Putin likens Western sanctions to war as Russia's Ukraine offensive traps civilians

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it understood that evacuations of civilians from both Mariupol and Volnovakha would not now start on Saturday

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western sanctions were akin to war on Saturday as his forces pressed on with their assault on Ukraine, where planned civilian evacuations from two besieged cities were called off.

Russia and Ukraine traded blame over the failure to provide safe passage to civilians fleeing the two bombarded cities, on the 10th day of a war that has fuelled Europe's biggest humanitarian disaster in decades.