Ukraine Briefly

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• A second day of attempted evacuations of residents of the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol failed Sunday as both Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating a ceasefire agreement, Reuters reported. And as Russian forces continued to bomb Ukrainian cities – and target civilians, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – world leaders began raising questions of Russian war crimes. Meanwhile, Ukraine is set to ask the United Nations’ highest court Monday to stop Russia’s invasion – the International Court of Justice adjudicates legal disputes between states. Separately, Ukraine is dispatching teams to bombed sites to gather evidence of possible war crimes at another international tribunal.

• Russian police detained more than 4,500 people in 49 cities across Russia who were protesting against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Al Jazeera noted. The Kremlin has also blocked social media platforms Facebook and Twitter in the country over alleged “discrimination” against Russian media, CBS News reported. Meanwhile, major western media outlets such as Bloomberg and the BBC and social media companies such as TikTok pulled out of Russia because of a draconian new media censorship law.

• The United Nations estimated that more than 360 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, although Ukrainian officials put the death toll at more than 2,000 civilians, the Washington Post wrote. Meanwhile, the UN said about 1.5 million have fled the country, describing the exodus as the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• More than 500 Russian soldiers have been killed and about 1,600 injured during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Among the dead are three Russian generals, including Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, a top figure in the Russian military, the Independent reported.

• The United States and Poland are considering providing Soviet-era fighter jets to Ukraine to fend off invading Russian forces, NBC News wrote. Meanwhile, NATO and other Western officials have refused to establish a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, citing fears that such a move would exacerbate the conflict, Politico noted. Russia said Sunday that countries hosting Ukrainian combat aircraft could be viewed by Moscow as parties to the conflict.