Ukraine has dismissed Moscow’s offer to create humanitarian corridors from several bombarded cities on Monday, March 7, 2022, after it emerged that exit routes would lead refugees into Russia or Belarus.
The Russian proposal of safe passage for people from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy came after terrified Ukrainian civilians came under fire in previous failed ceasefire attempts.
Even though the third round of peace negotiations was starting on Monday, March 7, 2022, the Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers are forecasting talks in Turkey later this week.
Reports by the Ukrainian authorities suggest that Russia’s invasion has pushed more than 1.5 million people across Ukraine’s borders in what the UN calls Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II. The UN has also warned that the situation could spark fears of a wider conflict.
International sanctions which are intended to punish Moscow have done little to slow the invasion. Washington has stated that it is now discussing a ban on Russian oil imports with Europe.
Oil prices have soared to near a 14-year high on the developments while stock markets plunged.
As international pressure mounted over horrifying scenes of civilians cut down while fleeing, Moscow’s Defence Ministry announced plans for humanitarian corridors and intimated a “regime of silence” has started at 7:00 GMT.
But several routes leading into Russia or its ally, Belarus, are raising questions over the safety of those who might use them.
“This is not an acceptable option,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, stated.
Russia’s negotiator at the peace talks, Vladimir Medinsky, in return, accused Ukraine of the “war crime” of blocking the corridors.
Expectations remain low for the talks, which begin at 1400 GMT on the Belarus-Poland border. Medinsky averred talks would focus on evacuation routes.
Macron’s view of the war
French President, Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Sunday, March 6, 2022, accused Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism over the offer.
In a televised interview, Mr. Macron said “All this is not serious, it is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable.”
According to a reporter in Ukraine, thousands of civilians on early Monday, March 7, 2022, fled the war through an unofficial humanitarian corridor in Irpin, a strategic suburb west of Kyiv.
Olga, a 48-year-old woman leaving with her two dogs expressed “I am so happy to have managed to get out.”
Children and the elderly were carried on carpets used as stretchers on the route, which leads over a makeshift bridge as well as a single path secured by the army and volunteers.
Desperate people abandoned pushchairs and heavy suitcases to make sure they could get on the buses on their way out of the war zone.
Inna Scherbanyova, 54, an economist from Irpin, revealed that “We had no light at home, no light, no water, we just sat in the basement.”
“Explosions were constantly going off… Near our house there are cars, there were dead people in one of them… very scary.”
Scherbanyova also revealed that a day earlier, a family of two adults and two children were killed by a shell as they tried to leave the war-torn area.
Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn, disclosed on Telegram that “They are monsters. Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered,” adding that he saw the family killed with his own eyes.
Two recent attempts to allow some 200,000 civilians to leave the besieged Azov Sea port of Mariupol, also ended in disaster.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), on Monday, March 7, 2022, disclosed that refugees trying to escape Mariupol using humanitarian corridors were left stranded as the road they were directed towards was excavated.
Tensions continue in parts of Ukraine
There was no violence on Sunday, March 6, 2022, as outgunned Ukrainian forces, helped to gather military supplies from western countries, in a bid to hold back Russian forces.
Air sirens sounded in cities across the country, and there was intense aerial bombardment in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, which has endured almost non-stop fire in recent days.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted that “the enemy continues the offensive operation against Ukraine, focusing on the encirclement of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mykolayiv.”
Local authorities said the Mayor of Gostomel, the town north of Kyiv, that is home to a crucial military airfield, was shot dead by Russian forces along with two other people while “distributing bread to the hungry and medicine to the sick.”
Rescue services also revealed that nine bodies: five civilians and four soldiers, were found in the rubble of Vinnytsia Airport in central Ukraine, after it was destroyed in a Russian missile attack on Sunday, March 6, 2022.
Meanwhile, fears rose suggesting that the main port of Odessa, dubbed the “pearl of the Black Sea”, was the next target of Russia’s offensive in the south. Officials said Russia shelled the village of Tuzly in the Odessa region from the sea, but recorded no injuries.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video message renewed calls for the West to boycott Russian exports, particularly oil, and to impose a no-fly zone to stop the carnage.
“How many more deaths and losses must it take to secure the skies over Ukraine?”
Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The twelve days of fighting has so far, killed hundreds of civilians and wounded thousands. An unending stream of people, mostly women and children, are pouring into neighbouring countries, especially Poland for safety.
Western allies have so far imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires in a bid to choke the Russian economy and pressure Moscow to halt its assault.
Moscow’s limitations increasing
Putin has equated global sanctions with a declaration of war, and also placed nuclear forces on alert.
Moscow has been forced to restrict sales of essential goods to limit black-market speculation, while on Sunday, March 6, 2022, payment giant, American Express, halted operations there, a day after Visa and MasterCard announced similar steps.
Streaming giant, Netflix, suspended its service in Russia while social media titan, TikTok, halted the posting of new videos from Russia.
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