Ukrainian Authorities Postpone Civilian Evacuations
OpenLife Nigeria reports that the Ukrainian authorities have put plans to evacuate civilians from the Mariupol region on hold, citing Russian violations of an agreed pause in hostilities.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, tweeted at 12:45 p.m. local time (5:45 a.m. ET) on his Twitter account “EVACUATION OF PEACEFUL POPULATION FROM MARIUPOL POSTPONED!”
Due to the fact that the Russians do not observe the regime of silence and continue shelling of Mariupol and its environs, for security reasons, the evacuation of the population has been postponed,” he said.
A short time earlier, Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, said that Russian forces appeared to be making use of the halt in fighting that was agreed in order to allow the evacuation of civilians to move their own troops forward.
“Our military report that in the area of the declared route [of the evacuation corridor] Russian troops are using the ceasefire and moving forward,” Vereshchuk said.
“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.
“Therefore, I once again appeal to the Russian authorities to stop the advance of their troops, if this is happening — we are currently verifying this information — and to allow the evacuation of people.
“The whole world is watching this. I sincerely hope that such a first step, which I hope will end positively and people will get shelter, but not sit for weeks under the rubble, in basements without water, without communication and without food, will continue.”
Source: CNN
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