Ukrainian families have been shelled as they tried to flee the town of Irpin, just northwest of Kyiv, reportedly killing at least eight people.
The victims included a family of four with two children, Irpin’s mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said. It was reported that they died on Sunday afternoon after Russian mortar shells hit a damaged bridge that they were attempting to cross.
Pictures showed crowds of people sheltering under the destroyed bridge and families traipsing across carrying pets, infants, and bags of their belongings. Civilians were captured running for cover amid the sound of shelling, and photographs shared by media outlets showed dead bodies lying on the street in Irpin.
Kyiv’s military commander, Oleksiy Kuleba, warned in a televised statement on Sunday that the roads out of the city were so unsafe that civilians couldn’t evacuate. “Unfortunately, unless there is a ceasefire, we cannot evacuate,” he said. “There is fire on residential buildings, civilians. The invader is preventing evacuations.”
More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the start of the Russian invasion, the Polish border guard has said.
The European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that the EU must expect and prepare to welcome 5 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. “We are already at one and a half million refugees in one week,” he said. “If the bombardments continue like this, if they continue to bombard the cities indiscriminately, we can expect 5 million... exiles who seek to escape the war.”
More than 200 children have been evacuated from an orphanage in Ukraine’s conflict zone. The 215 children left their orphanage in Zaporizhzhia, in southeast Ukraine, on the day that Russian troops attacked a nearby power station.
“My heart is being torn apart,” Olha Kucher, director of the Zaporizhzhia Central Christian Orphanage, told Reuters.
Two members of the Ukrainian military got married in their fatigues on Sunday at a checkpoint in Kyiv. Lesia Ivashchenko and Valerii Fylymonov, both members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces, were showered with flower petals during the ceremony.
“It is hard to call it unconditional happiness in this situation, but we surely feel uplifted,” the bride told The Washington Post.
Former heavyweight boxing world champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitscho were among those present. Vitali Klitschko, who is now the mayor of Kyiv, said: “Life continued and the people live and their love helps the war.”
Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called for an embargo on Russian energy sales on Monday. Speaking at a joint meeting with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Mr Landsbergis said: “Energy sources which we import pay for the Russian military operation. We cannot pay for oil and gas with the blood of Ukraine.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that the United States and its allies were “ready to meet any threat” to Nato. He added that Russia was trying to “undermine Lithuania’s democracy and sow polarisation with cyber attacks and disinformation.”
The city of Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, has suffered severe structural damage. A senior US defence official said on Sunday that the US assesses that about 95 percent of the Russian forces that had been arrayed around Ukraine are now inside the country. They said that Russian forces continued to advance in an attempt to isolate Chernihiv, but were being met with strong resistance.
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