Ukraine has rejected an offer from Russia to open escape routes for civilians trapped by the fighting in the cities of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy because several of the routes lead to Russia or its ally Belarus.
The rejection comes as videos of trapped students of Nigerian origin in Sumy surfaced on social media.
The students were seen pleading for a corridor to enable them leave Sumy. Another video of Indian students making the same plea was forwarded to Everyday.ng by a reader.
Some of the videos beloe
An attached message to the videos reads:
“GET US OUT: 400 Nigerian Students in Sumy, Ukraine about 50 km from Russian border cries out
“Time is desperately running out for 400 Nigerian Students studying at the Sumy State University Sumy Ukraine as the war between Russia and Ukraine enters the 11th day.
“The town is besieged and completely surrounded by Russian Troops. It is one of the theatres of war.
“Unfortunately, our children have become baits in this war as the Ukrainean Police and government are not allowing them to go.
“Our investigation shows that even if Russian will not allow them to go through Russia, there is another city Potava that is just about two hours to Sumy through which they could move to safety in Poland.
“The children are tired. The parents back home are in distress. We are pleading with the Nigerian government, please help us bring our children home. IT IS NOT THEIR WAR!!!”
Meanwhile, Russia has agreed to halt its military operations within the Ukrainian territory if the Ukrainian government agrees to alter its constitution, by ceding its quest to join “any bloc” and recognise the Crimean referendum and the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
The Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, “They (Ukrainian authorities) should make amendments to their Constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc.
“We have also spoken about how they should recognise that Crimea is a Russian territory and that they need to recognise that Donetsk and Luhansk are independent states.
“And that’s it. Then, Russia’s military operations will stop in a moment.”