Ukraine president dismisses Moscow’s proposed routes for civilian evacuation as ‘completely immoral’

Kyiv has rejected an offer from Moscow to create “humanitarian corridors” allowing civilians to flee six heavily bombed Ukrainian cities after it emerged that most of the supposedly safe routes led directly to Russia or its ally, Belarus.

The Russian offer came before a third round of peace talks. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in advance of the discussions that Moscow was ready to halt operations “in a moment” if Kyiv met a list of conditions. These included ceasing military action, changing its constitution to ensure neutrality, acknowledging Crimea as Russian territory and recognising the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

As Russian forces continued their brutal bombardment on the 12th day of the conflict, shelling of the six cities – which include Kyiv, Kharkiv and the southern port city of Mariupol – continued to prevent civilians from leaving.

Posting a video online on Monday night the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he would be staying in Kyiv “as long as it takes to win this war”.

“I’m not hiding,” he added. “I’m not hiding and I’m not afraid of anyone.”

Accusing Moscow of “cynicism”, Zelenskiy also said Russian troops destroyed buses that were due to evacuate civilians from the combat zones. The Ukrainian leader said Russian forces mined the road chosen to bring food and medicine to the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.

But he added that Kyiv would continue to negotiate with Russia to reach a peace deal.

Multiple attempts to evacuate over the weekend were swiftly abandoned when civilians trying to reach safety came under fire.

Under the Russian offer, only two of the proposed corridors would end up in Ukrainian territory. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of “moral and political cynicism” and hypocrisy for making promises to protect civilians so they could flee only to Russia. “I do not know many Ukrainians who want to go to Russia,” he said, adding that full ceasefires to protect civilians were needed, not corridors.

Russia has made significant advances in southern Ukraine as it seeks to block access to the Sea of Azov and establish a land corridor to Crimea. But elsewhere progress has become stalled, including an immense military convoy that has been almost motionless for days north of Kyiv.