Kyiv, Mar 15 (AP) The city council of Mariupol says that some 2,000 civilian cars have managed to leave the besieged Ukrainian port city via a so-called humanitarian corridor leading west.

The council said another 2,000 cars are in the city but waiting to leave along the route, which runs for more than 260 kilometers to the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia.

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Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media the corridor would be open from 8 pm local time Tuesday to 7 am Thursday.

The council advised drivers to spend the night somewhere along the route rather than drive straight through, unless they are already close to Zaporizhzhia by evening.

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It was not immediately clear if the total number of cars which had left was for Tuesday only, or if it included 160 cars which left the day before.

The city council said nearly 300 people had arrived in Zaporizhzhia as of Tuesday morning, fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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London: Britain has announced new sanctions against 350 Russian individuals and entities, hours after Parliament approved legislation allowing the government to take action against people already sanctioned by the US, European Union and Canada.

Those sanctioned include a number of Russian oligarchs, including Alfa Group co-founders Mikhail Fridman and German Khan, as well as former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, and some of the top governmental spokespeople who have been instrumental in spreading President Vladimir Putin's propaganda.

Parliament met into the early hours of Tuesday morning to pass a new economic crime bill that made it easier for the government to impose sanctions on those linked to the invasion of Ukraine.

The UK has joined the US and European Union in levelling economic sanctions against Putin, Russia's financial system and the wealthy oligarchs who support the regime in an effort to cut off financing for the war in Ukraine.

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Rome: The Italian premier and US President Joe Biden's national security adviser have agreed on the need to continue “a decisive and unified response” to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Premier Mario Draghi's office said he met with US adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday, a day after Sullivan met with a top Chinese official in Rome and warned him about China's support for Russia in the war.

Draghi's office said the premier and Sullivan both condemned the “unjustified aggression by Russia and the need to continue pursuing a decisive and unified response to Moscow.” Both men also agreed to intensify bilateral contacts, the statement said.

NATO member Italy has backed sanctions against Moscow after initially seeking to avoid targeting the energy sector. Italy imports some 43% of its natural gas needs from Russia, up from 27% a decade ago.

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Stockholm: Sweden's minister for integration and migration says that up to one-third of Ukraine's population could flee the country after Russia invaded last month.

“What is the Swedish share then? I do not hope that we will get there,” Anders Ygeman told the Swedish news agency TT.

Sweden is haunted by a 2015 migration crisis and wants to avoid another large-scale influx of migrants.

The Scandinavian country then took in a record 163,000 people -- the highest per capita of any European country.

Last week, Swedish authorities estimated that about 4,000 Ukrainian refugees arrive in Sweden every day.

Ukraine's population numbers have ranged from between 40 million and 46 million depending on whether Crimea and separatist regions are included. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)