Russia has announced humanitarian corridors in several cities in Ukraine, including its capital Kyiv. The passages will be open on Monday at 0700 GMT (1000 Moscow time) for civilian evacuation. Russian Interfax Agency has also provided the route map of the humanitarian corridors.
As per the map, the corridor from Kyiv will lead to Belarus. From Kharkiv, civilians have a corridor leading to Russia. The corridors from Mariupol and Sumy will lead to other Ukrainian cities and Russia. According to the defense ministry, Russia is also ready to airlift those wanting to leave Kyiv.
The ministry’s statements read that the humanitarian corridors from Kharkiv, Mariupol, Sumy, and the capital city Kyiv have been set up at French President Emmanuel Macron’s personal request after two failed ceasefire attempts from Russia for civilian evacuation.
Further, the Russian defense ministry said it would deploy drones to monitor the evacuation. “Attempts from the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the civilized world…are useless this time,” added the ministry.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Russian forces have struck a Ukrainian airfield in Vinnytsia with a long-range precision missile. Russia has been maintaining that it is only targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure.
President Zelensky criticizing the attack, sought the US and NATO to announce a no-fly zone over Ukraine or provide the country with fighter jets to defend themselves. Nato, however, ruled out that declaring a no-fly area would bring them into a direct military conflict with Russia.
Nevertheless, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken has said that NATO members like Poland, Bulgaria, and Slovakia sending fighter jets to Ukraine gets a green light. He added that any such aircraft sent to Ukraine would get a backfill from America.
The US administration calls it a middle ground between entering the war and mere economic sanctions on Russia. However, any such move will heighten tensions between Nato member states and Russia, potentially dragging the war outside Ukraine.