Thousands of people are trapped between the different fronts when the attempt to create corridors that guarantee a safe evacuation fails again
As of this Monday morning, Russian troops established a ceasefire with the intention of promoting the evacuation of civilians from Kiev, Mariupol, Kharkov, Sumy and other locations, precisely those most affected by the bombing, through humanitarian corridors. This was stated by the Interdepartmental Office for Humanitarian Response, explaining that such a measure was taken “given the prevailing catastrophic humanitarian situation and its strong deterioration” and due to the personal request in this regard from the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, to Vladimir Putin.
These corridors would carry out the evacuation from Kiev to the Belarusian city of Gomel, from Mariúpol to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and from Kharkov and Sumy to the Russian city of Belgorod. Transportation was planned by buses and, once at their first destinations, the refugees would be sent by road, rail or plane to other “temporary accommodation” points in different regions of Russia.
The humanitarian office indicated that all the information on the operation was transferred to the UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “We demand that the Ukrainian side strictly adhere to all conditions for the creation of humanitarian corridors in the listed areas and ensure an organized withdrawal of civilians and foreign citizens,” the statement said.
The Russian Army “will carry out continuous monitoring of the evacuation, including through the use of unmanned aerial devices. Therefore, we warn that all attempts by the Ukrainian side to once again deceive Russia and the entire civilized world by interrupting the humanitarian operation, allegedly because of the Russian Federation, this time will be useless and meaningless,” the note warned. .
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk replied that “they want our citizens to go to Russia.” Vereshuk deplored that it is an “absurd, cynical and unacceptable” proposal and asked the public to pay attention only to the information published by the Kiev authorities through official channels.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s Administration issued its own statement stating that “we have already had two agreements with Russia on humanitarian corridors from Mariupol and Volnovaya, which were violated by Russia. They would have allowed the evacuation of more than 200,000 civilians. Indeed, the attempts to expel the population of Mariupol and Volnovaya, the first Saturday and the Sunday after, failed. Moscow and Kiev blamed each other for the fiasco.
Reinforcement of positions
The Ukrainian Presidency, which accuses Russia of using the humanitarian corridors as a pretext to “strengthen its own military positions in the task of completely conquering Ukraine”, stressed that “there are dozens of cities in eight regions where the humanitarian situation is catastrophic” .
Kiev also highlighted that, in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, the mediators in the coordination process of the corridors must be a “third party” not involved in the conflict and calls for taking the lead in humanitarian aid to the G7 countries. .
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in a statement distributed through Facebook, denounced yesterday that Russian troops “violate the norms of International Humanitarian Law, bombing civilians (…) with rockets and artillery attacks.” “They take women and children hostage, place equipment and ammunition in residential neighborhoods of cities and artificially create a real humanitarian crisis in the occupied areas,” it noted in its daily report. He added that the Moscow units “have been depriving the inhabitants of the town of Irpin of electricity and water for three days,” next to Kiev. He argued that they are not allowed to leave their homes either, so they cannot stock up on food.
no progress
The advisor to the Ukrainian Presidency, Oleksiy Arestovich, stated that “the enemy has not managed to advance in any sector” while the Army, he stressed, “manages to recover some occupied areas in Kharkov” such as the town of Chuguev. He further reported that Kiev, Kharkov, Mariupol, Sumy, Chernigov and Yitormir remain under fire from Russian missiles and artillery, but “resist”. Local authorities yesterday reported another eight civilians killed in Kharkov and serious damage to the building that houses the OSCE representation in Mariupol.
Tuzla, a town near the port of Odessa, was attacked with missiles from a Russian ship in the Black Sea at dawn yesterday, according to the military command, which has been interpreted as the possible preparation of an operation to take the city as already warned. Zelensky on Sunday. He also reports the sinking of one of the Russian ships from where the shots were allegedly carried out.
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