MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. Russia opened an additional humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians and foreign nationals from Mariupol to Zaporozhye on March 31 but the Ukrainian Armed Forces and nationalist battalions shelled the route, disrupting the humanitarian operation, Head of Russia’s National Defense Management Center Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Thursday.
"Solely for humanitarian reasons and based on a decision made on March 30, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces opened an additional humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians and foreign nationals from Mariupol to Zaporozhye (with a stop in Berdyansk) at 10:00 am on March 31," he specified.
However, according to the general, the Ukrainian authorities disrupted the humanitarian operation as they turned out to be unable to control neo-Nazi militants and ensure the safety of the corridor. "The Ukrainian Armed Forces and nationalist battalions used mortars and heavy machine guns to shell the part of the route adjacent to the city of Mariupol between 9:37 am and 4:33 pm on March 31, 2022. As a result, a humanitarian convoy failed to travel from Berdyansk to Mariupol," Mizintsev noted.
He also pointed to the inaction and indifference of employees from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross. "They were informed in advance of the humanitarian operation in Mariupol but did not take part in it and, most importantly, failed to exert any influence on the Kiev authorities to make them ensure a break in hostilities," the Russian general stressed.