KYIV: Ukraine said on Monday it was pausing evacuations of civilians from war-scarred regions of the country because intelligence reports suggested invading Russian troops were planning attacks on humanitarian routes.

       “Our intelligence has reported possible provocations by the occupiers on routes of humanitarian corridors. Therefore, for reasons of public safety, we are not opening humanitarian corridors today,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on social media.

       Meanwhile, Moscow said on Monday it was preparing to restrict entry into Russia for nationals of “unfriendly” countries, which include Britain, all EU states and the United States.

       “A draft presidential decree is being developed on retaliatory visa measures in response to the ‘unfriendly’ actions of a number of foreign states,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised remarks.

       Ukraine warned the hum-anitarian crisis in the pulverised city of Mariupol was now “catastrophic”, with thousands dead, as fighting surged around Kyiv ahead of new face-to-face peace talks with Russia in Turkey.

       A senior Ukrainian official said on Monday that around 5,000 people have been buried in the besieged city of Mariupol. But the burials stopped 10 days ago because of continued shelling,” Tetyana Lom-akina, a presidential adviser now in charge of humanitarian corridors, said.

       Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2022