A second attempted ceasefire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed on Sunday, with Pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine's National Guard accusing each other of failing to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to leave.

Russian forces that seized Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday have now placed staff running the facility under their command and have restricted communications with the outside world, according to UN nuclear watchdog.

At least 364 civilians are confirmed to have been killed in Ukraine since Russian troops invaded on February 24, and another 759 wounded, although the true numbers are probably “considerably higher”, a UN monitoring mission said on Sunday. The updated figures, relating to casualties through March 5, added a further 13 deaths and 52 injuries to the casualties that the monitors from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said that the military operation in Ukraine will only be halted if Russia’s demands are met. He has also likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war”, while a second attempted ceasefire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed on Sunday, with Pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine’s National Guard accusing each other of failing to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to leave.

Meanwhile, the number of people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has topped 1.5 million, making it Europe’s “fastest-growing refugee crisis” since World War-II, the United Nations said on Sunday. More than 11,000 Russian troops have been killed since Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff said on Sunday. A day earlier, it put Russian casualties at over 10,000. It did not report Ukrainian casualties

Source: The Indian Express