Ukraine Accuses Russia of Firing on Aid Convoy

Zelensky channels Churchill in speech to British lawmakers
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 8, 2022 8:17 PM CST
Zelensky Vows Ukrainians 'Will Fight Until the End'
A girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, March 7, 2022.   (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Thousands of civilians, including around 1,700 international students, were successfully evacuated from the eastern Ukraine city of Sumy Tuesday—but Ukrainian authorities accused the Russian invaders of shelling another convoy in the south of the country. Authorities said buses were used to take civilians from Sumy to Poltava in central Ukraine, around 110 miles away. Russian authorities said they were willing to allow "humanitarian corridors" to evacuate civilans from five cities on Wednesday—Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol—but it's not clear whether the proposed routes will lead to Russia or Belarus instead of safer parts of Ukraine, reports Reuters. Ukrainian authorities said a convoy bringing desperately needed aid to Mariupol, which would have brought civilians out on its return journey, came under fire Tuesday. In other developments:

  • US says Polish jet offer "untenable." In what NBC sees as a "rare sign of disunity among NATO allies," the Pentagon turned down a proposal from Poland to hand over Soviet-era MiG-29 jets to the US, which would then be given to Ukraine. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US hadn't received advance notice of the offer and while the US will talk to Poland about the issue, "we do not believe the proposal is tenable."
  • Desperation in Mariupol. People in the strategic port city have been cut off from water and electricity for days. A US defense official said Tuesday that Russian forces have encircled and bombarded the city, but Russian troops have not entered Mariupol "in any significant way," CNN reports. The AP reports that that corpses are lying in the city's streets and most stores have been looted by residents desperate for food.

  • Zelensky channels Churchill. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed both William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill in a speech to British lawmakers Tuesday, the Telegraph reports. Speaking to a packed House of Commons chamber via videolink, Zelensky said the question facing Ukraine was "to be or not to be"—and the answer was definitely "to be." Ukrainians, he vowed, "will fight till the end, at sea, in the air, we will continue fighting for our land. Whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets."
  • Civilian casualties mount. The BBC reports that yet more Russian shelling killed civilians early Tuesday in multiple cities, including Sumy, where homes were destroyed and at least nine people, including two children. In Kharkiv, a hit on an apartment block killed at least four people and caused a fire over multiple floors that it took firefighters four hours to extinguish.

  • Zelensky thanks US for Russia oil ban. In a video released Tuesday, Zelensky thanked the US and the UK for banning imports of Russian oil, the Guardian reports. He said the move will weaken Russia, which he referred to as the "terrorist state," "economically, politically, and ideologically." He said other countries should follow the example of "the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Japan, and other free countries." Zelensky also thanked Russian anti-war protesters.
  • Warnings that Putin plans to "double down." Intelligence experts told the House Intelligence Committee that Vladimir Putin miscalculated with his invasion of Ukraine but is likely to "double down" despite the poor prospects for long-term success, the Hill reports. "I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now," CIA Director William Burns told the committee. "He's likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties."
(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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