Civilian evacuation post near Kiev hit by gunfire

An exit crossing point for civilians trying to escape from the Irpin district, west of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, was bombed on Sunday morning. International media were filming at the scene when what appears to have been an artillery shell landed.

At the time, a stream of people was passing through the checkpoint. There are no immediate details of casualties yet.

On Saturday (5), the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha, both in Ukraine, was postponed to this Sunday (6) due to a breach of the Russian ceasefire. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is the guarantor of the evacuation of civilians, informed the postponement.

Ukraine accused Russia of violating the ceasefire. Faced with the exchange of accusations over a ceasefire to allow the evacuation of civilians, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday that attacks on hospitals were carried out in Ukraine.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the military offensives on health centers had “caused several deaths and injuries”. The organization also said it was investigating other attacks on hospitals in the region.

“Attacks on health facilities or workers violate medical neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian law,” said the WHO director-general.

In his social media post, however, Tedros did not mention Russia by name, which has been carrying out an invasion of Ukraine for 11 days.

Beginning of the ceasefire

According to the Russian government, the interruption of attacks and bombing began at 10 am Moscow time (4 am GMT), and will help civilians to flee Ukraine safely.

This is, so far, the first ceasefire by the Russian army since Russian troops began their invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said the “humanitarian corridors and exit routes have been agreed with the Ukrainian side”. Mykhailo Podoliak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed that evacuation corridors are being prepared in regions of the country.

City officials said the two sides had agreed that the Ukrainians would have five hours to cross humanitarian corridors while the firing was stopped.

Last Thursday (3), at a meeting for negotiations between the two countries, representatives of Ukraine and Russia had already agreed on humanitarian corridors – places that would not be targets of Russian attacks and would serve for the passage of refugees and resources. .