Several Russian banks said on Sunday they would soon start issuing cards using the Chinese UnionPay card operator's system coupled with Russia's own Mir network, after Visa and MasterCard said they were suspending operations in Russia.

“We are stuck in a Ukrainian bunker.”

Authorities in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol planned to start evacuating some residents from noon (1000 GMT) under a temporary ceasefire deal, after a similar deal a day earlier collapsed with Russia and Ukraine blaming each other for the failure.

More than 11,000 Russian troops have been killed since Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Ukrainian armed forces' general staff said on Sunday.

The 28 rescued Bangladeshi crew members, who crossed the border into Romania from Ukraine, have safely reached Bucharest.

Saudi Arabia said Saturday it was lifting most Covid restrictions including social distancing in public spaces and quarantine for vaccinated arrivals, moves that could facilitate the arrival of Muslim pilgrims.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that China opposes any moves that “add fuel to the flames” in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine will hold a third round of talks on Monday about ending hostilities, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said in a Facebook post on Saturday, without providing further details.

Mastercard and Visa are suspending their operations in Russia, the companies said Saturday, in the latest blow to the country’s financial system after its invasion of Ukraine.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Saturday to discuss the Ukraine crisis, his spokesperson said.

A British television crew was ambushed outside Kyiv earlier this week, leaving one journalist wounded, their employer Sky News said.

The Kremlin said on Saturday that the West was behaving like a bandit by cutting economic relations over the conflict in Ukraine but that Russia was far too big to be isolated as the world was much larger than just the United States and Europe.

Samsung Electronics has suspended shipments to Russia over “geopolitical developments”, the firm said Saturday, as major firms including Apple cut ties with the country over its invasion of Ukraine.

On a runway near the Ukrainian border, 14 wide-body aircraft arrive on average each day -- a carefully calibrated operation mounted at top speed to deliver tons of Western military assistance to Kyiv.

Russia’s defence ministry announces a ceasefire to allow civilians in the besieged port city of Mariupol and the town of Volnovakha to evacuate.

When, on early hours of February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “special military operation” to “demilitarise and de-nazify” Ukraine, he surely didn’t expect it to last this long. Political analysts believe his goal was to change the pro-western regime in Kyiv in days and install a pro-Russian puppet government there to protect Moscow’s interests.

The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol postponed a planned evacuation of residents yesterday, blaming Russian forces for breaking their temporary ceasefire to allow civilians to flee one of the war’s fiercest battles.

In bright sunshine, a long queue of shoppers snaked outside an IKEA store near Moscow this week. Similar scenes were repeated across Russia as families rushed to spend their fast-depreciating roubles at the Swedish retailer which is exiting the crisis-hit country.

The Kremlin said on Saturday that the West was behaving like a bandit by cutting economic relations over the conflict in Ukraine but that Russia was far too big to be isolated as the world was much larger than just the United States and Europe.

The International Organization for Migration says the number of people who have left Ukraine since fighting began has now reached 1.45 million.