Kyiv: A second attempt to rescue civilians trapped in the war-torn Ukrainian port city of Mariupol also reportedly failed on Sunday due to continued shelling by Russian troops. Ukrainian military officials said earlier in the day that evacuations from the port city of Mariupol were about to begin during a local ceasefire from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time (10 a.m. GMT).
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a barrage of Russian missiles destroyed the airport in Vinnytsia, in the central part of the conflict-torn country. Sunday marks the 11th day of the Kremlin’s military offensive on Ukraine, in which more than 1.5 million people have become refugees, hundreds have been killed and thousands are injured. He said, “I have just been informed about the missile attack on Vinnytsia. Eight rockets… and the airport was completely destroyed.”
Ukraine furious over ceasefire break
Adviser to the country’s interior ministry Anton Gerashenko said the planned evacuation along designated humanitarian corridors had been halted because of the ongoing attack. “There can be no ‘Green Corridor’ because only the sick mind of the Russians decides when and on whom to fire,” he said on Telegram.
A day earlier, a deal to evacuate civilians from Mariupol and Volonovakha, a city under the separatist-held Donetsk region, had failed, amid the ongoing bombings the day before.
