Europe

LVIV, Ukraine, March 8 (Reuters) - A second convoy of evacuees left the Ukrainian city of Sumy through a "humanitarian corridor" created under a temporary ceasefire agreement with Russia on Tuesday, Ukraine's deputy presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.

Earlier on Tuesday, regional authorities said the ceasefire had mostly held, allowing a first wave of evacuation of civilians including 1,000 foreign students.

BRUSSELS, March 8 (Reuters) - The European Parliament is set to approve on Wednesday a report urging the EU to ban golden passport schemes by 2025 and immediately stop the issuance of visas and passports to rich Russians in exchange for investments.

The move follows Russia's invasion of Ukraine which has triggered global sanctions of unprecedented severity against Moscow, with targets including a number of powerful and wealthy Russians seen as close to President Vladimir Putin.

BRUSSELS, March 8 (Reuters) - As Patricia Espinosa prepares to step down as U.N. climate chief, she has a warning for the world: Russia's invasion of Ukraine must not distract leaders from the escalating climate crisis.

Even as the war is causing "so much suffering", global warming remains the "most rapidly growing threat to human species on the planet", Espinosa told Reuters.

Espinosa said she planned to step down as executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when her second, three-year term ends in July.

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - The British government faced heavy criticism from all sides of parliament on Tuesday over its policy towards Ukrainian refugees after Immigration Minister Kevin Foster said Britain had so far issued 500 visas to those fleeing the Russian invasion.

Unlike European Union counterparts, Britain requires those seeking refuge from the fighting in Ukraine to have a valid visa upon arrival. It has announced two new visa routes since the Russian invasion but only one of those is currently operational.

GENEVA, March 8 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that it had verified 1,335 civilian casualties in Ukraine, including 474 killed and 861 injured, since Russia's invasion began on Feb. 24.

But the civilian toll was incomplete pending corroboration of reports, it said in a statement: "This concerns, for example, the towns of Volnovakha, Mariupol, Izium where there are allegations of hundreds of civilian casualties."

Its previous death toll for civilians killed, issued on Monday, was 406 civilians. 

GENEVA, March 8 (Reuters) - U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday that she has reached an agreement with China for a visit, "foreseen" in May, and that she had raised with Beijing the arrests of activists to support their freedom of expression.

Her visit would include a stop in the remote western region of Xinjiang, where activists say some 1 million Uyghurs have been held in mass detention, she told the Human Rights Council.

LVIV, Ukraine, March 8 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday a child had died from dehydration in Ukraine's besieged city of Mariupol, which has had no water, power or heating supplies for days.

"In 2022, from dehydration," Zelenskiy said in a video address, likening the humanitarian crisis linked to Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities to that created by the Nazi invasion during World War Two.

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address British lawmakers via videolink in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the first time a president of another country has addressed the main Westminster chamber.

Zelenskiy, who has spoken to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on several occasions since Russia invaded his country, has made a number of impassioned speeches to Western leaders in the last week, asking for supplies and military support.

MOSCOW/MINSK, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Russian and Ukrainian negotiators failed to achieve significant results during their third round of peace talks in Belarus on Monday.

"The discussions continued on political and military aspects. However, it remains difficult. It is too early to talk about something positive," Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, also the head of the Russian delegation, said following the talks.

MOSCOW, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Russian armed forces have declared a "silence regime" and the opening of humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians in Ukraine starting 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Tuesday.

"Humanitarian corridors from Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol are being opened," local media reported, citing Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov.