Refugees, mostly women with children, rest in tents after arriving at the border crossing, in Medyka, Poland on Sunday.
Visar Kryeziu / AP
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Visar Kryeziu / AP
Refugees, mostly women with children, rest in tents after arriving at the border crossing, in Medyka, Poland on Sunday.
Visar Kryeziu / AP
LVIV, Ukraine – Russia announced another ceasefire and several humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to flee Ukraine starting Monday, but previous measures failed and its armed forces Moscow continued to attack several Ukrainian cities with rockets even after declaring .
A day earlier, hundreds of thousands of civilians trying to flee to safety were forced to take shelter from what Ukrainian officials say was Russian shelling of cities in the center, north and south.
Ahead of a third round of talks scheduled for Monday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said a ceasefire would begin tomorrow morning, and safe passages would open to civilians from the capital, Kyiv, a port city to the west. south of Mariupol and the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy. Some evacuation routes, however, will drive civilians towards Russia or its ally Belarus – destinations unlikely for many Ukrainians, who prefer to head to border states. west and south.
A senior Ukrainian official dismissed those proposals.
It is not yet clear whether the fighting will stop outside of the mentioned areas or when the ceasefire will end. Hopes that the most recent round of talks will yield any breakthrough are looming.
Entering the second week of the war, Russia’s plan to quickly conquer the country was thwarted by fierce resistance. Their troops have made significant advances in southern Ukraine and along the coast, but many of their efforts have stalled, including a massive convoy of military convoys that have been virtually motionless for days. north of Kyiv.
The fighting has sent energy prices skyrocketing around the world, plummeted stocks, and is threatening food supplies and the livelihoods of people around the world who depend on farmland in the Black Sea region.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths due to the fighting is still unclear. The United Nations said it had confirmed just a few hundred civilian deaths but warned that the number was too low. Kharkiv regional police said on Monday that 209 people had died there alone – 133 of them civilians.
Russia’s invasion has also driven 1.5 million people from the country, creating what the head of the United Nations refugee agency calls “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since”. from World War II.”
But many others were trapped in the burning cities. Food, water, medicine and most other supplies are in desperate short supply in the southern port city of Mariupol, where an estimated 200,000 people are trying to flee but where a cease-fire was earlier. Collapsed. Russia and Ukraine were blamed for this failure.
A Ukrainian woman in military uniform prays inside the Church of Saints Peter and Paul Garrison in Lviv, western Ukraine on Sunday.
Bernat Armangue / AP
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Bernat Armangue / AP
A Ukrainian woman in military uniform prays inside the Church of Saints Peter and Paul Garrison in Lviv, western Ukraine on Sunday.
Bernat Armangue / AP
The Russian task force said the new commitment on humanitarian corridors had been announced at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday. Macron’s office said he demanded a broader end to military operations in Ukraine and protection of civilians.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called the proposed evacuation routes to Russia and Belarus “unacceptable.” Belarus is a key ally of Putin and the site of the invasion.
The Ukrainian government is proposing eight humanitarian corridors, including from Mariupol, that would allow civilians to travel to areas of western Ukraine where there is no Russian shelling.
UK Secretary of State James Cleverly said: “It makes no sense to provide evacuation routes into the arms of this country that is now ravaging you.
The Russian proposal is reminiscent of similar proposals in Syria. In 2016, a joint Russian-Syrian proposal to establish humanitarian corridors east of Aleppo because of the besieged opposition was deeply criticized for humanitarian reasons. Human rights activists say this tactic, along with brutal sieges, has effectively given people the choice between fleeing in the arms of their attackers or dying under their bombardment. .
Meanwhile, Russian forces continued their offensive, opening fire on the city of Mykolaiv, 480 kilometers (300 miles) south of the capital, according to the General Staff of Ukraine. Rescuers said they were putting out fires in residential areas hit by rockets.
Emergency officials in the Kharkiv region said overnight shelling killed at least eight people and destroyed residential buildings, medical facilities, education and administrative buildings.
Shelling also continued on the outskirts of Kyiv, including Irpin, where electricity, water and heating systems were cut off for three days.
“Russia continues to carry out missile, bomb and artillery attacks on Ukrainian cities and settlements,” the General Staff said.
The General Staff also echoed earlier Ukrainian accusations that the Russians had targeted humanitarian corridors. The statement also accused Russian forces of taking women and children hostage and placing weapons in the residential areas of the cities – although it did not detail or provide evidence.
“Instead of humanitarian corridors, they can only create corridors of blood,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. “Today a family was killed in Irpin. A man, a woman and two children. Right on the street. Like in a shooting gallery.”
Earlier, Putin said that Moscow’s attacks could be stopped “only if Kyiv stops hostile actions.” As usual, Putin blamed Ukraine for the war, telling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday that Kyiv needed to stop all hostilities and fulfill “famous Russian demands”.
Putin launched his invasion with a series of false accusations against Kyiv, including that the country was led by neo-Nazi intentions to undermine Russia by developing nuclear weapons.
As the Russian attacks worsened, shortly after the fighting in Mariupol collapsed. Local officials said heavy artillery hit residential areas in other major cities.
“There can be no ‘green corridor’ because only the ailing brains of the Russians decide when and who to shoot,” said Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine.
On what is known as Forgiveness Sunday in Orthodox Christianity, Zelenskyy said Ukraine will never tolerate shelling of homes, killing unarmed people and destroying their infrastructure. .
“And God will not forgive, today or tomorrow – never. And instead of a day of forgiveness, there will be a day of judgment. Of this, I am sure,” he said in a video address. .
His adviser, Oleksiy Arestovich, described a “catastrophic” situation in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, where Sunday’s efforts to evacuate residents had failed. According to Mayor Oleksander Markyshin, about eight civilians were killed by Russian shelling in Irpin.
The video shows a shell falling on the street, not far from the bridge used by residents to flee the fighting.
British military officials have compared Russian tactics to those used by Moscow in Chechnya and Syria, where besieged cities have been crushed by air strikes and artillery.
“This likely represents an attempt to break the morale of the Ukrainian people,” the British Ministry of Defense said.
The few residents who tried to flee Mariupol before the humanitarian corridor closed said the city of 430,000 people had been devastated.
Yelena Zamay, who fled to one of the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists, said: “We saw everything: houses on fire, all the people sitting in the floors. tunnel. “No contact, no water, no air, no light, no water. Nothing.”
Russia has made significant strides in southern Ukraine as it seeks to block access to the Sea of Azov. Capturing Mariupol could allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in a move most other countries consider illegal.
But much of Russia’s advance has stalled, including a massive military convoy north of Kyiv.
A senior US defense official said Sunday that the United States estimates that about 95% of the Russian forces deployed around Ukraine are now inside the country. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments, said Russian forces continue to advance in an attempt to isolate Kyiv, Kharkhiv and Chernihiv, but are facing stiff resistance from Ukraine.
The West has given Ukraine broad support, providing aid and arms shipments, while delivering massive sanctions on Russia. But no NATO troops were sent to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has come under fire from Western leaders for not responding more strongly to Russia. He repeated his request for foreign forces to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, something NATO has so far ruled out because of fears such a move would lead to a wider war.
Zelenskyy also asked the United States and NATO countries send more fighters to Ukraine and for more sanctions against Russia.
Russia has become increasingly isolated In the days since the invasion began, when sanctions forced dozens of multinationals to end or downsize their work in the country, and Moscow has dramatically limited coverage. independent of the conflict. The ruble has fallen in value and Russia’s extensive trade ties with the West have been severed.
