Russia invades Ukraine: Around 20,000 leave besieged port city of Mariupol

The New Arab's live coverage of the latest on the Ukraine-Russia crisis concludes for today.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that the positions of Ukraine and Russia at peace talks were sounding more realistic, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported.

"Meetings continue. I am told that the positions at the negotiations sound more realistic," Zelenskiy said in a video address released early on Wednesday, the agency said. "However, more time is still needed for decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine."

An international peacekeeping mission should be sent to operate in Ukraine, the leader of Poland's ruling party said on Tuesday during a press conference in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"I think that it is necessary to have a peace mission - NATO, possibly some wider international structure - but a mission that will be able to defend itself, which will operate on Ukrainian territory," Jars Kaczynski said during the conference, which was broadcast on Polish television.

A second journalist working for Fox News Channel was killed in Ukraine in the same incident in which a Fox cameraman died when their vehicle was struck on Monday by incoming fire, the cable network said on Tuesday.

Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova, who was working as a freelance consultant for Fox News, was killed alongside cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, the network said.

A total of around 29,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Tuesday, most of them leaving the besieged port of Mariupol, said a senior government official.

Senior Ukrainian presidential official Kyrylo Tymoshenko said in an online post that about 20,000 people had left Mariupol in private cars. Ukraine earlier accused Russia of blocking a convoy trying to take supplies to the city.

A cameraman for Fox News, Pierre Zakrzewski, has been killed in Ukraine, the US network said Tuesday.

Zakrzewski was killed and his colleague Benjamin Hall was wounded when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, on Monday, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that his country should accept that it will not become a member of the US-led NATO military alliance, a key Russian concern it used to justify its invasion.

"Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We understand that. We have heard for years that the doors were open, but we also heard that we could not join. It's a truth and it must be recognised," Zelensky said during a video conference with military officials.

Three journalists have been killed and more than 30 others wounded in Ukraine since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour on February 24, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights chief said Tuesday.

"At least 35 journalists have become victims" of Russian forces, including three who died, Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Telegram.

US reporter Brent Renaud was shot dead on Sunday in a frontline suburb of Kyiv. Ukrainian journalist Evgeny Sakun died in a strike on a Kyiv television tower and Viktor Dudar, another Ukrainian, died in fighting close to the southern port city of Mykolaiv, she said.

Russia's envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday called for a Security Council vote on a resolution it has drafted about the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Ukraine, where Russian troops have launched an all-out assault.

Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said that after France and Mexico opted not to present a draft resolution on humanitarian aid to the Council, Moscow would put forth its "own draft" for a vote on Wednesday.

More than three million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, nearly half of them minors, with a child becoming a refugee every second, the UN has said.

"We have now reached the three-million mark in terms of movement of people out of Ukraine," Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the United Nations migration agency (IOM), told reporters.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask Saudi Arabia to condemn Russia's aggression against Ukraine in talks later this week, Johnson's spokesman said on Tuesday.

Asked if Johnson will ask Saudi Arabia to condemn Putin's actions in Ukraine, the spokesman said: "Absolutely".

"We certainly want to broaden the coalition against Putin's actions," the spokesman told reporters.

Four people have been confirmed killed after air strikes hit Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday morning, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

"Rescuers are still extinguishing the flames from early morning," he said on the Telegram messaging app. 

The UK has issued sanctions on Russian goods entering the country, including vodka, and a ban on luxury imports.

Russian products will face a 35 percent tax on top of existing tariffs, according to the government, to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

The list of goods is worth £900 million, while the government will also ban luxury imports from Russia into the UK.

Russia is known for producing many high-end goods from caviar to fur coats.

We're introducing luxury good export bans and tariffs on £900m worth of Russian imports.

These measures will weaken Russia's international trade, reduce the resources available for Putin’s brutal war machine and put pressure on the elites close to Putin.https://t.co/i78f7vIM4x

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) March 15, 2022

The Kremlin said Tuesday it was too soon to draw any conclusions from talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine as fighting intensified around the capital Kyiv.

"The work is complex, but the very fact that the work is continuing is in itself positive," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We don't want to give any forecasts. Let's wait for tangible results," he said.

Kyiv will impose a 36-hour curfew from Tuesday night amid a "difficult and dangerous moment" after several Russian strikes, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The announcement came as Russia launched fresh attacks in Ukraine's capital, which has nearly been encircled by Moscow's troops in the third week of the invasion and that has lost an estimated half of its 3.5-million pre-war population.

"Today is a difficult and dangerous moment," former boxing champion Klitschko said in a statement on Telegram.

"This is why I ask all Kyivites to get prepared to stay at home for two days, or if the sirens go off, in the shelters."
 

The Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers will visit Kyiv on Tuesday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Polish government said in a statement.

"The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a broad package of support for the Ukrainian state and society," the statement said.

Russia has reportedly asked China for military assistance in its invasion of Ukraine, according to the Financial Times.

US officials told that daily that Moscow requested military equipment following its sluggish assault on Ukraine, which has likely led to thousands of Russian military deaths and huge amounts of military hardware being destroyed.

The officials did not say what assistance or equipment Moscow called for. China denied the claims, while the White House did not comment.

US National Security Advisor had already held talks with China and warned the country not to aid Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian state TV was interrupted on Monday with a protest by a sole activist live on air.

The woman stood behind the presenter holding a sign reading: "Stop the war! Don't believe propaganda! They're lying to you!"

The protester was reportedly a Russian TV presenter.

The protest was likely seen by millions of Russians watching TV and many more on social media.

Russia has been hit by numerous protests since the 24 February invasion of Ukraine with hundreds of activists detained in a police crackdown.

All independent press have closed or been shuttered by the state since the invasion, following the introduction of a punishing new media law.

Wow! Marina Ovsyannikov:

With a sign that said "Stop the war! Don't believe propaganda! They're lying to you!" in #Russia state TV.

Mit einem Schild mit der Aufschrift "Stoppt den #Krieg! Glaubt nicht der Propaganda! Sie belügen dich!" im russischem TV. pic.twitter.com/dADiKmNr2G

— Antifa Pinneberg (@AntifaPinneberg) March 14, 2022

Kyiv has witnessed another bloody morning of shelling, with more civilian infrastructure destroyed in the assault.

Firefighters have been tackling a blaze at an apartment block hit by Russian strikes.

At least one person was killed when Russian shelling destroyed a nine-storey block of flats in Kyiv, with firefighters rescuing more people from the gutted building.

Another 12-storey block was also hit in shelling, killing one person, according to reports.