Death Toll Of Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Touches 364, President Erdogan And Macron Call Putin Again

Ukrainian officials have managed to retrieve a Russian FAB-500 bomb that failed to explode during an attack. (Wikimedia Commons/DSNS.gov.ua/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Persistent fighting has hindered efforts to evacuate 200,000 people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol for the second day in a row on Sunday when Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to continue his offensive, which he said would be planned unless Kyiv surrendered.

Most people trapped in the port city sleep underground to escape more than six days of near-constant shelling by besieging Russian troops who have cut off food, water, electricity, and heating supplies, according to Ukrainian authorities.

In a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hopes for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, President Putin called on Kyiv to stop fighting.

President Putin told President Erdogan he was ready for dialogue with Ukraine and foreign partners, but any attempt to withdraw negotiations would fail, a Kremlin statement said.

Speaking on a trip to neighboring Moldova, Blinken said Washington was considering how they could restock the planes for Poland, should Warsaw decide to supply its warplanes to Ukraine.

Russian media said President Putin also spoke by phone for nearly two hours with French President Emmanuel Macron, worried about a possible imminent attack on the historic port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, President Macron's office said.

Car wreckage affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/ZomBear)

President Putin has said he wants a 'demilitarized', 'denazified' and neutral Ukraine, likening Western sanctions to Saturday's declaration of war.

The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion on February 24 stands at 364, including more than 20 children, the United Nations said on Sunday, adding hundreds more were injured.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said most civilian casualties were caused by the use of "explosive weapons with a wide area of impact, including firing from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes." Moscow has repeatedly denied attacking civilian areas.

In Irpin, a town about 25 km (16 miles) northwest of the capital Kyiv, men, women and children trying to escape heavy fighting in the area were forced to take cover when missiles hit nearby, according to Reuters witnesses.

Soldiers and fellow residents helped the elderly rush to buses filled with terrified people, some huddled as they waited to be taken to safety.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, authorities said on Sunday they would make a second attempt to evacuate some 400,000 residents. But the ceasefire plan fell through, as it did on Saturday, with each side blaming the other.

Separately, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the failed attempt to evacuate 200,000 people had underscored the "lack of a detailed and functioning agreement between the parties to the conflict."

"They destroyed us," Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told Reuters by video call, describing the state of the city before the last evacuation attempt failed.

"They won't even give us a chance to count the wounded and the dead because the shooting didn't stop."

It is known, the flow of people from Ukraine continues to flow to Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and other places. The United Nations says more than 1.5 million have fled in Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two. Triggered Western sanctions against Russia, aimed at crippling its economy.