Ukraine suspends humanitarian corridors for second day amid security concerns

• ‘For safety reasons, a decision was made today not to open humanitarian corridors,” says Deputy PM

Ukraine has halted the evacuation of people from crisis regions for the second day in a row, citing Russian airstrikes as the reason.

"Unfortunately, today, April 18, there will be no humanitarian corridors," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a Facebook post.

Read more: Multiple explosions were sparked by missiles in Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

“In violation of international humanitarian law, Russian occupiers do not stop blocking and shelling of humanitarian routes,” Vereshchuk said.

The operation of humanitarian corridors, which allow people to evacuate Russian forces, has been suspended by Kyiv on multiple occasions before, but Monday's declaration is the longest, AFP reported.

Read more: Russian forces in Mariupol adopt strategy of bombing civilians

Vereshchuk said that Ukraine has engaged in long and difficult negotiations on the corridors from Mariupol, Berdyansk, Tokmaka, and Energodara.

Deputy Prime Minister also said the country is working on the corridors from the Kherson and Luhansk regions as well.

Picture Credits: Al Jazeera