1. Fighting stopped about 200,000 people from evacuating the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol for a second day in a row on Sunday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to press ahead with his invasion unless Kyiv surrendered. The ceasefire plan collapsed, as it had on Saturday, with each side blaming the other. “They’re destroying us,” Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko told Reuters in a video call, describing the city’s plight before the latest evacuation effort failed. “They will not even give us an opportunity to count the wounded and the killed because the shelling does not stop.”
2. Most people trapped in the port city are sleeping underground to escape more than six days of near-constant shelling by encircling Russian forces that has cut off food, water, power and heating supplies, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
3. In a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Putin said he was ready for dialogue to end the fighting but that any attempt to draw out talks would fail, according to the Kremlin.
4. The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion on Feb. 24 stood at 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding that hundreds more were injured.
5. The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion on Feb. 24 stood at 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding that hundreds more were injured.
6. The invasion has drawn widespread condemnation around the world, sent more than 1.5 million Ukrainians fleeing from the country, and triggered sweeping Western sanctions against Russia aimed at crippling its economy.
7. The Biden administration said on Sunday it was exploring banning imports of Russian oil, despite concerns the move would drive prices even higher.
8. “War is madness, please stop,” Pope Francis said in his weekly address to crowds in St Peter’s Square, adding “rivers of blood and tears” were flowing in Ukraine’s war.
9.
On Sunday, more companies cut ties with Russia: American Express Co, Netflix Inc., accounting giants KPMG and PwC, and video sharing app TikTok.
But Chinese firms so far are staying put.
10. Kyiv renewed its appeal to the West to toughen sanctions and also requested more weapons, including Russian-made planes. Putin says he wants a “demilitarised”, “denazified” and neutral Ukraine, and on Saturday likened Western sanctions “to a declaration of war”.