WASHINGTON/LVIV Ukraine (Reuters) – Russia stated Wednesday it was ready to offer humanitarian corridors to people fleeing Kyiv or four other cities in Ukraine. The number of refugees created by the worst attack on a European country after World War Two surpassed two million.

Mikhail Mizintsev (head of Russia’s National Defence Control Centre) was quoted saying by Tass that Russian forces “observed a regimeof silence” beginning at 10 AM Moscow time (0700 GMT), to allow civilians to travel safely from Kyiv to Chernihiv to Sumy to Kharkiv to Mariupol.

Although the routes were not intended to pass through Russia, or Belarus as previously rejected by the Ukrainian government, it was still unclear whether they would.

The first ever “humanitarian corridor” was opened Tuesday to allow civilians to flee Sumy, the city under siege. The Ukraine claimed that Russian forces attacked another route for evacuation, starting from Mariupol (south of the country).

An additional increase in oil prices was caused by a U.S. ban against Russian oil imports. Since Russia invaded neighboring countries on February 24, prices have risen by more than 30%. [O/R]

Russia, the second largest exporter of crude oil in the world, has warned that the price will rise if sanctions are not implemented by the West.

U.S. President Joe Biden declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin should face sanctions despite higher household costs.

He stated that the American people would deal another devastating blow to Putin’s war machine.

Kremlin calls its actions a special operation to disarm Ukraine, and unseated leaders it regards as neo Nazis. This is a pretext to wage a war against Europe, which Western allies and Ukraine call baseless.

Russia’s international isolation has been furthered by McDonald’s (NYSE):, a symbol for capitalism, which opened in Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. Starbucks (NASDAQ): will temporarily shut down its coffeehouse chains, while Pepsi (NYSE): will cease selling its soft drinks brands. Coca-Cola is also stopping business in Russia.

It is difficult for Western nations to strike a balance when using severe sanctions to end the conflict as fast as possible while protecting their fragile economies and from inflation.

Global supply chains have been disrupted by the conflict and subsequent sanctions. This has caused prices to soar not just for food, energy and key raw materials such as aluminium and nickel.

On Tuesday, the London Metal Exchange had to stop trading nickel. This is critical for stainless steel production and battery manufacturing.

The UK announced that it will eliminate imports of Russian oil and products by 2022. Meanwhile, the European Union has published plans to reduce its dependence on Russian gas by 2/3.

POLISH PLANES

The United States declined a surprising offer from Poland to transport MiG-29 fighter aircraft to an American base in Germany as part of Western military assistance to Ukraine.

Pentagon expressed concern that combat aircraft could be flown from NATO territories into war zones.

The International Committee of the Red Cross reported that people in Mariupol (a Ukrainian seaside town) were running out of power, heat, water, and food after being bombarded for more than a week.

Ewan Watson, spokesperson for Red Cross said that “the situation in Mariupol has become apocalyptic.”

While many attempted to escape Tuesday on a safe route, Ukraine’s foreign ministry stated that Russian forces breached the ceasefire and attacked it.

Moscow denied targeting civilians.

Russia created a new corridor from Sumy, the eastern city. Buses began to travel west towards Poltava hours after a Russian attack that regional officials claimed had killed 21 people in a residential neighborhood. Reuters was unable to verify this incident.

Irpin was also evacuated by residents.

According to Oleh Synehubov, the Ukrainian Governor Oleh Synehubov, the troops of Ukraine repelled a Russian attack on Kharkiv’s eastern city and stopped 120 Russian paratroopers from entering the area near the border.

The state emergency services reported that Russian planes crashed into Malyn (northwest of Kyiv) on Tuesday night, killing five people including two children. Reuters could not confirm.

According to Ukraine’s defense ministry, Vitaly Gerasimov was the first Russian deputy commander of the 41st Army. He also became the second major general who died in the conflict. Russia’s defense ministry was not available for comment.

Russia’s war on terror has led to an intensifying crackdown against dissent. The last independent media outlets were shut down last week, and all foreign broadcasters have been banned.