On Wednesday, an agreement was made to try to evacuate residents besieged in Ukrainian towns and cities via nine “humanitarian corridors.” This was disclosed by Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk of Ukraine to Reuters.
The accord excludes the beleaguered southeastern port city of Mariupol, but it does include routes out of Luhansk, where a truce has been declared.
About 100,000 residents are stuck in Mariupol, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who says they are without food, water, or medication.
What you should know
- The United Nations considers humanitarian corridors to be one of several possible forms of a temporary pause of armed conflict. They are demilitarized zones, in a specific area and for a specific time — and both sides of an armed conflict agree to them.
- In eastern Ukraine, a five-hour cease-fire was to be in place on March 5, to allow around 200,000 people from Mariupol and 15,000 residents from the city of Volnovakha to leave.
- However, after a few hours, the initiative collapsed. The evacuation had been “postponed for security reasons,” according to the Mariupol city government because Russian troops continued to bomb the city and its environs.
- Russia, according to Reuters, stated that the corridors built up near Mariupol and Volnovakha were not utilised. According to the Russian news agency RIA, “nationalists” blocked the civilians from fleeing, and Russian troops were also targeted during the cease-fire.
Where else have we seen humanitarian corridors?
- Since the mid-twentieth century, humanitarian corridors have been established. During the so-called Kindertransport from 1938 to 1939. For example, Jewish children were evacuated from Nazi-controlled areas to the United Kingdom.
- Humanitarian corridors were also established during the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1992 to 1995, and the evacuation of Ghouta, Syria, in 2018.
- Many wars and conflicts, on the other hand, have seen calls for civilian corridors or a cease-fire fall on deaf ears. The UN, for example, has so far failed to reach an agreement in Yemen’s prolonged conflict.
