Ukraine

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian airstrike on a Mariupol maternity hospital that killed three people brought condemnation down on Moscow on Thursday, with Ukrainian and Western officials branding it a war crime, while the highest-level talks yet yielded no progress in stopping the fighting.

Emergency workers renewed efforts to get food and medical supplies into besieged cities and get traumatized civilians out.

9 March 2022; MEMO: The Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires in Egypt, Ruslan Nechai, has asked Cairo for weapons, financial support and humanitarian aid as some 1,335 civilians have been killed almost two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine.

"It is in Egypt's best interest that the war ends," Nechai said. "We need Egypt to offer us humanitarian and medical aid, and help us with weapons, at its own discretion. Egypt's food security depends on Ukraine to a large extent."

LVIV, Ukraine, March 9 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday the international community would be responsible for a mass "humanitarian catastrophe" if it did not agree a no-fly zone to protect his country.

In a daily televised address, he said the threat level in Ukraine was at a maximum nearly two weeks into Russia's invasion but Ukrainians had shown they would never give in.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Air raid sirens blared over Ukraine’s capital on Wednesday and officials said they bolstered defenses in key cities threatened by Russian forces, as authorities renewed efforts to evacuate civilians from besieged urban areas.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces were bolstering defenses in key cities Wednesday as Russia’s advance faltered amid fierce resistance in some areas, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said, while the strategic port city of Mariupol remained encircled as a humanitarian crisis grew.

Across the country, thousands of people are thought to have been killed, both civilians and soldiers, in nearly two weeks of fighting. Russian forces have seen their advances stopped in certain areas — including around Kyiv — by fiercer resistance than expected from the Ukrainians.

LVIV, Ukraine, March 8 (Reuters) - A second convoy of evacuees left the Ukrainian city of Sumy through a "humanitarian corridor" created under a temporary ceasefire agreement with Russia on Tuesday, Ukraine's deputy presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.

Earlier on Tuesday, regional authorities said the ceasefire had mostly held, allowing a first wave of evacuation of civilians including 1,000 foreign students.

LVIV, Ukraine, March 8 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday a child had died from dehydration in Ukraine's besieged city of Mariupol, which has had no water, power or heating supplies for days.

"In 2022, from dehydration," Zelenskiy said in a video address, likening the humanitarian crisis linked to Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities to that created by the Nazi invasion during World War Two.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Safe corridors intended to let Ukrainian civilians escape the Russian onslaught could open Tuesday, Kremlin officials said, though Ukrainian leaders were skeptical since prior efforts to establish evacuation routes crumbled amid renewed attacks.

KIEV, March 7. /TASS/: The opening of humanitarian corridors, which were proposed earlier by Russia, are unacceptable for the Ukrainian side, Deputy Prime Minister for issues of reintegration on uncontrolled territories Irina Vereshchuk said on Monday.

"This is an unacceptable option for opening humanitarian corridors," she told a news briefing.

LVIV, Ukraine, March 7 (Reuters) - Humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians out of Ukrainian cities are still not up and running, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Monday.

Vereshchuk said there were nearly 300,000 civilians requiring evacuation from the southeastern port city of Mariupol, which is under assault from Russian forces. U.N. representatives had joined negotiations, she said.