Here are the top developments of the day on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

  1. Ukraine on Monday rejected Russia’s demand to direct its forces to lay down their arms and raise white flags in Mariupol in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city, according to Ukrayinska Pravda, a Ukrainian newspaper. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said surrender was “out of question”.
  2. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “so far significant movement has not been achieved” in the talks between Ukraine and Russia, reported the Associated Press. The two sides held a 90-minute-long video conference on Monday. 
  3. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged leaders of European countries to stop all trade with Russia in a bid to pressure Moscow to halt its military assault on his country, reported AFP. Several European Union members have called for an embargo on Russian oil and gas imports, but Germany has opposed it. 
  4. At least eight people died after Russian forces bombed a shopping centre in Kyiv overnight, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said, reported The Guardian. The prosecutor general said that the fatality count could rise.
  5. Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the war in Ukraine will have “marginal impact” on the Indian economy, reported NDTV. He said that the prospect of stagflation in India does not arise. Stagflation is a situation where the inflation rate of a country is high, and the economic growth rate has slowed down.