EU parliament chief condemns 'Putin's war' as title

Ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address, European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola said she condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine "in the strongest possible states."

"We are here in the dark shodow of Putin's war, a war we did not provoke. A war we did not start. An invasion of a sovereign independent state."

She said the EU would support war crimes investigations against both Russian President Vladmimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Metsola also underlined the EU's sanctions against Russia and said: "This must be our whatever it takes moment."

Ukraine president to address European lawmakers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is about to make a virtual address to a special sitting of the European Parliament.

Zelenskyy is urging the bloc to immediately accept his country amid Russia's onslaught, saying he is convinced Ukraine had earned the right to be admitted.

Kyiv's push to be accepted comes on the sixth day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and amid rising concerns about civilian casualties.

Parliament chief Roberta Metsola tweeted that Zelenskyy would "join and speak to the world" when EU lawmakers debate the war.

The presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia on Monday all signed an open letter calling for Ukraine to recieve EU candidate status.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday also backed the membership plea for Ukraine, as well as Moldova, Hungary and Georgia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has spoken in favor of Ukraine joining the EU, but the decision must be taken unanimously by all EU member states rather than the executive arm in Brussels.

However, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday cautioned against a hasty accession of Ukraine.

"EU accession is not something that can be achieved in a few months," Baerbock said, while emphasizing that Ukraine is "part of the house of Europe."

NATO urges Russia to withdraw its forces

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine on Tuesday.

"The Russian assault is totally unacceptable and it is enabled by Belarus," Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg added that NATO would not send troops or combat jets to support Ukraine.

"NATO is a defensive alliance, we do not seek conflict with Russia," Stoltenberg assured.

"Russia must immediately stop the war, pull all its forces from Ukraine and engage in good faith in diplomatic efforts."

Italy's Draghi calls for action against Russian oligarchs

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi urged tougher action against Russian oligarchs on Tuesday, adding that more pressure should be exerted on Russia's Central Bank.

Draghi said in a Senate address that Italy is "ready for further restrictive measures, should they be necessary."

"In particular, I have proposed to take further targeted measures against oligarchs," Draghi said.

"The idea is to create an international public register of those with assets of more than €10 million."

Draghi said that the international community should "intensify further the pressure on Russia's Central Bank" and urged the Switzerland-based Bank of International Settlements (BIS) to participate in sanctions.

South Korea announces sanctions on Russian banks

South Korea announced sanctions on a number of Russian banks on Tuesday.

The country's Finance Ministry said it would suspend financial transactions with seven major Russian banks — Sberbank, VEB, PSB, VTB, Otrkitie, Sovcom and Novikom. This would include subsidiaries subject to US sanctions.

On Monday, South Korea said it would tighten export controls on Russia and ban shipments of strategic items that may include electronics, semiconductors and computers.

Refugee numbers 'exponentially increasing,' says UN

More than 660,000 refugees have fled the conflict in Ukraine for neighboring countries since Russia invaded six days ago, the UN Refugee Agency said Tuesday.

"The numbers are exponentially increasing," spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva. "At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century."

She said there were reports of people waiting for up to 60 hours to enter Poland. Queues of people waiting at the Romanian border were 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) long, she said.

Maersk to stop taking new orders to and from Russia

Danish shipping firm Maersk said on Tuesday that it would stop taking new nonessential orders to and from Russia.

"Bookings to and from Russia will be temporarily suspended, with exception of Foodstuffs, Medical and Humanitarian supplies", Maersk said.

Maersk added that it would attempt to honor bookings placed before the imposition of Western sanctions against Russia.

"We will keep monitoring the situation and reviewing impacts from sanctions to return our offering in Russia back to normal as soon as we are able to ensure stability and safety of our operations via Russian seaports," the company said.

TotalEnergies to cease financing projects in Russia

French energy giant TotalEnergies announced on Tuesday that it will no longer finance new projects in Russia. It added that it has not withdrawn from current projects.

"TotalEnergies supports the scope and strength of the sanctions put in place by Europe and will implement them regardless of the consequences (currently being assessed) on its activities in Russia," TotalEnergies said in a statement.

Russia's Lavrov: Ukraine still has 'Soviet nuclear technology'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged on Tuesday that Ukraine still has Soviet nuclear technology, adding that Russia must respond to this danger, Russian news outlet RIA novosti reported.

Lavrov urged Western countries not to build military facilities in the territory of the former Soviet Union, adding that US nuclear weapons in Europe should be returned home.

Lavrov added that Russia is ready to engage in work with the United States over joint stability, while accusing the European Union of opting for the path of sanctions rather than dialogue with Russia.

Lavrov added that Moscow is taking all possible measures to prevent the appearance of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

UK adds Sberbank to sanctions list

Britain's Treasury said on Tuesday that it was adding banking firm Sberbank to its list of sanctioned Russian entities.

The move comes after the UK government said on Monday that it would freeze the UK assets of all Russian banks.

The company had earlier been sanctioned by the European Union. The European Central Bank said on Monday that the company was facing "bankruptcy or probable bankruptcy."

As of late February, Sberbank held around one-third of total Russian bank assets.

Port of Mariupol holds out, loses power

The southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea has been left without electricity following attacks from advancing Russian forces, the head of the region Pavlo Kyrylenko said Tuesday.

Along with the smaller city of Volnovakha, Mariupol lies between territory held by Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula that was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Mariupol, a port city of between 400,000 and 500,000 people, has been under attack since Russia launched its invasion last week. Volnovakha, meanwhile, has a population of some 20,000.

"Mariupol and Volnovakha are ours!" Kyrylenko wrote on Facebook. "The two cities are under pressure from the enemy but they are holding on. In Mariupol, electricity lines have been cut and the city is without power."

The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, has said he hopes troops fighting on Moscow's behalf can encircle the city today (Tuesday).

Munich mayor sacks philharmonic conductor

Munich's mayor, Dieter Reiter, has sacked the chief conductor of the city's philharmonic orchestra, Valery Gergiev, after he did not condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Reiter had given Gergiev a deadline of Monday to denounce Russia's actions. Reiter said on Tuesday that Gergiev had made no such statement.

In 2014, Gergiev signed an artists' petition backing the Russian annexation of Crimea.

German foreign minister urges EU unity

Ahead of talks with her French and Polish counterparts, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called for EU-wide unity when it comes to Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Our unity has become a question of survival for Europe, has become a question of survival today," she said.

"If our three countries pull together — as they are doing now in their Ukraine support — Europe pulls together," she added, referring to the three countries, which comprise the so-called Weimar Triangle.

France: Russian economy will collapse under sanctions

France said on Tuesday that sanctions against Russia will cause the Russian economy to collapse.

"We will bring about the collapse of the Russian economy," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the Franceinfo broadcaster. He spoke a day after a new round of sanctions was announced by France and the EU.

"The economic and financial balance of power is totally in favor of the European Union which is in the process of discovering its own economic power," he added.

"We are waging total economic and financial war on Russia."

Hungary's Orban: no transit for weapons deliveries to Ukraine

Hungarian President Viktor Orban said that Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine will not be allowed to transit across Hungary.

"We have decided that we won't allow any such deliveries," Orban said in a statement distributed by the Hungarian news agency MTI.

Orban said that the security of Ukraine's ethnic Hungarian minority would be endangered by allowing the shipments. There are around 100,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine's southwestern Zakarpattia region.

"It's in the interests of the Hungarian people that Hungary stay out of this war," said Orban.

YouTube blocks RT and Sputnik across Europe

Video-sharing platform YouTube has blocked the Russian channels RT and Sputnik in Europe "taking into account the ongoing war in Ukraine."

"We are blocking the YouTube channels of RT and Sputnik in the whole of Europe with immediate effect," the company said.

"Our systems need a little time before being fully operational," YouTube added.

The actions come after Facebook parent company Meta on Monday said it would restrict access to television network RT and Sputnik.

Twitter Inc has also said that it will reduce the visibility of Russian state-controlled media tweets and label them accordingly.

Russian troops shell Kharkiv's central square

Advancing Russian forces Tuesday shelled the central square of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said.

The attack hit the building of the local administration, he said. "This morning the central square of our city and the headquarters of the Kharkiv administration was criminally attacked," Sinegubov said in a video.

"Russian occupiers continue to use heavy weaponry against the civilian population," he said, adding that the number of victims was not yet known.

Russia launched GRAD and cruise missiles on Kharkiv, said Sinegubov, who added that the city's defenses were holding.

"Such attacks are genocide of the Ukrainian people, a war crime against the civilian population!" he said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba pressed for more international sanctions against Russia after what he said was a "barbaric" attack. "Barbaric Russian missile strikes on the central Freedom Square and residential districts of Kharkiv."

"Putin is unable to break Ukraine down. He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians," Kuleba said.

UK suggests trying Putin for war crimes

The UK government said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could face prosecution for war crimes.

British justice secretary Dominic Raab said during an interview for BBC that for Putin, as well as for Russian generals and soldiers, "there's a very real risk that they'll end up in the dock of a court in The Hague."

"If and when the [International Criminal Court] decides to take action, I'm sure the UK and allies will want to support them practically, logistically."

Raab said that Britain and its allies would wait as long as it takes to bring any violators to court.

Meanwhile, the mayor of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv said that Russian shelling had destroyed a school. At least 11 civilians died in the attack, according to Kharkiv's mayor.

Additionally, Amnesty International reported on Sunday that cluster munitions had two days earlier hit a preschool in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Okhtyrka, killing three civilians, including one child. Amnesty said that the attack "[appeared] to have been carried out by Russian forces."

350, 000 refugees have entered Poland: deputy minister

Around 300, 000 refugees have entered Poland from Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine, Polish deputy interior minister Maciej Wasik said on Tuesday.

"Over the last 24 hours 100,000 people crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border," Maciej Wasik told public broadcaster Polskie Radio 1, as cited by Reuters.

"In total, since Thursday, there have already been 350,000 refugees."

According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, the number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine has risen to over half a million.

Meanwhile, a Polish government spokesperson said that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki would discuss support for Ukraine's accession to the European Union in Brussels on Tuesday.

Morawiecki will discuss the topic with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

UK Ministry of Defense: Russian advance on Kyiv made 'little progress'

Britain's ministry of defense said in a Tuesday intelligence update that the Russian advance on Kyiv had made "little progress" over the past 24 hours.

The ministry cited "logistical difficulties" as the reason for the lack of progress made by Russian forces.

According to the update, Russian forces have "increased their use of artillery" north of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and in the vicinities of the northeastern city of Kharkiv and northern city of Chernihiv.

The ministry added that "Russia has failed to gain control of the airspace over Ukraine", prompting it to engage in night operations as a way to reduce losses.

Turkey's Erdagon speaks with Belarus' Lukashenko

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's office said early on Tuesday that he had spoken with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko over the phone.

Erdogan and Lukashenko discussed cease-fire talks between Russia and Ukraine, Erdogan's office said.

Erdogan's office told Lukashenko that Turkey will continue to make efforts to stop the war.

Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey would not abandon its ties with Russia or Ukraine. He added that Ankara would implement provisions of an international pact which allow Turkey to block the passage of warships through straits in Turkish waters leading to the Black Sea.

Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, Turkey has control over the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. On Sunday, Turkey called Russia's invasion a war, allowing it to invoke the convention and block the straits to warships.

Turkey had previously offered to mediate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two countries with which it shares maritime borders.

70 Ukrainian troops killed in Okhtyrka

More than 70 Ukrainian troops were killed when Russian troops shelled a military base in the town of Okhtyrka, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said on Facebook.

Okhtyrka is located in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, which borders Russia.

Mastercard blocks financial institutions

Mastercard Inc. said late on Monday that it had blocked multiple financial institutions from its payment network as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia.

Mastercard said in a statement that it would continue to work with regulators in the coming days. The company also promised to contribute $2 million (€1.8 million) for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

Visa also said in a statement that it was taking action to ensure compliance with sanctions.

Australia commits millions in ammo and hardware

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has provided more detail on the plan to provide Ukraine with funds.

Canberra has committed $50 million (€44.6 million) to provide both lethal and non-lethal defensive support to Kyiv. Morrison said most of the support "will be in the lethal category."

Convoy of military vehicles longer than initially thought

A massive Russian military convoy consisting of hundreds of tanks, trucks, towed artillery pieces and support vehicles has been pictured slowly making its way toward Kyiv.

Satellite images provided by the US company Maxar Technologies show the convoy spanning a distance of about 40 miles (65 kilometers). The Ukrainian news agency UNIAN also reported the same length early on Tuesday.

The convoy, which is longer than previously thought, is inching slowly toward the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.

Up until now, Ukrainian forces have managed to slow the Russian invasion, but it is unclear just how long they will be to fend off the Russian push for the capital.

UN confirms more than 100 civilian casualties

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has confirmed the deaths of 102 civilians, including seven children since the Russian invasion began on Thursday. Hundreds more had been injured, and the figures provided were likely to be undercounted.

Residents of Kyiv who have remained in the city have hunkered down in the subway stations.