Ukraine has criticised a proposal by Moscow to open refugee corridors as “immoral” and “unacceptable” after the Russian defence ministry announced civilians fleeing some cities would only be allowed to leave for Belarus or Russia.
Food, water, medicine and almost all other supplies are in desperately short supply in Mariupol, from where an estimated 200,000 people were trying to flee.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has warned that as many as 5 million Ukrainians are expected to flee the country if the Russian invasion continues, adding that Europe needs to ready itself for huge numbers of refugees.
More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the start of the Russian invasion, with 142,300 people arriving on Sunday alone. The Polish government has said it will create an 8 billion zloty ($1.75bn) fund to help the war refugees.
The British government has denied that the UK is to offer Ukrainian refugees a new humanitarian-based route to the country, and confirmed it was possible only 50 people have been granted visas so far.
Russia has snubbed a hearing at the United Nations’ top court into a legal bid by Kyiv to halt Moscow’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.
China says it is open to helping to mediate peace, but has stressed that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow is still very strong.
Almost 5,000 people were detained for demonstrating in Russia on Sunday, according to an independent monitoring group.
The death toll remains unclear: the UN has confirmed a few hundred civilian deaths but also warned that number is a vast undercount. Police in the Kharkiv region said on Monday that 209 people have died there, 133 of them civilians.
Russia has instructed all state-owned websites and services to switch to the Russian domain name system by 11 March, according to Russian state media outlets. Many fear the move is a sign that Russia is beginning active preparations for disconnection from the global internet.
Meanwhile, hacking collective Anonymous claimed to have hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One and Moscow 24 to broadcast footage from Ukraine.
