Russia-Ukraine War News LIVE Updates: Indian Students in Sumy Head Towards Mariupol After Ceasefire; Air Strikes in Capital Kyiv

Russia-Ukraine War News LIVE Updates: While the Russian ceasefire does not extend to eastern Ukraine, India is in touch with both Russian and Ukrainian authorities to evacuate students stuck in Sumy after its implementation, sources told CNN-News18. The students have issued desperate pleas for help in Sumy, and said on Saturday that they had witnessed an airstrike near their hostel.

Russian forces are now only 32 kilometres (20 miles) away from Ukraine’s second largest nuclear facility, the Yuzhnoukrainsk Nuclear Power Station in Mykolaiv Oblast, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said. Meanwhile, multiple blasts have been reported in Kharkiv, and residents have been asked to seek their nearest shelter for safety.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday on the humanitarian crisis triggered in Ukraine by the Russian invasion, diplomats said Friday. After this public session, the 15 members of the council will confer behind closed doors to discuss a possible draft resolution, a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.

This latter meeting has been proposed by Mexico and France, who are pushing a draft that calls for an end to hostilities in Ukraine, unhindered flow of humanitarian aid and protection of civilians. But it has run into obstacles, namely a warning from the United States that it will not support such a draft unless it states explicitly that Russia has caused the humanitarian crisis, another diplomat told AFP.

France originally wanted a vote last Tuesday but it did not happen. Now, diplomats say France has shifted and in light of US criticism is no longer pushing for a vote as quickly as before. Any draft resolution that criticizes Russia by name is doomed because Russia has veto power on the Security Council.