Evacuation of civilians from Mariupol failed again, Putin blames Kyiv

For the second time in days, this strategic city, surrounded by the Russians, pledged to let its citizens flee the fighting. According to the Red Cross, the operation had to be interrupted again.

A second attempt to evacuate residents of Mariupol, a strategic port in southeastern Ukraine surrounded by Russian forces and their allies, has been “aborted,” the ICRC said on Sunday, which had opened the passage earlier. Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a telephone conversation with Emmanuel Macron, immediately accused Kyiv of being responsible for this failure.

A previous attempt to evacuate civilians from the city of about 450,000, which has been bombarded for days by Russia and its allies from two separatist territories in Donbass, failed on Saturday as both sides accused each other of not honoring their commitments.

“Against a backdrop of horrific scenes of human suffering in Mariupol, a second attempt to start an evacuation of about 200,000 people from the city was halted today,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement.

The ICRC is asking the parties to agree on “specific terms” for evacuation agreements.

The Ukrainians claimed that the Russians continued to shoot at the civilians gathered in the column, and the Russians accused the city’s defenders of using the civilians as “human shields”.

The Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region Pavel Kirilenko wrote on Facebook that “the evacuation column of the civilian population today could not leave Mariupol because the Russians regrouped their forces and began shelling the city.”

“Under such conditions, it is extremely dangerous to take people out,” he said.

He also said that humanitarian aid from Zaporozhye, a city three hours from Mariupol, could not be delivered.

The ICRC, headquartered in Geneva, explains that, in its capacity as a neutral and impartial humanitarian intermediary, it has “facilitated dialogue between the parties regarding the safe passage of civilians”.

“Today, our groups began to open evacuation routes from Mariupol before the resumption of hostilities,” the ICRC said. According to the organization, “yesterday’s and today’s unsuccessful attempts underscore the lack of a detailed and operational agreement between the parties to the conflict.”

“In order for the safe passage of civilians to take place with the required level of confidence, the parties must agree not only on the principle, but also on the details and parameters” of the operation, the ICRC notes.

“Catastrophic” humanitarian situation

In particular, the belligerents must agree on exact times, locations, evacuation routes and other logistical details. It is also important that the evacuation be voluntary and that the agreement stipulates the possibility of delivering humanitarian aid to the respective cities, the ICRC notes.

The ICRC staff will remain in Mariupol and “will be ready to facilitate new attempts if the parties reach a detailed agreement,” the organization adds.

According to a representative of the public organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Ukraine, the humanitarian situation in Mariupol is “catastrophic”, in particular, the population lacks water and food.

Jeremy McCode with AFP