500 rescued from besieged Mariupol

Almost 500 civilians have been evacuated from the devastated city of Mariupol and its besieged Azovstal steel plant in a Un-led rescue operation, the Ukrainian president's office said yesterday.

The United Nations had said on Thursday that a new convoy would evacuate civilians from the "bleak hell" of the factory, which has become the last pocket of resistance in the southern port city.

"We have managed to evacuate almost 500 civilians," Andriy Yermak, who heads Volodymyr Zelensky's office, said on Telegram.

He said Kyiv will "do everything to save all its civilians and military" stuck in the devastated city, adding that the operation was ongoing.

The Russian military had announced a three-day ceasefire at the site starting on Thursday but a Ukrainian commander said there was still heavy fighting at the sprawling complex.

Hundreds of soldiers and civilians have been holed up for weeks under heavy bombardment, many taking shelter in the plant's Soviet-era underground tunnels.

Ten weeks into a war that has killed thousands, destroyed cities and uprooted more than 13 million people, Russia has focused its efforts on Ukraine's east and south, and taking full control of the now-flattened Mariupol would be a major victory for Moscow.

"We still have to evacuate civilians from there, women and children. Just imagine... more than two months of constant bombing and constant death," Zelensky had said on Thursday.

Speaking to the Israeli prime minister on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his military was ready to allow civilians to leave, according to the Kremlin.

"As for the militants remaining at Azovstal, the Kyiv authorities must give them an order to lay down their arms," Putin said.

Western media and politicians portrayed a recent visit to Russia and Ukraine by UN

Secretary General Antonio Guterres in an "absolutely perverted manner", Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council.

"Secretary-general’s trip to Russia and Ukraine was presented both by Western Media and politicians in an absolutely perverted manner. They deliberately create an impression that Ukraine and the United Nations talked Russia into opening a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Azovstal. However, Russian side opens humanitarian corridors regularly. By the way, they are open today as well," he told a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Thursday.

A commander of the Azov regiment defending the factory said in a video on Telegram that there was still heavy fighting.

"The Russians violated the promise of a truce and did not allow the evacuation of civilians who continue to hide from shelling in the basement of the plant," Svyatoslav Palamar said.

Pentagon denial

The Kremlin conceded on Thursday that Kyiv's Western partners had prevented a quick end to Moscow's campaign by sharing intelligence and weapons with Ukraine, but that it was "incapable of hindering the achievement" of Russia's military operation.

The United States is among Ukraine's biggest backers, supplying military equipment and munitions worth billions of dollars as well as intelligence and training.

But the White House has sought to limit knowledge of the full extent of its assistance to avoid provoking Russia into a broader conflict beyond Ukraine.

Washington on Thursday denied an explosive report in The New York Times that it helped Ukraine target Russian generals.

"The United States provides battlefield intelligence to help the Ukrainians defend their country," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

"We do not provide intelligence with the intent to kill Russian generals."

Separately, US media reported on Thursday that Washington had shared intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Russian warship Moskva last month.

However, a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the United States does not "provide specific targeting information on ships".

Fiji seizes oligarch's yacht

Ukraine's government has estimated at least US$600 billion will be needed to rebuild the country after the war.

Zelensky, who has tirelessly campaigned for help from allies, on Thursday launched a global crowdfunding platform called United24 to help Ukraine win the war and rebuild its infrastructure.

More than 6 billion euros ($6.3 billion) were collected at a donors' conference in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.

In addition to financial and military assistance, Ukraine's allies have also punished Russia for the attack with unprecedented sanctions.

In one of the latest such moves, the British government said on Thursday it had frozen the assets of Uk-based steel and mining firm Evraz as it is of strategic significance for Russia's war effort.

Evraz's main shareholder is Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is already under sanctions, and its main operations are in Russia.

And in another action against oligarchs close to Putin, authorities in Fiji seized the $300 million yacht of Suleiman Kerimov after the United States requested be held for sanctions violations and ties to corruption.

Fighting continued across eastern Ukraine.

Donbas regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said at least 25 civilians were wounded in an overnight Russian strike on the city of Kramatorsk.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian army said it had retaken control of "several settlements on the border of Mykolaiv and Kherson regions".