Borrell demanded that Russia provide humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians in Mariupol

The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, this Friday demanded that Russia provide humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from Mariupol and other areas under siege by Russian troops.

In a statement, the head of community diplomacy has supported Ukraine's request that the Kremlin allow the safe evacuation of civilians, after recalling that there are still 100,000 people in the city of Mariupol, and has denounced Moscow's lack of commitment to agree on these measures.

“Free and safe access for those providing humanitarian assistance must be guaranteed, in accordance with the basic principles of human rights and international humanitarian law,” he said.

Borrell also had words of condemnation for the offensive against Mariupol, which he called “cruel and illegal”. He denounced that under the pretext of “liberating” the city, the Russian Army has promoted the large-scale destruction of the city and committed atrocities against civilians.

This request is in addition to that of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who on Friday called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow humanitarian access to Mariupol and guarantee humanitarian corridors.

The hour and a half phone call comes just two days after Michel's surprise visit to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky.

Growing evidence of war crimes

The war in Ukraine is leaving “growing evidence” of war crimes, according to the UN Human Rights Office, whose chief official, Michelle Bachelet, has assumed that Russian troops have carried out summary executions of civilians in areas such as Bucha, outside Kiev.

The United Nations has been able to document 5,264 civilian casualties, including 2,345 deaths. Of these victims, more than 92% correspond to territories controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, according to this account, drawn up independently to which each of the parties offer.

The real figures, however, would be “much higher”, insofar as “horrors perpetrated in areas of intense fighting, such as Mariupol,” have not yet come to light, according to Bachelet, who has given as an example of the abuses the situation in towns close to Kiev that were controlled by the Russians for weeks.

In Bucha alone, UN personnel have documented the deaths of some 50 civilians, victims in some cases of summary executions. “Virtually all the neighbors in Bucha that our colleagues spoke to recounted the death of a relative, a neighbor or even a stranger,” Bachelet said Friday.

But the Bucha thing, he added, “is not an isolated incident.” His office has collected more than 300 allegations of murder in the Kiev, Chernigov, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, all of which were under the control of Russian forces between the end of February and the beginning of March.

In addition, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has also found indiscriminate attacks on populated areas, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, which would also amount to war crimes.

Bachelet has given as an example of the “failure” to respect international law the bombing perpetrated by Russia on 8 April on a train station in Kramatorsk, which left some 60 civilians dead. In this incident, cluster bombs were used, a weapon prohibited because of its indiscriminate nature.

(With information from Europa Press)

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