New Delhi: Amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday said that it has resumed ‘offensive actions’ in Ukraine after declaring ceasefire earlier in the day in order to allow the people in two besieged cities to evacuate.
According to news agency AFP, the Defence Ministry spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, in a video briefing said, “Due to the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side to influence nationalists or extend the regime of silence, offensive actions have been resumed at 18:00 Moscow time (1500 GMT).”
#UPDATE Russia’s defence ministry says it has resumed “offensive actions” in #Ukraine after announcing a ceasefire earlier in the day to allow residents of two besieged cities to evacuate pic.twitter.com/saOLyQpBeo
– AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 5, 2022
Earlier in the day, Russia had announced ceasefire and said that it had opened humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of the civilians from the strategic port town of Mariupol and neighbouring Volnovakha.
READ | Russia Continues To Attack Evacuation Routes, Despite Declaring Ceasefire: Ukraine
The Defence Ministry spokesperson, however, said that not a single civilian was able to exit via the humanitarian corridors. “The population of these cities is held by nationalist formations as a human shield,” AFP quoted Konashenkov as saying.
He added that ‘nationalist battalions’ used the ceasefire to ‘regroup and reinforce their positions’.
Meanwhile, the officials in Mariupol, surrounded by the Russian troops said that they were delaying an evacuation of the civilian population and accused Moscow’s troops of breaking a ceasefire. “Earlier today temporary ceasefire was supposed to take place to create humanitarian corridors & allow civilians to leave Mariupol & Volnovakha, but Russian troops’ shelling halted the evacuation,” as per The Kyiv Independent report.