While major cities in Ukraine are starting to fall to Russian forces, Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy is growing increasingly frustrated that NATO  refuses to impose a no-fly zone over his country.

Zelenskyy told NATO that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you.”

NATO’s secretary general said that the only way to implement a no-fly zone would be to send NATO forces with the authority to shoot down Russian aircraft, which could spark a major war in Europe.

The Russian defence ministry is saying troops will observe a ceasefire in two areas of Ukraine to allow civilians to escape. Evacuation routes are running in the areas of Mariupol and Volnovakha. There is no such area for the capital of Kyiv, which has been basically under siege for several days from forces in the north and in recent days, forces edging closer from the east.

Meanwhile, prime minister Justin Trudeau said sanctions that are being imposed by Canada and other western countries are working, and are demonstrating to Russian president Vladimir Putin that it was a mistake to invade Ukraine.

Trudeau is headed to Europe for talks with leaders in the United Kingdom, Latvia, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland this week.

There is a concern from former Canadian military officials that Canada’s air defence in the north has become obsolete. The North Warning System was built to find Russian bombers from the arctic but missiles in modern days have much longer ranges. The matter was discussed at a U.S. Congressional committee earlier this week.