Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– ‘Last chance’ to leave East –
A Ukrainian official warns residents in the east that they have a “last chance” to flee before a major Russian offensive expected in the Donbas region.
“These few days may be the last chance to leave,” says Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the Lugansk region, part of the Donbas, where the city of Severodonetsk is coming under sustained artillery and rocket fire.
– Ukraine changed demands: Moscow –
Russia accuses Ukraine of changing position on the international security guarantees it is seeking in return for becoming a neutral country as demanded by Moscow.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that Ukraine had previously agreed those security guarantees wouldn’t apply to the annexed Crimea peninsula but that a draft agreement presented by Kyiv now excluded that caveat.
Ukraine says that Moscow should show less “hostility” if it wants to resume dialogue.
– UN rights body suspension –
The foreign ministers of G7 ministers back suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. The UN General Assembly is due to vote on the issue Thursday.
Russia has warned that expelling it from multilateral forums will make dialogue even more difficult.
– Mariupol evacuations pick up –
Seven buses and dozens of cars transporting evacuees, mostly from the devastated besieged southern city of Mariupol, reach the city of Zaporizhzhia in a Red Cross convoy.
The Red Cross has failed to get into Mariupol itself, but managed to help those who had made it out to the nearby Russian-held city of Berdiansk.
– New plea for weapons –
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba calls on NATO members to provide Kyiv with all the weaponry it needs to fight Russia.
“My agenda is very simple. It has only three items on it. It’s weapons, weapons, and weapons,” Kuleba tells journalists at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
– Hungary ‘helping’ Putin –
Ukraine accuses its neighbour and Kremlin-ally Hungary of appeasing Russian aggression and “destroying unity in the EU”.
Newly-reelected Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he is prepared to pay for Russian gas in rubles, a demand of Putin’s that was rejected by the West.
– ‘Major war crimes’ –
US President Joe Biden denounces the killing of Ukrainian civilians in the town of Bucha allegedly by Russian troops as “major war crimes”.
Russia has denied the claims, saying images of dead bodies are fakes or that the killings occurred after Russian forces withdrew.
Ukrainian officials warn other areas may have suffered worse, including nearby Borodianka.
“Locals talk about how planes came in during the first days of the war and fired rockets at them from low altitudes,” Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky says.
– French anger over tweet –
The French government summons Russia’s ambassador to Paris in protest after his embassy posted a photo on Twitter claiming to show a Ukrainian “film set” used to stage civilian killings in Bucha.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian calls the tweet “obscene”.
– Shell faces $5bn hit –
British energy giant Shell says its exit from Russia could cost it up to $5 billion (4.6 billion euros) in the first quarter of the year.
Shell announced it was selling its stakes in joint ventures with Russian state energy giant Gazprom shortly after the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine.
– Putin daughters sanctioned –
The United States announces sanctions on two of Putin’s daughters, saying family members are known to hide the Russian president’s wealth.
The EU is also looking to add Putin’s daughters to its sanctions blacklist.
Washington also declared “full blocking” sanctions on Russia’s largest public and private financial institutions, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, and says all new US investments in Russia are now prohibited.
The UK also adds new energy and banking sanctions and bans new Russian investments.
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