More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have fled into neighboring countries, the United Nations said Sunday, as Russia‘s military invasion pushed violently into an 11th day and attempts to establish humanitarian cease-fires around several besieged Ukrainian cities failed for a third consecutive day.
The U.N. refugee count came as Ukrainian officials said attempts to evacuate civilians from the southern port city of Mariupol were failing Sunday amid continued Russian shelling and while Russia‘s advance continued in other parts of Ukraine, including around the capital city of Kyiv.
Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations last week had resulted in an agreement to create tentative cessations of fighting along “green” humanitarian corridors to facilitate civilian evacuations. Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said Sunday that the agreement was not being honored by the Russian side.
“There can be no ‘green corridors’ because only the sick brain of the Russians decides when to start shooting and at whom,“ Mr. Gerashchenko wrote on the Telegram social media platform, according to The Associated Press, which reported that tentative cease-fires in Mariupol and nearby Volnavakha had failed.
Civilians in those and other cities in southern, central and eastern Ukraine remained trapped under steady shelling and aerial bombardments by Russian forces on Sunday. More than 1 million people have fled the violence since the Russian invasion began.
“More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days — the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on his official Twitter account Sunday.
That occurred against a backdrop of warnings from others that Russian forces are deliberately targeting populated areas of Ukraine, a claim Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally denied.
An “intelligence update” circulated Sunday by the British Ministry of Defense said the scale and strength of Ukrainian resistance to the invasion “continues to surprise” Russia, which has “responded by targeting populated areas in multiple locations, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.”
“This is likely to represent an effort to break Ukrainian morale. Russia has previously used similar tactics in Chechnya in 1999 and Syria in 2016, employing both air and ground-based munitions,” the British Defense Ministry statement said, although it added that Ukrainian forces are succeeding in attacks that have slowed the Russian advance.
“Russian supply lines reportedly continue to be targeted, slowing the rate of advance of their ground forces,” it said. “There is a realistic possibility that Russia is now attempting to conceal fuel trucks as regular support trucks to minimise losses.”
Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded with the United States and other NATO member countries to provide more military assistance to his country.
Mr. Zelenskyy on Sunday reiterated a request for foreign protectors to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a day after Mr. Putin warned that Moscow would consider a third-party declaration to close Ukrainian airspace to be a hostile act.
“The world is strong enough to close our skies,” Mr. Zelenskyy said Sunday in a video address.
The West so far has rebuffed Mr. Zelenskyy’s pleas, fearing a direct military clash with Russia.
President Biden called Mr. Zelenskyy early Sunday to discuss the U.S. strategy that so far has involved the imposition of harsh economic sanctions on Russia and the speeding of U.S. assistance to Ukraine. The White House said the conversation also covered talks between Russia and Ukraine, but it did not give details.
A third round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations is slated to occur Monday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spent the weekend visiting NATO member nations in Eastern Europe that have allowed the stream of more than a million refugees across their borders over the past 10 days.
Mr. Blinken on Sunday was in Moldova, where he pledged support for the Western-leaning, former Soviet republic that is coping with an influx of refugees and warily watching Russia’s moves in Ukraine.
Moldovan officials are appealing for international assistance on the refugee crisis while also seeking security assurances in the event of any Russian aggression. More than 230,000 people have fled into Moldova from Ukraine since the fighting began.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.