Moscow Offers Humanitarian Corridor For Civilians To Leave Ukraine, But Majority Via Russia Or Belarus

Illustrations of the war in the fall of Russia and Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons / mvs.gov.ua / Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Russia has proposed the creation of a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to leave five Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv from 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday, pending a Ukraine agreement, Russian news agencies reported.

However, most of the corridor will pass through Russian or Belarusian territory, something Ukrainian authorities have denied in the past.

Civilians leaving the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv will travel to Russia, some via Belarus, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a statement by the Russian committee tasked with humanitarian coordination in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected previous proposals to evacuate Ukrainians into what he describes as "occupied territories" in Russia and Belarus.

Illustration of civilians sheltering from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/mvs.gov.ua/Міністерство ав аїни)

However, people leaving the cities of Sumy and Mariupol will be given the choice of traveling either to Russia or to the Ukrainian cities of Poltava and Zaporizhia, Interfax quoted the statement as saying.

To note, Ukraine has been given until 3 am Moscow time, to agree to the terms, Interfax said.

Separately, Ukraine's UN Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said at a previous UN Security Council meeting Russia had "broken arrangements" for the humanitarian corridor on Tuesday, insisting all routes would be via Russia or Belarus.