Ukraine has announced it will not open humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from besieged cities on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. The decision was made on the basis of intelligence reports warning of possible Russian “provocations” on the routes, according to the BBC.
Humanitarian corridors have been created from Mariupol, Sumy, as well as from towns and villages outside Kyiv, which are now surrounded by Russian troops. However, Russian shelling prevented the evacuation of civilians from besieged cities, turning evacuation attempts into chaos, Ukrainian officials said.
Earlier, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said that due to “heavy losses, Russia was forced to withdraw its troops from the capital’s capital.”
It was clarified there that two battalion tactical groups of the Russian army had been deployed to Belarus. According to the headquarters, this is proof that they have suffered “significant losses”.