Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s largest airline tells customers that flights will be suspended through at least May 31 as Russia’s attacks on the country continue. Ukraine International Airlines had previously scrapped all flights through April 15.

“Given the difficult situation under martial law, the air carrier draws attention to the possibility of forced delays and feedback complications on the service channels of communication with passengers and counts on understanding,” the carrier said.

The war has closed the airspace over Ukraine. Reciprocal sanctions with Russia have meant longer flights as airlines avoid Russian airspace and vice versa and roiled the aviation market with hundreds of foreign-owned planes stuck in the country.

— Leslie Josephs

Members of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps fight against Russian troops in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

Three humanitarian corridors have been opened in Ukraine on Tuesday, according to Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

The corridors will allow civilians to evacuate from the cities of Melitopol and Mariupol, with two separate routes operating in the latter to allow evacuations via government-run buses or private transport.

It comes after no humanitarian corridors were opened on Monday, with Ukrainian officials saying they feared a Russian attack on evacuation routes was looming.

— Chloe Taylor

Maksym Kozytskiy, governor of Ukraine’s Lviv region, said Tuesday that Ukraine’s air defense systems had shot down three missiles over the district of Zolochiv — around 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of the city of Lviv.

Kozytskiy said there was no threat to residents of the Zolochiv district and that no one was hurt in the incident.  

Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, had until recently avoided being the scene of active hostilities, with many Ukrainians settling there after fleeing conflict zones elsewhere in the country. According to Kozytskiy, more than 257,000 Ukrainians have resettled in the Lviv region since the beginning of the war.

— Chloe Taylor

“The Russian enemy continues to insidiously launch missile and bomb strikes, trying to completely destroy the infrastructure and residential areas of Ukrainian cities,” Ukraine’s armed forces said in an update on Tuesday.

“It concentrates on fuel storage, in order to complicate logistics and create conditions for a humanitarian crisis.”

The update accused Moscow’s forces of violating international humanitarian law in “temporarily occupied” settlements in the regions of Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Kherson and Kharkiv. According to the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian troops were continuing to shell residential buildings, and were taking hostages and engaging in looting across Ukraine.

A spokesperson for the Russian government was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Officials said Ukrainian forces had held off several Russian attacks on Monday, noting that Russian forces were continuing their attempt to gain ground from the east, southeast and northeast.

— Chloe Taylor

Russian state-controlled news agency RIA has reported that…