Ukrainians flee besieged cities as number of refugees hits 2 mn

Desperate civilians fled besieged Ukrainian cities on Tuesday after Russia offered “humanitarian corridors”, as the number of refugees leaving the country since Moscow’s invasion passed two million.   

Civilians boarded buses out of the north-eastern city of Sumy, where 21 people were killed in air strikes overnight, while others took an unofficial escape route out of the bombarded Kyiv suburb of Irpin.   

But Ukraine accused Russia of attacking an evacuation corridor out of the beleaguered southern port city of Mariupol, where aid workers said tens of thousands were living in “apocalyptic” conditions.   

Kyiv has branded the corridors from four cities a publicity stunt as many of the exit routes lead into Russia or its ally Belarus. Both sides accuse each other of ceasefire violations.   
President Vladimir Putin’s invasion has sparked fears of a wider European war, and unleashed the continent’s fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II as people flood across Ukraine’s borders.   

Western allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow and poured in weapons to Ukraine, while oil giant Shell became the latest among scores of businesses to pull out of Russia.   
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced what he called unkept promises by the West to protect his country, and renewed calls for a no-fly zone that leaders have so far dismissed.   

 “It’s been 13 days we’ve been hearing promises, 13 days we’ve been told we’ll be helped in the air, that there will be planes,” Zelensky said on a video broadcast on Telegram.
KYIV AFP, 8 March, 2022