A destroyed Russian tank is seen Friday next to damaged houses in a village near Kharkiv, Ukraine. The area was recently recaptured by the Ukrainian army from Russian forces. Photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA-EFE
April 1 (UPI) — Ukrainian officials will once again try to evacuate civilians from the war-battered port city of Mariupol after the Russian military renewed assurance that a humanitarian corridor will be open from the town to Zaporizhzhia on Friday.
Russian armed forces were accused of delaying dozens of buses sent by Ukrainian officials to the city to help in the evacuation on Thursday. Russia’s defense ministry said it will reopen the route at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“For the successful implementation of this humanitarian operation, it is proposed to conduct it with the direct participation of representatives of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the Russian military said, according to CNN.
The Red Cross said on Friday that it’s received clearance from Ukraine and Russia on the evacuation plan, which includes 54 buses.
Vitaliy Kim, the mayor of Mykolaiv, said 28 people died in a Russian airstrike on its regional administration building this week. Kim also said emergency crews spent days looking through the rubble of the nine-story building for possible survivors.
A major fire is seen Friday at an oil depot in the city of Belgorod, Russia. It’s believed to be a result from the first Ukrainian offensive on Russian soil since the start of the war on February 24. Photo courtesy Emercom of Russia Press Service via EPA-EFE
Russia continues to be blamed for breaking a promise early this week to remove some of its troops and “reduce military activity” in Ukraine — as Ukrainian officials insist that Moscow has just repositioned them to other areas.
“Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities, so we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said according to The New York Times.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia, said peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow started up again on Friday, although it wasn’t clear if they were talking virtually or in person in Turkey.
Meanwhile, Russia has accused Ukraine of flying two attack helicopters across its border into Belgorod and blowing up a fuel dump with rockets. If verified, it would be the first offensive by Ukraine on Russian soil since the start of the war.
Ukrainian forces have also been running a defensive operation in the capital Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities, officials said Friday, in an effort to keep them from falling under Russian control. Consequently, Ukraine has regained some areas originally taken by Russian forces, including Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
