BREAKING: Second Ceasefire Between #Ukraine Vs #Russia Announced – #UkraineWar—A second attempt to evacuate the besieged city of Mariupol has been announced with 400,000 civilians allowed to flee amid fears Putin will shatter the agreement with shelling again.
The city, which is currently encircled by Russian troops, will restart attempts to evacuate civilians from the conflict after similar efforts yesterday were scuppered by Russian bombing just 45 minutes after a ceasefire was agreed.
Some 400,000 residents will begin to be evacuated from 12pm today, with the agreement in place until 9pm, according to the city council of Mariupol.
People will be able to use private transport to travel out the city and will be accompanied by the Red Cross, while deviating from the set route is prohibited.
The city council has said: ‘We ask all drivers leaving the city to facilitate the evacuation of civilians as much as possible – take people with you, fill the transport as much as possible.’
According to aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) the humanitarian situation in Mariupol, a key target for the Russian invasion forces, is currently ‘catastrophic’ with no power or water in civilian homes.
They have called for a ‘humanitarian corridor’ to be imposed ‘very quickly’.
Separately, on Sunday, the head of Kyiv-controlled Lugansk regional administration, said a train would be organised to evacuate women, children and the elderly from Lysychansk.
Lysychansk is near the frontline between Ukrainian forces and Moscow-backed separatists, who are fighting to link up with the Russian forces and control the entire southeast.
If Russian forces succeed in capturing Mariupol which held out against rebel forces in the previous 2014 conflict, they will control Ukraine’s entire Azov Sea coast.
This would give them a landbridge from Russia to Russian-annexed Crimea and an important supply route and port if they decide to push north in a bid to take all of eastern Ukraine.
A safe passage out the nearby city of Volnovakha has also been offered after failed efforts on Saturday.
Some 200,000 civilians were set to leave Mariupol and a further 15,000 from Volnovakha at 7am (UK time) as part of a temporary ceasefire deal overseen by the Red Cross on Saturday.
Under the agreement, the refugees had five hours to flee the cities and evacuate westwards along humanitarian corridors.
But just 400 refugees managed to flee Volnovakha before the ceasefire was shattered. It is unclear how many – if any – families escaped Mariupol.
The total number of people fleeing Russia’s invasion reached 1.5 million in just ten days on Sunday, making it Europe’s ‘fastest growing refugee crisis’ since World War Two, the United Nations said.
CREDIT: Dailymail
