On Friday, Ukraine and Russia agreed to establish humanitarian corridors to enable the evacuation of the country's war-torn areas.

One of them is the besieged city of Mariupol by Russian troops where there is a shortage of food, water and other necessities.

But shortly after the evacuation began, the operation was stopped.

- There is no ceasefire in Mariupol and there is no ceasefire along the escape route, the city's vice president Serhij Orlov told the BBC.

Russia announced on Saturday afternoon that it will resume its offensive against the city.

According to the UN refugee agency UNCHR, the number of refugees from Ukraine is expected to reach 1.5 million by the weekend.

This is how the humanitarian corridor should have been designed - but the evacuations were interrupted prematurely.

Photo: Graphics: SVT Design

Sweden and Finland in talks

Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson (S) and Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist (S) met the Finnish government in Helsinki during the day.

At a joint press conference, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that it had agreed to further strengthen defense policy ties.

- Of course, a strong collaboration between Sweden and Finland is something that makes us stronger in this special situation, said Magdalena Andersson.

Putin commented on the war

In recent days, several Western countries, including the United States and Britain, have claimed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has encountered a number of problems.

The operation is said to have slowed down due to logistical problems in combination with an unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance from Russia.

On Saturday, Ukraine's defense minister said more than 66,000 Ukrainians had returned to the country to join the defense.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the day that everything is going according to plan, reports Reuters.

More companies are acting

Several international companies announced on Saturday that they are joining the ranks of companies taking action against Russia due to the war in Ukraine.

Tech giant Samsung is stopping its deliveries to the country, the payment service Paypal is blocking access to its service in Russia and the encrypted chat service Telegram is shutting down Russian state media.

In recent days, Microsoft and Apple, among others, have stopped their deliveries to Russia.

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What is the background to the war?

Photo: TT