Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a speech on Sunday that for the first time today, the vital corridor for the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol had started working.
Zelensky said for the first time that there have been two days of “true ceasefire” and added that more than 100 civilians have been evacuated from the factory.
Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian authorities, along with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, confirmed that an attempt was being made to evacuate civilians hiding in the factory.
The factory has been subjected to heavy Russian bombing in recent weeks. Hundreds of people, dozens of them injured, are said to be in the steel production complex.
Zelensky said the first evacuees will arrive in Zaporizhzhya on Monday morning, where the Ukrainian government will meet them. He added that the Ukrainian government will continue to evacuate people from Mariupol on Monday, starting around 8 a.m. local time.
The evacuation of civilians from the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been paused from Sunday evening to Monday due to “security reasons”, Mariupol’s city council said in a Telegram post.
The evacuations will now begin at 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET), near the Port City shopping center in Mariupol, the post added.
Here are more of the latest headlines from the Russia-Ukraine war:
- Ukraine’s foreign minister tells top EU diplomat that Russia’s oil embargo should be included in the following sanctions: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has told top EU diplomat Josep Borrell that an embargo on Russian oil should be included in the bloc’s next round of sanctions. In a tweet On Sunday, Kuleba said he has spoken with the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy about “the next round of EU sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo”. The foreign minister has criticized the EU’s failure to impose an embargo on Russian oil imports, telling a NATO press conference in early April that “as long as the West continues to buy Russian gas and oil , supporting Ukraine with one hand and at the same time supporting the Russian war machine with another.”
- Russia’s war in Ukraine has “catastrophic effect” on global food prices, USAID administrator says: Samantha Power, the administrator for the United States Agency for International Development, said on Sunday that the fallout from the war in Ukraine includes global food shortages and prices, and that “our job is to look at it globally” when asked whether the global impact reflect a brewing world war. “It’s just another catastrophic effect from Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Power said on ABC’s “This Week.” This comes after US President Joe Biden urged Congress on Thursday to consider providing Ukraine with an additional $33 billion aid package, with $3 billion for humanitarian aid and food security financing.
- Ukraine’s ambassador to the US says Pelosi’s visit to Kiev was “symbolic”: Ukraine’s ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova said on Sunday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Kiev was “symbolic” and that Ukraine looks forward to the US Congress’ approval of a $33 billion additional financing bill intended to help Ukraine in the coming months. years to support months. “We need all the help we can get in defensive weapons, in military support, in financial support but also in humanitarian support,” Markarova said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week”. “We look forward to Congress’ approval” and “we are counting on the US for this,” she said. On Saturday, Pelosi led the first official US congressional delegation to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
- Ukraine’s Attorney General says more than 9,000 war crimes cases are under investigation: Ukraine’s Attorney General said her office is opening new cases of alleged war crimes committed by Russian armed forces, with a total of 9,158 criminal cases involving “pure war crimes”. Prosecutor Iryna Venedictova said: “We have already identified specific war criminals.” She added: “For example, there are 15 people in the Kiev region, 10 of them in Bucha. We hold them responsible for torture, rape and looting.” Ukrainian prosecutors last week named ten Russian soldiers suspected of various crimes in Bucha.
