In the wake of escalating tensions in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, several humanitarian corridors in Ukraine could open on Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
Several humanitarian corridors out of Ukrainian towns and villages including from the besieged southern port of Mariupol will be open on Saturday so civilians can leave, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. She added that she hoped Russia would observe a ceasefire to allow this to take place.
This comes at a time when fighting raged northwest of Kyiv on Saturday, with the bulk of Russian ground forces 25 km (16 miles) from the centre of the Ukrainian capital, while several other cities were encircled and under heavy shelling, the UK Defence Ministry said.
The minister also said Ukraine plans to evacuate residents of several towns and villages in the regions of Kyiv and Sumy and some other areas where there is ongoing combat. “I hope that the day will go well, all the planned routes will be open and Russia will fulfill its obligations to guarantee the ceasefire regime,” Vereshchuk said in a video address.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said she hoped that several humanitarian corridors would open on Saturday for thousands of residents in the bombarded cities, including from the besieged port city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia.
“I hope that the day will go well, all the planned routes will be open and Russia will fulfill its obligations to guarantee the ceasefire regime,” Vereshchuk said in a video address after repeated evacuation efforts this week failed.
At least 1,582 civilians in the southeastern city of Mariupol have been killed as a result of Russian shelling and a 12-day blockade, the city council said in an online statement on Friday. It was not possible to verify casualty figures.
Air raid sirens blared across most Ukrainian cities on Saturday morning urging people to seek shelters, local media reported, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the war had reached a “strategic turning point”.
Russian forces appeared to be regrouping, possibly for a fresh offensive which could target the capital Kyiv in a few days, Britain’s defence ministry said on Friday. In a Saturday update, it said fighting northwest of the capital continued and the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remained encircled under heavy Russian shelling.
