War in Ukraine, last minute live | China says its friendship with Russia is “solid as a rock” and offers to mediate with Ukraine | International

Ukraine says Russia's proposal for humanitarian corridors is 'completely immoral'

Ukraine has defined the Russian proposal to evacuate the civilian population through humanitarian corridors to Belarus and Russia as "completely immoral", a spokesman for the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, told the Reuters agency, who did not reveal the identity of this official.

The spokesman then stressed that Ukrainians should be able to leave their homes through their own country's territory, accusing Russia of deliberately hindering earlier evacuation attempts.

"This story is completely immoral. People's suffering is used to create the desired televised image," the spokesman said in a written message. "They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to be evacuated to the territory of Ukraine," he stressed.

For his part, Oleksiy Arestovich, adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, also stated that the country's citizens should be allowed to decide where to go, but advised against evacuation to Russia. He also stated that the establishment of these humanitarian corridors is "unlikely" as long as Russian forces continue to try to advance into Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the establishment of the humanitarian corridors to which the Ukrainian officials referred and assured that the decision to create them was due to the conversation that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had this Sunday with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in which the French head of state urged Putin to allow a safe evacuation of the civilian population.

According to maps published by the Russian news agency RIA, the corridor from Kiev will lead to Belarus, an ally of Russia, while the civilians of Kharkov will only be able to escape through a humanitarian corridor whose destination is Russia. In Mariupol and Sumi, these safe escape routes announced by Moscow will lead the fugitives both to other Ukrainian cities and to Russia.

Those who want to leave Kiev can also be transported by plane to Russia, said the country's Defense Ministry, adding that it will use drones to supervise the evacuation. (Reuters)