On the twelfth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, representatives of both countries met on Monday afternoon for their third round of negotiations.

The meeting took place near Bialowieza near the border between Poland and Belarus and, according to Russian information, was intended, among other things, to evacuate embattled cities.

Gerhard Gnauck

Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.

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After two failed attempts over the weekend to evacuate the city of Mariupol, which was besieged and shelled by Russians, Moscow presented a different plan on Monday.

It stipulated that civilians from Mariupol, Kharkiv and other cities should be taken to Russia or Belarus through “corridors”.

This would mean that the people affected would have to go to the territory of the war enemy or its ally Belarus.

A spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that this was immoral and unacceptable.

"People's suffering is used to create the desired TV images," said the spokesman.

That's what Ukraine says

Iryna Vereshchuk, Minister for the Reintegration of the Occupied East Ukrainian Territories in Kyiv, appealed to Moscow to “stop manipulating the lives of the civilian population”.

She said of the Russian offer that "despite all Russia's cynicism, negotiations will continue to open humanitarian corridors."

In the port city of Mariupol, which was surrounded by Russian troops from the land, there are still “almost 300,000 people: women, children and the elderly who are begging for help”.

In the areas of Kyiv and Cherson and in the embattled city of Kharkiv, people were also hoping for a safe route out of the combat zone.

“There can be no negotiations between the armies.

But it is necessary to agree on humanitarian corridors,” said Vereshchuk.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is active on the issue, and the UN has also become involved.

But Kyiv accuses Russia of wanting to use the issue of the corridors to redeploy its troops and bring in reserves.

In the encircled city of Mariupol, Russian troops "fired on a convoy of eight trucks carrying medicine and food for this city," says Wereshchuk.

The Russians disregarded the agreed cease-fire.

So the delivery didn't get to the city.

"We will continue to try to get through to Mariupol to bring humanitarian aid to the people," the minister said.

military events

In the shelled town of Mykolaiv in the south of the country, the army managed to recapture the airfield from Russian troops, according to Kiev sources.

In the embattled towns of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel near Kyiv, the situation for the population, for example in terms of supplies, has deteriorated dramatically.

In Hostomel, where the factory airport of Antonov aircraft production is located, mayor Yuri Prylypko was shot dead by Russian soldiers while distributing bread to residents.

The city council announced this on Monday via Facebook.

According to civil protection, 13 people died as a result of the bombing in a closed bakery in Makariv near Kyiv.

One of Zelenskyy's closest associates and negotiator in the talks with Russia, Mykhailo Podoliak, gave a preliminary balance of the war damage on Twitter on Monday: "Russia damaged or destroyed 202 schools, 34 hospitals and more than 1,500 residential buildings.

More than 900 towns are completely cut off from light, water and heating.” The Russian army does not know how to fight other armies, “but it is good at killing civilians,” added Podoliak.