Jessica Riga

Temporary ceasefire has mostly held in Ukraine's Sumy, allowing evacuations

A temporary ceasefire has mostly held around the Ukrainian city of Sumy, allowing civilians including around 1,000 foreign students to be evacuated through a humanitarian corridor, the regional governor has said.

Convoys of 20-30 private cars were leaving in waves, Governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky added.

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

NATO says Russia's war must not escalate beyond Ukraine

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says there are credible reports that Russia is targeting civilians in Ukraine and urged Moscow to end the conflict, also vowing not to let it spread.

"We have a responsibility to ensure the conflict does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine. We will protect and defend every inch of all allied territory," he said.

Speaking alongside Latvia's President Egils Levits, Stoltenberg said Russia's invasion was causing horrific suffering and that the humanitarian impact was devastating, Reuters reports. 

By Jessica Riga

Russian forces strike two oil depots in northern Ukraine, says governor

Russian forces are bombing civilian infrastructure and homes in Ukraine's northern region of Zhytomyr, and have carried out air strikes on two oil depots, Governor Vitaliy Bunechko has said in televised comments.

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Key Event

Russian forces' advance in Ukraine has slowed, says Ukrainian official

The advance of Russian forces in Ukraine has slowed significantly and Ukrainian forces are counter-attacking in some areas, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has announced. 

"The tempo of the enemy's advance has slowed considerably, and in certain directions where they were advancing it has practically stopped," he told a televised briefing.

"The forces that continue to advance, advance in small forces."

Reporting by Reuters

By Kate Ainsworth

Inside an emergency department in a hospital basement in Kyiv

The main children's hospital in Ukraine's capital has been transformed into a bunker-like emergency department, with doctors forced to treat the sick and injured in the basement.

The hospital has come under attack several times since Russian forces invaded, but paediatric specialist Dr Lesia Lysytsia told PM she will keep treating her countrymen as long as she can.

Dr Lysytsia, who is working and living in the hospital with her husband and two young children, said staff were becoming exhausted and daily life was hard, but they were motivated by helping as many people as they can.

"Unfortunately most of the victims cannot receive treatment when they need it and they died before coming to hospital," she said.

“You don't have a choice to do normal operation ... you even don't have a possibility to give them as much blood as they need.

“You can do nothing — or you can try to do what you can."

Dr Lysytsi said things were becoming more difficult but her people would keep on fighting.

By Jessica Riga

Key Event

Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for 'maximum restraint' in Ukraine

Chinese President Xi Jinping has 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 is reporting.

Xi, speaking at a virtual meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said the three countries should jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reports.

Yesterday Prime Minister Scott Morrison said China has more power than any other country to halt Russia's invasion of Ukraine, declaring it was "up to China" to demonstrate its commitment to global peace at a "hinge point in history".

"No country will have a bigger impact on concluding this terrible war in Ukraine than China," Mr Morrison said.

"So long as they have a bet each way on this, then I fear the bloodshed will continue."

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Key Event

Ukraine says Russia is shelling evacuation route from encircled Mariupol 

Russian forces have shelled an evacuation route for civilians trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol in violation of a ceasefire agreement, Ukraine foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko has said on Twitter.

"Ceasefire violated!" he tweeted.

"Russia forces are now shelling the humanitarian corridor to Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol.

"8 trucks + 30 buses ready to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol and to evacuate civilians to Zaporizhzhia. Pressure on Russia MUST step up to make it uphold its commitments," he said.

By Jessica Riga

EU to propose sanctions regime against disinformation, calls out Russian state-owned media

The European Union's executive will propose a new mechanism to punish disinformation around the world, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has announced, citing what he said were lies intentionally spread by Russian state-owned media.

Mr Borrell told the European Parliament that the EU should be able to freeze assets and ban travel to the bloc of those deemed responsible, in order to highlight such abuses of information to manipulate and mislead.

"I will propose a new mechanism that will allow us to sanction those malign disinformation actors," Mr Borrell said, adding that he was not trying to define what was true or false in news, but to protect against manipulation of societies.

He singled out Russian state-owned television network Russia Today and news agency Sputnik as examples of "instruments to push this narrative to manipulate and mislead" Russian people over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Borrell said Moscow was not just bombing houses and infrastructure in Ukraine but also targeting Russians with fake news and disinformation.

"They are bombing their minds," he said.

Mr Borrell did not give more details about the timing of his proposal. EU governments would have to agree, draw up legal acts and agree on the names of those to target.

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Shell to stop buying Russian crude oil, issues apology

Global energy giant Shell has announced a raft of sanctions to halt its operations in Russia.

It says it'll stop buying Russian oil and natural gas, and will shut down its service stations, aviation fuels, and energy services in the country.

Shell also apologised for buying Russian crude last week.

"We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil ... was not the right one and we are sorry," Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said.

The decision comes as the price of crude oil surges, and Ukraine's government lashed out at companies like Shell for continuing operations in Russia.

Profits from Shell's "limited, remaining amounts of Russian oil" is pledged to go towards a fund for relief efforts for Ukranians.

By Jessica Riga

Thirty buses en route to collect evacuees from Mariupol

Thirty buses are en route to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol to collect evacuees via a humanitarian corridor to Ukraine-controlled territory, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk says.

There were signs Russian forces were firing in the direction of a route for humanitarian aid, she added, without providing further details.

Reporting by Reuters

By Jessica Riga

Zelenskyy says child died from dehydration in besieged Mariupol

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a child has died from dehydration in Ukraine's besieged city of Mariupol, which has had no water, power or heating supplies for days.

"In 2022, from dehydration," Zelenskyy said in a video address, likening the humanitarian crisis linked to Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities to that created by the Nazi invasion during World War II.

The child's death could not immediately be confirmed independently. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to disarm its neighbour and arrest leaders it calls "Neo-Nazis". It denies targeting civilians.

Reporting by Reuters

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