On the twelfth day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, despite dozens of protest demonstrations taking place around the world throughout the weekend, including in some 60 Russian cities despite the crackdown, Russian forces continue to shell strategic cities in Ukraine.
At the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, it was said overnight from Sunday to Monday that Russia had concentrated enough men and equipment around the capital Kiev to carry out the final assault there in the days to come.
Humanitarian corridors must open, towards Russia
At 6:30 a.m. French time, 7:30 a.m. Kyiv, 8:30 a.m. Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that, at the personal request of Emmanuel Macron, Russian firing would be suspended to open humanitarian corridors in Kiev, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumi.
At 10 a.m. Moscow time, and for an indefinite period.
"We demand from Ukraine that it strictly respects all the conditions relating to the establishment of humanitarian corridors along the listed routes and that it ensures the orderly evacuation of civilians and foreign nationals", assured an agency. coordination of the Russian army in Ukraine.
A majority of these corridors will lead to Russia or its Belarusian ally:
a corridor between Kiev and the Belarusian city of Gomel, where the first round of negotiations took place last week.
Added to this is the possibility of being transported by plane to Russia, added the Ministry of Defense;
two corridors starting from Mariupol, one to join Rostov-sur-le-Don in Russia, the other to go to Zaporozhjia, where the nuclear power station is located last Friday targeted by Russian shells;
a corridor from Kharkiv to the Russian city of Belgorod;
two axes of evacuation from Sumy, the first towards Belgorod again, the second towards the Ukrainian city of Poltava.
Russia claims to have warned the United Nations, the OSCE, the Red Cross and other international organizations “through all available means of information, including the media”.
It will monitor the evacuation process using drones.
"We warn that all attempts by the Ukrainian side to once again deceive Russia and the entire civilized world by accusing the Russian Federation of disrupting the humanitarian operation are useless and futile this time," he said. sued the agency.
In recent days, two attempts to evacuate civilians from the besieged port of Mariupol have failed, with Kiev and Moscow accusing each other of violating the conditions of the evacuation.
In Mariupol, there would be 200,000 civilians to evacuate, or half of the city's population.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: in Mariupol, “civilians are used as a military tool by Putin”
Kiev and its roads caught in a vice
Again that night, the anti-aircraft sirens sounded in the capital.
Russian forces are tightening their grip around Kiev, and the Ukrainian army stood ready at dawn on Monday to destroy the last bridge linking the city to its western hinterland to curb the advance of Russian tanks .
Intense fighting took place all day Sunday on the outskirts of Kiev, particularly near the road leading to Zhytomyr, 150 km to the west, and that leading to Cherniguiv, 150 km to the north.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which quotes American officials, Russia is recruiting Syrians to participate in the battle for Kiev.
If the number of volunteers is not known, some are already in Russia, ready to come to Ukraine.
Kharkiv under bombs
Intense aerial bombardments hit the largest city in the northeast of the country overnight, besieged for many days.
The sports complex of a local university and civilian buildings were affected, according to an AFP journalist.
Elsewhere too
The Russian army continues its siege of the strategic port of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, the Russian forces are concentrating their efforts on Kharkiv, Cherniguiv (north), Sumy (northeast) and Mykolayev (south).
The latter would have been bombarded by means of multiple heavy Smerch rocket launchers, according to Vadym Denysenko, adviser to the Minister of the Interior of Ukraine.
The shelling caused fires in residential buildings.
An oil terminal on fire
The autonomist and pro-Russian Republic of Luhansk accuses the Ukrainian army of launching a missile at an oil terminal in Luhansk.
“Something heavy was launched, possibly a Tockha-U [missile system], at the oil terminal on Telman Street.
The fire can be seen from afar,” Rodion Miroshnik, adviser to the head of the Lugansk People's Republic, wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian forces do not mention this fire in their morning brief, they only claim to have contained the breakthrough of the eastern front by the Russians and to have destroyed, yesterday, eight infantry fighting vehicles, an armored all-terrain truck, systems of 'artillery.
They claim to have killed 40 Russian soldiers.
Anonymous hack Russian TVs
The hacking group Anonymous is said to have managed to interrupt the programs of Russian public television.
He claims to have broadcast on "Russia 24", "Channel 1", "Moscow 24" and the streaming services Wink and Ivi, videos from Ukraine and an anti-war message.