Ukraine rejects corridors to Belarus, Russia

A senior Ukrainian official yesterday rejected a Russian proposal to evacuate civilians from besieged Ukraine to Russia and Belarus. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said at a briefing that this is an unacceptable option for opening humanitarian corridors.

According to the Russian proposal, the only option for civilians fleeing Kyiv and its suburbs would be to go to Gomel in neighboring Belarus. Belarus is a key ally of Russian



President Vladimir Putin and served as a launching ground for the military operation. Civilians in Kharkiv and Sumy in eastern Ukraine would have to flee to the Russian city of Belgorod.

The Ukrainian Government is proposing eight humanitarian corridors, including from the southern port of Mariupol, that would allow civilians to travel to the western regions of Ukraine, where there is no Russian shelling.