Russia-Ukraine crisis: Kyiv rejects Moscow's evacuation offer

US seeks to calm fears in Baltics that Putin 'will not stop in Ukraine'

Moscow offered Ukrainians escape routes to Russia and its close ally Belarus on Monday, drawing cries of outrage from Ukraine, where officials said a bread factory had been hit by an air strike in the latest Russian bombardment.

The bodies of at least 13 civilians were recovered from rubble after factory in the town of Makariv in the Kyiv region was hit, local emergency services said. Five people were rescued of the 30 believed to have been there at the time. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the reported attack.

The Russian offer preceded a planned third round of peace talks on Monday between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators. Earlier rounds produced little but pledges to allow humanitarian access that have not been successfully implemented.

Two days of failed ceasefires for the besieged southern port city of Mariupol have left hundreds of thousands trapped without food and water under relentless bombardment.

As Russian and Ukrainian delegations assembled for the talks, a Ukrainian negotiator urged Russia to stop its assault on Ukraine, which the United Nations said had sent 1.7 million people fleeing to Central Europe. “In a few minutes, we will start talking to representatives of a country that seriously believes large-scale violence against civilians is an argument,” Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. "Prove that this is not the case." Under the Russian offer, a corridor from Kyiv would lead to Russia's ally Belarus, while civilians from Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city, would be directed to Russia, according to maps published by the RIA news agency.

“Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilised world ... are useless this time,” the Russian defence ministry said after announcing the “humanitarian corridors”.

A spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the proposal “completely immoral” and said Russia was trying to “use people’s suffering to create a television picture”. “They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to reassure Washington's Baltic allies who fear President Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine in trying to redraw the borders of Europe. Blinken spent the weekend in Ukraine’s neighbours Poland and Moldova before visiting Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Nato members that were once ruled from Moscow.

Addressing Blinken, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda warned that “Russia's reckless aggression" could lead to a “third world war”. “Deterrence is no longer enough and we need forward defence here in place because otherwise it will be too late here. Putin will not stop in Ukraine if he will not be stopped,” Nauseda said.