Russia intensifies attacks as humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deepens

The latest:

• 3rd round of talks between Ukraine, Russian delegations end with 'a little progress,' according to Ukrainians
  
• Ukrainian president callsfor global boycott of Russian exports, including oil.
  
• Russian ambassador to UN says evacuation routes will open Tuesday morning, with no obligation for Ukrainians to move into Russia.
  
• UN refugee agency says 1.7 million people have now fled Ukraine.
  
• What questions do you have about Russia's invasion of Ukraine? Send an email toask@cbc.ca.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deepened Monday as Russian forces intensified their shelling and food, water, heat and medicine grew increasingly scarce, in what the country condemned as a medieval-style siege by Moscow to batter it into submission.

A third round of talks between the two sides ended with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor, unspecified progress toward establishing safe corridors that would allow civilians to escape the fighting. Russia's top negotiator said he expects those corridors to start functioning Tuesday.

But that remained to be seen, given the failure of previous attempts to lead civilians to safety amid the biggest ground war in Europe since the Second World War.

Well into the second week of the invasion, with Russian troops making significant advances in southern Ukraine but stalled in some other regions, a top U.S. official said multiple countries were discussing whether to provide the warplanes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyhas been pleading for.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces continued to pummel cities with rockets, and fierce fighting raged in places.

Efforts to set up safe corridors for civilians to leave besieged areas over the weekend fell apart.

Promise of new evacuation routes

But Russia's UNAmbassador Vassily Nebenziasaid Monday that Russia will carry out a ceasefire on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. Moscow time and open humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens from Kyiv, Chernigov, Sumy and Mariupol.

He took the floor at the end of a UNSecurity Council meeting on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraineto make the announcement.

"This proposal doesn't have any demands about the citizens being sent necessarily to Russia, into Russian territory," he said.

Zelenskyexpressed skepticism about the sincerity of the gestures, asserting in his daily video address that instead of an agreement on humanitarian corridors, what Ukraine got on Monday was "Russian tanks...Russian mines."

Many of the evacuation routes headedtoward Russia or its ally Belarus, something that Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called "unacceptable." Belarus served as a launching ground for the invasion.

Ukraine instead proposed eight routes allowing civilians to travel to western regions of the country where there is no shelling.

WATCH | Zelensky denouces evacuation corridors as Russian propaganda:

Ukrainian president blasts Russian humanitarian corridor offer as 'plain propaganda'

3 years ago

Duration 1:54

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Russian proposals to evacuate Ukrainian citizens into what he has described as "occupied territory" in Russia and Belarus, dismissing the offer as "plain propaganda".

The UNhumanitarian chief, Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths, addressed the Security Council and urged safe passage for people to go "in the direction they choose."

Ukrainians, whose ferocious resistance has slowed the invasion and thwarted any hopes Moscow had for a lightning victory, have been reinforcing cities across the country.

The mayor of Lviv said the city in far western Ukraine is struggling to feed and house the tens of thousands of people who have fled here from war-torn regions of the country.

"We really need support," Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

More than 200,000 Ukrainians displaced from their homes are now in Lviv, filling up sport halls, schools, hospitals and church buildings. The historical city once popular with tourists had a population of 700,000 before the war.

Lviv is the main transit point for those fleeing just across the border to Poland.Hundreds of thousands more people could arrive if humanitarian corridors are opened up from cities under siege from Russian troops.

The embassies of the U.S. and EU countries also moved to Lviv from Kyiv before the invasion.

Dire situation inMariupol

In one of the most desperate cities, the encircled southern port of Mariupol, an estimated 200,000 people nearly half the population of 430,000 were hoping to flee, and Red Cross officials waited to hear when a corridor would be established.

The city is short on water, food and power, and cellphone networks are down. Stores have been looted as residents search for essential goods.

The lack of phone networks has left anxious citizens approaching strangers to ask if they knew whether relatives living in other parts of the city were safe.

Police moved through the city advising people to remain in shelters until they heard official messages broadcast over loudspeakers to leave.

Hospitals in Mariupol suffered shortages of antibiotics and painkillers, and doctors performed some emergency procedures without them.

WATCH | More intense bombardments to come, says retired Canadian major:

War in Ukraine likely to intensify this week, says retired Canadian major

3 years ago

Duration 7:27

Retired Canadian Armed Forces major Michael Boire says Russia's 'noose' is tightening 'very quickly' around Ukraine and he expects a 'long and bloody' week as the war heats up.

'We will fight to the death if necessary'

In Kyiv, soldiers and volunteers have built hundreds of checkpoints, often using sandbags, stacked tires and spiked cables.

"Every house, every street, every checkpoint, we will fight to the death if necessary," said Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Dozens of makeshift kitchens are serving food to soldiers.

"I'm carrying out my duty, working for my country, thanking our soldiers," Natalia Antonovska said at one kitchen. "That's why I'm here, and I'm very proud of it."

PHOTOS | Civilians flee besieged Ukrainian cities:

Emergency officials in the Kharkiv region said overnight shelling killed at least eight people and wrecked residential buildings, medical and education facilities and administrative buildings.

"I think it struck the fourth floor under us," Dmitry Sedorenko said from his Kharkiv hospital bed. "Immediately, everything started burning and falling apart." When the floor collapsed beneath him, he crawled out through the third floor, past the bodies of some of his neighbours.

WATCH | Relentless shelling ofKharkiv leaves it in rubble:

Parts of Kharkiv reduced to rubble after Russian airstrikes

3 years ago

Duration 0:56

Russia's unrelenting attack on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, is destroying many people's homes, offices and vehicles.

At the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Ukraine pleaded for an order to halt Russia's invasion, saying Moscow is already committing widespread war crimes and "resorting to tactics reminiscent of medieval siege warfare." Russia snubbed Monday's hearings, leaving its seats in the Great Hall of Justice empty.

Growing death toll, refugee crisis

Well into the second week of war, Russiantroops have made significant advances in southern Ukraine and along the coast, but many of its efforts have become stalled, including an immense military convoy that has been almost motionless for days north of Kyiv.

The battle for Mariupol, in particular, is crucial because its capture could allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in a move that most other countries considered illegal.

The fighting has sent energy prices surging worldwide, stocks plummetingand is threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people around the globe who rely on the farmland in the Black Sea region.

The death toll, meanwhile, remains unclear. The UN human rights office reported 406 confirmedcivilian deaths, but also warned the number is a vast undercount.

Police in the Kharkiv region said Monday that 209 people have died there alone, 133 of them civilians.

The Russian invasion has also sent 1.7 million people fleeing Ukraine, creating what the head of the UNrefugee agency called "the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II."

WATCH |Ukrainians flee to Romanian border:

Ukrainians flee to Romanian border in seek of refuge

3 years ago

Duration 2:20

Ukrainians desperate to escape Russia's invasion are fleeing to the Romanian border to seek refuge in the EU nation.

Shelling, rocket attacks continue

Earlier,Klitschko, Kyiv's mayor,said in a Telegram video address that "fierce battles" continued Monday in the Kyiv region, notably around Bucha, Hostomel, Vorzel and Irpin.

In the Irpin area, which has been cut off from electricity, water and heat for three days, witnesses saw at least three tanks Monday and said Russian soldiers were seizing houses and cars.

A few kilometresaway, in the small town of Horenka, where shelling reduced one area to ashes and shards of glass, rescuers and residents picked through the ruins as chickens pecked around them.

"What are they doing?" Vasyl Oksak, a rescue worker, asked of the Russian attackers. "There were two little kids and two elderly people living here. Come in and see what they have done."

Russian forces also continued their offensive in Mykolaiv, opening fire on the city some 480 kilometressouth of Kyiv, according to Ukraine's military. Rescuers said they were putting out fires caused by rocket attacks in residential areas.

Zelenskycalls for stronger sanctions

On Monday, Moscow again announced a series of demands to stop the invasion, including that Ukraine recognize Crimea as part of Russia and recognize the eastern regions controlled by Moscow-supported separatist fighters as independent.

It also insisted that Ukraine change its constitution to guarantee it won't join international bodies like NATO and the EU. Ukraine has already rejected those demands.

Zelenskyurged even more punishment for Russiaon Monday, including a global boycott of Russian oil imports and other products.

"If the invasion continues and Russia does not abandon its plans against Ukraine, then we need a new sanctions package," Zelenskysaid in a video address. "If [Russia] doesn't want to abide by civilized rules, then they shouldn't receive goods and services from civilization. It can be called an embargo, or it can be just morality."

WATCH | What's happening in and around Ukraineon Monday:

Ukraine rejects Russian proposal for humanitarian corridors leading to Russia, Belarus

3 years ago

Duration 2:49

As Russia and Ukraine met for a third round of talks amid the ongoing war, there is skepticism around Russia's offer of humanitarian corridors after Ukraine said previous evacuation routes were attacked.

Putin earlier said Moscow's attacks could be halted "only if Kyiv ceases hostilities." As he has often done, Putin blamed Ukraine for the war, telling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday that Kyiv needed to stop all hostilities and fulfil"the well-known demands of Russia."

Putin launched his invasion with a string of false accusations againstKyiv, including that it is led by neo-Nazis intent on undermining Russia with the development of nuclear weapons.

Canada sends aid

The West has broadly backed Ukraine, offering aid and weapon shipments and slapping Russia with vast sanctions. But no NATO troops have been sent to Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.

CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeauwas in Englandon Monday for talks with his British and Dutch counterparts on creatinga humanitarian coalition of nations to address the crisis. Following the meeting, Trudeauannounced sanctions against 10 more prominent Russians.

Back in Canada, members of the Canadian Armed Forces were seen packing lethal and non-lethal military aid for Ukraine aboard a cargo plane at CFB Trenton, Ont., on Monday.

WATCH | Military equipment from Canada bound for Ukraine:

Canadian airlift of military equipment for Ukraine

3 years ago

Duration 0:57

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces pack lethal and non-lethal military aid for Ukraine aboard a cargo plane at CFB Trenton, Ont. The supplies will fly to Poland and will then travel overland to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has particularly alarmed nearby countries. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday began a lightning visit to the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, former Soviet republics that are NATO members.

Blinken hopedto reassure them of the alliance's protection in the event Russia chooses to expand its military operations to other neighbouring countries.