Russia is opening six humanitarian corridors in Ukraine on Monday, halting hostilities from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700GMT) to let civilians leave battle zones, the Defense Ministry announced.
One corridor will be opened from the capital Kyiv to the city of Gostomel, two from the port city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine as well as Rostov-on-Don, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a daily briefing in Moscow.
Two more safe passages will connect the city of Sumy with the Ukrainian city of Poltava and the Russian city of Belgorod, and also the city of Kharkiv with Belgorod.
Konashenkov added that detailed information about humanitarian corridors was provided to the Ukrainian leadership as well as the relevant bodies of the UN, International Red Cross, and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“When humanitarian corridors are opened, the armed forces of the Russian Federation will carry out continuous objective control of evacuation with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said.
Konashenkov also said that Ukrainian nationalists continue using civilians as human shields.
He said that on Sunday in Mariupol, pro-Russian Donetsk servicemen from an area of eastern Ukraine that Russia recognizes as independent were clashing with “Ukrainian armed nationalists. The militants were pushing more than 150 civilians in front of them as ‘human shields,’ hiding behind them’.”
“The Ukrainian nationalists opened fire from behind the backs of civilians. As a result of shooting by Ukrainian Nazis, 4 civilians were killed and 5 wounded,” Konashenkov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed his country’s war in Ukraine is meant to “denazify” the country’s government.
According to the spokesman, 16 more settlements fell under the control of the Russian military and rebel forces of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On Sunday evening, Ukraine’s three Su-27 and one Su-25 fighter jets, two Mi-24 helicopters, eight unmanned aerial vehicles, three air defense systems, and two radar stations were shot down, he said.
“In total, 2,396 objects of the military infrastructure of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation. Among them 82 control and communication centers of the Ukrainian armed forces, 119 air defense systems S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa, and 76 radar stations.
“Also, 827 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 84 multiple rocket launchers, 304 field artillery and mortar guns, 603 units of special military vehicles, as well as 78 unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed,” he added.
The Russia-Ukraine war began on Feb. 24 and has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.
After two rounds of peace talks, Russia and Ukraine had agreed to establish humanitarian corridors in Mariupol.
However, no civilian was able to use them, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, because the Ukrainian nationalists did not allow anyone to leave, while the Ukrainian Security Service said it was because Russia did not stop hostilities across Ukraine.
Commenting on Monday’s Russian Defense Ministry statement, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk opposed opening humanitarian corridors, saying: “The talks should continue, but not between the militaries.”
Russian defense minister meets with UN representatives in Moscow
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu met with UN representatives in Moscow as previously agreed in a phone call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a Defense Ministry statement.
The sides discussed the parties’ interaction to solve humanitarian problems in Ukraine, the ministry said.
According to senior defense official Mikhail Mizintsev, Kyiv has demanded three safe corridors in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions from settlements that are currently under control of the Russian Armed Forces, but the locals do not want the corridors.
“None of the residents of these settlements expressed a desire to evacuate, people live peacefully in their homes, they are not in danger,” he said.
Another demand for evacuation from settlements in Izyum and Bakaleya is impossible, he said, because the Russian military have no authority there, as both communities are under the control of “nationalists battalions.”
Mizintsev said Ukrainian authorities did not even tell civilians about a possibility of leaving the war zone, and even threatened to shoot peaceful civilians willing to abandon the area.
Mizintsev said Kyiv is “blatantly lying,” saying that Russia is failing to comply with the conditions for ensuring the security of humanitarian corridors.
“These are outright provocations, lies, and deception,” he said.
As proof, Russia works “intensively” with all interested parties, including the UN, OSCE, and International Committee of the Red Cross, he said, calling on the international bodies to use “all the power, all the potential” to make the Ukrainian authorities to fulfill humanitarian obligations enshrined in the Geneva Convention.
Source: Anadolu Agency