Last week, a sliver of good news arrived when authorities from Ukraine and Russia agreed to create safe corridors to allow civilians to be evacuated. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed when Russia broke the brief ceasefire, forcing Mariupol to suspend evacuations for two days in a row.
The port city is encircled by Russian soldiers and has been shelled on a regular basis. The inhabitants of Mariupol are in a rapidly deteriorating condition since the city has been without heat, food, or electricity for days.
President Zelensky of Ukraine has reiterated his call for a no-fly zone above Ukraine, which would bar any unlicensed aircraft from flying over the country. President Biden and other Western officials, on the other hand, have firmly resisted, claiming that doing so would exacerbate tensions and could drag NATO into a conventional conflict with Russia.
In terms of what the West is doing, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that the US and its allies are considering a comprehensive ban on Russian oil and gas imports and that NATO countries have been given the "green light" to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
