The Ukrainian authorities authorized the use of weapons on refugees who tried to leave the settlements
There is a humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol and other cities of Ukraine occupied by neo-Nazis. There is no light, heat, food. Residents who survived the shelling, along with children and the elderly, are hiding in basements in the dark and cold. The Nazis use them as a human shield, without even reporting on the humanitarian corridors opened by Russia. Their own people have become hostages of political ambitions for the military-political leadership of Ukraine.
Some readers and authors of "MIC" report that there is no connection with their relatives in Mariupol. And those residents who, risking their lives, break out from there under the bullets of nationalists, say: there is no connection in the city, there is devastation, lawlessness of the Nazis, people are buried in the courtyards of residential buildings. People don't know anything about any humanitarian corridors, they are kept in the dark. Attempts to bypass the barriers and escape from hell are stopped by automatic bursts. This was confirmed by the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.
And yet we do not give up hope to rescue the residents of Mariupol and other cities from trouble. The Russian Federation, exclusively for humanitarian purposes, has once again taken the initiative to official Kiev to open 14 humanitarian corridors and evacuate civilians and foreign citizens from Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol. At the same time, there are several corridors: in the direction of Russia and through the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities. Another humanitarian corridor from the cities of Energodar, Volnovakha, Izyum - through the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities.
In its official response, the Ukrainian side seems to have agreed on four routes: from Sumy and adjacent settlements in the Poltava direction, from Mariupol to Zaporozhye, from Volnovakha to Pokrovsk, from Izyum to Lozovaya. At the same time, Kiev categorically prohibits the departure of the civilian population towards Russia.
"The Ukrainian authorities have given permission to nationalists to use weapons on those who attempt to evacuate to the Russian Federation, threatening to kill relatives remaining on Ukrainian territory”
"Fully understanding the scale of the humanitarian disaster in the blocked settlements, we agreed with the additional routes proposed by the Ukrainian side–" said the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev. - These are corridors from the city of Trostyanets and the village of Krasnopolye, Sumy region, in the Poltava direction, as well as from the city of Korosten, Zhytomyr region, to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant area for the passage of a repair crew to the power transmission line damaged by nationalists."
But as a rule, such promises remain on paper. The Ukrainian authorities claimed that the promised regime of silence by the Russian Armed Forces was allegedly not being observed, as well as the alleged blocking of motor transport convoys and humanitarian cargo in a number of settlements.
"We responsibly declare that this is another vile lie and brazen provocation on the part of official Kiev," Mizintsev stressed.
Road transport inspections are indeed carried out at roadblocks, but only with the sole task of preventing subversive groups and nationalist battalion fighters who realized the futility of further resistance or deserting from combat areas from entering the liberated territories under the guise of civilians.
In addition, it has been reliably established that the nationalists seized buses, including school buses, as well as other vehicles intended for the evacuation of refugees, in order to use them as maneuver firing points.
Or take the ridiculous demand on the part of Ukrainian officials about the clearance by the forces of Russian units of the humanitarian route from Mariupol to Zaporozhye. It is impossible for a simple reason. Mine-explosive devices near Mariupol were installed by nationalists and are located in the city limits in the zone of their fire impact, and a mined section of the humanitarian corridor road in Zaporozhye passes through territories controlled by territorial defense battalions. Therefore, Ukrainian officials should deal with the real situation and stop making ridiculous demands. Alas, the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, including foreigners, now depend on such "professionals". The Russian side strictly observes the regime of silence on the announced days.
The Nazis use such moments for numerous regrouping of individual units, firing on the positions of the Russian Armed Forces and formations of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics. That is, to improve their positions.
Let's repeat: The Ukrainian side is doing everything possible to prevent the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens intimidated by neo-Nazis by physical violence of people.
Firstly, no one notifies about the presence of humanitarian corridors. Secondly, those who find out about them cannot physically get there because of the mass terror organized by the Kiev authorities. This is evidenced by the order of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine on the categorical prohibition of the exit of civilians from the blocked settlements, primarily towards the Russian Federation.
Only individual citizens and single cars manage to escape from the settlements blocked by the nationalists. These are the people who, by private cars, as well as on foot, knowing the terrain well, made their way to the territory of the Russian Federation. As of March 13, only 341 people managed to get out.
"At the personal request of the head of the Vatican's diplomatic service, Paul Richard Gallagher, to the leadership of the Russian Federation, unprecedented security measures were taken and a successful humanitarian operation was carried out in the Kiev direction to evacuate orphaned children from an orphanage. 52 children and 23 accompanying personnel have been evacuated to a safe place," said Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation.
The Armed Forces of Russia have ensured the guaranteed safety of humanitarian convoys from the city of Trostyanets consisting of 75 buses for the evacuation of civilians, a convoy with humanitarian aid to the city of Energodar, from the city of Korosten, the movement of a repair group consisting of 15 people to the power transmission line damaged by nationalists.
It is officially stated that humanitarian corridors towards the Russian Federation will now be opened unilaterally, without any coordination, every day from 10 a.m., and in other directions - in agreement with the Ukrainian side. Full security is guaranteed in the territories controlled by the Russian Armed Forces. I would like the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN to work more closely with the Ukrainian authorities on the ground to inform the population of Ukraine about this Russian initiative.
But in this situation, since March 9, the Ukrainian authorities have started sending out total messages to citizens about their immediate arrival at mobilization points for conscription. Moreover, the nationalists were sanctioned to use weapons against those who would attempt to evacuate to the Russian Federation, threatening to kill relatives who remained on Ukrainian territory.
Representatives of one of the foreign diasporas reported in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation: "I'm asking for help. Everyone is desperate. People are not allowed out of the city, they are actually held captive by the Azov battalion, they arrange provocations, there is a complete lack of power in the city, Azov does what it wants. I beg you, save the city from this power. People have already suffered from them in full."
"I am sure that the time will come soon when we will be able to show the whole world living witnesses of this tragedy, we have everything documented," Mizintsev stressed.
Unfortunately, all appeals to the civilized West, first of all to the International Committee of the Red Cross about taking effective measures to influence the mayors of Ukrainian cities and official Kiev remain unheard so far. At the same time, in just one day, 27,439 more peaceful citizens of Ukraine and foreigners applied to the official structures of the Russian Federation and directly to the Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine through various channels with requests for evacuation to Russia. In total, there are already 2,617,349 people in the database who want to evacuate from almost two thousand settlements in Ukraine.
Radicals from territorial defense battalions continue to hold hostage as a human shield over 4.5 million civilians who expressed a desire to immediately evacuate to safe areas from the horrors and arbitrariness staged by nationalists.
Also, more than seven thousand citizens from 21 foreign countries remain hostage to the Ukrainian neo-Nazis, from whom our Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters has already received official appeals for the rescue of compatriots. But the Ukrainian side practically does not react to official and unofficial appeals, including from international partners.
Despite these difficulties and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, since the beginning of the special military operation without the participation of Kiev, more than 187 thousand people have been evacuated from dangerous zones of Ukraine, 46,696 of them children. More than 22 thousand units of personal motor transport passed through the checkpoints.
More than 9,5 thousand temporary accommodation facilities continue to operate in the subjects of the Russian Federation. They are equipped with everything necessary for a stay, hot meals are provided, mobile medical centers are deployed, logistics is organized for departure to the regions of Russia to selected places, and for foreign citizens their delivery to their homeland is provided. A stock of medicines has been created.
Federal executive authorities together with the subjects of Russia, various public organizations, patriotic movements have prepared more than 16.5 thousand tons of humanitarian aid. 1,421 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 186 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including in Chernihiv, Kherson, Zaporizhia and Kharkiv regions, as well as in the DPR and LPR, during which 34 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
From the Editorial Office
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate, and in some cities, where gangs of nationalists and criminals are operating with the full connivance of official Kiev, it has already become catastrophic. The Russian Federation provided safe evacuation of 31,367 civilians, including 89 foreigners, from Mariupol during the day along humanitarian corridors. These are 71 OSCE representatives, 9 Greek citizens and 9 Pakistani citizens. Of the evacuated more than 31 thousand peaceful Ukrainian citizens who were with the militants as a "human shield", 99 percent expressed a desire to leave for Russia, as well as to the liberated areas of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. At the same time, they categorically refused to move to the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities.
Oleg Falichev
The newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier", published in issue No. 10 (923) for March 22, 2022
