Berliner Boersenzeitung - Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer

EUR -
AED 4.293297
AFN 80.91457
ALL 97.787182
AMD 448.803483
ANG 2.092137
AOA 1072.008381
ARS 1473.86814
AUD 1.776114
AWG 2.107191
AZN 1.992006
BAM 1.954944
BBD 2.359867
BDT 142.117771
BGN 1.954944
BHD 0.440707
BIF 3482.375178
BMD 1.169038
BND 1.495545
BOB 8.093456
BRL 6.502078
BSD 1.168788
BTN 100.194128
BWP 15.604167
BYN 3.824825
BYR 22913.14706
BZD 2.347672
CAD 1.60129
CDF 3373.844424
CHF 0.930865
CLF 0.029161
CLP 1110.323824
CNY 8.380309
CNH 8.386416
COP 4691.84559
CRC 589.441902
CUC 1.169038
CUP 30.97951
CVE 110.21674
CZK 24.665189
DJF 208.128867
DKK 7.461795
DOP 70.379183
DZD 151.705573
EGP 57.855667
ERN 17.535572
ETB 161.021794
FJD 2.621276
FKP 0.865796
GBP 0.866082
GEL 3.16855
GGP 0.865796
GHS 12.154678
GIP 0.865796
GMD 83.590727
GNF 10140.559771
GTQ 8.978069
GYD 244.522931
HKD 9.175551
HNL 30.573613
HRK 7.533988
HTG 153.40283
HUF 399.5543
IDR 18972.787189
ILS 3.894218
IMP 0.865796
INR 100.333285
IQD 1531.029611
IRR 49231.122092
ISK 142.400984
JEP 0.865796
JMD 186.898163
JOD 0.828894
JPY 171.328427
KES 151.00388
KGS 102.232832
KHR 4685.948172
KMF 492.340851
KPW 1052.116012
KRW 1612.291055
KWD 0.357481
KYD 0.973974
KZT 610.66261
LAK 25187.970987
LBP 104720.046415
LKR 351.4761
LRD 234.337391
LSL 20.841074
LTL 3.451866
LVL 0.70714
LYD 6.314235
MAD 10.527091
MDL 19.787336
MGA 5177.732835
MKD 61.508068
MMK 2454.245682
MNT 4196.950222
MOP 9.450262
MRU 46.492642
MUR 53.144915
MVR 18.007558
MWK 2026.612611
MXN 21.771042
MYR 4.971339
MZN 74.772119
NAD 20.841074
NGN 1786.89858
NIO 43.011167
NOK 11.839321
NPR 160.310805
NZD 1.945479
OMR 0.4495
PAB 1.168788
PEN 4.144385
PGK 4.831884
PHP 66.037214
PKR 332.363469
PLN 4.253138
PYG 9058.033774
QAR 4.260834
RON 5.081579
RSD 117.098726
RUB 91.189371
RWF 1688.860502
SAR 4.384482
SBD 9.733981
SCR 16.480784
SDG 702.011685
SEK 11.176827
SGD 1.494854
SHP 0.91868
SLE 26.307644
SLL 24514.149043
SOS 667.907544
SRD 43.49699
STD 24196.728708
SVC 10.226522
SYP 15199.796755
SZL 20.847871
THB 37.929486
TJS 11.295954
TMT 4.103324
TND 3.419503
TOP 2.738009
TRY 46.93731
TTD 7.940523
TWD 34.1849
TZS 3029.973271
UAH 48.831018
UGX 4189.165697
USD 1.169038
UYU 47.259307
UZS 14766.534203
VES 133.584256
VND 30528.845862
VUV 139.77719
WST 3.204584
XAF 655.669903
XAG 0.030452
XAU 0.000348
XCD 3.159384
XDR 0.815443
XOF 655.669903
XPF 119.331742
YER 282.732293
ZAR 20.949587
ZMK 10522.750076
ZMW 27.056153
ZWL 376.429796
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer
Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer

Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer

Ukraine dismissed Moscow's offer to create humanitarian corridors from several bombarded cities on Monday after it emerged that exit routes would lead refugees into Russia or Belarus.

Text size:

The Russian proposal of safe passage for people from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy came after terrified Ukrainian civilians came under fire in previous failed ceasefire attempts.

Violence raged 12 days into the war, even as a third round of peace negotiations was starting on Monday and the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers eyed talks in Turkey later this week.

The Russian invasion has pushed more than 1.5 million people across Ukraine's borders in what the UN calls Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, and sparked fears of a wider conflict.

International sanctions intended to punish Moscow have done little to slow the invasion, and Washington said it was now discussing a ban on Russian oil imports with Europe.

Oil prices soared to near a 14-year high on the developments while stock markets plunged.

As international pressure mounted over horrifying scenes of civilians cut down while fleeing, Moscow's defence ministry announced plans for humanitarian corridors and said a "regime of silence" had started at 0700 GMT.

But several routes led into Russia or its ally Belarus, raising questions over the safety of those who might use them.

"This is not an acceptable option," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Russia's negotiator at the peace talks, Vladimir Medinsky, in return accused Ukraine of the "war crime" of blocking the corridors.

Expectations remained low for the talks, which were due to begin at 1400 GMT on the Belarus-Poland border, and which Medinsky said would focus on evacuation routes.

- 'Moral cynicism' -

French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, accused Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism over the offer.

"All this is not serious, it is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable," he told LCI television in an interview.

AFP journalists saw thousands of civilians early Monday fleeing the fighting via an unofficial humanitarian corridor in Irpin, a strategic suburb west of Kyiv.

"I am so happy to have managed to get out," said Olga, a 48-year-old woman leaving with her two dogs.

Children and the elderly were carried on carpets used as stretchers on the route, which leads over a makeshift bridge and then a single path secured by the army and volunteers.

Desperate people abandoned pushchairs and heavy suitcases to make sure they could get on the buses out of the war zone.

"We had no light at home, no light, no water, we just sat in the basement," Inna Scherbanyova, 54, an economist from Irpin, told AFP.

"Explosions were constantly going off... Near our house there are cars, there were dead people in one of them... very scary."

A day earlier a family of two adults and two children were killed by a shell as they tried to leave the war-torn area.

"They are monsters. Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered," mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said on Telegram, adding that he had seen the family killed with his own eyes.

Two recent attempts to allow some 200,000 civilians to leave the besieged Azov Sea port of Mariupol have also ended in disaster.

Refugees trying to escape Mariupol using humanitarian corridors were left stranded as the road they were directed towards was mined, the ICRC said on Monday.

- 'Secure the skies' -

There was no let-up in the violence overnight into Monday, as outgunned Ukrainian forces, helped with military supplies from western countries, try to hold back Russian forces.

Air sirens sounded in cities across the country, and there was intense aerial bombardment in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, which has endured almost non-stop fire in recent days.

"The enemy continues the offensive operation against Ukraine, focusing on the encirclement of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mykolayiv," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement.

The mayor of Gostomel, the town north of Kiev that is home to a crucial military airfield, was shot dead by Russian forces along with two other people while "distributing bread to the hungry and medicine to the sick," local officials said.

Nine bodies -- five civilians and four soldiers -- were found in the rubble of Vinnytsia airport in central Ukraine after it was destroyed in a Russian missile attack on Sunday, rescue services said.

Fears meanwhile rose that main port of Odessa, dubbed the "pearl of the Black Sea", was the next target of Russia's offensive in the south. Officials said Russia had shelled the village of Tuzly in the Odessa region from the sea, causing no injuries.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed calls for the West to boycott Russian exports, particularly oil, and to impose a no-fly zone to stop the carnage.

"How many more deaths and losses must it take to secure the skies over Ukraine?" he said in a video message.

Twelve days of fighting have killed hundreds of civilians and wounded thousands. An unending stream of people -- mostly women and children -- has poured into neighbouring countries, especially Poland.

Western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires in a bid to choke the Russian economy and pressure Moscow to halt its assault.

- 'Neutralisation' of Ukraine -

But Putin has equated global sanctions with a declaration of war, put nuclear forces on alert and warned that Kyiv is "putting in question the future of Ukrainian statehood" by continuing to resist.

Moscow has been forced to restrict sales of essential goods to limit black-market speculation, while on Sunday payment giant American Express halted operations there, a day after Visa and MasterCard announced similar steps.

Streaming giant Netflix suspended its service in Russia while social media titan TikTok halted the posting of new videos from Russia.

Despite harsh punishments for those voicing dissent, protests in Russia against the Ukraine invasion have continued, with more than 10,000 people arrested since it began.

Putin has pledged the "neutralisation" of Ukraine "either through negotiation or through war".

Sputtering diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict continue with the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia and Turkey set to meet in southern Turkey on Thursday, Ankara said.

China said on Monday it was open to helping to mediate peace, but stressed that the friendship between close allies Beijing and Moscow remained "rock solid".

The International Court of Justice meanwhile heard Ukraine's appeal for it to order Russia to halt the fighting, but Moscow declined to attend the sitting of the UN's top court, in The Hague.

NATO allies have so far rebuffed Ukraine's calls for a no-fly zone, with one senior US senator, Marco Rubio, saying Sunday that it could lead to "World War III" against nuclear-armed Russia.

Kyiv has urged the West to boost its military assistance, with Zelensky pleading for Russian-made planes that his pilots are trained to fly.

(A.Berg--BBZ)