Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian authorities of thwarting humanitarian evacuation operations from Mariupol, a major port in southeastern Ukraine, in a telephone interview Sunday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian authorities of thwarting humanitarian evacuation operations from Mariupol, a major port in southeastern Ukraine, in a telephone interview Sunday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. Mr. Putin “drew attention to the fact that Kiev continues not to respect the agreements reached on these humanitarian issues”, adding that “Ukrainian nationalists prevented the evacuation” on Saturday of Mariupol and Volnovakha, a nearby town , reported the Kremlin. On Saturday, Moscow and Kiev announced that they had reached a ceasefire agreement and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to allow the evacuation of these two cities surrounded by Russian forces and their allies, before accusing each other to have broken the pact.
In his conversation with Mr. Macron, Mr. Putin accused the Ukrainian forces present in these two cities of having “used the pause in hostilities to strengthen their capacities”. A new attempt on Sunday to evacuate Mariupol, a city which normally has 450,000 inhabitants, was also “interrupted”, announced the ICRC.
The other big question addressed by MM. Macron and Putin, according to the Kremlin, has been international concern over the safety of nuclear facilities in Ukraine, after fighting in recent days near the Chernobyl and Zaporozhye power plants, where a fire broke out. Mr Putin accused “radicalized Ukrainians” and “saboteurs” of being behind the incidents in Zaporozhye, adding that “attempts to blame Russia are part of a cynical propaganda campaign”.
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