The evacuation route for Mariupol was not opened Sunday. According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, since the Russian side had not guaranteed a truce.
“We were unable to build a humanitarian corridor for Mariupol. Because Russia has not confirmed a ceasefire regime,” Vereshchuk stated on national television. “We’ll give it another go tomorrow.”
“I think the UN should have been and should be the most effective now [in creating evacuation routes], I think the UN should have been and should be the most effective now,” Vereshchuk said. The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, is scheduled to visit Moscow on April 26. We are no longer asking; we are demanding that the UN establish a ceasefire regime and provide a humanitarian passage from Azovstal [a steel plant that serves as a last stronghold for Ukrainian forces] — and also from Mariupol — because there are presently 1,000 women and children in Azovstal. Plus, there are 500 or more wounded, 50 of whom require immediate medical attention. And if Mr. Guterres wants to talk about peace in Moscow, he should say this.”
Guterres is scheduled to visit Moscow on Tuesday. According to a UN spokesman. The UN Secretary-General will also go to Ukraine next week, where he will meet with President Zelensky on Thursday.
On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that “rapid and unhindered humanitarian access” to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol is “urgently required.”
