Russia’s Defense Ministry today accused Ukraine of failing to comply with humanitarian corridor agreements to facilitate the evacuation of civilians, Interfax news agency reported.
Russia announced new “humanitarian corridors” earlier today in order to transport to Ukraine, but also to its ally Belarus, the Ukrainians who have been trapped by the Russian bombing.
However, this move was immediately described by Kyiv as an immoral trick.
The humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from Ukrainian cities have not yet been put into operation, said today the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Verestsuk.
Kyiv rejects Moscow-proposed humanitarian corridors to Russia and Belarus evacuation of Ukrainian civilians, according to Veretsuk. A spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s proposal for a humanitarian corridor was “completely immoral”.
Verestsuk said there were almost 300,000 civilians in urgent need to leave Mariupol, which is under attack by Russian forces.
UN representatives took part in the talks, he said.
Earlier, refugees trying to escape the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol using so-called humanitarian corridors were blocked as the road to them was mined, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
Dominik Stillhart, director of operations at the ICRC, urged both military forces to reach an immediate agreement on the exact routes and times available for those seeking safe passage through the country.
Efforts to evacuate people from Mariupol collapsed for the second day in a row on Sunday, with both sides blaming each other for violating the ceasefire agreement.
At the same time, Ukrainian forces recaptured the regional airport in the southern Ukrainian region of Nikolaev from Russian forces, said today the regional governor Vitaly Kim.
“The roads are open, we control the bridges, you can safely leave Nikolaev (city) and other cities,” he said in a televised speech.
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