Ukraine rejects corridors to Belarus, Russia

A senior Ukrainian official on Monday rejected a Russian proposal to evacuate civilians from besieged Ukraine to Russia and Belarus.

“This is an unacceptable option for opening humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said at a briefing.

According to the Russian proposal, the only options for civilians fleeing Kyiv and its suburbs would be to go to Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. Civilians in Kharkiv and Sumy in eastern Ukraine would have to flee to the Russian city of Belgorod.


Belarus is a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and served as a launching ground for the invasion.

The Ukrainian government is proposing eight humanitarian corridors, including from the southern port of Mariupol, that would allow civilians to travel to the western regions of Ukraine, where there is no Russian shelling.

“We demand that the Russian Federation stop manipulating and abusing the trust of the leaders of France, China, Turkey and India,” Vereshchuk said ___

The Hague: A representative for Kyiv urged the United Nations' top court on Monday to order Russia to halt its devastating invasion of Ukraine, at a hearing snubbed by Russia.

Ukrainian representative Anton Korynevych told judges at the International Court of Justice: “Russia must be stopped and the court has a role to play in stopping it.”

Russia's seats at the Great Hall of Justice in the court's Peace Palace headquarters were empty for the hearing into Ukraine's request for the court to order Moscow to end its attack.