7K foreigners held hostage by Ukraine, claims Russia

 Moscow: Amid war with Ukraine, Russia has claimed that it has opened 10 humanitarian corridors from Moscow to evacuate civilians and foreign citizens from Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol cities, including one humanitarian corridor from each city to Russia.

Russia alleged that around 7,000 people of different countries are held hostage by Ukraine while 70 vessels are stuck at ports.

In a statement on Friday, it has claimed that one corridor was through the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities to the west, to Poland, Moldova and Romania.

Russian Embassy said: “Of the ten routes we proposed, the Ukrainian side agreed on only two — on Kiev and Mariupol directions. At the same time, once again not a single humanitarian corridor to the Russian Federation.”

The authorities in Kiev additionally announced four more routes from Izyum, Energodar, Volnovakha and in the Zhytomyr direction.

The statement from Russia further said: “23,127 more people have taken refugee in Russia in the last 24 hours alone, and there are already 2,619,026 of them from almost 2,000 settlements of Ukraine.

“It said that 34,555 people, including 3,562 children, were evacuated from the dangerous zones of various regions of Ukraine, as well as the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, during the day without the participation of the Ukrainian side, and more than 223,000 people have been evacuated since the beginning of the special military operation, 50,258 of them children.”

On Friday, according to the statement, the Russian Armed Forces ensured the safety of the movement of a humanitarian convoy from Energodar city to Zaporozhye, consisting of 13 buses, 130 private cars with 957 refugees, and also managed to evacuate more than 62,000 refugees from Sumy in Poltava direction within a day.

Russia said that more than 7,000 from 21 foreign countries remain hostage to Ukrainian neo-Nazis, whom the nationalists continue to hold as “human shield”.

“Currently, there are more than 50 foreign vessels in Ukrainian ports, crewed by foreign citizens of Azerbaijan, Greece, Georgia, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, the Philippines, Jamaica and a number of others.”

“We call on the Ukrainian side to strictly comply with the norms of international humanitarian law and ensure the safe exit of foreign vessels from Ukrainian ports and the territorial sea.

“We emphasize once again that the Russian Armed Forces do not pose a danger to navigation,” the statement said.

More than 9,500 temporary accommodation centres continue to operate in the regions of Russia.

The statement said that a sufficient number of buses and supporting transport for the transportation of refugees are kept in constant readiness at checkpoints and temporary accommodation places. They are equipped with everything necessary for a temporary stay, hot meals are provided, mobile medical centres are deployed.

“The federal executive authorities together with the subjects of Russia, various public organisations, patriotic movements have prepared more than 16,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid,” the statement said.

Besides, 1,671 tonnes of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 212 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 26 actions in Chernigov region, as well as in Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, during which 250 tonnes of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.

Today, 23 humanitarian actions are being held in Kharkov, Zaporozhia, Kiev and Chernigov regions, during which 284 tonnes of basic necessities, including food, are being transferred to the population. (IANS)