Ukrainian port city evacuation bid again fails as civilian toll grows

A man walks a dog along a coast of the Sea of Azov in Ukraine’s industrial port city of Mariupol on February 23, 2022.  Mariupol lies on the edge of the front line separating government-controlled territory from that overseen by Russian-backed separatists in the rebel stronghold Donetsk. (Photo by Aleksey Filippov / AFP)

KYIV, Ukraine – A civilian disaster is growing in Ukraine as attempts to evacuate residents of besieged port city Mariupol failed for a second day, with President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing “murder” as he warned of more shelling to come Monday.

New shelling and attacks have sent soaring numbers of refugees fleeing, sometimes under fire, as the death toll mounts.

“It’s murder, deliberate murder,” Zelensky raged in an address.

“We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war on our land,” he said. “There will be no quiet place on this Earth except the grave.”

He said Russia has announced new shelling Monday of defence targets in Ukrainian cities and denounced what he branded the “silence” of Western governments failing to speak out.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its twelfth day, has seen more than 1.5 million people flee the country in what the UN has called Europe’s fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.

Pope Francis on Sunday deplored the “rivers of blood and tears” flowing in Ukraine, as Washington cited “very credible reports” that Russia had committed war crimes by deliberately attacking civilians.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands wounded, with hundreds of thousands of people — mostly women and children — pouring into neighbouring countries such as Poland, Romania or Moldova for refuge.

Efforts to get people out of Mariupol — the scene of some of the war’s greatest ferocity — collapsed for a second day running Sunday with both sides accusing each other of breaching a ceasefire agreement.

Very few refugees from the strategic city on the Azov Sea made it out on Saturday, but one family, who did not give their names, arrived in the central city of Dnipro and recounted their harrowing experience.

“We stayed in the basement for seven days with no heating, electricity or internet and ran out of food and water,” one of them said.

“On the road, we saw there were bodies everywhere, Russians and Ukrainians… We saw that people had been buried in their basements.”

Meanwhile, the mayor of Irpin, a small town outside the capital Kyiv, described seeing two adults and two children killed “in front of my eyes” when a shell hit them.

“It is impudence, they are monsters. Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered,” Oleksandr Markushyn said on Telegram, adding that part of the city was in Russian hands.

‘Neutralisation’

Western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires in a bid to choke off the Russian economy and pressure Moscow to halt its assault.

Further punitive action, including a possible ban on Russian oil imports, could be imposed if Putin fails to change course, world leaders warned.

US officials said Sunday they were in “active discussions” with European nations about such a ban.

But the Russian leader Vladimir Putin has equated global sanctions with a declaration of war and warned that Kyiv is “putting in question the future of Ukrainian statehood”.

Russia would reach its aims of “neutralisation” of Ukraine “either through negotiation or through war”, Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call Sunday, an Elysee official said.

A third round of Russian-Ukrainian talks aimed at finding a way out of the bloody conflict is set for Monday.

NATO allies have so far rebuffed Ukraine’s calls for a no-fly zone, with one senior US senator, Marco Rubio, saying Sunday that it could lead to “World War III” against nuclear-armed Russia.

Putin has threatened “colossal and catastrophic consequences not only for Europe but also the whole world” if a no-fly zone is imposed.

In the latest sign that sanctions were biting, however, Moscow said retailers in Russia will restrict sales of essential goods including bread, rice and flour to limit black-market speculation.

Russia’s isolation in the worlds of finance, sport and culture also deepened Sunday.

Payment giant American Express halted operations there, a day after Visa and Mastercard announced similar steps.

Social media giant TikTok barred videos posted from Russia, while streaming behemoth Netflix reportedly suspended its service in the country.

As more people took to the streets across Russia against the invasion, Moscow intensified a crackdown on dissent, detaining more than 4,600 protesters.

‘Last bridge’

Russian forces have been inching closer to Kyiv in an assault that has become ever-more indiscriminate — and deadly.

At Bilogordoka on the city’s outskirts, Ukrainian troops have planted explosives on what they say is the last intact bridge standing in the way of advancing Russian forces.

If they try to cross, the Ukrainians will blow up the bridge and “sink as many enemy tanks as we can while we do it”, said a fighter who gave his name as Casper.

The Ukrainian military said Sunday it was engaged in “fierce battles” with Russian forces near the southern city of Mykolaiv and Chernihiv in the north, though it said in a Facebook post that “main efforts” were on defending Mariupol.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in Chernihiv. Some survivors have been reduced to living in craters or amid mounds of debris.

AFP reporters saw scenes of devastation — despite Moscow’s insistence it is not targeting civilian areas.

Rejecting Moscow’s denials, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN: “We’ve seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians, which would constitute a war crime.”

Fears endured also for the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear sites after the Russian attack on Friday on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest.

France said that among medical supplies it was sending are iodine tablets, which help protect against the effects of radiation exposure, while the UN nuclear watchdog expressed “deep concern” over reports that communication from Zaporizhzhia have been disrupted.

Airport destroyed

Earlier, Zelensky warned that Russian forces were turning their attention to the historic western port city of Odessa, which has so far been largely spared.

Kyiv has urged the West to boost its military assistance, with Zelensky pleading for Russian-made planes that his pilots are trained to fly.

A barrage of Russian missiles destroyed an airport in central Ukraine’s Vinnytsia, said Zelensky, underscoring his appeal for help.

Moscow has also warned Ukraine’s neighbours against hosting Kyiv’s military aircraft, saying they could end up involved in armed conflict.

Weapons, ammunition and funds have poured into Ukraine from Western allies as they seek to bolster Kyiv.

Blinken said Washington was “working actively” on a deal with Poland to supply it with American jets.

Civilians in Western nations also turned out in their tens of thousands in cities from London to Barcelona to Washington in support of Ukraine.

Some have gone a dramatic step further: 20,000 international volunteers have travelled to Ukraine to join the fight, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN.

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