Russia on Monday announced new "humanitarian corridors" for Ukrainians trapped under its bombardment to flee, but only to Russia itself and its ally Belarus, a move immediately dismissed by Kyiv as an "immoral stunt".
The announcement came after two days of failed ceasefires to let civilians escape the besieged city of Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped without food and water, under relentless bombardment and unable to evacuate their wounded.
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Destruction in the wake of Russian bombing in Zhytomyr, in north West Ukraine on Monday
(Photo: Reuters)
The new "corridors" would be opened at 10am Moscow time (0700 GMT) from the capital Kyiv and the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, as well as Mariupol, Russia's defense ministry said.
According to maps published by the RIA news agency, the corridor from Kyiv would lead to Belarus, while civilians from Kharkiv would be permitted to go only to Russia. Russia would also mount an airlift to take Ukrainians from Kyiv to Russia, the ministry said.
"Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilized world ... are useless this time," the ministry said.
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Ukraine emergency teams put out a fire caused by Russian bombing in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine
(Photo: AFP/Ukrainian State Emergency Service)
A spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the move "completely immoral" and said Russia was trying to "use people's suffering to create a television picture".
"They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine," the spokesperson said.
"This is one of the problems that is causing the humanitarian corridors to break down. They seem to agree to them, but they themselves want to supply humanitarian aid for a picture on TV and want the corridors to lead in their direction."
Russia is trying to manipulate French President Emmanuel Macron and other Western leaders by demanding that any humanitarian corridors in Ukraine exit through Russia or Belarus, a senior Ukrainian official said on Monday.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine was calling on Russia to agree to a ceasefire from Monday morning to allow Ukrainians to evacuate towards the western Ukrainian city of Lviv instead.
Ukraine received Russia's proposal early on Monday morning after Macron held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vereshchuk told a televised briefing.
"I hope that French President Emmanuel Macron understands that his name and sincere desire to help ... in reality is being used and manipulated by the Russian Federation," she said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the military shot down three Ukrainian air force planes and two UAV's on Monday.
A Russian delegation has departed for Belarus where it will meet Ukrainian negotiators for an additional round of talks about ending hostilities, the Sputnik Belarus news outlet reported.