Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday accused the Russian army of failing to evacuate civilians through the humanitarian corridors that were to be set up in the country after the talks.
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There was agreement on humanitarian corridors. Did you succeed? Instead, Zelensky said in a video posted to Telegram that Russian tanks, Grads, and Russian mines worked instead.
He accused the Russian forces of “mining the road that was agreed to bring food and medicine” to the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine and “destroying buses” due to the evacuation of civilians in the combat zones.
They make sure that a small corridor leading to the occupied territories is opened for a few dozen people. Not so much towards Russia as towards the promoters, directly towards the TV cameras,” continued Mr. Zelensky, accusing Moscow of “cynicism”.
However, the Ukrainian president indicated that Kyiv will continue to negotiate with Russia until a peace agreement is reached.
“I’ll stay here, I’ll stay in Kyiv (…) I’m not afraid,” said Mr. Zelensky again.
On Monday morning, Moscow announced a local ceasefire and opened corridors to allow civilians out of several besieged cities in Ukraine, where the humanitarian situation is getting worse by the day and food is running out.
But Ukraine refused to evacuate civilians to Russia, and four of the six corridors proposed by the Russians go to that country or its neighbor and ally Belarus.
After fresh negotiations on Monday, Russia announced a local ceasefire in several Ukrainian cities starting at 0700 GMT on Tuesday to allow for the evacuation of civilians.
According to Moscow, the roads still need to be certified on the Ukrainian side.
