On Monday, Russia introduced new “humanitarian corridors” to transport trapped civilians to Russia and its ally, Belarus. The move was immediately denounced as an “immoral stunt” by Kyiv.
After two days of failed ceasefire, Russia’s announced new humanitarian corridors came to allow civilians to flee the city of Mariupol, where thousands are stuck under relentless bombardment.
The defense ministry said that the humanitarian “corridors” would flee the city of Mariupol, the capital Kyiv, and the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy. The ministry also said that an airlift would be provided from Kyiv to Russia by Moscow.
As per the maps published by RIA News Agency, the corridor from Kyiv would head to Belarus, and in the meantime, civilians from Kharkiv would be escorted to Russia.
The ministry said, “Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilized world…are useless this time.”
The move was called “immoral” by a spokesperson for the Ukrainian President, saying that Russia was trying to “use people’s suffering to create a television picture.” He also said that “They are citizens of Ukraine; they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine.”
Amid the ongoing invasion, Zelensky adviser Mihkhalio Podolyak said in a social media post,
Oil prices soared to their highest levels since 2008 in Asia.
‘No peaceful place on this Earth‘
International attention has focused on Irpin, a Kyiv suburb where residents have been scrambling across a river to flee Russian bombardment. In a speech to the nation late on Sunday, Zelenskyy described one family cut down there as they tried to escape.
Russians responsible for such atrocities would never be forgiven, he said. “For you there will be no peaceful place on this earth, except for the grave.”
In a later address, Zelenskyy called for a blanket ban on trade with Moscow: “Boycott imports to Russia. If they do not adhere to civilised rules, then they should not receive goods and services from civilisation. Let the war feed them.”
The United Nations called for safe passage to reach people cut off from lifesaving aid across Ukraine. In a humanitarian update it described one psychiatric hospital 60 km from Kyiv, running out of water and medicine with 670 people trapped inside, including bedridden patients with severe needs.
“Apparently, it’s a pleasure for our friends to sit in a cosy cafe in Paris, Berlin, New York, or Budapest, slowly drinking coffee with a croissant and looking at photographs of Ukrainian cities that are being destroyed at that very moment. But our cities, dying, are still fighting.”
Edited by: Kiran Maharana
Published by: Pawan Rajput
