Because of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, no corridors of escape have been established for the third day in a row, according to the Kiev government. “Intense bombing in the Donbas continues,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said today.
She also accused Russia of failing to provide a humanitarian corridor for civilians in the particularly hard-fought port city of Mariupol towards the city of Berdyansk, despite requests. “We are continuing the difficult negotiations on the opening of humanitarian corridors in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions,” Vereshchuk wrote on his Telegram news channel.
Authorities recently complained in several cities in eastern Ukraine that they could no longer take people from contested areas to safety due to the risk of bombing. More recently, nearly 1,500 people arrived in safe areas via these routes on Saturday.