Ukraine refuses to allow humanitarian evacuation to Russia
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A Russian security official reveals that Ukraine’s national security agency has been tracking phone calls and conducting mass searches and arrests to stop people from going to Russia.
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The head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev
The head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, pointed out that Ukraine has rejected multiple attempts by Russia to conduct humanitarian evacuation of civilians from the southeastern port of Mariupol to Russia.
Mizintsev indicated that "Kiev has not yet authorized any of humanitarian corridors to Russia, once again showing how much the authorities are indifferent to their own people."
The Russian General accused Ukrainian troops of violating arrangements on humanitarian corridors and "hunting" those who try to flee eastward, revealing that Ukraine’s national security agency (SBU) has been tracking phone calls and conducting mass searches and arrests to stop people from going to Russia.
"People are being forced to find excuses for seeking protection in Russia," he noted.
9,787 people evacuated from Ukraine past 24 hours
According to Mizintsev, some 450 civilians heading toward the neighboring Russian region of Kursk from Ukraine’s Sumy region had their transport seized and were driven away from the border.
It is noteworthy that Russia has evacuated 9,787 people from conflict zones across Ukraine and the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics in the past 24 hours, with the total number of evacuees surpassing 231,000, including 51,996 children.
Mizintsev highlighted that Russia has been contacted by more than 2.6 million civilians and foreigners stranded in Ukraine to leave, with 19,963 pleas for help recorded in the past day.
Ukrainian far-right take 6,900 foreigners as hostages, uses them as human shields
The military official also confirmed that more than 6,900 foreign nationals are being held by Ukrainian far-right forces to be used as a human shield.
"More than 6,900 citizens from 16 foreign countries are still being held hostage as a ‘human shield’ by Ukrainian neo-Nazis," Mizintsev said.
Foreign crews of more than 50 foreign-flagged vessels have been stranded in Ukrainian seaports, he added. The foreigners hail from Azerbaijan, Greece, Georgia, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, the Philippines, and Jamaica, among others. Russia is in contact with their respective diplomatic missions.
