New Delhi: Ukraine has drubbed as “completely immoral” Kremlin’s proposal to evacuate Ukrainians to Russia or ally Belarus.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, “Ukrainians should be allowed to leave their homes through Ukrainian territory”, and accused Russia of “deliberately hampering previous evacuation attempts”, Reuters reported.
A spokesperson for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a written message: “This is a completely immoral story. People’s suffering is used to create the desired television picture… These are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine.”
Earlier Monday – at the insistence of French President Emmanuel Macron – Russia said it would hold fire in four cities and create “humanitarian corridors” to allow Ukrainian citizens to flee from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy. But to Russia or Belarus.
News agency RIA published maps that showed the corridor from Kyiv would lead to Russian ally Belarus. Citizens from Kharkiv would have a corridor going to Russia. Corridors from Mariupol and Sumy would lead to other Ukrainian cities as well as to Russia, Reuters reported.
The United Nations estimates that more than 1.5 million people have so far fled Ukraine. Millions will follow, and thousands will die if Russia continues with the offensive, experts said.
Ukraine’s western neighbour Moldova has seen 230,000 crossing over from Ukraine ever since the Russian offensive began.
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita told CNN: “We are seeing an extraordinary humanitarian crisis… Already 230,000 people have crossed the Moldovan border from Ukraine, and about 120,000 have chosen to stay. 96,000 are Ukrainian citizens.”
“That figure makes up 4% of Moldova’s entire population of 2.6 million… Every eighth child in Moldova is now a refugee,” she told CNN.
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