MARIUPOL SCHOOL SHELTERING 400 BOMBED’

Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday that Russia had bombed a school sheltering 400 people in the besieged port of Mariupol, as Moscow claimed that it had again fired hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, the second time it had used the next-generation weapon on its neighbour.

“Yesterday, the Russian occupiers dropped bombs on an art school No 12,” the Mariupol city council said on messaging app Telegram on Sunday, adding that around 400 women, children and elderly people had been sheltering there from bombardments.

“Peaceful civilians are still under the rubble,” it said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the siege of Mariupol, a strategic mostly Russian-speaking port in the southeast where utilities and communications have been cut for days, would go down as a war crime.

RUSSIA DEMAND FOR MARIUPOL SURRENDER REJECTED

Russia's Ministry of Defence has called on the embattled city of Mariupol to surrender by 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Monday morning - a proposal that Ukraine has rejected.

According to Russia's state-owned Ria Novosti news agency, the ministry has said that it will open humanitarian corridors to allow residents to leave by 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) if it receives a written response to the proposal.

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia's National Center for Defense Management, was quoted by Ria Novosti as saying that local officials would face a "military tribunal" if they don't agree to the surrender terms.

Early on Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that there can be "no question" of surrender.

"We have already informed the Russian side about this," she was quoted as saying by Ukrainska Pravda.

On Saturday, Mariupol's City Council accused Russia of illegally taking "several thousand" residents to Russia by force.

RUSSIA, UKRAINE MOVING TOWARD AGREEMENT ON 'CRITICAL' ISSUES, TURKEY SAYS

Ukraine and Russia are close to reaching an agreement on "critical" issues, according a Turkish official who added that a cease-fire could be possible as long as both sides don't change their current positions.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in an interview published on Sunday in Hürriyet, one of Turkey's major newspapers, that there was "a convergence in the positions of both sides on important and critical issues" between Ukraine and Russia.

"Some issues need to be decided at the level of leaders," Çavuşoğlu said.

"If the parties do not step back from their current positions, we can say that we are hopeful for a cease-fire," Çavuşoğlu added. "There are open channels between the leaders. This is now known."

Çavuşoğlu also said that Turkey would be glad to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks, noting that Turkey had proposed such an idea before Russia's attack on Ukraine began.

WAR SEEN ENTERING NEW PHASE

The fall of Mariupol would allow Russian forces across southern and eastern Ukraine to link up. But Western military analysts say that even if the surrounded city is taken, the troops battling for control there a block at a time may be too depleted to help secure Russian breakthroughs on other fronts.

Three weeks into the invasion, Western governments and analysts see the conflict shifting to a war of attrition, with bogged down Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever their supply lines.

Unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance has dashed Russian President Vladimir Putin's hopes for a fast victory after he ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24. In recent days, Russian forces have battled their way into Mariupol, cutting it off from the Azov Sea and devastating a massive steel plant. But the city's fall could prove a costly victory.

"The block-by-block fighting in Mariupol itself is costing the Russian military time, initiative, and combat power," the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a briefing.

In a blunt assessment of the war in Ukraine, the think tank concluded that Russia failed in its initial campaign to take the capital, Kyiv, and other major cities quickly and its stalled invasion is creating the conditions for a "very violent and bloody" stalemate.

In major cities across Ukraine, hundreds of men, women and children have already been killed in Russian bombardments, while millions have raced to underground shelters or fled the country.

In the hard-hit northeastern city of Sumy, authorities evacuated 71 orphaned babies through a humanitarian corridor, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said Sunday. He said the orphans, most of whom need constant medical attention, would be taken to an unspecified foreign country.

The British Defense Ministry said Russia's failure to gain control of the skies over Ukraine "has significantly blunted their operational progress," forcing them to rely on stand-off weapons launched from the relative safety of Russian airspace.

Western analysts have downplayed the significance of Russia's use of the hypersonic weapon, saying the missiles did not give Moscow an extra advantage but were a tool the Kremlin could use to advertise its military might and warn other countries against intervening.

"It's not a game-changer," but rather a "message of intimidation and deterrence towards Ukraine and towards the West," said Valeriy Akimenko, senior research associate at the Conflict Studies Research Centre in England.

Estimates of Russian deaths vary widely, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands. Ukrainian authorities have reported that six Russian generals have died during the war. The Russian military hasn't confirmed the deaths of any of them. The death of one general was confirmed by his associate and an officers' group in Russia.

Russia would need 800,000 troops - almost equal to its entire active-duty military - to control Ukraine in the face of prolonged armed opposition, according to Michael Clarke, former head of the British-based Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank.

"Unless the Russians intend to be completely genocidal - they could flatten all the major cities, and Ukrainians will rise up against Russian occupation - there will be just constant guerrilla war," Clarke said.

ZELENSKY: NEGOTIATION FAILURE WOULD MEAN 'THIRD WORLD WAR'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he believes a failure to negotiate the end of Russia's invasion will mean "a third world war".

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Zelensky said he is ready to deal directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that he believes that negotiations are the only way to end the fighting.

"I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating," he said.

However, Zelensky said that he reject any agreement that would require Ukraine to recognise Russian-sponsored separatist regions as independent.

The Ukrainian president said he believed that if his country were a Nato member, "a war wouldn't have started".

"If Nato members are ready to see us in the alliance, then do it immediately," he said. "Because people are dying on a daily basis".

UKRAINE EVACUATES MORE THAN 7,000 VIA HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS

A total of 7,295 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Four out of seven planned safe routes are working, she said.

Of the total, 3,985 people were evacuated from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, she said, adding that the government plans to send about 50 buses to pick up evacuees from Mariupol on Monday.

ZELENSKY CHALLENGES ISRAEL'S NEUTRALITY OVER INVASION

Volodymyr Zelensky has pointedly questioned why some countries officially appear to be indifferent to Russia’s invasion of his country or sitting on the fence, in an address to members of the Israeli parliament.

Israel - which has ties to both countries - has taken a somewhat neutral position during the war.

In his virtual international tour, President Zelensky has proven skilful at adapting his message to different groups of lawmakers.

Speaking to Israel’s parliament on a Zoom video conference, he began by echoing the words of the former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, who was born in Kyiv: "We intend to live but our neighbours want to see us dead."

Zelensky - who is Jewish - also compared the actions and words of Russia to those of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. And then he asked why Israel was not sending ammunition and hadn’t posed sanctions on Moscow in line with many Western countries.

Israel’s prime minister has positioned himself as a mediator in the conflict but has also appeared reluctant to antagonise Russia, an important military player in the Middle East.

‘UKRAINIANS ARE DEPORTED FORCIBLY’

The city council of Ukraine’s Mariupol said Russian forces forcibly 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 council said in a statement 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.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry said buses carrying “refugees” from Mariupol began to arrive to Russia on Tuesday, Russian newspaper RIA Novosti reported last week.

TEN MILLION FLEE RUSSIAN INVASION

The United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) says 10 million Ukrainians have now fled their homes because of the war - almost a quarter of the population.

It described the speed and scale of the displacement as "unprecedented" in recent decades.

Nearly 3.5 million people have left the country since Russia invaded last month. Almost twice that number have sought refuge in safer parts of Ukraine.

ZELENSKY SUSPENDS PARTIES WITH RUSSIAN LINKS

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered to suspend activities of 11 political parties with links to Russia.

The largest of them is the Opposition Platform for Life, which has 44 out of 450 seats in the country’s Parliament. The party is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who has friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Mr. Medvedchuk’s daughter.

Also on the list is the Nashi (Ours) party led by Yevheniy Murayev. Before the Russian invasion, the British authorities had warned that Russia wanted to install Mr. Murayev as the leader of Ukraine.

Speaking in a video address early on Sunday, Mr. Zelensky said that “given a large-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation and links between it and some political structures, the activities of a number of political parties is suspended for the period of the martial law.” He added that “activities by politicians aimed at discord and collaboration will not succeed.”

Mr. Zelensky’s announcement follows the introduction of the martial law that envisages a ban on parties associated with Russia.

BEIJING WILL NOT SEND WEAPONS TO RUSSIA - CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO US

The Chinese ambassador to the United States says that China will not send weapons and ammunition to support Russia’s war in Ukraine and that Beijing would “do everything to de-escalate the crisis”.

Qin Gang's comments come after US President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday that there would be "consequences" if Beijing provided material support to Moscow.

Beijing denied reports last week that it was open to providing Moscow with armaments as "disinformation", but China has been reluctant to rebuke Russia for its invasion.

Speaking to US broadcaster CBS, Gang complained that public condemnation by the West "doesn't help" and that "good diplomacy" was needed.

IN SRI LANKA, 2 PEOPLE DIE WHILE WAITING FOR FUEL IN LONG QUEUES

At least two people in Sri Lanka died while waiting in long queues for fuel, officials said on Sunday, as widespread shortages cause misery and hardship across the island nation.

Sri Lanka is battling the worst economic crisis in its history as an independent nation, with a lack of foreign exchange to purchase vital imports shrinking the supply of essential goods.

Motorists are forced to wait hours outside gas stations for petrol and the government has imposed rolling blackouts as power utilities are unable to pay for enough foreign oil to meet demand.

Police said a 70-year-old man who was standing in line to buy gasoline collapsed and died at a filling station on the outskirts of the capital Colombo on Sunday.

It was the second such death in as many days, after another elderly man collapsed in Kandy while waiting for kerosene oil to use as cooking fuel, police in the city confirmed.

Local media reports said multiple women standing in the hot sun to buy cooking gas had fainted at several locations across the island over the weekend.

Oil and liquified petroleum gas shipments have sat idle at Colombo's main port, with importers unable to scrape together enough foreign currency to pay for them.

CHINA HAS FULLY MILITARIZED AT LEAST THREE ISLANDS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA: US

China has fully militarised at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top US military commander said on Sunday.

US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John C Aquilino said the hostile actions were in stark contrast to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s past assurances that Beijing would not transform the artificial islands in contested waters into military bases. The efforts were part of China’s flexing its military muscle, he said.

“I think over the past 20 years we’ve witnessed the largest military build-up since World War II by the PRC,” Aquilino told Associated Press in an interview, using the initials of China’s formal name. “They have advanced all their capabilities and that build-up of weaponisation is destabilising to the region.”

There were no immediate comments from Chinese officials. Beijing maintains its military profile is purely defensive, arranged to protect what it says are its sovereign rights.

But after years of increased military spending, China now boasts the world’s second largest defence budget after the US and is rapidly modernising its force with weapons systems including the J-20 stealth fighter, hypersonic missiles and two aircraft carriers, with a third under construction.

Aquilino spoke to Associated Press on board a US Navy reconnaissance aircraft that flew near Chinese-held outposts in the South China Sea’s Spratly archipelago, one of the most hotly contested regions in the world. During the patrol, the P-8A Poseidon plane was repeatedly warned by Chinese callers that it illegally entered what they said was China’s territory and ordered the plane to move away.

Aquilino said the construction of missile arsenals, aircraft hangars, radar systems and other military facilities on Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross appeared to have been completed but it remains to be seen if China will pursue the construction of military infrastructure in other areas.

YEMEN REBELS LAUNCH STRIKES ON SAUDI ARAMCO FACILITIES

Yemen’s Houthi rebels unleashed a barrage of drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia that targeted key facilities, including natural gas and desalination plants early Sunday, Saudi state-run media reported, temporarily cutting oil production at one site.

The salvo marked the latest escalation in the rebels’ attacks on the kingdom as the war in Yemen rages into its eighth year and peace talks stall.

The attacks did not cause casualties, the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen said, but damaged civilian vehicles and homes. In a separate incident, the coalition said it destroyed a remotely piloted boat packed with explosives dispatched by the Houthis in the busy southern Red Sea.

Hours after oil giant Aramco’s CEO told reporters the attacks had no impact on oil supplies, the Energy Ministry acknowledged that a drone strike targeting the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company caused “a temporary reduction in the refinery’s production.”

The disruption “will be compensated for from the inventory,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The assaults came as Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, announced its profits surged 124% in 2021 to $110 billion, a jump fuelled by renewed anxieties about global supply shortages and soaring oil prices.

Brig. Yehia Sarie, a spokesman for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis,

5 DEAD IN FERRY CRASH NEAR DHAKA

At least five people died and dozens went missing after a small ferry packed with passengers collided with a cargo vessel and sank on Sunday on the Shitalakshya River in central Bangladesh, the latest waterway tragedy to hit the nation.

Five bodies have been recovered after the ferry sank as it departed from the industrial district of Narayanganj, about 20 km from the capital Dhaka, to Munshiganj, said local police official Mohammad Moniruzzaman.

The dead include two women and two children, he said, adding: “The rescue operation for those missing is ongoing.”

Police said they did not know the exact number of people missing, but passengers said more than 50 people had been on board, and some had managed to swim ashore.

CAR RUNS INTO CARNIVAL IN BELGIUM, KILLING 6

A car slammed at high speed into carnival revellers in a small town in southern Belgium on Sunday, killing six people and leaving 10 more with life-threatening injuries. Several dozen were more lightly injured. The prosecutor's office said that there were no elements to suspect a terror motive, and two locals in their thirties were arrested at the scene.