Russia to ‘hold fire’ to allow evacuations as Zelenskyy slams ‘deliberate murder’
Russian media reports on Monday say humanitarian corridors and local ceasefires will be implemented on Monday to allow civilians to be evacuated from several cities. A second attempt to evacuate civilians from besieged Mariupol failed on Sunday due to continued Russian shelling.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Sunday that Ukraine will not forgive Russia for all the victims and suffering the war it started had caused.
The latest call between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron on Sunday focused primarily on the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear plants. The international energy agency the IAEA has expressed serious concern as they fall into Russian hands.
Thousands of people in Russia were arrested on Sunday for protesting against the invasion.
President Zelenskyy warned that Russia intends to attack Ukraine’s defence enterprises on Monday, saying hundreds of thousands of civilians live nearby. Earlier he issued a new appeal for a Western-imposed no-fly zone and warplanes.
A new attempt to evacuate civilians in besieged Mariupol failed on Sunday with Ukraine accusing Russia of once more shelling the area.
Russia’s military will hold fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities on Monday, the defence ministry has said.
A statement said Russian forces will declare a ‘silent regime’ and allow corridors to be opened at 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT, 0800 CET) from the capital Kyiv as well as the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy and are being set up at the personal request of French President Emmanuel Macron, the ministry said.
The cities have been plagued by intense Russian bombardment of civilian areas. A man that backs a woman was seen crossing an improvised path while fleeing the town of Irpin on Sunday.
The ministry added that those who leave Kyiv will then be airlifted to Russia and that drones will be used to monitor the evacuation.
“Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilised world … are useless this time,” the ministry said.
Russian forces launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including powerful bombs dropped on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said. But a miles-long Russian armored column threatening the capital remained stalled outside Kyiv.
Efforts to evacuate residents from the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel, and Irpin on Sunday were mostly unsuccessful.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko blamed Russian artillery fire for halting the second attempt in as many days to evacuate an estimated 200,000 civilians from Mariupol, where food, water, and medicine are scarce.
A senior American defence official said Sunday the U.S. believes that about 95% of the Russian forces that had been arrayed around Ukraine are now inside the country. Ukrainian air and missile defenses remain effective and in use, and the Ukrainian military continues to fly aircraft and employ air defense assets, the official said.
Ukrainian forces were also defending Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port city, from Russian ships, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Sunday announced plans to strike Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
REUTERS, AFP, AP
