By Max Hunder and Michelle Nichols
(Reuters) – Ukraine on Monday refused a deal with Russia on the evacuation of civilians from a steel plant in the city of Mariupol, and pressed for the United Nations to be the “initiator and guarantor” of such a deal.
Russia said earlier on Monday it would open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the massive Azovstal steelworks, where they are sheltering with Ukrainian fighters under attack by Russian forces.
“It is important to understand that a humanitarian corridor is opened by the agreement between both sides. A unilaterally advertised corridor does not offer security and is therefore not a humanitarian corridor,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the messaging app Telegram.
Shortly after the comments, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces were attacking the plant from the air, as well as artillery and tanks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that it was unnecessary to break into the factory, where the last Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol are besieged after two months of Russian siege and bombing.
Ukraine has appealed to the UN for the organization to be “initiator and guarantor of the Azovstal humanitarian corridor for civilians,” Vereshchuk said. She said officials from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be present when any corridor is established.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who is seeking a humanitarian truce in Ukraine, is due to meet Putin in Moscow on Tuesday and Zelenskiy in Kiev on Thursday.
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