KYIV: Russia plans to open humanitarian corridors Ukraine It was on Tuesday for citizens to flee besieged cities, but Kyiv insisted the move was a publicity stunt and people would not be able to escape.
Moscow’s offer to evacuate residents was condemned as most of the route went to Russia or its ally Belarus, and the invading forces maintained a disastrous shelling campaign.
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the war, that Russia is increasing its troops and equipment around main conflict zones.
The invasion has sparked the biggest war in Europe and the continent’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II, while the West responds to sanctions on Russia that are reverberating around the global economy.
Russia’s defense ministry said it would open a “humanitarian corridor” from 0700 GMT on Tuesday, subject to Ukraine’s approval, listing routes from the capital Kyiv as well as the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy – all of which have been heavily attacked .
Ukraine did not initially respond to the offer.
But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of backing out of previous escape route agreements and trying to stop people like planting explosives on the streets.
“There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors. Did that work? Russian tanks worked in their place, Russian Grads (multiple rocket launchers), Russian mines,” Zelensky said in a video posted to Telegram.
Accusing Moscow of “cynicism”, Zelensky also said that Russian troops destroyed buses that were meant to evacuate civilians from war zones.
“They make sure that a small corridor to the occupied territory is open to a few dozen people. Not so much toward Russia as to the preachers, directly to the television cameras,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned the Russian plan.
“It’s not all that serious, it’s moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable,” Macron told French broadcaster LCI.
“I don’t know a lot of Ukrainians who want to go to Russia,” he said, adding that full ceasefire corridors were necessary to protect civilians.
Addressing the Security Council, Martin Griffiths, the top UN humanitarian official, also said that citizens should be allowed to go as they wish.
According to the United Nations, at least 406 civilians have been killed since the start of Russia’s attack on its former Soviet neighbour, although it believes the actual figures are “significantly higher”.
Ukrainian forces said on Tuesday they had repelled a Russian attack on the city of Izium in the Kharkiv region, and outgoing troops are trying to stop a Russian push from the east and south in an attempt to encircle Kyiv.
The Russian military “inflicted losses and retreated” in Izium when they “reigned a reign of terror in the city by bombing civilian premises and infrastructure,” the military said.
AFP journalists on Monday saw thousands of civilians fleeing from Irpin, a western suburb of Kyiv, through an unofficial escape route towards the capital.
Children and the elderly were carried on rugs used as stretchers along the way, leading to a temporary bridge and along the same path secured by the military and volunteers.
Desperate people left pushchairs and heavy suitcases to board buses outside the war zone.
“We had no lights in the house, no water, we were just sitting in the basement,” 54-year-old Inna Sherbaniova, an economist at Irpin, told AFP.
“The explosions were going on constantly … There are cars near our house, there were dead people in one of them … Very scary.”
The ICRC said on Monday that refugees trying to escape the city using consensual escape routes were left stranded because the road towards which they were directed was mined.
A Ukrainian paratrooper said of the “hand-to-hand” fighting in Irpin, “We’re trying to drive out (Russian troops), but I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it at all”.
An international army of volunteers has landed in Ukraine to fight the Russians.
But the Pentagon said on Monday that Moscow was on a recruitment mission for foreign fighters of its own – Syrians who had fought for President Bashar al-Assad.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, “We believe there is truth to what we believe about the Russians looking for Syrian fighters to increase their forces in Ukraine.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he would not send soldiers or reservists to fight in the conflict.
According to the Ukrainian parliament, Zelensky has withdrawn all troops working abroad to fight the invading forces.
He again vowed to remain near the capital as the Russian army.
“I’m living in Kyiv. I’m not hiding. And I’m not afraid of anyone,” he said in a video late Monday.
He added that his government would “do as much as it can to win this war!”
The World Bank on Monday approved an additional $489 million package in support of Ukraine, which will be made available immediately and will be dubbed “financing the recovery from the economic emergency in Ukraine” or “Free Ukraine”.
It came as Zelensky called for a boycott of Russian exports from the West, especially oil, and to enforce a no-fly zone to prevent genocide.
NATO countries have so far rejected Kyiv’s demand for a no-fly zone, fearing a wider war against nuclear-armed Russia.
Instead Western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires to pressure Moscow to halt the attack.
But the leaders of Germany, Britain and the Netherlands warned on Monday against sanctions on Russian oil, saying it could jeopardize Europe’s energy security.
A spokeswoman for US President Joe Biden said no decision had been taken, while Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that any oil embargo would have “disastrous consequences” on prices that had already hit record highs of 2008. have progressed.
Putin equated sanctions with a declaration of war and put nuclear forces on alert, pledging to “neutralize” Ukraine “either through talks or through war”.
Protests continue in Russia against the invasion of Ukraine, with more than 10,000 people arrested since it began, despite harsh punishments for dissent.
Moscow’s offer to evacuate residents was condemned as most of the route went to Russia or its ally Belarus, and the invading forces maintained a disastrous shelling campaign.
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the war, that Russia is increasing its troops and equipment around main conflict zones.
The invasion has sparked the biggest war in Europe and the continent’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II, while the West responds to sanctions on Russia that are reverberating around the global economy.
Russia’s defense ministry said it would open a “humanitarian corridor” from 0700 GMT on Tuesday, subject to Ukraine’s approval, listing routes from the capital Kyiv as well as the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy – all of which have been heavily attacked .
Ukraine did not initially respond to the offer.
But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of backing out of previous escape route agreements and trying to stop people like planting explosives on the streets.
“There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors. Did that work? Russian tanks worked in their place, Russian Grads (multiple rocket launchers), Russian mines,” Zelensky said in a video posted to Telegram.
Accusing Moscow of “cynicism”, Zelensky also said that Russian troops destroyed buses that were meant to evacuate civilians from war zones.
“They make sure that a small corridor to the occupied territory is open to a few dozen people. Not so much toward Russia as to the preachers, directly to the television cameras,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned the Russian plan.
“It’s not all that serious, it’s moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable,” Macron told French broadcaster LCI.
“I don’t know a lot of Ukrainians who want to go to Russia,” he said, adding that full ceasefire corridors were necessary to protect civilians.
Addressing the Security Council, Martin Griffiths, the top UN humanitarian official, also said that citizens should be allowed to go as they wish.
According to the United Nations, at least 406 civilians have been killed since the start of Russia’s attack on its former Soviet neighbour, although it believes the actual figures are “significantly higher”.
Ukrainian forces said on Tuesday they had repelled a Russian attack on the city of Izium in the Kharkiv region, and outgoing troops are trying to stop a Russian push from the east and south in an attempt to encircle Kyiv.
The Russian military “inflicted losses and retreated” in Izium when they “reigned a reign of terror in the city by bombing civilian premises and infrastructure,” the military said.
AFP journalists on Monday saw thousands of civilians fleeing from Irpin, a western suburb of Kyiv, through an unofficial escape route towards the capital.
Children and the elderly were carried on rugs used as stretchers along the way, leading to a temporary bridge and along the same path secured by the military and volunteers.
Desperate people left pushchairs and heavy suitcases to board buses outside the war zone.
“We had no lights in the house, no water, we were just sitting in the basement,” 54-year-old Inna Sherbaniova, an economist at Irpin, told AFP.
“The explosions were going on constantly … There are cars near our house, there were dead people in one of them … Very scary.”
The ICRC said on Monday that refugees trying to escape the city using consensual escape routes were left stranded because the road towards which they were directed was mined.
A Ukrainian paratrooper said of the “hand-to-hand” fighting in Irpin, “We’re trying to drive out (Russian troops), but I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it at all”.
An international army of volunteers has landed in Ukraine to fight the Russians.
But the Pentagon said on Monday that Moscow was on a recruitment mission for foreign fighters of its own – Syrians who had fought for President Bashar al-Assad.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, “We believe there is truth to what we believe about the Russians looking for Syrian fighters to increase their forces in Ukraine.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he would not send soldiers or reservists to fight in the conflict.
According to the Ukrainian parliament, Zelensky has withdrawn all troops working abroad to fight the invading forces.
He again vowed to remain near the capital as the Russian army.
“I’m living in Kyiv. I’m not hiding. And I’m not afraid of anyone,” he said in a video late Monday.
He added that his government would “do as much as it can to win this war!”
The World Bank on Monday approved an additional $489 million package in support of Ukraine, which will be made available immediately and will be dubbed “financing the recovery from the economic emergency in Ukraine” or “Free Ukraine”.
It came as Zelensky called for a boycott of Russian exports from the West, especially oil, and to enforce a no-fly zone to prevent genocide.
NATO countries have so far rejected Kyiv’s demand for a no-fly zone, fearing a wider war against nuclear-armed Russia.
Instead Western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires to pressure Moscow to halt the attack.
But the leaders of Germany, Britain and the Netherlands warned on Monday against sanctions on Russian oil, saying it could jeopardize Europe’s energy security.
A spokeswoman for US President Joe Biden said no decision had been taken, while Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that any oil embargo would have “disastrous consequences” on prices that had already hit record highs of 2008. have progressed.
Putin equated sanctions with a declaration of war and put nuclear forces on alert, pledging to “neutralize” Ukraine “either through talks or through war”.
Protests continue in Russia against the invasion of Ukraine, with more than 10,000 people arrested since it began, despite harsh punishments for dissent.