Civilian evacuation in 2 Ukraine cities ‘unlikely’ after ceasefire violation

The evacuation of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha is unlikely to take place on Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said after reports emerged of a Russian ceasefire violation during the evacuation of civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine.

“We understand that the safe passage operations from Mariupol and Volnovakha will not start today,” the ICRC in a statement posted on Twitter.

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“We remain in dialogue with the parties about the safe passage of civilians from different cities affected by the conflict. The scenes in Mariupol and in other cities today are heart-breaking. Any initiative from the parties that gives civilians a respite from the violence and allows them to voluntarily leave for safer areas is welcome,” the ICRC further said.

“So-called humanitarian corridors or other measures aimed at providing respite to those affected by conflict must be well planned and implemented with the agreement of the parties to the conflict,” it went on, referring to the agreement between Russian and Ukraine a day earlier after their second round of talks.

The ICRC’s comments come hours after Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of shelling in Mariupol during civilian evacuation despite an a temporary ceasefire agreement between the two parties for five hours.

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A little before reports of the ceasefire violation came in, Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, said, “Our military report that in the area of ​​the declared route [of the evacuation corridor] Russian troops are using the ceasefire and moving forward.”

“I would like to address the Russian authorities and say the following: We have agreed about ceasefire through the Red Cross, using international conventions. There should be no advance of Russian troops. We use this channel to evacuate civilians — women, children, and also to deliver humanitarian goods to those who stayed — medicine and food,” Vereshchuk added.