Moscow Opens Corridors To Belarus/Russia
Moscow, March 7: Amid a large number of Indian students still stuck in Ukraine, Russia has opened new humanitarian corridors across multiple Ukrainian cities to allow civilian evacuation leading to Belarus and Russia, media reports said.
Evacuation routes published by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency show that civilians will be able to leave for Russia and Belarus, allies in the war against Ukraine. The corridor from Kyiv will lead to Belarus while civilians from Kharkiv will have a corridor leading to Russia.
Corridors from the cities of Mariupol and Sumy — where a large number of Indian students are stranded — will lead both to other Ukrainian cities and to Russia, international news agencies reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, denied requesting corridors to lead into Russia, French news outlet BFMTV reported. “The president of the Republic has neither requested nor obtained corridors to Russia after his conversation with Vladimir Putin,” the Elysee presidential palace told BFMTV. “It’s another way for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to push his narrative and say that it is the Ukrainians who are the aggressors and they are the ones who offer asylum to everyone”.
Russia has announced a ceasefire to allow civilians to leave Ukraine. Evacuation routes would be set up in the capital Kyiv as well as Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy. All of these cities are currently under a significant Russian assault operation, the BBC said.
The ceasefire is set to be operational from Monday 10 am (local time or 12.30 pm India time), according to Russia’s Defence Ministry. Over the weekend, two efforts to open a route to allow civilians to evacuate from Mariupol in the country’s south-east collapsed.
On Monday, four people, including three of a family — a mother and her two children — died while trying to flee Irpin town. Ukraine officials said this was because Russia continued to shell the city during the agreed ceasefire hours.
