Here’s what you need to know about the Ukraine crisis so far:
March 12 (Reuters) – As fighting raged northwest of Kyiv and other cities were encircled, Ukrainian officials said heavy shelling and threats of Russian air attacks were endangering attempted evacuations.
FIGHTING AND EVACUATION EFFORTS
* The governors of two Ukrainian regions, Kyiv and Donetsk, said in separate statements Russian attacks were continuing in areas where Ukraine was trying to evacuate people and bring aid through humanitarian corridors.
* The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said people trapped in the besieged southern city of Mariupol were desperate, adding “there are reports of looting and violent confrontations among civilians over what little basic supplies remain in the city”.
* Russian forces have shelled a mosque in Mariupol, where more than 80 adults and children, including Turkish citizens, have taken refuge, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said, without saying if there were any deaths or injuries.
BELARUS ROLE
* Belarus has no plans to join Russian forces in Ukraine but is sending five battalion tactical groups (BTGs) to its border on rotation to replace forces already stationed there, its Chief of General Staff Viktor Gulevich said.
ECONOMY AND SANCTIONS
* The United States stepped up measures against Russia on Friday. Washington hit Moscow on trade, shut down development funds, banned imports of Russian seafood, vodka and diamonds, and sanctioned billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, three family members of Putin’s spokesperson and lawmakers.
* The EU will join Washington in suspending Moscow’s “most-favoured nation” trade status, crack down on its use of crypto-assets and ban exports to Russia of EU luxury goods and imports of iron and steel goods, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
QUOTES
* “Medicines for life-threatening illnesses are quickly running out, hospitals are only partially functioning, and the food and water are in short supply,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, describing the situation in Mariupol.
