Russia-Ukraine live updates: Temporary cease-fire announced for ‘humanitarian corridors’ in 2 cities

World landmarks continued to light up in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine’s flag, as the country faced its 10th day of fighting since the start of the Russian invasion.

Landmarks from the Sydney Opera House in Australia to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Empire State Building in New York lit up this week in a show of solidarity with the Eastern European country.

So far, the conflict has forced 1 million people to flee the country since it began, with thousands of others displaced internally, according to the United Nations.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), when announcing a dozen landmarks there would be lit up in support of Ukraine, said her state stands ready to welcome refugees fleeing that country.

“New York is the proud home of the largest Ukrainian population in the United States and we condemn the unjust and unconscionable violence being perpetrated against the people of Ukraine,” Hochul said.

Ivan Kolpakov, editor in chief of Meduza, one of Russia’s most popular independent media outlets, had been expecting the government to block the public’s access to his website every day since the war with Ukraine began.

On Friday morning it finally happened. But then Russia’s parliament went further, passing a law banning what it considers “fake” news about the military, including any rhetoric that calls the invasion of Ukraine an “invasion” — the preferred language is “special military operation” — with a potential 15-year prison sentence. Putin signed it into law hours later.

“Our sources say they are likely to use this against journalists,” said Kolpakov, speaking from a location he would not disclose. “They can use it against journalists and why wouldn’t they? They decided to destroy the industry entirely.”

Kolpakov, whose website is based in Latvia, began what he called “an urgent evacuation” of his Russian staff.

Similar scenarios are currently playing out at countless independent media outlets across Russia, a nation that has never had a fully welcoming attitude toward a free press.

Ukraine’s embassy in Senegal has stopped recruiting local volunteers for the fight against Russia’s invasion force after Senegalese officials condemned the effort this week.

In a Thursday statement on Facebook, the embassy in Dakar said it was grateful to the Senegalese nationals who had already volunteered. But, it said, because of the Senegalese government’s opposition, the embassy would now stop registering volunteers.

Officials in Senegal, a French-speaking West African country of 17 million people, summoned Ukrainian ambassador Yurii Pyvovarov to inquire about the embassy’s efforts to recruit their citizens to fight in Ukraine against Russia. In a statement on Thursday, Senegal’s foreign ministry also said those efforts are illegal and punishable, adding that 36 people had signed up.

Senegal was one of 17 African countries that abstained from a United Nations vote rebuking the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said 16,000 foreigners have signed up to fight for Ukraine. In an emotional video posted to his Telegram channel, he referred to the “international legion” of volunteers he has sought to “join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world.”

Ukraine’s recruitment efforts have stirred controversy in the United Kingdom. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she would support British nationals going to Ukraine to fight. However, the U.K. Foreign Office has warned that Britons who fight in Ukraine may be prosecuted upon their return home.

A chilling video published on Friday shows the moment a team of Sky News journalists came under gunfire while driving through Ukraine — highlighting the increasing violence in an invasion that has killed hundreds of civilians.

Sky News foreign correspondent Stuart Ramsay and his team of four were attacked Monday after being ambushed by “a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad,” according to Ramsay’s account of the incident.

The group was on its way to the town of Bucha, about 18 miles away from Kyiv. Near an intersection, the pop of a small explosion is heard. “It’s the tire, isn’t it?” producer Dominique Van Heerden is heard wondering out loud.

But when the car comes to a stop, that is the moment “our world turned upside down,” Ramsay wrote. The crackle of a cascade of gunfire can be heard as flashes of bullets fly through the car, the video shows.

“At this stage we thought it was a Ukrainian army checkpoint firing at us and that it was a mistake, so we started screaming we were journalists, but the rounds kept coming,” Ramsay said.

With bullets flying, the group eventually managed to escape from the car. They jumped down a 40-foot embankment at the side of the road, where Ramsay said he landed “like a sack of potatoes.”

According to Ramsay, they found refuge in a garage, while the sound of gunfire rattled outside. The five journalists were eventually rescued by Ukrainian police the next morning, when it was “pitch-black outside.”

Ramsay was wounded after being shot in the back. Camera operator Richie Mockler took two rounds to his body armor during the ordeal. In Ukraine, the U.N. human rights office said Friday that at least 331 civilians had been killed, while Ukraine’s emergency services put the number of civilian fatalities much higher, at more than 2,000.

“The point is we were very lucky,” Ramsay wrote. “But thousands of Ukrainians are dying, and families are being targeted by Russian hit squads just as we were, driving along in a family saloon and attacked.”

“This war gets worse by the day,” he added.

Several U.S. media organizations said Friday that they would limit activity in Russia, hours after President Vladimir Putin signed a measure into law criminalizing news coverage that accurately portrays the country’s bloody incursion into Ukraine as an “invasion.”

Bloomberg said it will “temporarily suspend our news gathering inside Russia,” according to a statement from editor in chief John Micklethwait. “The change to the criminal code, which seems designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association, makes it impossible to continue any semblance of normal journalism inside the country.”

Western news outlets curb reporting, broadcasts in Russia as Putin signs law cracking down on Ukraine coverage

CBS and ABC both said they would not broadcast from Russia at least for the day because of the new regulations, which ABC described in a statement as a “censorship law.” Both cited concerns about the safety of their reporting teams and said they will continue to assess the situation.

CNN, meanwhile, said the network “will stop broadcasting in Russia” — effectively cutting off its signal in the country — “while we continue to evaluate the situation and our next steps moving forward.”

Their decisions followed an announcement earlier Friday from Britain’s BBC that it would suspend coverage from Russia after Russia’s communications watchdog said it had blocked access to the network and several other foreign news organizations’ websites for spreading what it called “false information” about the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

It’s unclear how much these policies will affect the ability of Western news organizations to report on the ongoing conflict in neighboring Ukraine, where dozens of media organizations have sent correspondents to cover the Russian aggression.

But Putin’s measures have already been devastating to Russian independent newspapers, TV and radio stations within the country, many of which have shuttered or sent its staff out of the country.

China’s state-run broadcaster censored part of the Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremonies in Beijing on Friday, when an official speech turned critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking emphatically, International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said he “must” begin with a message of peace.

“As the leader of an organization with inclusion at its core, with diversity celebrated and differences embraced, I am horrified at what is taking place in the world right now,” Parsons said in English. “The 21st century is a time for dialogue and diplomacy, not war and hate!”

The China Central Television announcer cut in, saying in Chinese that Parsons had said the IPC aspired to a better and more inclusive world, free from discrimination, hate and ignorance.

It was the latest effort from China to avoid direct criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, even as Beijing has expressed alarm over the growing violence. One Chinese national was hit by gunfire while trying to leave the country.

Video, verified by The Washington Post, shows evidence of damage to a covered walkway about 250 feet from a building that houses a nuclear reactor at the Zaporizhzhia power plant.

The video first shows a long, thin object twisted on the ground. It appears similar to the vertical components that line the east side of the walkway. Puddles of unknown liquid are visible, as the camera moves further south. An empty tube that appears to be an expended munition casing lies on the ground near a slatted side of the walkway, and on the other side, the window facing the reactor is cracked. Nearby, the sky is visible through at least two holes in the roof. The floor immediately beneath them is discolored and covered in debris.

The footage surfaced less than 24 hours after Russian forces took control of the Enerhodar facility and was filmed approximately 1,800 feet from where a fire blazed and heavy fighting occurred about 2 a.m. Friday, local time.