Russia plans chemical plant evacuation as city besieged

LYSYCHANSK, Ukraine－Russia said it would establish a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from a chemical plant in Severodonetsk starting on Wednesday, as Ukrainian forces were waging a battle for control of the city.

Moscow's forces have intensified efforts to cut off Ukrainian troops in the city, destroying all three bridges connecting it across a river to the twin city of Lysychansk, Agence France-Presse reported.

About 500 civilians have taken shelter in Severodonetsk's Azot chemical plant, according to the head of the city's administration.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced a humanitarian corridor would be established on Wednesday for evacuations from the plant, saying it was "guided by the principles of humanity".

Evacuees would be transported to the city of Svatovo in the region of Lugansk, Moscow said, urging those holding out at the plant to cease their "senseless resistance".

There was no response from Kyiv to the announcement, and in a video address on Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented "painful losses "in the ongoing fighting.

Speaking in The Hague on Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Western countries to send the Ukrainians more heavy armaments. Addressing a news conference after meeting the leaders of seven European NATO allies, he said NATO officials would discuss coordinating further support, including heavy weaponry, at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

Ukraine has only received 10 percent of the arms it had requested from the West, Kyiv's deputy defense minister said.

Kyiv's forces face an increasingly desperate situation in Severodonetsk, with Ukrainian authorities estimating the Russians now control up to 80 percent of the city as they seek to encircle it.

Moscow looks East

As Russia has been sanctioned by the West since it started a special military operation in Ukraine on Feb 24, a speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to deliver on Friday at the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum will be closely watched.

Reuters reported that the "Russian Davos" will see little of the Western financial elite this year because of the conflict in Ukraine.

"Foreign investors are not only from the United States and European Union," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, pointing to the Middle East and Asia.

Putin's speech on Friday will focus on the international economic situation and Russia's tasks in the near future, Interfax news agency cited Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying.

Ushakov added that high-level delegations from more than 40 nations were expected, while 1,244 Russian and 265 foreign companies had confirmed they would be there.

This year, the forum's title is "New Opportunities in a New World". Session topics include new possibilities for Russian economic growth, improving trade with fellow BRICS countries－Brazil, India, China and South Africa－and the future of Russia's sanctioned financial sector.

Britons blacklisted

As tensions soar with the West, Russia announced Tuesday that it was blacklisting 49 British citizens including defense officials and prominent reporters and editors from the BBC, the Financial Times and The Guardian.

"The British journalists on the list are involved in the deliberate dissemination of false and one-sided information about Russia and the events in Ukraine and Donbas," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The list also contains the names of 20 top officials and figures linked to the military industry, including Michael Wigston, head of the Royal Air Force, and Member of Parliament Leo Docherty.

"People linked to the British defense complex are involved in making decisions on the supply of weapons to Ukraine," the Russian ministry said.

London has been one of the most vocal supporters of Kyiv in the conflict. It has offered more than 750 million pounds ($937 million) in military support including sending air defense systems, thousands of anti-tank missiles and various types of munitions, hundreds of armored vehicles, and other equipment.

Agencies via Xinhua