Ukraine says Moscow manipulating cease-fire agreement; oil prices soar

The Polish zloty slumped on Monday, touching a record of 4.9734 against the euro during morning trade, data from Reuters showed.

The currency’s previous low against the euro was in 2004, shortly before Poland joined the EU.

— Chloe Taylor

France did not ask Russia to evacuate Ukrainian civilians into Russian territory, a French government official told reporters on Monday.

Russia announced on Monday that it would allow a ceasefire from 10 a.m. Moscow time (2 a.m. ET) to enable to evacuation of civilians from four Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. Russian state-controlled media said this had been done following a personal request from French President Emmanuel Macron to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But Ukraine has accused Moscow of creating “completely immoral” evacuation routes that lead civilians out of Ukrainian cities into Russian territory.

“To the question did you ask that the corridors go to Russia — the answer is obviously no,” a French government source told journalists on Monday. “We asked the Russians to stop fighting, to protect civilians and to send aid.”

They added: “The personal request of the President of [France] as of the rest of the allies and partners is that the Russian offensive cease. As long as the offensive is underway because the Russians refuse to put an end to it, it is to respect international humanitarian law.”

— Chloe Taylor

China has so far said it won’t participate in sanctions against Russia and also abstained from a United Nations vote to rebuke Russia for invading Ukraine.

— Weizhen Tan

Moscow is seeking to “manipulate” its cease-fire arrangement by only allowing Ukrainian civilians to evacuate to Russia and Belarus, a Ukrainian official has said.

Speaking at a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the safe routes — or humanitarian corridors — were taking citizens to Russia.

“This is an unacceptable variant of the humanitarian corridors opening,” she said. “Our people won’t go to Belarus and to Russia. I hope that French President Emmanuel Macron understands that Russians are trying to manipulate his honest intention to provide people from Ukraine and other countries a path to safety.”

Russian state-controlled media said Monday morning that the latest cease-fire — planned from 10 a.m. Moscow time (9 a.m. Ukraine, 2 a.m. ET) in the cities of Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Sumy — followed a personal request from Macron to Russian President Vladimir Putin for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.

Vereshchuk said Monday morning that the evacuation routes proposed by Moscow led to Belarusian or Russian territory.

For example, the route out of Kyiv was leading to Gomel, Belarus, where civilians would be airlifted to Russia, according to…