Putin warns against imposing any no-fly zone over Ukraine

He says a third party declaration means joining war

President Vladimir Putin warned on Saturday that Russia would consider any third-party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as participation in the war there, while Ukrainian officials blamed Russian shelling for breaching a ceasefire arranged in two cities to evacuate civilians.

The struggle to enforce the ceasefire in Mariupol, a strategic port in the southeast, and the eastern city of Volnovakha showed the fragility of efforts to stop fighting across Ukraine as the number of people fleeing the country reached 1.4 million just 10 days after Russian forces have invaded.

Mr. Putin accused Ukraine of sabotaging the evacuation and even claimed its leadership was calling into question the future of the country’s statehood, saying, “If this happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.”

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had agreed with Ukraine on evacuation routes out of Volnovakha and Mariupol, the site of growing misery amid an ongoing assault that created desperate scenes at hospitals and raised the prospect of food and water shortages for hundreds of thousands of people in freezing weather.

In comments carried on Ukrainian television, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said thousands of people had gathered for safe passage out of the city and buses were departing when shelling began.

“We value the life of every inhabitant of Mariupol and we cannot risk it, so we stopped the evacuation,” he said.