This blog is now closed. But you can follow all the developments in the Ukraine war at our new blog here:

Any strike against supply lines from NATO members supporting Ukraine with arms and ammunition will be considered an escalation of the conflict, CBC News reports.

NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that while supply lines inside Ukraine were vulnerable to attack, those leading up to the border fell under the protection of the alliance.

“An attack on NATO territory, on NATO forces, NATO capabilities, that would be an attack on NATO,” Stoltenberg said.

There have been concern among some in US intelligence services that Russia may attempt to stem the flow of support to Ukraine with an airstrike or long-range artillery.

Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty states that an attack on one member state is an attack on all 30 members.

Yum Brands, parent company of KFC, said it was pausing investment in Russia, a key market that helped the brand achieve record development last year, Reuters reports.

Yum also said it was suspending operations of its 70 KFC company-owned restaurants in the country and finalizing an agreement to suspend all Pizza Hut restaurant operations in Russia, in partnership with its master franchisee.

Yum, which has at least 1,000 KFC and 50 Pizza Hut locations in Russia that are nearly all independent franchisees, said in a post on its website dated Monday that it had “suspended all investment and restaurant development in Russia while we continue to assess additional options.”

Foreigners travelling to Ukraine to fight against the Russian invasion will be given Ukrainian citizenship, according to comments on television by first deputy interior minister Yevhen Yenin, quoted by the news site Ukrinform.

Yenin told a phone-in: “If such persons from among foreign citizens are interested in obtaining Ukrainian citizenship, our legislation provides for such an opportunity.”

Thousands of people are believed to have travelled to fight in Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities are reporting thousands of people have taken the opportunity to flee the city of Sumy after a humanitarian corridor was established.

Deputy chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko said some 5000 people have been evacuated from Sumy and 1000 cars were able to leave the city.

Those evacuated were mostly women, children and residents of other countries, with a brief video posted to Telegram showing people leaving under the cover of darkness.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the creation of the humanitarian corridor from Sumy to Poltava in a speech earlier today saying it was “a small faction of what has to be done.

Zelenskiy also alleged Russian forces had fired on civilians attempting to flee.

Images obtained by TV channel Ukraina 24 appear to show widespread destruction in Sumy, where there has reportedly been stiff resistance to the Russian advance.

The US Government may have opposed a Polish plan to ship jet fighters to Ukraine but it will be sending two Patriot anti-missile batteries stationed in Europe to Poland.

State Department Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that as a Nato-member, the move would help secure Poland’s airspace owing to its adjacency to the conflict.

“The main issue is to evaluate what Poland’s immediate needs are in the context of being a neighbor of this conflict,” Nuland said.

Venezuela has released at least two Americans from jail in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the Biden administration following a visit to Caracas by a high-level US delegation, Reuters reports.

One of the freed prisoners was Gustavo Cardenas, who was among six Citgo oil executives arrested in 2017 and convicted on charges the US government says were fabricated, the sources said. The other was a Cuban American detained on unrelated charges, they said.

The weekend meetings focused not only on the fate of Americans held in Venezuela, but on the possibility of easing US oil sanctions on the Opec member, which is a close Russian ally, to fill the supply gap if Joe Biden banned Russian oil imports in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine
- something that he did on Tuesday.

Venezuela has the world’s biggest proven oil reserves but years of sanctions and neglect mean it is not even in the top 10 of producers.

Read more about the oil ban here:

Former Ukrainian MP Hopko Hanna has broken down into tears during a heart-breaking interview with US television news service MSNBC.

The Chairwoman of Democracy in Action conference repeated calls for a no-fly zone to be imposed over Ukraine - a request that has so far been refused owing the risk it may involve more countries in the conflict.

Ukraine’s energy minister says Russian military units are allegedly “torturing” staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to force them into making a public statement.

Herman Halushchenko made the allegation in a social media post where he said operating staff had been “held hostage for four days”.

“There are about 500 Russian soldiers and 50 units of heavy equipment inside the station. The employees of the station are physically and psychologically exhausted,” Halushchenko said.

It is not the only such allegation by the Ukrainian government.

The Ukrainian general staff has also accused Russian military personnel of violence against civilians, looting and setting up firing positions above bunkers and carrying out psychological operations on residents in Kherson and Mykolaiv.

My colleague Edward Helmore has the full story on the diplomatic situation unfolding between the US, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

See below for more.

Garry Kasparov, Russian chess grandmaster and political activist says indecision over whether to send fighter jets to Ukraine is “sacrificing” the country “for your sins of sloth and greed”.

Kasparov has been outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, describing the Russian president’s government as a “fascist dictatorship”.

Here is the moment Wojciech Bakun, mayor of a Polish town bordering Ukraine, confronts Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s rightwing League party at a joint press conference.

Bakun offers to take Salvini to a refugee centre on the border so Salvini can “see what your friend has done” – his “friend” being Russian president Vladimir Putin.

With Tuesday marking International Women’s Day, Ukraine’s Natalia Mudrenko gave this statement at a UN security council meeting on women.

A sovereign default by Russia is “imminent”, US credit rating agency Fitch says, after it downgraded government bonds to junk status.

The ratings agency downgraded Russian bonds from “B” to “C” on Wednesday. Anything lower than a “BBB” is considered “junk bond” territory with a rating of “C” suggesting the asset is “highly vulnerable to nonpayment”.

Fitch said the “ratcheting up of sanctions” to include a ban on oil exports and efforts by Russia’s Central Bank to work around them made it increasingly unlikely Russia would be able to service its debt.

The agency cited a presidential decree on 5 March that attempted to force foreign-currency sovereign debt payments into be made in Roubles and concerns about the “selective non-payment of its sovereign debt obligations”.

“This rating action follows our downgrade of the long-term foreign-currency IDR to ‘B’/rating watch negative on 2 March, and developments since then have, in our view, further undermined Russia’s willingness to service government debt.”

US President Joe Biden has not spoken with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after requests to arrange a call were declined.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House tried to arrange separate phone calls between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan to build support for Ukraine and contain rising oil prices, but both were refused.

Calls were instead arranged last week between Prime Mohammed and Sheikh Mohammed with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Both the Saudi and Emiratis are thought to be concerned about Iran’s renewed work on its nuclear program and the lack of a response by the US government to recent missile strikes by Houthi millitants in Saudi Arabia’s intervention into Yemen’s civil war.

So far the Saudi and Emirati governments have declined to pump more oil to alleviate rising prices, while the US government has said it will work to address the country’s security concerns.

Zelenskiy then talks about how a dormitory was destroyed in the Zhtomyr region in a Russian attack and says a humanitarian corridor has been set up from Sumy to Poltava.

“Hundreds of people have been saved, and humanitarian aid has been delivered. But it’s a small fraction of what has to be done and what trapped Ukrainians are expecting. Our cargo is ready, our transport is ready but the monsters aren’t ready. They are firing on evacuation routes, they block the delivery of essential supplies and medication. What do they want? They want Ukrainians to accept aid from the invaders. It’s deliberate, systemic torture organized by their state, which is foreign to us and ruthless to all, even its own citizens.

He then finishes up by recognising protesters in Oleshki, Berdyansk, Melitopol, and “all cities” against occupation.

“You should know: We are with you. The aid will come no matter how many times they will be stopped by bullets, humanitarian corridors will be open. Only time is separating you from freedom. Short time. Believe in it. I believe in it.

In the video Zelenskiy also takes aim at a report from earlier today about internal emails that appeared to direct UN officials to describe the war in Ukraine as a “conflict” and other euphemisms.

“Maybe you saw today in the news a story that the UN allegedly doesn’t consider Russian invasion a war. I know it concerned many not only in Ukraine. I’m thankful to my team, we clarified it quickly and received assurances that in the UN structures there won’t be lies, won’t be playing up to the aggressor. The word “war” will be used on the platform because it’s truth.

Zelenskiy then goes on to say 50 children have so far been killed.

“Fifty killed Ukrainian children in 13 days of the war. An hour later, it became 52. We will never forget it.

More from the speech:

“Look, the world doesn’t believe in the future of Russia, doesn’t talk about it. There is not a single word, not a single perspective. They talk about us, they help us. They are ready to help us with reconstruction after the war. It is because everyone saw that for the people, who so heroically defend themselves, “after the war” will come.

Elsewhere Zelenskiy goes on to thank Ukraine’s “friends” for their support and calls on others to follow the example set by “the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Japan, and other free countries” before making note of the anti-war protests in Russia.

“I’m thankful to Russians who support Ukraine and take it to the streets every day and fight for us and themselves. They are fighting for peace. The war has to end. It’s necessary to sit down at the negotiations table but [do it] for honest and substantive talks and in the interest of people, not an old murderous ambition.

Hours after addressing UK parliament, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted a video of a speech welcoming news the US and UK will impose a ban on imports of Russian oil, saying “another petrol station will be found”.

“Either Russia respects international law and doesn’t wage wars, or it won’t have money to start wars. Another petrol station will be found. But it’s not only about money. Ban on imports of Russian oil to the US will weaken the terrorist state economically, politically, and ideologically as it is about freedom and the future where the whole world is heading.”

Zelenskiy says there will be a “new Marshall plan for Ukraine”.

Russia’s Central Bank has announced a new policy, allowing citizens with foreign currency accounts to withdraw up to $10,000 US until 9 September.

Anything above that amount will have to be withdrawn in roubles at the market rate, BBC Russian reports. This is one of a series of steps the bank has taken in response to foreign sanctions that have sent the Russian financial market into turmoil.

Right now, 1 rouble equals about $0.0078 US.

Here’s more on the Russian economy:

In Russia, people are lining up at their local McDonald’s restaurants after the company announced it would be suspending business there due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

A photo from NEXTA:

In addition to McDonald’s, other companies that have suspended business in Russia include:

• Shell
• Coca-Cola
• Starbucks
• PepsiCo Inc
• Estee Lauder

The UK’s Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps announced on Twitter that the UK government can detain any Russian aircraft that enters UK airspace, following an earlier ban on Russian planes in UK airspace.

From Shapps Twitter account:

BREAKING: I have made it a criminal offence for ANY Russian aircraft to enter UK airspace and now HMG can detain these jets. We will suffocate Putin’s cronies’ ability to continue living as normal while thousands of innocent people die.

Here’s a statement from PepsiCo’s CEO Ramon Laguarta about the company’s decision to suspend its business in Russia and operations in Ukraine:

As the tragic war continues in Ukraine, I wanted to update everyone on PepsiCo’s activities in the region.

As many of you know, we have been operating in Russia for more than 60 years, and we have a place in many Russian homes. Pepsi-Cola entered the market at the height of the Cold War and helped create common ground between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, given the horrific events occurring in Ukraine we are announcing the suspension of the sale of Pepsi-Cola, and our global beverage brands in Russia, including 7Up and Mirinda. We will also be suspending capital investments and all advertising and promotional activities in Russia.

As a food and beverage company, now more than ever we must stay true to the humanitarian aspect of our business. That means we have a responsibility to continue to offer our other products in Russia, including daily essentials such as milk and other dairy offerings, baby formula and baby food. By continuing to operate, we will also continue to support the livelihoods of our 20,000 Russian associates and the 40,000 Russian agricultural workers in our supply chain as they face significant challenges and uncertainty ahead.

Our first priority continues to be the safety and security of our fellow Ukrainian associates. We suspended operations in Ukraine to enable our associates to seek safety for themselves and their families, and our dedicated crisis teams in the sector and region continue to closely monitor developments in real time.

We are also continuing to provide aid on the ground to assist Ukrainian refugees in neighboring countries. Our business has donated food, milk and refrigerators to relief organizations, and we’re ramping up production of foods and beverages in neighboring countries to meet the increased need. We are also donating a total of $4 million to the Red Cross in Poland, World Vision in Romania, the World Food Program, World Central Kitchen and Save the Children. And we continue to match up to $1 million raised from PepsiCo employees through our Gift Matching Campaign. The number of associates expressing concern for our colleagues and a genuine desire to help has been truly inspiring, with some of you even volunteering to take refugees into your homes. Your kindness and generosity speak volumes about our company, and we will continue working to support your efforts.

My heart goes out to all those who are caught in the middle of this deadly conflict. As it so often does, war is falling hardest on the innocent. War is never an answer, and we join all those calling for a speedy, peaceful resolution.

PepsiCo Inc, the multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation, has just announced that they will also be suspending all sales in Russia, joining a number of Western companies who have announced similar decisions today.

The company will be suspending all capital investments, advertising, and promotional activities in Russia and will stop operations in Ukraine to allow associates to seek safety as war escalates in the country.

The announcement from PepsiCo follows an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal today that PepsiCo officials were working to see how they could avoid a suspension of business in the country despite announcements from McDonald’s, Starbucks, and most recently, Coca-Cola that they would suspend business in Moscow:

PepsiCo Inc. PEP -2.82% is exploring options for its business in Russia, including writing off the value of the unit, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would mark a turn for a company that introduced American cola to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

Large Western companies are under increasing pressure to pull out of the country in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. PepsiCo PEP -2.82% is reluctant to shut down its Russian unit—which includes a large dairy business it bought for about $5 billion a decade ago—because tens of thousands of Russians depend on the company for their livelihoods and for daily essentials like milk and baby formula, the people familiar with the matter said.

Revenue from PepsiCo’s Russian unit was $3.4 billion in 2021—a decline of 30% from its peak of $4.9 billion in 2013—making it the third-largest market for the company after the U.S. and Mexico. The impact of writing off the Russian unit would be minimal because it contributes little to PepsiCo’s earnings, some of the people said.

Read the full WSJ article here (paywall).

The Coca-cola company is the latest multinational brand to announce that they will also be temporarily suspending all business in Russia, following similar announcements today from McDonald’s and Starbucks.

In a statement released today, Coco-cola shared the decision, stating:

The Coca-Cola Company announced today that it is suspending its business in Russia.

Our hearts are with the people who are enduring unconscionable effects from these tragic events in Ukraine.

We will continue to monitor and assess the situation as circumstances evolve.

Poland has said it will hand over its MiG-29 fighter jets to the US, which is then expected to donate them to Ukraine amid intelligence agency warnings that Vladimir Putin is about to “double down” in his invasion.

The Polish foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, said his government was “ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein air base and place them at the disposal of the government of the United States of America”.

Poland is thought to have 28 of the Soviet-era warplanes, and has been in negotiation with the Biden administration on a three-way deal to supply Ukraine with air power, on condition that the MiGs would be replaced by newer US jets.

The deal has the effect of sharing the risk of Russian retaliation with the US, which will decide how and when to hand them to the Ukrainian air force.

“Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities,” Rau said in a statement on his ministry’s website. “Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the planes.”

Rau requested other Nato allies with MiG-29 jets – a reference to Slovakia and Bulgaria – to “act in the same vein”.

Poland announced the deal as US officials said the war in Ukraine had reached a pivotal moment, with Russia sustaining severe losses but with Putin determined to press on.

“I think the next couple of days are going to be critical for both the humanitarian situation and also for the tide of this war,” Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told the Guardian...

Read the full article here.

Starbucks announced today that they will temporarily close all cafes located in Russia, following a similar announcement from McDonald’s earlier today, reported Agence France-Presse.

Starbucks also confirmed that they will stop shipments of their products as well.

From Reuters:

...The company said that Kuwait-based Alshaya Group, which operates at least 100 Starbucks cafes in Russia, will “provide support to the nearly 2,000 partners in Russia who depend on Starbucks for their livelihood.”...

Before the announcement that it would put all its MIG-29 at the US’ disposal, Poland came under pressure from the UK to go ahead with the deal.

The issue was discussed by the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki with Boris Johnson at a meeting in London that also saw the start of discussions about a long term reconstruction plan for Ukraine.

Johnson supports the transfer of the MiGs to Ukraine but in public, London stresses that it is a sovereign decision for Warsaw to take since in the words of the UK defence secretary Ben Wallace, Poland is most likely to face any “blowback” from Russia.

Poland had publicly opposed the move, saying it would likely be seen as a dangerous escalation by Russia, but was apparently happy to go ahead if the proposal was backed by Nato and the US provided replacement American F-16 fighter planes.

The Polish prime minister was in London to meet Johnson alongside the prime ministers of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, the so-called V4 group inside the EU .

The V4 countries have taken three quarters of the 2m Ukrainians that have poured into the European Union, including more than 1m in Poland alone. Nearly half are children placing strains on the 4 countries education systems if the refugees feel unable to return in the short term

There are clear differences between the approach to the conflict between Hungary and the other V4 states. Orban, close to Vladimir Putin but critical of his invasion, had rejected further Nato troops on Hungarian soil, and refused to send arms to Ukraine. He had also derided sanctions against Russia as an ineffective policy tool, but has not used his veto to block EU measures.

By contrast, Morawiecki called for further sanctions, and his government supports a full block on Russian energy imports into Europe.

“We can dismantle Putin’s war machine only by means of very strong and firm sanctions,” he said.

Speaking after the meeting Orban said he opposed an EU energy boycott of Russia saying “the price of war should not be paid by ordinary Hungarian families. Most of the oil and gas coming into the country comes from Russia and 90% of Hungarian families heat their homes with gas. Without oil and gas the Hungarian economy simply cannot function. If we were to end energy cooperation with Russia, the energy bills of every Hungarian family would triple in a single month”.

Orban is facing elections next month and is trying to downplay his past support for Putin, and the way in which he allowed his economy to become so dependent on Russian energy.

Russian forces will stop firing starting 10 am Moscow time tomorrow and are ready to provide human corridors so civilians can evacuate Kyiv and four other cities, reported Reuters.

Russian forces will stop firing from 10 am Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Wednesday and are ready to provide human corridors so people can leave Kyiv and four other cities, Tass news agency cited a senior Russian official as saying on Tuesday.

Information about corridors from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol will be sent to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, the official said.

Following McDonald’s announcement that it would pausing its business following the invasion of Ukraine, here’s how Jonathan Steele reported on the opening of the chain’s first restaurant in the then-USSR for the Guardian in 1990:

A QUARTER of an hour to closing time, the queue outside the first Soviet McDonald ‘s was down to 300.

‘We’ll go on to midnight if necessary to serve all these good people,’ Mr George Godden, the operations manager, promised as he stood at the front of the line in Moscow last night, letting batches of 30 or 40 people in every five minutes.

On the first day of its opening more than 20,000 people streamed into the fantasy-land restaurant which is not only bigger than any other in the world but also more lavish in its decor. Most of the customers had never had a hamburger in their lives.

Natalya Kaltshekh, a doctor in her early forties, gazed at the huge plate glass windows behind which happy Russians were tucking into food twice as fast as anything else Moscow has ever offered.

She had only been queuing for 15 minutes and was already at the front of the line. In her hand she held a copy of the multi-coloured menu given out to people in the queue. ‘I have never eaten this kind of food,’ she confessed. She had heard about McDonald ‘s on Soviet television.

People did not stay inside as long as the management had feared. They had worried that customers would be much slower than the food.

‘Not a bit of it,’ said Mr Godden. ‘They’ve stayed on average just the same time as anywhere else in the world’.

Many people had bought several portions to take home, he said. ‘They’re feeding their families on this.’

A couple of young computer science undergraduates, Volodya and Natasha Leshinsky, emerged smiling after about 40 minutes inside. Asked how it compared with typical Soviet cafes, Natasha said: ‘The service is so good’.

They had eaten hamburgers before at one of the new co-operative cafes, Volodya said. ‘But the meat is poor quality, and it was relatively more expensive, at least for what you were getting for your money. This place is world class’.

Half a dozen policemen stood around near stacks of crash barriers.

Earlier in the day the queue had been up to 2,000, snaking back
through a zig-zag of barriers on the edge of Pushkin Square, Moscow ‘s Piccadilly Circus, a favourite spot for strollers, except that it has been remarkably devoid of neon until today.

Now it is lit up by McDonald ‘s trademark golden yellow arch.

The restaurant is a joint venture between the Moscow City Council and McDonald ‘s Canadian subsidiary.

It has taken 14 years to get McDonald ‘s to Moscow . The first
overtures were made at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Unlike most other joint ventures in the service field this one only takes roubles.

Westerners in Moscow are surrounded by joint venture hotels,
restaurants, xeroxing offices, film processing kiosks, and food shops. None of them cater for the vast majority of Russians who have no access to hard currency.

McDonald ‘s has done it differently. Its vice-president, George Cohon, remembers the moment when one Russian looked at the plaque outside the door which says that service is for roubles only.

‘This is perestroika,’ he beamed.

Ukraine warned the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it has become increasingly urgent to rotate the 210 technical personnel and guards working at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant since Russia took control there, citing safety reasons, said IAEA director director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

From the IAEA website:

In contrast to the current situation for staff at Ukraine’s operating nuclear power plants who are rotating regularly, the same shift has been on duty at the Chernobyl NPP since the day before the Russian military entered the site of the 1986 accident on 24 February, in effect living there for the past 13 days, the regulator said.

The Ukrainian regulator added that the staff had access to food and water, and medicine to a limited extent. However, the situation for the staff was worsening. It asked the IAEA to lead the international support needed to prepare a plan for replacing the current personnel and for providing the facility with an effective rotation system.

Director general Grossi has repeatedly stressed that staff operating nuclear facilities must be able to rest and work in regular shifts, stating this is crucial for overall nuclear safety. Their capacity to make decisions free of undue pressure is among the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security he outlined at a meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors on 2 March, convened to address the safety, security and safeguards implications of the situation in Ukraine.

“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there,” he said today...

The director general also indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chernobyl NPP had been lost. The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon.

Read the full statement here.

Here’s the full statement from the Polish government following its announcement that it is ready to immediately transfer MiG-29 planes to the US for Ukrainian use:

The authorities of the Republic of Poland, after consultations between the president and the government, are ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein airbase and place them at the disposal of the government of the United States of America.

At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities. Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the planes.

The Polish government also requests other Nato allies – owners of MiG-29 jets – to act in the same vein.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has tweeted out a message of thanks to US president Joe Biden following an announcement today that the US will ban Russian oil imports, with Zelenskiy encouraging other world leaders to follow suit.

From Zelenskiy:

Thankful for US and @POTUS personal leadership in striking in the heart of Putin’s war machine and banning oil, gas and coal from US market. Encourage other countries and leaders to follow.

Putin is likely to “double down” on his invasion of Ukraine, but will find it difficult to keep hold of captured territories and install a pro-Russia regime, said top US intelligence officials, reported Politico.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is likely to “double down” in Ukraine as his forces remain frustrated nearly two weeks into their invasion, but he will find it “especially challenging” to maintain control of captured territory and install a sustainable pro-Moscow regime in Kyiv, the leaders of the top U.S. intelligence agencies told congressional lawmakers on Tuesday.

Speaking before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during the panel’s annual hearing on worldwide threats, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Russia’s invasion has thus far “proceeded consistent with the plan we assessed the Russian military would follow — only they are facing significantly more resistance from Ukrainians than they expected and encountering serious military shortcomings.”

Although it still remains “unclear” whether Russia will pursue a “maximalist plan to capture all or most of Ukraine,” Haines said, such an effort would run up against what the U.S. intelligence community assesses “is likely to be a persistent and significant insurgency” by Ukrainian forces, who have proven their mettle over a dozen days of combat with the Russian invaders.

The remarks from Haines and four fellow intelligence agency leaders — Defense Intelligence Agency Director Scott Berrier, CIA Director William Burns, National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone and FBI Director Christopher Wray — represented some of the most candid assessments of Moscow’s thinking by U.S. officials since the start of the security crisis late last month. Biden administration spokespeople have been largely reluctant to speculate about the Kremlin’s wartime strategy.

Read the full article here.

More than 1,200 international students trapped in the besieged city of Sumy are among thousands of people now being evacuated, reports the Guardian’s West Africa correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu.

A “humanitarian corridor” from Sumy in east Ukraine to Poltava, 175km south, was agreed with Russia, said Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister earlier on Tuesday.

The news of the evacuation comes as a huge relief to many in Sumy, who were effectively trapped. Shelling, blasts and fighting has largely occurred on the outskirts of the city, yet overnight at least 21 people including two children were killed by Russian bombs on a residential street in the city, according to the regional prosecutor’s office said.

Main roads and bridges leading out of Sumy have been damaged by the fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine last week. Many people are running low on food and water and some students in Sumy have resorted to boiling ice and were falling ill. University staff and volunteers were helping the students each day, delivering food and water.

Some students escaped Sumy in private vehicles in recent days, against orders from Ukrainian troops, driving through forestry and through areas where fighting had occurred to get away. Many in the city became increasingly fearful of being able to survive, as food supplies in stores have depleted.

Before the evacuations began, about 360 Nigerian students had been trapped in hostels in Sumy, thought to be the second largest group after about 700 Indians and students of other nationalities including Ireland, Tanzania and Ghana.

Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Tuesday afternoon he was “delighted and mightily relieved that the evacuation of our Nigerian students from Sumy has commenced. They are in our thoughts and prayers as they undertake the very long and hazardous trip to safety,” in a statement.

“A million thanks to the government of Ukraine,” he added, also thanking volunteers and aid groups involved in the evacuation.

In Brussels, Frans Timmermans, the European commission first vice-president, has said that Europeans can help in the fight against Vladimir Putin by turning down the heating in their homes.

Russia supplies the EU with 40% of its gas and about a quarter of its crude oil. The EU wants to reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuel before 2030 and cut demand for Russian-controlled gas by two thirds at the end of the year, the commission said.

Timmermans said:

It is hard. It is bloody hard but it is possible. We can do it and we can do it fast.

All we need is the courage and grit to get us there. If ever there was a time to do it, it is now. Your choices in how much energy you consume decide how strong we are in our reaction to Russia.

As the British government continues to face severe criticism for its approach to the refugee crisis, (see previous post) the Czech Republic has said about 100,000 have arrived in Prague, with numbers coming by train and road doubling since Friday

The interior minister said its processing centres are buckling under the strain and it would have to reorganise efforts as it had expected to deal with 8,000 to 10,000 a day.

The British government’s claim to be “very generous” in helping Ukrainian refugees is once again coming under scrutiny.

LBC reporter Matthew Thompson is at the UK visa application centre in Rzeszów, Poland, where he has posted this video where crowds of refugees are being forced to wait outside in freezing temperatures.

On Monday the British Home Office boasted that the UK had “the first visa scheme in the world ... since President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine”. That may be true, but ignores the fact the EU does not required Ukrainian refugees to get visa.

In the same twitter post, the Home Office also said staff “have been surged across Europe and within the UK to ensure applications can be processed as quickly as possible, while maintaining essential security checks”.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukrainians do not want to lose their country, as he opened an address to British MPs in the House of Commons.

As in previous addresses, also given by video link, to US lawmakers and MEPs, Zelenskiy was given a standing ovation.

Ukrainians do not want to lose what they have, he said, just as Britons did not want to lose their country when it was attacked by Nazis.

You can follow his speech on Andrew Sparrow’s UK politics live blog.

India’s government has said it has moved all Indian students out of the besieged north eastern city of Sumy.

A spokesperson at India’s ministry of external affairs, Arindam Bagchi, tweeted earlier on Tuesday that the students were on route to Poltava and flights were being prepared to bring them home.

The Associated Press reported that a packed convoy of buses left Sumy on Tuesday. Hours before the buses arrived to take people to safety overnight shelling killed 21 people, including two children, Ukrainian authorities said.

The British government has said it will phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

The business minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, also said he was exploring options to end Russian gas imports to the UK, currently about 4% of supply.

You can read more here on Andrew Sparrow’s UK politics live blog.

Sixty-one hospitals in Ukraine are not operational because of attacks by Russian forces, the country’s health minister has said.

Reuters quotes the health minister, Viktor Lyashko, as saying that “terrorists from the aggressor country” had put 61 hospitals out of action. Authorities, he said, were unable to deliver critical medical supplies to front-line communities because of a lack of humanitarian corridors.

Earlier in the day Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, said Russian strikes had destroyed more than 200 Ukrainian schools, 34 hospitals and 1,500 residential buildings.

The UN has denied that its staff were told not to use the words “war or invasion” about the conflict in Ukraine, the Guardian’s Julian Borger reports.

In an email to the Guardian, UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said it was “simply not the case that staff have been instructed not to use words like “war” and “invasion” to describe the situation”.

He pointed to a recent tweet from UN under-secretary-heneral Rosemary DiCarlo, which included the comment, “this war is senseless”.

“Similarly, the secretary general has used a wide range of words in his statements and remarks to the press to describe what is going on,” Dujarric said.

Dujarric also said that staff are “asked to frame any communications on Ukraine as well as other political matters in a manner that is consistent with the position of the organisation and the statements of the secretary general”.

Asked to clarify, he insisted that did not mean those words had been discouraged in any way, pointing out again that the UN leadership had used them. He said he could not exclude that some manager of some part of the UN could have sent such an email, but that it had not been brought to his attention so far.

Other UN employees contacted by the Guardian had not received an email banning the words.

The UN was responding to a report in the Irish Times that said it had banned its staff from using the words “war” or “invasion” to avoid offending Russia.

A Swedish application to join Nato would destabilise the current security situation in Europe, the country’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, has said.

Reuters in Stockholm quotes her as saying:

If Sweden were to choose to send in an application to join Nato in the current situation, it would further destabilise this area of Europe and increase tensions.

Even before the attack on Ukraine, Russia’s military build-up triggered a debate in non-Nato Finland and Sweden on joining the transatlantic military alliance.

Video footage reportedly shows aftermath of an explosion in Kalynivka in Ukraine.

LA Times correspondent Marcus Yam writes:

An explosion just rocked the town of Kalynivka, #Ukraine. A dark plume of smoke weaves through the forested edge of town. Black and blue containers scatter all over. Security guard for truck depot next door tells us that it is a storage facility for chemicals.

Boris Johnson, the British prime minster, said the UK was “ready to increase” its military support to Poland if needed.

He told Mateusz Morawiecki that the UK stands in solidarity with Poland, and thanked him for Polish people’s kindness to Ukrainian people “at such a horrendous time”, a Downing Street spokesperson told PA.

He reportedly added that “Ukrainians were suffering because of President Putin’s barbaric actions, and the west needed to continue to impose debilitating sanctions”.

“The leaders agreed that the UK and Poland should continue work together on ensuring defensive aid reached Ukraine, and the prime minister said the UK stood ready to increase its military support to Poland, should they require it,” the spokesperson said.

“The leaders agreed that they would continue to stay in close touch in the coming days and weeks, and will work at pace to build even deeper strategic ties.”

Vladimir Putin was intent on creating a new “Russian sphere of influence” run by Moscow, Boris Johnson has said.

At a meeting with the leaders of the Visegrad group – which includes the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland – PA reports that the British prime minister said:

When I first had the pleasures of going to your wonderful countries decades ago, all of them were behind what was then called an Iron Curtain and under the Russian sphere of influence.

What we now see today is an assault on another free, democratic, independent European country with the intention of trying to create, again, a Russian sphere of influence, a new Yalta, a new zone of control from Moscow.

Meeting at Lancaster House in London, Johnson said the five countries were working together “diplomatically, politically, by means of our economic strength”. He said they would also provide defensive military support “to help our Ukrainian friends in their hour of desperation and need”.

The British government is expected to make an announcement at about 4pm GMT today about how it plans to cut Russian oil and gas imports, reports Politico journalist Alex Wickham.

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, said yesterday that the world could not simply stop using Russian oil and gas but would have to speed up its transition away from it.

It comes as the US president, Joe Biden, is expected to announce a ban on Russian oil in remarks at 10.45am ET (1545 GMT).

Streets strewn with debris and broken glass and shop fronts and apartment windows smashed. Images shared by Kharkiv resident Maria Avdeeva show the devastation caused to Ukraine’s second-biggest city after a Russian bombardment yesterday:

The United Nations has blocked staff from using the words “war” or “invasion” to describe the situation in Ukraine, reports the Irish Times.

The move, understood to have been communicated to UN staff in an email on Monday, is reportedly aimed at balancing political sensitivities after member state Russia also banned those words.

The UN has emphatically denied the report: a spokesperson said: “it is simply not the case that staff have been instructed not to use words like “war” and “invasion” to describe the situation.”

Several UN senior staff have used the word war in recent days, including Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, who tweeted the following: “Nearly two weeks on, it is painfully clear that those suffering the most after Russia’s invasion of #Ukraine are civilians - killed, wounded, displaced. This war is senseless.” The head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, last week referred to the conflict as a “senseless war”.

According to the Irish Times, staff were instead advised to refer to the war as a “conflict” or a “military offensive” – despite the fact that hundreds of civilians have been killed and two million residents forced to flee.

They were also banned from using the Ukrainian flag in personal or official social media accounts or websites.

“Some specific examples of language to use/not use at the moment,” the email said, according to the Irish Times.

“[Use] ‘conflict’ or ‘military offensive’ and NOT ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ when referring to the situation in Ukraine.”

“Do NOT add the Ukrainian flag to personal or official social media accounts or websites,” it reportedly added.

The policy is aimed at avoiding “reputational risk”, according to the email. “This is an important reminder that we, as international civil servants, have a responsibility to be impartial,” it said. “There is a serious possibility of reputational risk that has been flagged by senior officials recently.”

UN employees contacted by the Guardian’s Julian Borger not received an email banning the words.

This post has been updated with the UN response, reported in more detail here.

Brave Russians continue to protest peacefully against the invasion of Ukraine, despite the threat of immediate arrest.

Here is an image from St Petersburg earlier on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Luxmore has posted this footage from St Petersburg, published by the organisation Avtozak, which monitors protest arrests.

As an individual protester is bundled away by a group of police, people can be heard shouting “what are you doing?”

Some Chinese students based in Ukraine, who spent days trapped in bomb shelters, have criticised their government for its slow advice and confusing messaging, reports the Guardian’s China affairs correspondent Vincent Ni.

Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Yang Yanhua*, a 22-year-old classical music student in Kyiv, called the Chinese embassy in the city to seek help. He tried several times but the line was engaged.

“I don’t know why the embassy didn’t tell us the war was going to break out when other countries advised their citizens to leave days before,” he said. Yang – not his real name - then followed his university’s emergency protocols and took refuge in a bomb shelter. Days later an escape route began to circulate among his friends. He decided to follow the instruction and flee on his own.

Almost two weeks before Russia acted – described by the Chinese media as “special military operations” – countries including the UK and Canada advised their nationals to leave Ukraine. But in the case of China, which had nearly 6,000 nationals in the country, it was not until the day after the war broke out that the embassy advised its citizens to leave.

“By the time they knew [the war was to break out], it was already too late to evacuate,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China programme at the Stimson Center in Washington. Until the war broke out, many high-profile Chinese pundits and news outlets had insisted western prediction of an invasion was “fake news”.

Read the full report here: ‘It came too late’: Chinese students who fled Ukraine criticise embassy response

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

Images of people fleeing the town of Irpin, close to Kyiv:

Reporter Amie Ferris-Rotman on the celebrations (or lack of) to mark International Women’s Day in Lviv.

Elsewhere European politicians have paid tribute to Ukrainian women.

Here is Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission:

The UN refugee agency reported earlier that 2 million people have fled the war in Ukraine. Here is the moving story of Alisa from Kyiv, who spoke to the Guardian’s Alfie Packham. As war broke out, she was trying to organise a funeral for her father, who had died suddenly, until she realised she had to leave.

We’ve lost a lot of things. We lost my father. I left my husband behind at the border. My heart is broken because I’ve never been without him. He’s a part of me, the biggest part of me, and now he’s not with me. There are no men with us.

On 23 of February, I lost my dad unexpectedly, aged 59. The next day the war began. While many people were leaving Kyiv, my husband and I were trying to sort out funeral documents from all over the city in order to bury Dad. We went from morgue to funeral agency to prosecutor’s office to registry office to morgue to funeral agency.

The siren was sounding all sides and tanks drove around the city. We collected almost all the documents, ordered a restaurant for a commemoration, but since the registry office was evacuated, and didn’t give us one final document, the crematorium refused to accept anyone.

I’m a Python programmer and I work for a German company, and they helped me leave Ukraine for Poland. We left Kyiv in a small Peugeot 307 car. There were nine of us, me, my mum, my sister, our two husbands, four children and two big dogs, including an elderly German shepherd. It was impossible to move inside the car. We drove for 16 hours to a village about 140km from Kyiv. We decided to leave the village later in the morning because it was dangerous, even there. Near the border with Poland there were a lot of cars and we couldn’t stay in the car for the next three – or five – days, so we decided to walk the last 17km to the border. We left at 4am – it was minus seven degrees. It was a hard trip around mountains and rivers. My kids were crying because of the cold. I wanted to cry too but but I couldn’t give up … it was my idea to go to the border.

Read her full story here: ‘I left my husband behind at the border. My heart is broken’.

Russian forces are preparing to attack Kyiv in the coming days, according to this eye-catching analysis from the Institute for the Study of War.

The closely-followed US military thinktank believes that “Russian forces are concentrating in the eastern, north-western, and western outskirts of Kyiv for an assault on the capital in the coming 24-96 hours.” Russian forces, plagued by logistics problems, have hardly advanced recently, but the ISW said they were “bringing up supplies and reinforcements as well as conducting artillery, air, and missile attacks to weaken defences and intimidate defenders in advance of such an assault”.

This could herald the start of a critical moment in the war, the analysts write in their latest daily overview.

It is too soon to gauge the likely effectiveness of any Russian attempt to complete the encirclement of Kyiv or to seize the city at this time. If Russian troops have been able to resupply, reorganise, and plan deliberate and coordinated simultaneous operations along the several axes of advance around and into the capital, they may be more successful in this operation than they have in previous undertakings.

Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas ,has called for loopholes in western sanctions against Russia to be closed, Reuters reports.

At a press conference with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Kallas said western countries needed to restrict cryptocurrencies to close sanctions loopholes. She also called for shutting Russia and its ally Belarus entirely out of the Swift interbank messaging system.

The EU has agreed that seven Russian banks should be locked out of Swift, the Belgian-headquartered bank messaging system that underpins global trade. But central and eastern European countries want the EU to go further, by targeting Russia’s first and third largest banks, Sberbank and Gazprombank. Countries such as Germany are reluctant to cut these banks out of Swift, because both are used for energy payments.

Kallas also said the new situation demanded rapid changes to European security, including Estonia’s defences.

The tourist cafes are behind barricades. The grand opera house is surrounded by a wall of sandbags. Tank traps block the approaches to the legendary Potemkin steps. Nobody in Odesa can quite believe that Vladimir Putin would launch an assault on this city, a place bound to Russia by family, literary and cultural ties, a place of almost mythical resonance for many Russians.

But then, Putin’s armed forces have done lots of things in recent days that seemed unthinkable just two weeks ago.

Gennady Trukhanov, Odesa’s mayor:

I don’t know what kind of a bastard, idiot or scumbag you have to be to press the button for missiles to fall on Odesa. It’s beyond the limits of my understanding.

‘Beyond understanding’: Odesa braced to see if Putin attacks city of such resonance for Russians

The oil giant Shell has apologised after buying a shipment of Russian oil last week at a discounted price as it pledged to end its relationship with oil, gas and petroleum from the country, reports Reuters.

The firm’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, said:

We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel - despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking - was not the right one and we are sorry.

The company said it will immediately stop all spot purchases of Russian crude oil and close its service stations, aviation fuel and lubricants operations in the country.

It said it would withdraw from other associations with Russia “in a phased manner, aligned with new government guidance”.

It comes after multiple major international companies’ withdrawal from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union’s executive plans to propose a new rules to allow them to punish disinformation around the world, citing Russian state-owned television network Russia Today.

Josef Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said they should be able to freeze assets and ban travel to the region to punish the spread of misleading information.

“I will propose a new mechanism that will allow us to sanction those malign disinformation actors,” he said.

Borrell said that Moscow’s use of fake news and disinformation in Russia is tantamount to “bombing their minds”.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has said that buses are on their way to Mariupol to collect evacuees from the besieged city.

Olha Stefanishyna said 30 buses were travelling to the port city using the humanitarian corridor, reports Reuters.

It comes as president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a child had died from dehydration in the city, which has had no water, power or heating for several days.

“In 2022, from dehydration,” Zelenskiy said in a video address, comparing the humanitarian crisis caused by Russian bombardment of Ukraine to the Nazi invasion during world war two.

The Albanian capital, Tirana, has renamed the street of the Russian and Ukrainian embassies to “Free Ukraine”.

The city council approved the naming of Free Ukraine street in a unanimous vote yesterday.

The street was previously named after Donika Kastrioti, the wife of Albania’s national hero Skanderberg, reports Reuters.

Tirana’s mayor, Erion Veliaj, said the new name would be a reminder for the Russian embassy staff. “The Russians will have to work, live and get their mail on a Free Ukraine street address.”

Veliaj tweeted: “This street will define our city.”

A petition calling on the UK government to waive all visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees has been signed by more than 100,000 people.

The petition, asking the government to allow anybody with a Ukrainian passport to take refuge in the UK, has so far exceeded 135,360 signatures.

“Join other nations in providing a route to safety for refugees. Waive all visa requirements for Ukrainian passport holders arriving in the UK,” it says.

“They are war refugees, our hands are tied to assist with boots on the ground, let us give the people of Ukraine a safe place for their families and children to flee to.”

Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, has predicted that anti-war momentum “will keep growing” across Russian society and called on protests in the country to continue.

He tweeted:

The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is today holding talks in London with the Visegrád Group - Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

On Twitter, he praised the countries for providing “vital support to the Ukrainian people”, adding: “We are clear in our mission - Putin must fail.”

Images from Kharkiv, where civilians have been sheltering in metro stations:

The Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs calls on Russia to uphold ceasefire during the evacuation of Sumy:

Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region, has said that as of 9.30am (7.30am GMT), more than 150 people had been evacuated, reports Reuters.

“As of 09:30 (0730 GMT), more than 150 people have been evacuated and (evacuation) activities are under way,” said Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region.

The Ukrainian government has said that citizens from areas with the heaviest fighting will be entitled to financial assistance.

The state service of special communications and information protection of Ukraine said the payment of 6,500 Ukrainian Hryvnia can be paid to hired employees and individual entrepreneurs.

Some of the latest images to come out of Ukraine:

A second wave of refugees from Ukraine will be more vulnerable than the first, the head of the UN refugee agency has warned.

Filippo Grandi said in a news conference that if war continues, people with “no resources and no connections” will be left with no choice but to flee, reports Reuters.

“That will be a more complex situation to manage for European countries going forward, and there will need to be even more solidarity by everybody in Europe and beyond,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address British MPs by videolink today, marking the first time a president of another country has addressed the House of Commons.

The Ukrainian president has pleaded with numerous western leaders in the last week, requesting supplies and military support.

The address will take place at 5pm GMT, reports Reuters.

“Every parliamentarian wants to hear directly from the president, who will be speaking to us live from Ukraine, so this is an important opportunity for the House,” said speaker Lindsay Hoyle.

Here’s more on the humanitarian corridor to be opened today in Sumy under an agreement with Russia.

Reuters reports that Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said:

“It has been agreed that the first convoy will start at 10 am. (8am GMT) from the city of Sumy. The convoy will be followed by the local population in personal vehicles,” she said in a televised statement.

The UK has said Russia is “likely” ramping up claims Ukraine is developing nuclear or biological weapons as “retrospective justification” for its invasion.

“Since the end of February there has been a notable intensification of Russian accusations that Ukraine is developing nuclear or biological weapons,” a statement by the Ministry of Defence said.

“These narratives are long standing but are currently likely being amplified as part of retrospective justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Dolly Parton has dedicated the Oscars of country music to the people of Ukraine as she opened the awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

The music legend joked she would “rather pass a kidney stone” than get political but asked viewers to send “love and hope” to those affected by the conflict as she compered the Academy of Country Music awards in Las Vegas on Monday night.

A packed-out Allegiant Stadium saw performances from Brothers Osbourne, Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, as well as Parton herself.

Ahead of the first winner announcements the multi-award winning singer asked crowds to “take a serious moment” before the fun began.

“Now, I don’t want to be political and this is not. I’d rather pass a kidney stone than do that,” she said.

“I want us to send our love and hope to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. So why don’t we just dedicate this entire show to them and pray for peace around this crazy old world.”

The intriguing politics of energy and how it ties Britain to Ukraine and Russia are explored in today’s long read.

Oliver Bullough looks at the career of the Ukrainian oligarch and gas kingmaker Dmitry Firtash, who, despite being is wanted by the FBI for bribery, was received into the heart of the British establishment cemented by his ownership of a disused tube station.

A thaw in relations between the US and Venezuela could be one unlikely result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as Washington tries to drive a wedge between Moscow and its oil-rich ally.

Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, said on Monday night that he had agreed an agenda for future talks with a US delegation that he met on Saturday, the first high-level meeting between the two countries in years, Reuters reports.

Officials from the two countries discussed easing oil sanctions on the South American country but made little progress towards reaching a deal.

“We had a meeting, I could describe it as respectful, cordial, very diplomatic,” Maduro said.

Although Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world, it is not even in the top 10 producers. The US and its western allies could make any ban on Russian oil more effective if Venezuelan supplies increased to make up the gap. The US is also engaged in talks with Iran to bring its huge potential production back on stream after years of sanctions.

There’s more detail about what’s happening on the frontline from our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, who reports that a leading Russian general has been killed in Kharkiv.

Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army, a decorated veteran of campaigns in Chechnya, Syria and the Crimea, was reported dead by Ukrainian intelligence after it picked up a telephone conversation between two Russian FSB officers discussing the death.

Other senior officers are believed to have been killed as well.

The two FSB officers also lament that their secure communications were no longer functioning inside Ukraine, which gives some backing to reports that logistical and technical problems are plaguing the Russian military.

The Russian media said last week that Maj Gen Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the 41st army, was also killed in action.

Stoock markets have been struggling again today with no sign of any let up in the adverse economic impact of the war.

Brent crude is on the rise again – up 2.48% to $126.26 – after see-sawing violently yesterday when it touched almost $140.

Australia’s ASX200 benchmark index has already finished 0.83% down for the day on Tuesday.

In Japan, the Nikkei is off another 1.5%, the Kospi has shed 0.7% in Seoul and the Hang Seng is down 0.13%. Chinese markets are also suffering with Shanghai dropping 1.36%.

More losses are expected when Euope opens up later as well.

The United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs has called for safe passage to deliver humanitarian aid to conflict zones in Ukraine.

“Civilians in places like Mariupol, Kharkiv, Melitopol and elsewhere desperately need aid, especially life-saving medical supplies,” Martin Griffiths told an emergency meeting on the disaster sparked by Russia’s invasion, according to Agence France-Presse.

Griffiths urged all sides to ensure that civilians, homes and infrastructure in Ukraine were safeguarded.

“This includes allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis, in the direction they choose,” he said, after Ukraine rejected an earlier deal that would only allow its civilians to evacuate into Russia or Belarus.

The meeting came as Ukraine and Russia seek an agreement on creating “humanitarian corridors” out of pummelled cities, as the civilian toll from the Russian assault mounts.

My colleague Luke Harding has been reporting from inside Ukraine for the past week and a half. Here, he meets some of the millions of people who have been forced from their homes by the invasion:

News from Ukraine fills the front pages of the British newspapers again:

Reuters reports that Germany will host a virtual meeting of agricultural ministers from G7 countries on Friday to discuss the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global food security and how to best stabilise food markets, the government said.

“The provision of foodstuffs in Germany and the European Union is safe but greater shortages can be expected in some countries outside the EU - especially where scarcity already reigns today due to issues like drought,” German agriculture minister Cem Oezdemir said in statement.

“Price hikes for agricultural products cannot be excluded in industrialized nations either.”

The growing humanitarian crisis resulting from the war is the subject of our Today in Focus podcast today with more ethan 1.7 million having fled Ukraine for Europe.

The human rights journalist Annie Kelly tells Hannah Moore that the UNHCR estimates that more than 4 million people will become refugees as a result of this conflict.

Europe has opened it borders to the refugees but Lorenzo Tondo, who has been reporting from Ukraine’s border with Poland, says the difference between the response to these refugees and the response to those fleeing Iraq, Syria and Yemen were met with has been stark.