Russia will open a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Azot plant

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today that it will open a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday to evacuate the approximately 500 civilians who are taking refuge in the Azot chemical plant in the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk.

The Ukrainian Army must give its approval to the start of the humanitarian operation “raising a white flag,” Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Ukraine National Defense Control Center, explained in a statement. Russia.

LOOK: The cellars of horror: gang rape as a weapon of war in Ukraine

The corridor, which will open at 08:00 local time and close twelve hours later, will allow civilians to leave the plant for the city of Svátove, in the north of the region of Lugansk and controlled by the Russian Army.

“The safe evacuation of all civilians, without exception, and their transfer as part of a humanitarian convoy to temporary emplacement areas is guaranteed,” Mizintsev said.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, some 40 children are among the civilians besieged at the plant.

Defense requires that Kyiv requested the opening of a humanitarian corridor to the city of Lisichansk, bordering Severodonetsk and currently controlled by the Ukrainian Army.

In this regard, Mizíntsev explained that the Ukrainian Army blew up the last bridge over the Severski Donets River in the direction of Lisichansk, which makes the “safe” evacuation of civilians to that town impossible.

Kyiv However, he accuses the Russian troops of having destroyed the three bridges that communicated Severodonetsk, the last one on Monday.

He also denounced that Ukrainian soldiers barricaded themselves in Scourge along with several hundred civilians to use as “human shields”.

“In this way, all the signs of repetition of the ‘script of Mariupol‘” he said and accused Kyiv of trying to save their beleaguered military units by taking advantage of the evacuation of civilians.

For all these reasons, it asks the Ukrainian military and the mercenaries entrenched in the plant to cease all military action, allow the evacuation of civilians, abandon the “useless resistance” and lay down their arms.

“The Russian Federation guarantees life and respect for all the norms of the Geneva Convention in the treatment of prisoners of war, as happened with those who surrendered in Mariupol,” Mizíntsev stressed.

Azot is the last stronghold of resistance in Severodonetskthe main Ukrainian military stronghold in the Lugansk region, which has been almost completely controlled by Russian troops.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.