PESHAWAR: Ukraine rejected Russia’s offer of ceasefire to allow people from a few cities to be evacuated to Belarus and Russia through a designated corridor. “This is not an acceptable option,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vereshchuk Iryna.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry announced ceasefire at the special request of French President Emmanuel Macron. Russian announced that a corridor from Kiev and Kharkiv to Belarus will be opened. Moscow also said that those who want to leave Kiev will also be able to enter Russia. Moscow said that the evacuation process will be monitored with the help of drones.
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Earlier, fighting raged between on Sunday and Monday night, leaving 20,000 people trapped in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as Russia said the fighting will continue until Kiev surrendered. According to Reuters, Water and electricity have also been cut off due to intense fighting. Meanwhile Ukraine has called on International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an emergency ruling to stop the Russian invasion.
The United Nations has said that 364 civilians, including 20 children, have been killed, and hundreds more injured since the February 24. The UN most of the deaths were caused by bombings and on Sunday more than 1.5 million people had fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
According to officials and UN experts, this number could increase with the advance of Russia. UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grande wrote in a Twitter post that 1.5 million people had fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in 10 days and termed it the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
According to the United Nations, four million people will be forced to leave their country due to the Russian attack. According to local media, Ukrainian forces claim that they have carried out defensive operations in several cities and have shot down 88 Russian planes so far. But independent sources could not confirm the claim and Russia has also not yet responded to Ukrainian claims.