Over 100,000 people have evacuated in last two days: Ukraine President Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy said 100,000 people have been evacuated during the past two days from seven cities under Russian blockade in the north and center of the country, including the Kyiv suburbs.

But he said the Russian refusal to allow evacuations from Mariupol, a port city in the south, was outright terror.

They have a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to mock it, to constantly bomb and shell it, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. He said the Russians began a tank attack right where there was supposed to be a humanitarian corridor.

The city of 430,000 has been without food supplies, running water and electricity for 10 days. Ukrainian officials say about 1,300 people have died, including three in the bombing of a maternity and children's hospital on Wednesday.


Russian convoy mired outside the Ukrainian capital has dispersed
Satellite photos show that a massive Russian convoy that had been mired outside the Ukrainian capital since last week appeared to have dispersed.

Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed the 40-mile (64-kilometer) line of vehicles, tanks and artillery has broken up and been redeployed, with armoured units seen in towns near the Antonov Airport north of the city. Some of the vehicles have moved into forests, Maxar reported.

The convoy had massed outside the city early last week, but its advance appeared to have stalled amid reports of food and fuel shortages. US officials said Ukrainian troops also targeted the convoy with anti-tank missiles.

Zelenskyy denies Ukraine preparing to attack with chemical weapons
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy denied Russia's accusation that Ukraine is preparing to attack with chemical or biological weapons, and he said the accusation itself was a bad sign.

That worries me very much because we have often been convinced that if you want to know Russia's plans, they are what Russia accuses others of, he said in his nightly address to the nation.

Russia said it uncovered plans to create secret laboratories in Ukraine to produce biological weapons.

I am a reasonable person. The president of a reasonable country and reasonable people. I am the father of two children, he said. And no chemical or any other weapon of mass destruction has been developed on my land. The whole world knows this.