Vladimir Putin says Western sanctions on Russia are almost a declaration of WAR

Vladimir Putin said today that Western sanctions on Russia are almost a declaration of war and that anyone imposing a no-fly zone on Ukraine would be considered to have entered the conflict. 

He reiterated that his aims are to defend Russian speaking communities through the ‘demilitarisation and de-Nazification’ of the country so that it became neutral.

Ukraine and Western countries have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for the invasion he launched on February 24 and have imposed a sweeping range of sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow.

Speaking to a group of flight attendants at an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow, Putin said: ‘These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that.’ 

His comments came as a ceasefire to evacuate residents from two cities in Ukraine quickly fell apart, with officials saying work to remove civilians had halted amid shelling hours after Russia announced the deal. 

He said any attempt by another power to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict. 

NATO has rejected Kyiv’s request for a no-fly zone, on the grounds it would escalate the war beyond Ukraine.

Putin said there were no conscripts involved in the military operation, which he said was being carried out only by professional soldiers.

‘There is not one conscript and we don’t plan for there to be,’ Putin said. ‘Our army will fulfil all the tasks. I don’t doubt that at all. Everything is going to plan.’

Putin dismissed concerns that some sort of martial law or emergency situation could be declared in Russia. He said such a measure was imposed only when there was significant internal or external threat.

‘We don’t plan to introduce any kind of special regime on Russian territory – there is currently no need,’ Putin said.

His government has clamped down on protests in Russia against the war.

The Russian defence ministry said early on Saturday that it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces for Mariupol, a strategic port in the south-east, and the eastern city of Volnovakha.

The vaguely worded statement did not make clear how long the routes would remain open.

But a short time later, Mr Zelensky’s office said the ceasefire had already failed.

Deputy head of his office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said: ‘The Russian side is not holding to the ceasefire and has continued firing on Mariupol itself and on its surrounding area.

‘Talks with the Russian Federation are ongoing regarding setting up a ceasefire and ensuring a safe humanitarian corridor.’

Russia breached the deal in Volnovakha as well, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk told reporters.

‘We appeal to the Russian side to stop firing,’ she said.

Russian outlet RIA Novosti carried a Russian defence ministry claim that the firing came from inside both communities against Russian positions.

The struggle to enforce the ceasefire shows the fragility of efforts to stop fighting across Ukraine as people continue to flee the country by the thousands.

Mr Zelensky said: ‘We are doing everything on our part to make the agreement work. This is one of the main tasks for today. Let’s see if we can go further in the negotiation process.’

Mariupol had become the scene of growing misery amid days of shelling that knocked out power and most phone service and raised the prospect of food and water shortages for hundreds of thousands of people in freezing weather.

Pharmacies are out of medicine, Doctors Without Borders said.

The head of Ukraine’s security council, Oleksiy Danilov, had urged Russia to create humanitarian corridors to allow children, women and the older adults to flee the fighting, calling them ‘question number one’.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continue as US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Poland to meet the prime minister and foreign minister, a day after attending a Nato meeting in Brussels in which the alliance pledged to step up support for eastern flank members.

Aeroflot, Russia’s flagship state-owned airline, announced that it plans to halt all international flights, except to Belarus, starting on Tuesday in the wake of Western sanctions imposed on Russia.

The country’s aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, had recommended that all Russian airlines with foreign-leased planes halt passenger and cargo flights abroad to prevent the aircraft from being impounded.

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.

And in a warning of a hunger crisis yet to come, the UN World Food Programme says millions of people inside Ukraine, a major global wheat supplier, will need food aid ‘immediately’.

Mr Zelensky was set to brief US senators Saturday by video conference as US congress considers a request for 10 billion dollars (£7.5 billion) in emergency funding for humanitarian aid and security needs.

In a video message to anti-war protesters in several European cities, Mr Zelensky appealed for help, warning: ‘If we fall, you will fall.’