Ukrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee across the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022.
👉Ukraine says Russian forces are shelling agreed-upon evacuation routes from Mariupol, as well as the city itself, breaking a cease-fire that was to have gone into effect at 7 a.m. UTC.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov had said, "Today, March the 5th, from 1000 am Moscow time (0700 GMT), the Russian side declares a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave Mariupol and Volnovakha. Humanitarian corridors and exit routes have been agreed upon with the Ukrainian side.''
Mariupol officials said they are delaying the evacuation plans and urged residents to take shelter. The evacuation routes were to have been open for five hours for both buses and private cars.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russian forces "are increasingly using brutal methods in Ukraine, including going at civilian populations."
His comments followed a Russian attack on a Ukrainian nuclear plant — the largest facility of its kind in Europe — that had sparked a fire in a building at the plant compound.
Speaking to reporters Friday before a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Brussels, Blinken said, "We are faced together with what is [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin's war of choice: unprovoked, unjustified, and a war that is having horrific, horrific consequences."
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