5,000 Civilians Evacuated from Ukraine's Sumy Region... Russia Proposes Evacuation on the 9th as Well

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] On the 13th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on the 8th (local time), civilian evacuations were carried out based on an agreement between both sides. Previously, efforts to evacuate civilians through humanitarian corridors had been repeatedly attempted and failed, and this day marked the first actual evacuation since the outbreak of the war.

According to major media reports on the day, about 5,000 civilians escaped the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine through a humanitarian corridor, which was surrounded by Russian forces. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk stated in a TV briefing, "5,000 people evacuated through the Sumy-Poltava humanitarian corridor."

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 723 foreigners evacuated from Sumy, including 576 Indians, 115 Chinese, 20 Jordanians, and 12 Tunisians, and that 248 foreigners also evacuated from the southern city of Kherson. However, they did not disclose how many Ukrainians evacuated.

However, the agreement between both sides regarding civilian evacuation was not fully implemented. Initially, Russia and Ukraine agreed to evacuate civilians through safe corridors in five cities on this day: the capital Kyiv (Kiev), Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv (Kharkov), and Mariupol, but evacuations actually took place only in Sumy. Even then, the civilian convoy leaving Sumy was fired upon at one checkpoint.

The civilian casualties are spreading uncontrollably. In the southern port city of Mariupol, surrounded by Russian forces on the day, a 6-year-old girl was found dead from dehydration under building rubble. In Sumy, where civilian evacuation took place, at least 21 people, including two children, died due to Russian airstrikes before the evacuation convoy departed. The United Nations Human Rights Office reported that as of midnight on the 8th since the outbreak, 474 civilians, including 29 children, have died and 861 have been injured in Ukraine. The Human Rights Office noted that these figures only account for confirmed cases, and the actual number of casualties is likely higher.

Meanwhile, Russia proposed on the 9th to operate safe corridors for civilian evacuation in five cities within Ukraine. According to Interfax news agency, Russia made this proposal in a statement issued under the name of the 'Intergovernmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine' the previous day.

Russia promised to declare a ceasefire on the 9th to guarantee the operation of humanitarian corridors departing from five cities: the Ukrainian capital Kyiv (Kiev), northern Chernihiv, northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv (Kharkov), and southeastern Mariupol, connecting to other cities within Ukraine and Russia. They also requested that Ukraine coordinate the routes and start times of the humanitarian corridors by 3 a.m. on the 9th and provide the documentation to Russia so that humanitarian operations can begin from 9:30 a.m. Moscow time (8:30 a.m. Ukraine time) on the 9th.

Additionally, Russia proposed maintaining continuous communication between Russia and Ukraine to effectively implement evacuation measures for civilians and foreigners through humanitarian operations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.