From politico.com by Eugene Daniels on the latest in Ukraine, Washington, and Russia:

IN UKRAINE …

— “Russian forces continued to shell the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Saturday, despite agreeing to a ceasefire just hours earlier — throwing an attempted mass evacuation of civilians into chaos,” reports the BBC.

“Due to the fact that the Russian side is not sticking to the ceasefire and continues to shoot Mariupol itself and the outskirts, the evacuation has been postponed,” a statement from Mariupol authorities read. Meanwhile, Russian officials “said civilians had not used the escape routes from Mariupol and Volnovakha and accused Ukrainian authorities of preventing people from leaving.”

From Politico Playbook by Eugene Daniels:

BREAKING: Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN has ordered the country’s nuclear deterrent forces to be on high alert or “a special regime of duty.”

— Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY agrees to peace talks.Statement after his phoner today with the President of Belarus, ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO:

“We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River.

“Alexander Lukashenko has taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks and return.” (Translation via Google) (The latest from our team in Brussels)