An air alert has been declared in and around Kyiv with an imminent threat of a missile attack and residents have been urged to get to bomb shelters as quickly as possible.

       In a statement on Telegram regional leader Oleksiy Kuleba said: “Kyiv region – air alert. Threat of a missile attack. Everyone immediately to shelters.”

       In addition, an air raid alert has also been issued in Zhytomyr, and in Vasylkiv.

       Meanwhile the city of Mariupol, which sits on the Azov Sea, remains surrounded by Russian soldiers for days, as the Russian invasion completes two weeks.

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       The air raid alert in Kyiv comes amid fierce fighting while Russian forces advances have been stopped in certain areas including around Kyiv.

       Ukraine’s defence ministry officials said that the cities facing increased hostilities include Polesia and Volyn Oblast operational districts, as well as along the state border of Ukraine and in the settlements of Nizhyn, Vinnytsia and Trostyanets.

       This map shows the extent of Russia’s attack on Ukraine

       (Press Association Images)

       On Wednesday, Russia promised to allow five humanitarian corridors to be formed to let people flee major cities under attack by Vladimir Putin’s forces.

       Head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre said these humanitarian corridors will lead out of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol.

       Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has urged NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine and said that additional war planes are needed to protect its air space.

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       Late on Tuesday, the Pentagon rejected Poland’s of MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine and said that the behind the “rationale” behind the offer is not clear to the US.

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