KYIV, Ukraine - Russia's invasion of Ukraine is continuing unabated, with 2 million people — half of them children — forced to flee the country as Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II grows even more severe.The U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF confirmed the figures as more people headed for the borders Tuesday. Poland has received more than 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees, the most of any nation.Civilians in one eastern Ukrainian city were leaving on buses amid a 12-hour-long cease-fire in that area after Russia and Ukraine agreed on establishing five safe corridors for people to escape the fighting.Overnight, Russian aircraft pressed on with bombing cities in eastern and central Ukraine.
Shelling pounded suburbs of the capital, Kyiv, and as the war entered its 13th day, food, water, heat and medicine have grown increasingly scarce in multiple cities facing electricity outages.Here’s a look at key things to know about the war:Videos Tuesday showed people boarding buses, and multiple buses marked with a red cross driving along a snowy road as the eastern city of Sumy was given a safe corridor for evacuation.Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said both sides agreed to a cease-fire from 9 a.m.
to 9 p.m. for the evacuation of civilians from Sumy. Those leaving include foreign students from India and China, she said.The safe corridors were agreed on by Ukrainian and Russian officials during their third round of direct talks Monday.