Evacuation of Indian Students from Sumy Failed Again, Ukraine Called “Humanitarian Corridor” Offer “Immoral and Unethical Stunt”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, March 7: Even as the third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine is scheduled to begin later on Monday evening, the evacuation of around 700 Indian students stranded in Sumy was put on hold again on Monday as Ukraine rejected the Russian offer of a “humanitarian corridor” from three of its cities to evacuate civilians to Russia and Belarus.

Ukraine vetoed the offer calling it an “unethical stunt” intended to “create television pictures for its own publicity since the “corridors” were to be opened from Kyiv, Mariupol and the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy ad opened in Russia and Belarus. Ukraine demanded that the civilians to be evacuated were Ukrainian citizens and they should have the right to be evacuated within the territory of Ukraine and not to be taken to another country.

The evacuation of the Indian students from Sumy though the Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and conveyed to him the importance of the safe evacuation of Indian citizens from war-torn Ukraine’s Sumy at the earliest, official sources said. In phone talks that lasted for 50 minutes, Modi also urged Putin to hold direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in addition to the ongoing negotiations between their teams, the sources said. The prime minister also appreciated the announcement of ceasefire and establishment of humanitarian corridors in parts of Ukraine, including in Sumy, they said. President Putin had assured PM Modi of all possible cooperation in their safe evacuation, government sources said. Before that, Modi had dialled President Zelensky and thanked him for the help in evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine and sought support in the ongoing efforts for evacuation of Indian nationals from Sumy.

But the Russian plan for “humanitarian corridor” to transport Ukrainians trapped under its bombardment — to Russia and ally Belarus.  The “corridors” — set up at the personal request of French President Emmanuel Macron — were to be opened at 10 am Moscow time (12.30 pm IST) from Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, as well as Mariupol, Russia’s defence ministry said. According to maps published by the RIA news agency, the corridor from Kyiv would lead to Belarus, while civilians from Kharkiv would be permitted to go only to Russia. Russia also said it would begin airlifts to take Ukrainians from Kyiv to Russia.

Minutes before the ceasefire under the plan was to be started, Ukraine rejected the offer and a spokesperson for the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called the move “completely immoral” and said Russia was trying to “use people’s suffering to create a television picture.”

“They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine,” media reports said. “This is one of the problems that is causing the humanitarian corridors to break down. They seem to agree to them, but they themselves want to supply humanitarian aid for a picture on TV, and want the corridors to lead in their direction,” he added. Russia announced a ceasefire in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy from 12.30 pm IST on Monday. But this has also it had fallen through.

The third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine about ending hostilities are expected to be held today. Last week, both sides agreed to open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians out of some combat zones, but none of them has worked so far, with the sides accusing each other of violating local ceasefire.

Ukraine also have little expectations from the talks as the Russian president has already announced that Russia would stop only after achieving its goals, either through war or talks. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba plan to meet on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum in the Turkish resort of Antalya on March 10, Russian news agencies reported on Monday.

The United Nations’ International Court of Justice, meanwhile, is hearing Ukraine’s appeal for an emergency ruling requiring Russia to stop its invasion. Kyiv lodged the urgent case on February 27, saying Russia had illegally justified its war by falsely alleging genocide in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Russia has refused to participate in the hearing. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its twelfth day, has seen more than 1.5 million people flee the country in what the UN has called Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.

The desperate and dejected Indian students said they have been waiting for evacuation since Saturday — the foreign ministry said the main challenges were the ongoing shelling, violence and the lack of transportation. An Indian team from the embassy has been on stand-by at Poltava – nearly a three-hour drive from Sumy – to coordinate the safe passage of the students.

On Saturday, unable to cope with the bitter cold, depleting food and water supplies, the students shared videos saying they have decided to take a risky journey to the Russian border 50 km away. But they were dissuaded by the government, which contacted them and asked that they “avoid unnecessary risks.”

Zelensky has also vowed to “punish” everyone who “committed atrocities” in the war that has claimed lives of hundreds, including women and children. Zelensky said “we will not forget, we will not forgive” those involved. It’s murder, deliberate murder,” Zelensky raged in an address as he warned of more shelling to come Monday. “We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war on our land,” he said. “There will be no quiet place on this Earth except the grave.” “Today is Forgiveness Sunday. But we will not forgive hundreds and hundreds of victims. Thousands and thousands of sufferings. Instead of Forgiveness, there will be a Day of Judgment,” Zelensky added. This came after rescue efforts of civilians came under direct attack by Russian forces with at least three people getting killed in shelling outside Kyiv.

Russian forces pummelled Ukrainian cities from the air, land and sea today, with warnings they were preparing for an assault on the capital Kyiv. Fighting stopped terrified civilians failed for a second day to escape besieged Mariupol. The United States has seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

International sanctions intended to punish Moscow have so far done little to slow the invasion, and Washington said it was now discussing a ban on Russian oil imports with Europe. NATO allies have so far rebuffed Ukraine’s calls for a no-fly zone, with one senior US senator, Marco Rubio, saying Sunday that it could lead to “World War III” against nuclear-armed Russia. President Vladimir Putin has threatened “colossal and catastrophic consequences not only for Europe but also the whole world” if a no-fly zone is imposed.

Meanwhile, the Russian Paralympic Committee athletes returned back to Moscow after being banned from participating in the Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin and a Russian businessman have been removed from all positions in the International Judo Federation (IJF), the sport’s governing body said, in the latest sporting rebuke following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The decision, announced in a brief statement, comes after Putin, a black belt who has co-authored the book titled “Judo: History, Theory, Practice”, was suspended as IJF honorary president last week..

Putin was also stripped of his honorary taekwondo black belt conferred in 2013 by World Taekwondo and a FINA Order, awarded to him in 2014 by swimming’s global body.

Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing will keep its stores in Russia open, joining a small group of international firms that have stayed put even as dozens of big brands pause operations or exit the country over its invasion of Ukraine. “Clothing is a necessity of life. The people of Russia have the same right to live as we do,” the Japanese apparel retailer’s CEO Tadashi Yanai said adding that every country should oppose war.

Netflix, KPMG and PwC and American Express have decided to cut it ties with Russia after its conflict with Ukraine escalated. The announcement was followed by a number of other companies like Nike, Ikea etc. who decided to close their shops or offices in Russia.

While China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has stressed that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow is still very strong – despite international condemnation of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine – and says China is open to helping mediate peace, South Korea said it would join the United States and others in suspending transactions with Russia’s central bank as part of additional sanctions against Russia, the country’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday. The government said it would announce further details of the sanctions after consultation with related government agencies. Earlier, South Korea had banned financial transactions with seven major Russian banks and blocked Russian banks from the SWIFT global payments system.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence released its latest intelligence report, speculating that Russian forces made “minimal ground advances” over the weekend. The ministry noted a “high level of Russian air and artillery strikes” have continued to hit military and civilian sites in Ukrainian cities over the past 24 hours. “Recent strikes have targeted Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv, and been particularly heavy in Mariupol,” the report added.

Blinken has begun a lightning visit to the three Baltic states that are increasingly on edge as they watch Russia press ahead with its invasion of Ukraine. The former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are all members of NATO and Blinken aims to reassure them of the alliance’s protection in the event Russia chooses to expand its military operations to other neighboring countries.

While most of the world is shunning Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one of the few leaders keeping an open line of communication is French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron’s diplomatic efforts to prevent the war failed, but he’s not giving up: the two men have spoken four times since Russian forces attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24, and 11 times over the past month. “He is keeping a diplomatic channel open for the West in case Putin might want to de-escalate and look for a way out of this crisis,” said Benjamin Haddad, a senior director for Europe at the Atlantic Council in Paris and a member of Macron’s party.

Macron has also spoken to Putin on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Haddad said, trying to extract some mercy from Putin: local cease-fires, safe passage for trapped civilians and access to humanitarian aid. During their most recent call on Sunday that came at Macron’s request, the French leader and Putin focused for nearly two hours on the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear plants.