Vladimir Putin’s agreement to establish a “humanitarian corridor” allowing civilians to leave areas of Ukraine in a truce has been thrown into doubt by an international relations expert.
Negotiations took place between the Russian and Ukrainian sides this afternoon, with a humanitarian corridor to evacuate citizens agreed by 5.30pm.
The announcement came just hours after the news that Ukraine would call for such corridors for its besieged people.
It came as Moscow faces increased pressure from western countries to cease its intense bombardment of Ukraine, which has forced a million civilians to flee in just over a week.
Ukraine’s presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak has said the two sides will work in conjunction to provide humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians as well as provide food and medicine to the worst-hit areas.
Podolyak was reportedly happy with the corridors, though tweeted after the agreement was reached to say the results Ukraine needed were “not yet achieved”.
Meanwhile, Russian invasion forces continued to surround and rain missiles on Ukrainian cities, with an airstrike on an apartment block in Chernihiv killing 22 civilians earlier today.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Dr Samuel Ramani, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies and International Relations tutor at the University of Oxford said the corridors may not be quite what they seem.
He said: “I’m very sceptical that this phrase humanitarian corridor is nothing more than a euphemism.
“What ended up happening in Syria in 2019, following the creation of corridors, was massive aerial bombardment and a renewed state of near siege.
“This led to malnutrition and basically the destruction of lives up to three million people.”
Dr Ramani referred to the Syrian government's creation of similar “corridors” with the help of the Russian Government back in 2019, with the aim of safely evacuating civilians.
However, these corridors ended up being an excuse to shell cities, with the corridors soon becoming branded “death corridors”.
Discussion of the corridors comes after another day of fierce fighting around the Zaporizhzhia plant in south-eastern Ukraine.
The battle came as Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine is using civilians and foreigners as "human shields" - while his forces bomb densely-populated areas.
The outrageous claim followed a day of continued attacks on cities including Kyiv and Kharkiv, which have suffered intense damage.
The city of Kherson has been taken by Russian troops but elsewhere the invaders have met with fierce Ukraine resistance.
