Pro-Russian separatists said Ukrainian forces had tried to block the humanitarian corridor from the chemical plant to the separatist-controlled city, RIA Novosti reported.
As many as 1,200 civilians may be on the shelter of the Nitrogen chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city where one of the fiercest battles of the war between Russian and Ukrainian forces is raging, a pro-Russian separatist has said.
Russian forces are trying to quell Ukrainian resistance in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sheverodonetsk as part of a broader effort to oust Kiev’s forces from the two Russian-backed separatist regions, which it has recognized as independent states.
Pro-Russian separatists say Ukrainian forces have tried to block the humanitarian corridor starting in chemical factory to the city controlled by the separatists, as reported by the RIA news agency.
“About 1,000 to 1,200 civilians in Sheverodonetsk may still be in the area of ​​the Nitrogen chemical plant,” Rodion Mirosnik, an official with the pro-Russian separatist administration in the Luhansk People’s Republic, told the Telegram.
Mirosnik said the civilians were in the part of the factory that continues to be controlled by Ukrainian forces, which he said number up to 2,000 people, including Ukrainians and foreign fighters.
Ukraine has said the number of civilians at the plant is closer to 500.
Russia said today it had rejected a request by Ukraine for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians to Kyiv-controlled territories, citing the destruction of the last bridge over the Seversky Donetsk River, which blocks the city’s eastern exits.
“We urge the nationalist fighters and the foreign mercenaries at the Nitrogen plant to cease hostilities,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian “fighters”, as he described them, had deliberately sent civilians to the Nitrogen plant and that they were using them as human shields.
Reuters has not been able to independently confirm this claim. Ukraine has denied Russian allegations that it uses civilians as human shields.
The Russian humanitarian corridor north to the city of Swatove is supposed to be open until tonight, the Ministry of Defense said.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that the main immediate reason for what he calls a “special military operation” is to protect Donbass Russian-speakers from persecution and attack by Ukraine.
Ukraine and its Western allies claim that Russia is waging an unprovoked war against a sovereign state that is fighting for its existence. Kyiv says Russia’s claim of persecution of Russian-speakers is an unfounded pretext for the invasion.
