more than 13,500 Ukrainians left Russia through a humanitarian corridor

More than 13,500 Ukrainian civilians have managed to leave Russia since July via a humanitarian corridor set up in the border region of Sumy, in the north-east of Ukraine, Kiev announced on Friday November 24. Among them are 1,653 children, said the Ukrainian Ministry of Reintegration.

While most residents in towns and villages conquered by Russian troops since the start of the invasion in February 2022 have fled to other regions of Ukraine or abroad, thousands of them have remained on place. More than a million Ukrainians have also found refuge in Russia since the start of hostilities with kyiv, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (link in English).

Russia is accused by kyiv of having organized the “deportation” of nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children to its territory, which prompted the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for war crimes. These accusations are rejected by Moscow, which claims to want to protect these children from the fighting. At this stage, according to kyiv, only around 400 have been repatriated to Ukraine.