The evacuation of civilians from at least two Ukrainian city has begun after plans for humanitarian corridors failed over the weekend and on Monday.
So far,more than 150 people have been evacuated from Irpin,near Ukraine’s capital,Kyiv,the region’s government Oleksiy Kuleba said on Tuesday morning,Kyiv time.
In Sumy,a convoy going to the Ukrainian city of Poltova would be followed by civilians in personal vehicles,Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
Russia said it would also open evacuation corridors for people in Kyiv,Chernihiv,Kharkiv and the besieged city of Mariupol,where about 200,000 people are waiting to leave.
Over the weekend,evacuation attempts failed,with both sides blaming the other for failing to halt fighting. On Monday,an offer by the Russian government to evacuate Ukrainians into Russia and Belarus were rejected by Ukrainian officials.
People being evacuated on Tuesday have been given the choice of going to other Ukrainian cities.
More than 1.7 million refugees have left Ukraine between February 24,when the Russian invasion began,and March 6,according to the UN refugee agency.
with Reuters