Russia issued a new ceasefire Tuesday morning, announcing that it would open humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Mariupol. But within hours, it was accused of breaking its promise and shelling escape routes.
“Ceasefire violated!” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said, citing reports of Russian forces hitting an evacuation route out of the battered port city of Mariupol.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had rejected earlier proposals to evacuate Ukrainian citizens into what he described as hostile “occupied territory” in Russia and Belarus.
“This proposal doesn’t have any demands about the citizens being sent necessarily to Russia, into Russian territory,” Zelensky said.
The “ceasefire” started at 10 a.m. Moscow time (2 a.m. ET).
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A convoy of buses and cars carrying mostly foreign students left the northern city of Sumy, while dozens of other people left Irpin, located about 16 miles from Kyiv.
More than 2 million refugees have now left Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24, the United Nations’s refugee agency confirmed Tuesday. The growing humanitarian crisis has been called the most acute since World War II.
Zelensky, who said he is in Kyiv and refusing to hide from Russian forces, again pleaded for help from Western countries as the invasion of his country neared the two-week mark.
In a video address, he said a child died of dehydration in Mariupol and likened it to deteriorating conditions in the field.
A statement released by the French presidency Tuesday morning said that Chinese President Xi Jinping “expressed his support” for “a ceasefire as well as the need to guarantee the population access to humanitarian aid coordinated by the United Nations.” Xi made the comments on a call with his French and German counterparts. He also stressed “the importance of the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “expressed his regrets” over the scene unfolding in Eastern Europe.
Ukraine, though, continued to hold its own.
The military claimed this morning to have shot down three Russian fighter jets and a cruise missile, lending credibility to claims that its air defense systems and air force are functioning. Zelensky had asked Western nations to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, but it was a no-go with NATO as it feared the move risked a direct conflict with Russia.
“We will close the sky ourselves,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement Tuesday morning. “NATO is invited to help.”
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Ukraine shot down a Russian fighter jet over Kyiv around 8:30 p.m. Monday. About 30 minutes later, one of Ukraine’s interceptor jets shot down a Russian fighter jet in aerial combat, while another Ukrainian pilot shot down a cruise missile, a statement from the Ukrainian military said.
For its part, the U.S. has been coordinating a possible arrangement in which Eastern European countries would send Soviet-style fighter jets to Ukraine in exchange for American F-16s. Ukrainian pilots are already familiar with the MiG aircraft and would not require additional training to fly them. The prospect of air attacks has grown dramatically in the past few days due to the lack of progress.
Though they are severely outnumbered and out-weaponed, Ukrainian forces have been able to resist Russian troops and remain in maintain control of Kyiv, the country’s capital, and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The Institute for the Study of War said Russia is concentrating its forces in the eastern, northwestern, and western outskirts of Kyiv. The American military think tank predicted late Monday a bruising assault on the capital would take place “in the coming 24-96 hours.”
“The Russians are bringing up supplies and reinforcements as well as conducting artillery, air, and missile attacks to weaken defenses and intimidate defenders in advance of such an assault,” the organization based in Washington, D.C., said.
It added that it is too soon to gauge the likely effectiveness of any Russian attempt to take Kyiv but warned, “If Russian troops have been able to resupply, reorganize, and plan deliberate and coordinated simultaneous operations along the several axes of advance around and into the capital, they may be more successful in this operation than they have in previous undertakings.”
The Pentagon and other Western allies have largely agreed that the Russian advance has been slowed, but like the Institute for the Study of War, they warned that Russia could regroup and cause havoc. Russia’s military is eight times the size of Ukraine’s and has superior weapons at its disposal.
As the fighting intensifies, more countries and businesses are trying to punish Russia by taking swings at its economy.
President Joe Biden was set to announce an import ban on Russian oil Tuesday. The move comes after both Republicans and Democrats have pressured the White House to come down harder on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
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Energy giant Shell announced it would also stop buying Russian oil and natural gas following criticism from Ukraine’s foreign minister that Shell was doing business with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Shell said it would also shut down its service stations, aviation fuels, and other operations in the country.
“We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel, despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking, was not the right one, and we are sorry,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said.
