Highlights: Russia suspends sale of foreign currencies until Sept 9

The Russian government has announced a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine for Wednesday morning in order to carry out evacuation of civilians, AFP reported citing Russian news agencies. 

American coffee chain Starbucks announced that it will suspend all operations in Russia. 

"We have decided to suspend all business activity in Russia, including shipment of all Starbucks products," the company said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday thanked his American counterpart Joe Biden for banning Russian energency products and urged other nations to follow suit.

McDonald’s said on Tuesday it is temporarily closing all of its 850 restaurants in Russia in response to the country’s full-sclae attack on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian regional police said on Tuesday that at least 27 civilians died in the Kharkiv city in last 24 hours. The total number of fatalities in the city have climbed to 170.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia's stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbor, reports AFP.

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. will ban all Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. Read more

UK says that it will be phasing out its Russian oil imports by end of year, reports AFP.

The US Defense Department told lawmakers on Tuesday that it estimates between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Moscow's nearly two-week-old invasion of Ukraine, reports AFP.

The EU wants to vastly reduce Russian gas imports this year, a top official said Tuesday, as political pressure mounts to sever Russia's main economic lifeline over its invasion of Ukraine, reports AFP.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, announced the goal as the United States was expected to impose an oil import ban on Russia in a step considered too far for the Europeans, who fear that the economic consequences would be too severe.

Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG is limiting the supply of heating oil and diesel from its refinery near Munich in southern Germany in a fresh sign of strains in energy supplies. The company has also stopped its normal practice of releasing daily spot prices, reports Bloomberg.

Continental AG is halting operations in Russia where it employs about 1,300 people, DPA reported. All shipments to and from Russia have also been stopped, the agency said.

President Xi Jinping said China is willing to coordinate with Europe on the crisis in Ukraine, holding a video call Tuesday with the leaders of France and Germany, news agency Bloomberg reported.

EU countries should work to help vaccinate Ukrainian refugees against Covid-19 and other preventable diseases, the bloc’s infectious diseases agency said in a report Tuesday. The report noted that only 35% of Ukraine’s population was fully vaccinated against Covid, well below the EU’s average of more than 70%.

“Vaccination acceptance also needs to be assessed and addressed among those fleeing Ukraine,” the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said.

The Spanish public prosecutor's office said Tuesday it had opened a probe into possible "serious violations of international humanitarian law by Russia in Ukraine", news agency AFP reported.

The aim is to "determine the criminal nature" of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the office said in a statement, just hours after Germany's federal prosecutors opened a similar probe.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce a ban on US imports of Russian oil on Tuesday, in the latest sanction in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, according to US media.

The UN human rights office says it has confirmed 474 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb 24. The office said Tuesday that the number of confirmed civilian injuries now stands at 861, reports news agency AP.

The UN office uses strict methodology and only reports casualties it has been able to verify.

It acknowledges that the real figures are much higher, in part because intense fighting has delayed its receipt of information and many reports still have to be corroborated.

The Biden administration is poised to impose a ban on U.S. imports of Russian energy as soon as Tuesday without the participation of its European allies, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Belarus has regrouped its forces and deployed some of them to the Ukrainian border near the city of Brest and the village of Aleksandrovka in Gomel Oblast, the Ukrainian media outlet Kyiv Independent reported quoting Ukrainian General Staff.

More than two million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion less than two weeks ago, the United Nations said Tuesday, after Moscow agreed to a brief respite from missile strikes to allow civilians to leave Sumy and other cities.

'Russian President (Putin) is today's Cain!" says a Ukrainian priest, referring to the Old Testament figure who murdered his brother, Abel. The Kremlin's war against Ukraine has pushed some priests in the country to call for a break from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Attacks on hospitals, ambulances and other health care facilities in Ukraine have increased rapidly in recent days and the country is running short of vital medical supplies, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday as per news agency Reuters.

“The Humanitarian Corridor for evacuation of stranded people has been announced in various parts of Ukraine from 1000 hrs on 8 March 2022. Considering the security situation, establishment of the next humanitarian corridor is uncertain. All stranded Indian nationals are urged to make use of this opportunity and evacuate using trains/vehicles or any other available means of transport giving due consideration to safety,” the advisory read.

America's United Airlines has indefinitely suspended two flights to India after halting services that flew over Russia last week. The Chicago-based airline said it had stopped services between San Francisco and Delhi, and between Newark, New Jersey and Mumbai. The airline said it plans to continue flying to Delhi from both Chicago and Newark.