At a deserted service station on the motorway northeast of Kyiv, a Ukrainian officer warns: “Don’t go any further. The Russians are over there.”

Over the last five days, the Russians have advanced more than 80 kilometres (62 miles) on the northeastern front and are getting close to the Ukrainian capital.

The Ukrainian officer in camouflage points towards the north, where the motorway stretches empty to the horizon between snow-covered fields.

“The Russian tanks are just over there, two kilometres away,” he said, ordering a civilian vehicle to turn round and go back, due to the danger from Russian forces.

“Drive in a zig-zag to avoid their shots,” he advises the driver.

Then he returns to his watch, in charge of around a dozen soldiers whose task it is to pass on information on Russian tanks so that the Ukrainian army can bomb them as soon as they move to break through the lines.

The Russian tanks are stationed just a few kilometres away from Kyiv’s city limits.

Last Saturday, the Russians were about 80 kilometres further up this road, on a level with the city of Chernihiv.

This advance along the motorway from the north brings Russian tanks just to the east of Kyiv, heightening fears that they could soon encircle the capital.

Russian tanks are also just a few kilometres from the city to its northwest.

In the surrounding villages, there are few cars on the road and they drive with utmost caution in what is now frontline territory.

Source: AFP

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed on a day-long ceasefire around a series of evacuation corridors to allow civilians to escape the fighting. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow vowed to respect the truce from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm around six areas, including regions near Kyiv, in Zaporizhzhia in the south, and some parts of Ukraine’s northeast.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer transmitting data to the UN’s atomic watchdog, the agency said Tuesday. More than 200 technical staff and guards remain trapped at the site, working 13 days straight since the Russian takeover.

US President Joe Biden announced a ban on US imports of oil from Russia in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The UK also said they would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

The UN said the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 surged past 2 million.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to “fight to the end” in a virtual speech to UK lawmakers that earned him a standing ovation. “We will not give up and we will not lose,” he said.

Source: France 24

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, invoking the wartime defiance of British prime minister Winston Churchill, vowed Tuesday (March 8) to “fight to the end” in a historic virtual speech to UK lawmakers.

“We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight to the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost, in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets,” he said.

Here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Evacuations begin

Ukraine begins evacuating civilians from the northeastern city of Sumy under a deal with Moscow to set up humanitarian corridors out of cities besieged by Russian forces.

Dozens of buses ferry the evacuees to the city of Lokhvytsya, around 150 kilometres to the southwest in Ukrainian-held territory.

Kyiv had rejected a previous proposal to evacuate Ukrainians to Russia as a publicity stunt.

Ceasefire

Moscow announces a ceasefire in the five cities worst-hit by the fighting: Chernihiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Sumy.

Previous such cessations of fire collapsed at the weekend, with both sides trading blame.

21 killed in Sumy

At least 21 people, including two children, were killed in air strikes on Sumy on Monday night, hours before the evacuations began.

Thousands attempt to board packed trains out of Odessa, Ukraine’s main port which is also bracing for attack.

People to rush to board trains out of the Ukrainian port of Odessa, which is bracing for attack

People to rush to board trains out of the Ukrainian port of Odessa, which is bracing for attack BULENT KILIC AFP

Two million refugees

The UN says the number of people fleeing the war now tops two million.

Poland alone has received 1.2 million people.

Zelensky slams unkept ‘promises’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounces what he calls unkept “promises” by the West to help protect Ukraine.

“It’s been 13 days we’ve been hearing promises, 13 days we’ve been told we’ll be helped in the air, that there will be planes, that they will be delivered to us,” he complains.

China’s Xi urges restraint

Chinese President Xi Jinping urges “maximum restraint” over Ukraine but stops short of condemning the Russian invasion in a video summit with the leaders of France and Germany.

‘Call Russia’

A group of Lithuanians launch a bid to get Russians abroad to call 40 million of their compatriots and tell them what is happening in Ukraine.

Russia has severely restricted reporting of the war on its territory.

Shell quits Russia

Energy giant Shell says it will stop purchasing Russian crude oil and shut down its operations in the country.

 Russian designer cancelled

Russian designer Valentin Yudashkin, who designed the Russian army’s uniforms, has his show at Paris Fashion Week cancelled for his failure to condemn the war.

World Bank cash for Ukraine

The World Bank approves an additional $489-million package for Ukraine, to be made available immediately.

Foreign footballers can leave Russia

Foreign footballers and coaches working in Russia and Ukraine will be allowed to temporarily suspend their contracts and move elsewhere, FIFA announces.

Source: AFP