A house is on fire following shelling on the town of Irpin, west of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 4, 2022. (AP)Russia Ukraine Crisis Live: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow would consider any third-party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as “participation in the armed conflict”. Speaking at a meeting with female pilots on Saturday, Putin said Russia would view “any move in this direction” as an intervention that “will pose a threat to our service members”. “That very second, we will view them as participants of the military conflict, and it would not matter what members they are,” the Russian president said.
Meanwhile, authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol said an evacuation of civilians planned for Saturday had been postponed as Russian forces encircling the city were not respecting an agreed ceasefire, news agency Reuters reported. In a statement, the city council asked residents to return to shelters in the city and wait for further information on evacuation. Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a televised broadcast that Russia is not observing an agreed ceasefire in certain areas, thwarting a joint plant to allow civilians to evacuate from frontline cities such as Mariupol.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces to allow civilians to leave the strategic port of Mariupol in the southeast and the eastern town of Volnovakha “from 10 a.m. Moscow time” (8 am GMT.) The vaguely worded statement did not make clear how long the routes would remain open. A top official in Mariupol told the Associated Press that the ceasefire there is to last until 4 p.m. (2 pm GMT) and an evacuation along a humanitarian corridor would begin at 11 a.m. (9 am GMT) Pavlo Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk military-civil administration that includes Mariupol, said the humanitarian corridor would extend from the city to Zaporizhzhia.
A woman reacts as paramedics perform CPR on a girl who was injured during shelling, at city hospital of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, February 27, 2022. The girl did not survive. (AP)
People with disabilities and injured soldiers walk after crossing the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday (AP photo)
Captured Russian soldiers answer media questions at a press conference in the Interfax news agency in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday (AP photo)
Russian President Vladimir Putin sits in the cockpit of an airplane simulator as he visits Aeroflot Aviation School outside Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
As the Russia-Ukraine conflict enters the 10th day, here's a roundup of the key events. Watch here:
Marina Yatsko, left, and her boyfriend Fedor mourn over her 18 month-old son Kirill's lifeless body, killed in shelling, as he lays on a stretcher in a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine on Friday (AP photo)
President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war and warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be tantamount to entering the conflict.
Putin reiterated that his aims in Ukraine are to defend Russian speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of the country so that it became neutral.
Ukraine and Western countries have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for the invasion he launched on Feb. 24 and have imposed a sweeping range of sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow. (Reuters)
As the ninth day of Ukraine’s battle against a Russian invasion dawns, people across Europe are determined to raise awareness and do whatever they can to support the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow would consider any third-party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as “participation in the armed conflict”. Speaking at a meeting with female pilots on Saturday, Putin said Russia would view “any move in this direction” as an intervention that “will pose a threat to our service members”.
“That very second, we will view them as participants of the military conflict, and it would not matter what members they are,” the Russian president said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed NATO to impose a no-fly zone over his country, warning that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you” as Russian forces were battering strategic locations in Ukraine.
NATO has said a no-fly zone, which would bar all unauthorised aircraft from flying over Ukraine, could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia. (AP)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called another high-level meeting on Saturday evening to discuss the situation in war-hit Ukraine and India's evacuation efforts to bring back its citizens, sources said. Since Sunday, Modi has chaired a number of such meetings.
India on Saturday said its main focus now is on the evacuation of around 700 Indian students stranded in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy which has been witnessing bombings and airstrikes.
At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India hopes to evacuate its citizens from Kharkiv and Pisochyn in the next few hours.
'Our main focus is now on evacuating Indian students from Sumy. We are exploring multiple options for their evacuation,' he said. (PTI)
Italy's public television channel RAI announced Saturday an immediate suspension in reporting from Russia after Moscow backed the imposition of jail terms on media publishing "false information" about the military. (AFP)
The U.N. human rights office says it has confirmed the deaths of 351 civilians in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. The Geneva-based office said that another 707 civilians were injured between Feb. 24 and midnight Friday. (AP)
What looked like a breakthrough ceasefire to evacuate residents from two cities in Ukraine quickly fell apart Saturday as Ukrainian officials said shelling had halted the work to remove civilians hours after Russia announced the deal.
“The Russian side is not holding to the ceasefire and has continued firing on Mariupol itself and on its surrounding area,” said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office. “Talks with the Russian Federation are ongoing regarding setting up a cease-fire and ensuring a safe humanitarian corridor.” (AP)
“Over 13,300 people brought back in 63 flights,” says MEA on Ukraine evacuation mission. It added, “Thirteen flights to be operated in next 24 hours to bring back Indians amid Ukraine crisis. Main focus now on evacuating Indian students from Sumy; exploring multiple options for their evacuation. Main challenges in evacuation of Indians from Sumy are ongoing shelling and violence and lack of transportation.”
Ukrainian international Oleksandr Zinchenko says he has cried constantly since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Manchester City star told the BBC he would have returned to fight had it not been for having a family. (AFP)
Spanish clothing giant and Zara fast-fashion chain owner Inditex announced Saturday it was "temporarily suspending its activity in 502 stores" in Russia as well as on the group's online shopping store. (AFP)
Rally at Berdyansk to protest against Russian military action
People protest against Russian occupation at Kherson
Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol said an evacuation of civilians planned for Saturday had been postponed as Russian forces encircling the city were not respecting an agreed ceasefire. In a statement, the city council asked residents to return to shelters in the city and wait for further information on evacuation.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a televised broadcast that Russia is not observing an agreed ceasefire in certain areas, thwarting a joint plant to allow civilians to evacuate from frontline cities such as Mariupol. (Reuters)
Ukrainians fleeing into central European pleaded for Western nations to take tougher steps against Russia following Moscow's invasion that has created more than 1 million refugees.
At the Medyka crossing, Poland's busiest, along its roughly 500-kilometre (310-mile) border with Ukraine, refugees called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine -- something NATO powers have so far ruled out on the grounds it would risk escalating the conflict beyond Ukraine.
'Please close the sky,' said Solomiya Zdryko, 18, who fled from Lviv in western Ukraine. 'I know that it's not possible for us to join NATO but at least close the sky because people are dying.'
'It's great that the whole world is watching us and supporting us, but it really needs to stop.' (Reuters)
Britain urged its nationals on Saturday to consider leaving Russia after Moscow's decision to invade Ukraine.
"If your presence in Russia is not essential, we strongly advise that you consider leaving by remaining commercial routes," the British government said in a statement. On Monday, Britain advised its citizens against all travel to Russia due to a lack of available flight options and increased economic volatility. (Reuters)