Ukraine waits for evidence of Mariupol cease-fire — live updates

Moscow has proposed a cease-fire around Mariupol for the evacuation of civilians. Similar attempts to establish corridors for people to flee the Ukrainian city have collapsed.

Biden promises to end 'nightmare' of US citizens detained in Russia

US President Joe Biden promised to end the "nightmare" of US citizens detained in Russia.

Biden met with the parents of former US Marine Trevor Reed. Reed was convicted of assaulting police officers while drunk in 2019.

Reed was on hunger strike and serving in an isolation cell, a spokesman for the detainee said on Tuesday.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that US diplomats were being denied access to Americans detained in Russia.

Such citizens including Reed, as well as Paul Whelan, who is also a former Marine. The United States says that they are being held under trumped-up charges.

EU and US open joint strategic dialogue on Russia

The European Union and the United States have opened a strategic dialogue on Russia.

The two sides held the first "US-EU High-Level Dialogue on Russia" in Washington on Wednesday, a joint press release said.

The meeting focused "on US and EU strategic objectives and policy coordination aimed at ending Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," the press release said.

The two sides discussed additional steps to isolate Russia from the US and EU economies.

US: Ukraine war has "deadly" impact on Arab world

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was having a "deadly" impact on the Arab world.

Blinken was speaking in the Algerian capital after having traveled to Israel, where a summit was held between the Jewish state and the foreign ministers of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Addressing journalists in Algiers, Blinken said that while the war in Ukraine may seem distant, it was already having "deadly consequences for citizens in the region."

"It's having a direct impact on their lives right now, particularly with regard to rising food prices... especially wheat," he said.

North African countries are heavily dependent on wheat exports, and both Russia and Ukraine are major wheat producers.

South Ossetia leader wants vote on integration into Russia

South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov said the breakaway republic wants to vote on integration into the Russian Federation.

Russia recognized South Ossetia as independent in 2008 following the Russo-Georgian War, whereas most countries consider the region to be part of Georgia.

Bibilov said that a referendum would be the first step toward integration into the Russian Federation, but that this would be "very difficult to organize."

South Ossetian parliamentary leader Alan Tadtayev told Russian state news agency TASS that the referendum should be held in the "near future."

The remarks follow a statement on Sunday by Leonid Pasechnik, leader of the breakaway Luhansk republic in eastern Ukraine, that his region should hold a vote on integration into Russia.

Moscow announces Mariupol cease-fire

The Russian Defense Ministry announced a Thursday cease-fire around Mariupol to allow for the evacuation of civilians.

Russia said that a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia through Berdyansk would open from 10 a.m. local time (0700 GMT). Berdyansk is under Russian control.

"For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry demanded Ukraine guarantee respect for the cease-fire by notifying Russian forces, the UNCHR and the ICRC before 6 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) and to commit to ensuring the security of convoys along the corridor.

Russia's Defense Ministry also said it had agreed to a Ukrainian proposal to open four new humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia.

A number of previous attempts to establish corridors out of Mariupol have failed, with Russia and Ukraine trading accusations of sabotaging the efforts.

Kyiv: Nearly half of Ukraine's territory 'polluted' by explosives

Nearly half of Ukraine's territory has been contaminated by explosive devices, Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Yevgen Yenin said.

Yenin said that the area affected amounts to some 300, 000 square meters.

The AFP news agency said it could not immediately verify the data.

Yenin said that Ukraine has demined 300 explosive devices and one aerial bomb since the start of the war.

Oil depot and factory hit by strikes in eastern Ukraine

An oil depot filled with fuel has been destroyed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, regional official Mykola Lukashuk said.

Lukashuk blamed the strike on the Russian military. There were no reports of casualties.

A rocket also hit a factory in nearby Novomoskovsk, regional official Valentyn Reznichenko said. Novomoskovsk lies northeast of Dnipro, and both cities are part of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Dnipro has not seen much shelling so far in the war.

Pentagon: Russian forces start to withdraw from Chernobyl

Russian forces have started to withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power site, a senior US defense official said.

Russian forces took control of the facility on February 24, the day Russia started the war in Ukraine.

Russian troops left the nearby town of Slavutych, where much of the personnel of the Chernobyl plant lives, on Monday.

"Chernobyl is (an) area where [Russian forces] are beginning to reposition some of their troops -- leaving, walking away from the Chernobyl facility and moving into Belarus," the official said.

"We think that they are leaving, I can't tell you that they're all gone."

Summary of events in the Russian war in Ukraine on Wednesday

South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov said that the breakaway republic wants to hold a vote on integration into the Russian Federation.

The head of the United Kingdom's eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, said Russia's President Vladimir Putin "has massively misjudged the situation" in Ukraine.

Russia promised a temporary cease-fire to let residents of the besieged port of Mariupol flee on Thursday.

Russia's Defense Ministry reiterated its plan to focus forces on securing the separatist republics in the Donbas despite its forces continuing to bombard Kyiv and Chernihiv on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that European companies could continue paying for gas in euros. Putin said the money would be paid into Gazprom Bank, which is not a subject of sanctions, and then transferred in rubles to Russia.

President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy the US would provide $500 million (€448 million) in direct budgetary aid to Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Western nations should tighten sanctions against Moscow until Russian President Vladimir Putin withdraws all his soldiers from Ukraine. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that a peace deal would not "automatically lead to easing of [sanctions against Russia]."

Russian forces in Ukraine are regrouping and preparing for renewed offensive operations, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said.

Russian air strikes and heavy shelling have killed civilians in acts that may amount to war crimes, the top United Nations human rights official said on Wednesday.