Ukraine says will not open humanitarian corridors as situation along routes 'dangerous'

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has informed residents that they would not open any humanitarian corridors on Wednesday, April 13. In a Facebook post, she clarified that it was “not safe” to allow civilians to transit through the war-hit country. “In the Zaporizhzhya region, the occupiers (Russians) blocked evacuation buses, and in the Luhansk region they violated the ceasefire regime.” Notably, there have been many incidents of Kremlin troops allegedly attacking convoys of Ukrainian refugees since the establishment of humanitarian corridors last month. 

She said, “The occupants are not only denying the norms of international humanitarian law but also unable to properly control their people in their places. All this creates such a level of danger on routes that we are forced to refrain from opening humanitarian corridors today.” While she stopped short of revealing if the escape routes would reopen on Thursday, Vereshchuk said that the administration was working to get the humanitarian corridors to reopen as soon as possible. Her remarks came as the conflict over Kyiv’s sovereignty entered day 49 on Wednesday. 

In the latest development, leaders of  Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia announced that they are heading to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "We are visiting Ukraine to show strong support to the Ukrainian people, will meet dear friend President Zelenskyy,“ Estonian President Alar Karis said in his Twitter post. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic said that they were training Ukrainian soldiers to combat Russian forces. Late on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested swapping pro-Russia soldiers in return for Ukrainian prisoners of war. 

Over 1000 soldiers surrender

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that more than a thousand Ukraine marines have surrendered in the besieged city. Subsequently, they have also asked their fellow troops sheltering at the Azoval steel mill to surrender. While there has been no report of Russian troops directly attacking the mill, Ukrainian Defense forces claim that Russians were proceeding with attacks on the Azovstal plant as well as the port. 

(Image: AP)