In dozens of cities, towns, and villages, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians require immediate evacuation

Katerina Tyschenkm – Sunday, 6 March 2022, 21:28 

Cities, towns, and villages in the Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolayiv, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions are in the most need of access to humanitarian corridors.

Source: Office of the President of Ukraine, in a comment to the media

Details: The President’s Office noted that there are already several dozen cities and towns where the humanitarian situation is catastrophic– and this number is rising every day.

Towns and villages located in areas of hostilities that require humanitarian corridors for evacuation and aid:

• Sumy region (directions of Sumy, Shostka, Romny, Konotop, Okhtyrka)
• Chernihiv region (eastern and northern parts of the region)
• Kharkiv region (all areas of the region, except the southeast)
• Kyiv region (Bucha, Irpin, Vyshhorod, Ivankiv, Vasylkiv, Borodyanka)
• Mykolayiv region (Bashtanka, Snihurivka, Bereznehuvatske directions)
• Zaporizhzhya region (Tokmatsk, Berdyansk, Velykobilozersk directions)
• Kherson region (Chaplynka, Kalanchak, Henichesk and Nova Kakhovka directions)
• Luhansk and Donetsk regions

According to the President’s Office, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians need immediate evacuation.

"We have already had two agreements about humanitarian corridors from Mariupol and Volnovakha with the Russian side, both of which were broken by the Russians. They would have enabled the evacuation of more than 200,000 civilians," the President’s Office said.

It was noted that, according to international humanitarian law, intermediaries in the process of coordinating humanitarian corridors could be patron-states (an independent "third side" that is not party to the conflict) or international humanitarian organisations.

In Ukraine, the International Committee of the Red Cross is such an intermediary. On 5 March, the UN Office in Ukraine also announced its readiness to join the process.

"It is obvious that the Russian side is grossly violating the norms of international humanitarian law, using humanitarian corridors as an excuse to strengthen its own military positions in order to seize all of Ukraine’s territory, and to terrorise and destroy our civilian population," reported to the President’s Office.

They stressed that Ukraine and its Armed Forces guarantee the terms of agreements on humanitarian corridors and compliance with all requirements of international humanitarian law.

"Ukraine’s humanitarian aid should be at the forefront of the attention of the most influential international structures: in particular the G7, which comprises the United States, Japan, the UK, France, Italy, Canada, and, of course, Germany," the Office of the President of Ukraine said.