Humanitarian corridors to Belarus or Russia, Ukraine says immoral

Russia has said it will open new humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to evacuate.

Evacuation routes published by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency show civilians will be able to leave to Russia and Belarus.

The corridor from Kyiv will lead to Russian ally Belarus, and civilians from Kharkiv will only have a corridor leading to Russia.

Corridors from the cities of Mariupol and Sumy will lead both to other Ukrainian cities and to Russia, the AFP news agency reports.

After Russia announces it, Ukraine has said Russia’s proposal on humanitarian corridors taking refugees to Belarus or Russia was “completely immoral”.

Ukrainian citizens should be allowed to leave their homes through Ukrainian territory, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“This is a completely immoral story. People’s suffering is used to create the desired television picture,” the spokesman said in a written message quoted by Reuters news agency.