Over 66,200 Ukrainian men have returned from abroad to fight, Ukraine's defence minister has said.
Oleksii Reznikov said on Saturday that 66,224 Ukrainian men had returned from abroad to join the fight against Russia's invasion.
"That's how many men returned from abroad at this moment to defend their country from the horde. These are 12 more combat and motivated brigades! Ukrainians, we are invincible," Reznikov said in an online post.
Earlier today the Russian military agreed to observe a ceasefire in two areas of Ukraine starting on Saturday to allow civilians to evacuate, according to state media reports.
The Russian defence ministry said in a statement carried by the RIA Novosti and Tass agencies it has agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces to allow civilians to leave the strategic port of Mariupol in the south-east and the eastern town of Volnovakha.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, and Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov (R-L) are seen ahead of the Russian-Ukrainian talks at the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park.
Maxim Guchek
There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian forces, and it is not immediately clear how long the evacuation routes would remain open.
If confirmed, the move would be the first breakthrough in allowing civilians to escape the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lashed out at Nato for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over his country, warning that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you”.
Nato says a no-fly zone could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia.
But as the United States and other Nato members send weapons for Kyiv and more than one million refugees spill through the continent, the conflict is already drawing in countries far beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Russia continues to crack down on independent media reporting on the war, also blocking Facebook and Twitter, and more outlets say they are pausing their work inside the country.
In a bitter and emotional speech late on Friday, Mr Zelensky criticized Nato over the lack of a no-fly zone, saying it will fully untie Russia’s hands as it escalates its air attack.
“The alliance has given the green light to the bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages,” he said, warning that “the history of Europe will remember this forever”.
