Live updates: Zelenskyy: Russia mined medical supply roads

The latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war: Lviv (Ukraine), Mar 8 (AP): President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said instead of an agreement on humanitarian corridors, what Ukraine got on Monday was “Russian tanks, Russian Grad rockets, Russian mine.

Live updates: Zelenskyy: Russia mined medical supply roads

The latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war: Lviv (Ukraine), Mar 8 (AP): President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said instead of an agreement on humanitarian corridors, what Ukraine got on Monday was “Russian tanks, Russian Grad rockets, Russian mines.” “They even mined the roads that were the agreed routes for taking food and medicine to the people, to the children, of Mariupol,” Zelenskyy said in what has become a daily video address close to midnight.

On Monday night he spoke from behind the ornate desk in his official office, visual proof that he remains in Kyiv.

During talks on Monday, the Russians proposed evacuation routes leading to Russia and its ally Belarus, rather than to areas of western Ukraine that remain peaceful.

“It's just cynicism,” Zelenskyy said. By opening a small corridor to Russia, he said, Moscow is looking only for a propaganda victory.

____ UNITED NATIONS — The US ambassador to the United Nations is calling on Russia to honour Ukraine's proposals “for time-bound humanitarian safe passage in specific, agreed upon locations” and unequivocally commit to immediate humanitarian access in the country.

At a UN Security Council meeting on the escalating humanitarian crisis in the country, Linda Thomas-Greenfield also called for the establishment of a system on the ground to facilitate the safe movement of aid convoys and flights so food, medicine and other supplies can get into Ukraine to reach those most in need.

____ WASHINGTON — Top officials in the US Congress reached agreement Monday on legislation that would ban Russian oil imports to the US and end Russia's permanent normal trade relations status in response to the intensifying war in Ukraine.

That's according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations in Congress.

Voting could come swiftly but no schedule has been set.

____ UNITED NATIONS — Calling what's happening to the 7.5 million children of Ukraine “a moral outrage,” the head of the U.N. children's agency urged the UN Security Council to remind all parties of their legal obligation to protect youngsters and spare them from attack.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told a council meeting Monday that at least 27 children have been killed and 42 injured since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to the U.N. human rights office, and “countless more have been severely traumatized.” ____ UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations is unable to meet the needs of millions of civilians caught in conflict in Ukraine today and is urging safe passage for people to go “in the direction they choose” and for humanitarian supplies to get to areas of hostilities, according to the UN humanitarian chief.

Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths told a UN Security Council meeting Monday that his office has sent a team to Moscow to coordinate with the Russian military to try to scale-up the delivery of humanitarian aid to the level needed.

____ BERLIN — The UN nuclear watchdog says Ukraine has informed it that a new research facility producing radioisotopes for medical and industrial uses has been damaged by shelling in Kharkiv.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the Ukrainian regulator told it that Sunday's incident didn't cause any increase in radiation levels at the site. It said the nuclear material at the facility is “always subcritical” and there is a very low stock of it, so the IAEA's assessment is that the reported damage would have no “radiological consequence.” _________ NEW YORK — Stoli Group is renaming its Stolichnaya vodka brand as part of a broader effort to distance itself from Russia. In a news release, Luxembourg-based Stoli Group said the vodka will now be sold and marketed as Stoli. Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, founded Stoli Group in 1997 but was exiled from Russia four years later and moved production to Latvia. “More than anything, I wish for Stoli to represent peace in Europe and solidarity with Ukraine,” Shefler said in a statement.

____ PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he does not expect a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine for weeks.

He said that he has told the Russian leader that a cease-fire must come before any real dialogue, but that President Vladimir Putin has refused, making their regular talks “difficult.” “I don't think that in the days and weeks to come there will be a true negotiated solution,” Macron said at a forum in Poissy, a southwest suburb of Paris, while campaigning for the first time to renew his mandate in April presidential elections.

____ ROME — Italy is looking to house those fleeing war in Ukraine in residences confiscated from organized crime syndicates.

Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese on Monday said that the national agency which keeps track of hundreds of seized and confiscated properties over the years are quickly checking to determine those suitable for refugees.

Some 14,000 refugees have arrived in Italy from Ukraine. Many of them have relatives or friends living in Italy, and it isn't immediately clear how many have no one to host them.

____ TIRANA, Albania — Albania on Monday strongly denounced the shelling of its consulate in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and called on Russia to stop aggression against Ukraine.

The Albanian Foreign Ministry tweeted photos of the building in Kharkiv where its consulate is seen destroyed after being shelled. (AP) VN VN

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