More than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country following Russia’s invasion, the United Nations said Monday.
The world body has praised neighbouring countries for showing overwhelming compassion towards their “extreme plight.”
More than 10 million people – over a quarter of the population in rTregions under government control – are now thought to have fled their homes, including the millions of internally displaced people.
This was as Ukrainian forces repulsed a Russian attack on Kyiv but “sabotage groups” infiltrated the capital, officials said on Saturday as a defiant vowed his country would never give in.
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UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 3,489,644 Ukrainians had fled the country since Russia invaded on Feb 24 – a figure up 100,600 on Sunday’s update.
2,000 Russian soldiers begin pullback
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 Russia-led troops began withdrawing from Kazakhstan after being deployed when peaceful protests over an energy price hike turned into unprecedented violence claiming dozens of lives.
The decision to despatch peacekeepers was a first for the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), often touted by Russia as a NATO equivalent but previously reluctant to interfere in unrest in Central Asia — a region with long historical ties to Russia.
At a ceremony marking the end of the CSTO mission, soldiers lined up as anthems from each of the six CSTO member countries were played before official speeches began.
“The peacekeeping operation is over … the tasks have been fulfilled,” said Russian General Andrei Serdyukov, commander of the CSTO contingent that saw troops from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent to the former Soviet republic on January 6.
Ukraine rejects putting down arms for safe passage
Russia demanded that Ukrainian put down their arms and raise white flags on Monday in exchange for safe passage out of town.
Ukraine angrily rejected the offer, which came hours after officials said Russian forces had bombed an art school in the port city that was sheltering some 400 people.
While the fight for control of the strategically important city remained intense, Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict shifting definitively to a war of attrition.
Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said his forces would allow two corridors out of Mariupol, heading either east toward Russia or west to other parts of Ukraine. Mariupol residents were given until 5 a.m. Monday to respond to the offer. Russia didn’t say what action it would take if it was rejected.
Mariupol Mayor Piotr Andryushchenko also rejected the offer, saying in a Facebook post that he didn’t need to wait until morning to respond and cursing at the Russians, according to the news agency Interfax Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as “bandits,” Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
