LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Buses carried civilians out of one embattled Ukrainian city Tuesday and supplies toward another, as officials tried to move people away from a Russian onslaught and ease …
LVIV, Ukraine — Buses carried civilians out of one embattled Ukrainian city Tuesday and supplies toward another, as officials tried to move people away from a Russian onslaught and ease the dire humanitarian situation for those still stuck. But reports of renewed Russian attacks on the port of Mariupol threatened to again derail the efforts.
Western countries have decried the invasion and sought to support Ukraine with weapons — and punish Vladimir Putin’s Russia with sanctions. The measures have dealt a blow to the Russian economy, as companies pull out of or sharply curtail their business there. In a further sign of the country’s economic isolation, Shell announced Tuesday it would stop buying oil and natural gas from it.
The mayor also cast doubt on the evacuations, telling the BBC that Russian forces continued to bombard area where people were trying to gather. He said some roads were blocked, others were mined. Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor of the Kyiv region, said Ukraine was also making arrangements to get people out of the suburb of Irpin, although it was not clear if that would be along one of the five official corridors the Russians promised.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Tuesday for the expansion of humanitarian corridors, and more support from the Red Cross. The president again pleaded for air support from Western countries. A top U.S. official said multiple countries were discussing whether to provide warplanes to Ukraine.