Boris Johnson is considering a lightning trip to
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Boris Johnson is considering a lightning trip to to show support for Ukraine’s battle against .
The Prime Minister has asked officials to examine the practicality and value of the trip to the Ukrainian capital for talks with president Volodymyr .
Security officials are said to be ‘having kittens’ at the prospect of the PM travelling to a war zone; from which ten million have fled, UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said on Sunday.
But a Whitehall source said Mr Johnson ‘wants to go’ if it can be made to work.
The source added: ‘If you set aside the security concerns, which are considerable, the question is whether there is anything additional you could achieve by visiting in person, or whether it would just be a show of solidarity, and whether that is a sufficient goal in itself.’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked officials to examine the practicality and value of a trip to Kyiv
Rescuers work at a site of a shopping mall damaged by an airstrike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine today
But the situation last night in Kyiv showed how difficult it would be to ensure the Prime Minister’s safety if he does visit.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko shared pictures of what appeared to be an explosion in the distance in the city’s Podil district.
In a tweet he reported claims of several explosions, ‘in particular, according to information at the moment, some houses and in one of the shopping centres’.
Klitschko added that ‘rescuers, medics and police are already in place’ and reported ‘at this time – one victim’.It is unclear if he referred to a fatality or injury.
In a tweet the mayor reported claims of several explosions, ‘in particular, according to information at the moment, some houses and in one of the shopping centres’
Mayor Vitali Klitschko shared pictures of what appears to be an explosion in the distance in the city’s Podil district
Olga, a 27-year-old Ukrainian woman seriously wounded while sheltering her baby from shrapnel blasts amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, holds her baby Victoria in Kyiv
Olga holds her baby as her husband Dmytro stands by her side.The 27-year-old Ukrainian woman seriously wounded while sheltering her baby from shrapnel
Another post from the mayor said: ‘Rescuers are extinguishing a large fire in one of the shopping centres in the Podolsk district of the capital.All services – rescue, medics, police – work on site. The information is being clarified.’
More devastating scenes continue to emerge from near the city, as seventeen-year-old Bogdan was pictured heavily injured following Friday’s fighting in Brovary, east of the capital Kyiv.
The teenager, with his arms in a splint and his face bloodied and bruised, was photographed having a cigarette after he and his family were saved by Ukrainian forces.
He told : ‘For two days, I was freezing, and in so much pain.’
His mother and stepfather also suffered burns from missiles which wrecked the house as the family for two days waited for help.
The prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic made a trip to Kyiv last week.
‘I have a very, very strong desire to support him [Zelensky] in any way I can. Whether that would be a useful way of showing my support I don’t know but it is of huge strategic, political, economic, moral importance for Putin to fail and Zelensky to succeed,’ Mr Johnson told The Sunday Times.
It came as Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday moved to defuse a row caused by a Tory spring conference speech at the weekend, in which the PM appeared to link Ukraine’s battle for freedom against Putin with Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
Seventeen-year-old Bogdan, with his arms in a splint and his face bloodied and bruised was pictured heavily injured following Friday’s fighting in Brovary, east of the capital Kyiv
His mother and stepfather also suffered burns from missiles which wrecked the house as the family for two days waited for help
Evacuees from the villages occupied by Russian soldiers arrive in the town of Brovary, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Ukrainian firefighters and security teams at the scene of a building hit by Russian missiles in Kyiv
Security officials are said to be ‘having kittens’ at the prospect of the PM travelling to a war zone; from which ten million have fled, UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said on Sunday
He said: ‘The instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time… When the British people voted for Brexit, in such large, large numbers, I don’t believe it was because they were remotely hostile to foreigners.
‘It’s because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself.’
But Mr Sunak said: ‘He was talking about freedom in general.Those two situations are not directly comparable and no one thinks that they are.’
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves urged the PM to apologise for the ‘crass remarks’.
Surrender city of Mariupol TONIGHT or face ‘terrible humanitarian catastrophe’: Russia issues horrifying ultimatum to Ukraine after bombing art school sheltering 400 and sending thousands hundreds of miles in mass deportations
Elmira Tanatarova, Stephen Wynn-Davis and Chris Matthews for MailOnline and AFP
Russia called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a ‘terrible humanitarian catastrophe’ was unfolding as it said defenders who did so were guaranteed safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors would be opened from it at 10am Moscow time (7am GMT) on Monday.
However, Ukraine rejected the offer as Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said no and called on Russian forces to stop ‘wasting time on eight pages of letters’ and ‘just open the corridor’.
She told news outlet Ukrainian Pravda: ‘There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms.We have already informed the Russian side about this.’
Residents were given until 5am Monday to respond to the offer, which included them raising a white flag; Russia didn’t say what action it would take if the offer was rejected.
Russian Col.Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said forces would allow two corridors out of Mariupol – one heading east toward Russia or another, west, to other areas of Ukraine.
Fighting continued inside the besieged city on Sunday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating, as claims today came that thousands from the port city are being taken for forced labour into remote parts of Russia.
The Mariupol City Council said in a statement: ‘The occupiers are forcing people to leave Ukraine for Russia.Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents have been taken to the Russian territory.’
The council also claimed that Mariupol evacuees’ cellphones and documents were inspected by Russian troops before they were sent to ‘remote cities in Russia’.
Ukrainian lawmaker Inna Sovsun told Times Radio that according to the mayor and city council in Mariupol, those citizens are going to so-called filtration camps and ‘then they’re being relocated to very distant parts of Russia, where they’re being forced to sign papers that they will stay in that area for two or three years and they will work for free in those areas.’
Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.
The Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Sunday said that 2,973 people have been evacuated from Mariupol since March 5, including 541 over the last 24 hours.
This comes as on Sunday Boris Johnson asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky what his military requires in Ukraine’s battle against Russia’s invasion as both leaders ‘agreed to step up their direct communication’, No 10 has said.
The Prime Minister ‘set out his intention to advance Ukraine’s interests at this week’s Nato and G7 meetings and in upcoming bilateral engagement with key allies,’ according to a Downing Street spokeswoman.
Mr Johnson ‘asked for the president’s latest assessment of Ukraine’s military requirements in the face of Russian aggression’ and ‘outlined the UK’s ongoing commitment to work alongside international partners to co-ordinate support to strengthen Ukraine’s self-defence’.
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Refugees walk along a road as they leave the city during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine
Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol today
Local residents carry bottles with water as Russia’s invasion continues to take a toll on Ukraine in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol
Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol
Devastation and debris pictured in Mariupol today as Russia called on Ukrainian forces in the port city to lay down their arms, saying a ‘terrible humanitarian catastrophe’ was unfolding
She added: ‘The leaders also discussed the ongoing negotiations and the Prime Minister reaffirmed his staunch support for Ukraine’s position.
‘Both leaders stressed the continued importance of sanctions in exerting pressure on (Russian President Vladimir Putin), and they condemned the abhorrent attacks on innocent civilians, following the appalling bombings in Mariupol.
‘The Prime Minister expressed his admiration for the bravery of Ukraine and was clear that the UK was committed to stepping up military, economic and diplomatic support in order to help bring an end to this terrible conflict.’
This satellite image illustrates what the Mariupol theatre looked like before it was reduced to rubble by Russian shelling
New satellite images show the collapsed remains of Mariupol theatre which was sheltering hundreds of children and their families before being levelled in a Russian airstrike
This comes as authorities in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol say that the Russian military has bombed an art school where about 400 people had taken refuge.
Local authorities said on Sunday that the school building was destroyed and people could remain under the rubble, but there was no immediate word on casualties.
The Russian governor of Sevastopol, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, said on Sunday that Post Captain Andrei Paliy, deputy commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, had been killed during fighting in Mariupol.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 7,295 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, 3,985 of them from Mariupol.She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses to Mariupol on Monday for further evacuations.
In this satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC, multiple civilian buildings burn amid Russian strikes on the Livoberezhnyi District of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20
A man walks along a road past a tank of pro-Russian troops in Mariupol, Ukraine, as Russia’s invasion which began last month continues
Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Force stand guard at a checkpoint in Kyiv, Ukraine today.The war in Ukraine has sparked the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II
The last EU diplomat to evacuate the besieged Ukrainian port said: ‘What I saw, I hope no one will ever see.’
Greece’s consul general in Mariupol, Manolis Androulakis, left the city on Tuesday.
After a four-day trip through Ukraine he crossed to Romania through Moldavia, along with 10 other Greek nationals.
As he arrived in Athens on Sunday, Mr Androulakis said: ‘Mariupol will become part of a list of cities that were completely destroyed by war; I don’t need to name them- they are Guernica, Coventry, Aleppo, Grozny, Leningrad.’
According to the Greek Foreign Ministry, Androulakis was the last EU diplomat to leave Mariupol.
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The Ukrainian flag has been projected onto the Russian Embassy in London as protesters outside called for an end to the war and violence
A woman walks out of a heavily damaged building after bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, today, amid damaged buildings and debris
An injured local resident smokes at an area where a residential building was hit by the debris from a downed rocket, in Kyiv today as Russian forces try to encircle the Ukrainian capital
A resident stands with her dog next to a destroyed building, amid debris, after a bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine today
Three people were injured in a Russian air strike on Ukraine’s western Zhytomyr region earlier today, emergency services have said
Thirteen buildings were damaged in the attack, which targeted the Korostensky district, north of the region’s main city Zhytomyr, Ukraine’s state emergency services said on Facebook
Ukraine’s state emergency services said on Facebook that ‘three people were injured’, posting images of burning buildings and scattered charred debris
Also on Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said its ‘high-precision missiles’ hit a training centre of Ukrainian special forces in Zhytomyr region, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv
Photos of damaged buildings have today been captured after three were injured in air strike on western Ukraine, emergency services said
Three have today been injured in air strike on western Ukraine, emergency services said, as thirteen buildings were damaged in the attack, which targeted the Korostensky district north of the region’s main city Zhytomyr.
‘Three people were injured,’ a Facebook post from Ukraine’s emergency services added, posting images of burning buildings and scattered charred debris.
Also on Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said its ‘high-precision missiles’ hit a training centre of Ukrainian special forces in Zhytomyr region, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.
‘More than 100 (Ukrainian) servicemen of the special forces and foreign mercenaries were destroyed,’ in the attack, the ministry said.
Terrifying footage has emerged apparently showing Russia firing deadly thermobaric TOS-1A rockets, which can allegedly melt human organs.
Moscow defence sources claimed: ‘The TOS-1A Solntsepek was used against Ukrainian nationalists by the people’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic with the support of the Russian army during a special operation in Ukraine.’
Earlier also said Russia’s siege of the port city was ‘a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come’.
His comments came after local authorities said Russian troops had forcefully deported several thousand people from the besieged city last week, after Russia had spoken of ‘refugees’ arriving from the strategic port.
‘Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents were deported onto the Russian territory,’ the city council said in a statement on its Telegram channel late on Saturday.
‘The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing.’
Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol would ‘go down in history of responsibility for war crimes’.
‘To do this to a peaceful city…is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.’
Meanwhile, authorities in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv say at least five civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, have been killed in the latest Russian shelling.
This comes as Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba has on Twitter posted about protests in Energodar, a city in the country’s north-west oblast, following claims that Russian forces have abducted its deputy mayor.
Mr Kuleba’s tweet said: ‘Brave Ukrainians in Energodar hold a peaceful protest demanding to release deputy mayor Ivan Samoidyuk who was abducted by Russian invaders.Russians thought they could impose their authoritarian rules in democratic Ukraine. Instead, they need to go home.’
Earlier this month President Zelensky demanded the release of Melitopol’s mayor after his alleged kidnap by Russian troops, which sparked local protests.
The Ukrainian leader said the capture was an ‘attempt to bring the city to its knees’ and demanded the immediate release of Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the besieged city.
Mr Fedorov is understood to have been released according to Ukrainian authorities, reports.
Zelensky today also urged Israel to ‘make its choice’ and abandon its effort to maintain neutrality towards the invasion.
The Ukrainian leader, who is Jewish, made the appeal during an address to Israeli lawmakers, the latest in a series of speeches by videoconference to foreign legislatures.
In remarks that at several points compared Russian aggression to the Holocaust, Zelensky said that ‘Ukraine made the choice to save Jews 80 years ago.’
‘Now it’s time for Israel to make its choice.’
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has walked a careful diplomatic line since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.
Stressing Israel’s strong ties to Moscow and Kyiv, Bennett has sought to preserve delicate security cooperation with Russia, which has troops in Syria, across Israel’s northern border.
He has held regular phone calls with Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, including a three-hour meeting with the Russian President at the Kremlin on March 5.
While Ukrainian officials have voiced appreciation for Bennett’s mediation efforts, Zelensky today implied that this too had proven to be a misstep.
‘We can mediate between states but not between good and evil,’ the Ukrainian leader said.
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Civilians trapped in Mariupol city under Russian attacks, are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists, through other cities, in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 20
Pro-Russian separatists seemed to be carrying out strip-searches on some of the fleeing Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol on Sunday
This man (left) was asked to remove both his trousers and his top, even though it seemed to be snowing
Pro-Putin soldiers were wrapped up against the cold as they allowed civilians to leave Mariupol on Sunday, March 20
Pro-Russian separatists gave directions to civilians trying to escape the heavily bombarded city of Mariupol
Groups of Ukrainians fleeing the war left the city in the southeast of the country, where there has been intense fighting
Previous humanitarian corridors in the war-torn country had failed after Russia allegedly bombed civilians who were trying to leave
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that the West needs to have a ‘degree of scepticism’ about the prospect of a peace deal between Russia and Ukrainevas Kyiv looked to stand firm against giving up territory in a settlement.
Speaking today, the Chancellor said it is ‘encouraging’ that discussions are under way but the West has to be on its guard.
Mr Sunak told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: ‘You have to have some degree of scepticism about it given the track record of these things.
‘I think the most important thing is that any talk of a settlement must be on Ukraine’s terms.
‘And Lawyer Turkey the best thing we can do is just maintain the significant pressure that we are bringing to bear on Putin, but also providing support to the Ukrainians in the meantime – that’s the best we can do and the Ukrainians will take the lead.’
An official in Mr Zelensky’s office told the Associated Press that the main subject discussed between the two sides last week was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would lie.
But a Ukraine politician said while her country is open to further meetings with Russia, it is not prepared to give up land to the aggressor.
Olha Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, told Sky News that re-drawing Ukraine’s borders is ‘absolutely not’ being considered.
‘Ukrainian territory is a territory which has been fixed (since) 1991,’ she said.
‘That is not an option for discussion.’
According to reports, Kyiv has insisted on the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in the negotiations with the Kremlin and on legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine.
Asked whether the UK would act as a security guarantor to the Ukrainians as part of any peace deal, Mr Sunak – who confirmed his family will not be taking in a Ukrainian refugee – said it is ‘probably a bit too early to get into the details’ of what an agreement might look like.
Elsewhere, Boris Johnson has urged China to get off the fence and join in global condemnation of Russia’s invasion.
The Prime Minister, in comments made to the Sunday Times, said he believes some in Xi Jinping’s administration are having ‘second thoughts’ about the neutral stance adopted by Beijing following Russia’s actions against its neighbour.
But today China’s ambassador to the US defended his country’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking with CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ Qin Gang said condemnation ‘doesn’t solve the problem’.
He said: ‘I would be surprised if Russia will back down by condemnation.’
Mr Gang added: ‘(China) will continue to promote peace talks and urge immediate fire.
‘And, you know, condemnation, you know, only, doesn’t help.We need wisdom. We need courage and we need good diplomacy.’
Zelensky also said peace talks with Russia were needed although they were ‘not easy and pleasant’. He said he discussed the course of the talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.
‘Ukraine has always sought a peaceful solution. Moreover, we are interested in peace now,’ he said.
Vladimir Putin has reportedly ‘finally agreed’ to meet in person with Zelensky for peace talks.
So far the negotiations have been between middle men on neutral ground but the war has continued into its fourth week.
The Russian tyrant will allegedly meet President Zelensky ‘at some point’, the reported.
The two leaders have let their diplomatic teams conduct peace talks on the neutral ground since shortly after the start of the conflict on February 24, but a BBC correspondent has confirmed the two will meet in person.
Putin has come to terms with fact he will have to lead the negotiations at some time in the future, the BBC’s Lysa Doucet said.
She said: ‘The diplomats are talking, the negotiators are talking.We understand President Putin has finally agreed that he will meet, at some point, President Zelensky who has been asking for a meeting since January.
‘He hasn’t said it in public, he says quite the opposite in public.’
She added: ‘The Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is very busy, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is very busy.