Russia claims that it does not wish to wage war on the civilian population of Ukraine. Experts familiar with the use of such corridors in Syria say that Moscow is only using them as a ruse to gain ground in its war against Ukraine.
Iryna Vereshchuk, the deputy Prime Minister, said Tuesday that at least 9 humanitarian corridors were opened in conjunction with Russia, with 150,000 civilians escaping areas like Mariupol.
The news comes in the midst of the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian NGOs accusing Russian forces of shelling humanitarian corridors, laying mines along them and disrupting the safe passage of aid workers and medical supplies.
The chair of the Center for Civil Liberties is still based in the country. She told Insider that a lot of her group's day-to-day work involves coordinating which corridors are open and having volunteers watch them to see if they can safely evacuate people.
The corridors are not open on some days.
The tactic of attacking the very humanitarian corridors it establishes is one that Russia repeatedly implemented in Syria, according to a Syria expert.
The offer of humanitarian corridors was framed as an alternative to a scorched-earth policy by the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The way in which Russia would agree to opening up humanitarian corridors with the opposition and then shell those corridors or prevent people from leaving, and the willingness to use siege warfare like they are doing in Mariupol and other cities.
In Syria, Russia uses corridors to gain territorial control and international sympathy, while pushing Ukrainian cities to surrender.
The agreements in Syria are accompanied bylimsy ceasefires.
Both Matviychuk and Ghosh-Simionoff described similar dynamics.
More than 3 million Ukrainians have become refugees in other countries, while almost 2 million are internally displaced in their own country, according to the United Nations.
Matviychuk said that the Ukrainians were stuck in destroyed cities, villages, settlements and couldn't be evacuated.
She said that the humanitarian assistance can't reach certain cities because Russians don't allow it.
The way in which Russia has tested what the UN and the West and specifically the United States was willing to tolerate in terms of abuse or disregard for international standards and norms are similarities between Russia's military campaigns in Syria and Ukraine.
The use of chemical weapons and the use of total warfare strategy were seen as high levels of tolerance for abandonment of international standards. The West did nothing time after time.
The Russian military has been treated fairly by civilians, journalists, schools, hospitals and nuclear facilities.
The US has accused Russia of lying about the US and Ukraine planning to use chemical weapons.
According to the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, there have been at least 17 chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The Kremlin has denied that the Syrian army used chemical weapons.
It is an indication that Russia may be preparing to use chemical weapons. Sending that message through the use of a chemical weapon is very frightening.
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