Within minutes of his televised war declaration, explosions were reported across Ukraine - including in the capital city, Kyiv, home to nearly 3 million people.ĬIA Director Bill Burns told lawmakers last week that Putin's strategy for the war was centered on "seizing Kyiv within the first two days of the campaign." US intelligence likewise assessed that the city could fall soon after the invasion. When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion on February 24, he expected a swift and decisive victory, seeming to believe his own propaganda about the strength of his armed forces and people's willingness to fight for a country, Ukraine, that he has defined as an integral part of his own. Kremlin Press Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin summons meeting of Russia's Security Council at Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on February 21, 2022. She told Insider that much of her group's day-to-day work involves coordinating which corridors are open - and having volunteers monitor them to see if they can actually evacuate people safely. Oleksandra Matviychuk, chair of the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian humanitarian NGO founded in 2007, is still based in the country.
Ukraine's deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Tuesday that at least 9 humanitarian corridors were opened in conjunction with Russia, with 150,000 civilians escaping areas like Mariupol, Kyiv and Sumy.īut the news comes in the backdrop of the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian NGO leaders repeatedly accusing Russian forces of shelling humanitarian corridors, laying landmines along them and generally disrupting the safe passage of aid workers and medical supplies. But experts familiar with its use of such corridors in Syria - and those observing their implementation today in Ukraine - say that Moscow is only using them as a deceitful accessory with the aim of gaining ground in its war against Ukraine. Russia is touting its "humanitarian corridors" in Ukraine as evidence it does not wish to wage war on Ukraine's civilian population. A crater caused by Russian bombing outside the maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine.
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