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Ukraine starts evacuating civilians from Sumy and Irpin
The Straits Times reported, citing Reuters and the AFP, Ukrainian officials said that Ukraine began evacuating civilians from the northeastern city of Sumy and from the town of Irpin near the capital Kyiv on Tuesday (March 8).
The evacuations began after Russian and Ukrainian officials agreed to establish "humanitarian corridors" to allow civilians out of some towns and cities besieged by Russian forces.
Kyiv region's governor Oleksiy Kuleba said: “As of 0930 (3.30pm Singapore time), more than 150 people have been evacuated and (evacuation) activities are underway."
Civilians have been trapped by fighting since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb 24 which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
The Interfax news agency quoted the Russian defence ministry as saying that Russia opened humanitarian corridors on Tuesday so that people can be evacuated from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Interfax reported that the defence ministry added that Russian forces in Ukraine had introduced a “silent regime” from 0700 GMT (3pm Singapore time).
Ukraine on Monday rejected Russian proposals to evacuate Ukrainians to Russia or Belarus.
Sumy, 350km east of Kyiv and near the Russian border, has experienced heavy fighting for days, but no other details about the attack were immediately available.
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The air strike in Sumy took place late on Monday, Ukraine’s rescue services said. "Enemy planes insidiously attacked apartment buildings,” they said on Telegram after arriving on the scene at 11pm.
At least nine people, including two children, have died in the air strike.
The corridor from Sumy to Poltava, a city in central Ukraine, is designed to evacuate civilians, including Chinese, Indians and other foreigners, but Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk accused Russia of planning to disrupt the route.
“We have information that the Russian side has planned to disrupt the corridors,” she added. “Manipulations are being prepared to force people to take another route, which is not coordinated and dangerous."
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She said the corridor was also designed to channel the delivery of food and medicine.
Ms Vereshshuk called on Russia to urgently coordinate humanitarian corridors from the cities of Volnovakha, Maripuol, Mariupol, as well as from Kyiv, Kharkiv and their surrounding regions.
Source: straitstimes
