On Monday, Ukraine rejected Moscow’s promise to build humanitarian corridors from numerous bombed cities when it was revealed that the exit routes would bring evacuees to Russia or Belarus. After previous unsuccessful ceasefire attempts, the Russian offers of safe passage for individuals leaving Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol, and Sumy came as a relief to terrified Ukrainian inhabitants.
Even as the third round of peace talks began on Monday and the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers planned to meet in Turkey later this week, violence continued to rage 12 days into the conflict.
Russia’s incursion in Ukraine has created 1.7 million refugees
The Russian incursion has pushed over 1.7 million people across Ukraine’s borders, creating Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, and spurring worries of a wider conflict, according to the United Nations.
International sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow have had little effect, and Washington has stated it is now talking to Europe about imposing an embargo on Russian oil imports. As a result of the changes, oil prices have risen to around a 14-year high, while stock markets have plummeted. As international criticism built amid horrific photos of civilians being killed while fleeing, Moscow’s Defense Ministry announced preparations for humanitarian corridors and claimed that a “period of silence” had begun at 0700 GMT.
However, several paths led into Russia or its ally Belarus, raising concerns about individuals who may utilize them. Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, stated, “This is not an acceptable alternative.” In reply, Russia’s peace negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, accused Ukraine of committing a “war crime” by obstructing the lanes.
Expectations were low for the negotiations, which were set to begin at 1400 GMT near the Belarus-Poland border and would focus on evacuation routes, according to Mr. Medinsky. ‘Political cynicism’ is a term used to describe a person’s attitude toward politics. In a conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Mr. Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism over the offer. “This isn’t serious; it’s moral and political cynicism, which I find unbearable,” he said in an interview with LCI television.
AFP photographers witnessed thousands of civilians escaping the conflict early Monday in Irpin, a vital district west of Kyiv, via an unofficial humanitarian corridor.
On the road, which passes over a homemade bridge and then a single path protected by the army and volunteers, children and the elderly were carried on carpets used as stretchers. People were forced to abandon pushchairs and large bags in order to board buses out of the fighting zone.
“We had no light, no water at home, so we just sat in the basement,” said Inna Scherbanyova, 54, an economist from Irpin, to AFP. “Explosions were going off all the time… There are automobiles near our house, and one of them had dead people in it… quite scary.” A family of two parents and two children had been killed by a shell the day before as they attempted to flee the war-torn neighborhood.
“They are monstrosities. Irpin is at war, and it has refused to surrender “Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn reported on Telegram that he had personally witnessed the family’s murder. Two recent attempts to evacuate 200,000 inhabitants from the beleaguered Azov Sea port of Mariupol failed miserably. The ICRC claimed on Monday that refugees attempting to flee Mariupol via humanitarian corridors were stranded.