Status: 03/08/2022 06:07 a.m
According to its own statements, Russia is again offering a ceasefire for today – in five Ukrainian cities. Civilians should then be able to get to safety via escape corridors. Both countries had previously negotiated again.
According to its UN ambassador, Russia is offering another ceasefire to open escape corridors in Ukraine today, Tuesday. In the evening (local time) before the UN Security Council in New York, Vasily Nebensja quoted from a new statement from Moscow: “It says that the Russian party says again that tomorrow, March 8, from 10 a.m. Moscow time, ceasefire and humanitarian corridors should be opened” to bring citizens out of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
According to a statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense on the short message portal Telegram, the escape corridors seemed to run mainly or entirely in the direction of Russia or Belarus. However, Ambassador Nebensia emphasized that refugees would not necessarily be sent to Russia: “Evacuation to Ukrainian cities west of Kyiv is also being offered.”
The Ukrainian authorities have so far “not been able to ensure the functioning of the humanitarian corridors,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry’s department responsible for humanitarian affairs.
Moscow announced on Monday morning that several escape corridors would be opened to take people from the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy to safety. However, most of the corridors should lead to Russia or Belarus, from where the Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24. Ukraine refused.
Third round of negotiations on escape corridors without a breakthrough
Jan Koch, WDR, daily topics 10:15 p.m., March 7th, 2022
Zelenskyi blames Russia for the failure of the evacuations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the other hand, blamed Russia for the failed evacuations. “There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors,” he said in a video published on Telegram on Monday. “Did it work? The Russian tanks worked instead, the Russian ‘Grad’ (rocket launchers), the Russian mines.”
The Ukrainian President accused Russian troops of “mining” the agreed route to bring food and medicines to the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine. In addition, Russian soldiers destroyed the buses that were supposed to take civilians out of the contested areas. Zelenskyy accused Russia of “cynicism”. However, Ukraine will continue to conduct peace negotiations with Russia. “I’m staying here, I’m staying in Kyiv (…). I’m not afraid,” stressed the Ukrainian head of state.
France’s president also sharply criticized Russia and accused Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin of “moral and political cynicism.” Moscow’s promises to protect civilians just so they can flee to Russia are “hypocritical,” Macron told LCI television. “I don’t know many Ukrainians who want to flee to Russia,” he added.
German Red Cross criticizes escape corridors
The Secretary General of the German Red Cross, Christian Reuter, has criticized the concept of escape corridors like in the Ukraine war. “I see humanitarian escape corridors as double-edged,” said Reuter on ZDF. Of course it would be good if as many people as possible could be saved in Ukraine.
“But a humanitarian escape corridor shouldn’t mean that all people who don’t flee there can then be attacked, so to speak.” This is a consequence of humanitarian escape corridors, “that the conflict and warring parties then say that everyone else becomes a target,” warned Reuter. The governments are “not primarily concerned with saving people”. Instead, it is a “military instrument” in order to be able to “shoot and bomb into the conflict situation” “unabashedly, more uninhibitedly”.
UN demands safe passage for civilians
The United Nations is currently unable to meet the needs of millions of civilians in the conflict in Ukraine. The UN emergency aid coordinator Martin Griffiths said on Monday at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York. The UN called for safe conduct for people “in the direction they chose,” Griffiths said. In addition, deliveries of humanitarian aid would have to reach the contested areas.
His office sent a team to Moscow to coordinate with the Russian military to scale up the delivery of humanitarian aid to the extent needed. This came after a phone call between UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Friday. The first meeting between representatives of the UN and Russia has already taken place, said Griffiths and expressed the hope for “further progress in the coming hours”.
The UN and its partners have already provided hundreds of thousands of people with food. The World Food Program is setting up supply chains to provide immediate food and cash to three million to five million people in Ukraine, he said. The Ukrainian Red Cross handed out hygiene and food packages, warm clothing and medicines to thousands of people.
Negotiations without a breakthrough
The third round of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow had ended on Monday after around three hours without a concrete result. However, both sides had confirmed their intention to create escape corridors in the contested areas.
The Ukrainian presidential adviser and co-negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter that there are small positive steps in improving the logistics for the escape corridors.
More consultations “coming soon”
Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said he was disappointed with the meeting. “The expectations were not met,” he said on Russian state television.
The Russian side brought a number of prepared documents to the negotiations. However, the Ukrainian side did not want to sign anything, but took the papers with them for examination. According to Medinski, a new round of negotiations is expected shortly, in which agreements could be recorded in writing.
The Ukrainian negotiator Podoljak also spoke of further negotiations that were planned. “With a view to the political bloc, which includes a ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities in general, the intensive deliberations will continue.” However, there are no results for a noticeable improvement in the situation. “Nevertheless, the consultations will continue and we will get a result,” said Podoljak.
conflicting parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body.
Kuleba confirms planned meeting with Lavrov
Meanwhile, all eyes are on March 10, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba are due to meet in Turkey direct conversation getting together. The plans were announced on Monday by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed the intention to hold talks with his Russian counterpart soon. “The 10th (March) is currently planned. Let’s see if he flies to Antalya, then I’ll fly too. Let’s sit down, let’s talk,” he said in a video message in the evening. The talks should take place together with Cavusoglu in a three-way format. It would be the first intergovernmental consultations between Russia and Ukraine since the war began. Turkey had already offered to mediate between the two countries on several occasions.
At the planned meeting with Lavrov, Kuleba says he wants to propose direct talks between the presidents of both countries. “We want talks between the President of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin because he is the one who makes the final decision,” Kuleba said on Ukrainian television early this morning.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has frequently suggested direct talks with Putin in the run-up to the war, saying he called the Kremlin on the eve of the Russian invasion but received no response. Putin has only agreed to hold talks with Western heads of state and government. Kuleba made the statement following a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the evening.
Russian UN ambassador promises escape corridors in Ukraine
Antje Passenheim, ARD New York, March 8, 2022 6:46 a.m