Before a human corridor was agreed between Kyiv and Moscow to provide the besieged civilians of Sumy safe passage at 9 a.m. on March 9, shelling and bombing rained overnight as they have since the second day of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion two weeks ago.
The result of Russian bombardment on a high-rise residential building in the city of Sumy, Ukraine. (The Center for Defense Strategies)
The regional prosecutor’s office stated that 21 people were killed, including 2 children, just hours before a so-called ‘green’ corridor ensuring safe passage was supposed to go into effect.
Located just 48 kilometers from the Russian border and 300 kilometers north-east of Kyiv, deadly Russian projectiles started landing on Sumy on Feb. 25, a day after Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin ordered a renewed invasion of the neighboring country for unprovoked reasons.
Moscow’s indiscriminate targeting of civilian areas and infrastructure throughout its failed objective so far of “demilitarizing” Ukraine has caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Cities like Sumy, Mariupol, Bucha, Irpin, Volnovakha and others have been rendered without critical food supplies, and electricity, heat and other essentials.
A damaged Russian T-80U tank and a supply truck near Sumy along the same road where three more destroyed tanks have been seen in the city located northeast of Kyiv. (Ukraine Weapons Tracker)
About 2.15 million people have fled the country as of March 9, the UN’s refugee agency said.
Previous attempts to establish humanitarian corridors with Russia for numerous besieged cities along with the Swiss-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have so far failed.
In one incident, the ICRC reported that an evacuation planned for the Azov Sea coastal port city of Mariupol had been cancelled due to the route being mined, presumably by the Russians.
The outcome of a Ukrainian ambush on a Russian convoy in the vicinity of Sumy showing the turret of a destroyed Russian T-72B3M tank is shown. (Ukraine Weapons Tracker)
Back in Sumy, 500-kilogram bombs have been recorded dropped over its city, a banned munition according to international conventions. Two days earlier, a Russian airstrike left 22 civilians, including 3 children killed.
By mid-day during the 12-hour ceasefire, about 5,000 civilians had been evacuated from Sumy, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
President Volydymyr Zelenskyy said on March 9 during a daily national address that “Russian invaders” have already killed 52 Ukrainian children since the renewed invasion.
Altogether, humanitarian corridors were established in 6 settlements, including Mariupol residents being transported to Zaporizhya. Russia is trying to establish a land bridge from the mainland part of its country to occupied Crimea, which would render Ukraine landlocked from the Black and Azov seas to which it currently has access.
