Macron accuses Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism over Ukraine corridor

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism after Moscow said it would open humanitarian corridors to allow the evacuation of civilians from several Ukrainian cities, but only to Russia or Belarus.

"All this is not serious, it is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable," he told LCI television in an interview, adding that promises to protect civilians so that they could merely flee towards Russia were "hypocritical".

"The situation is worsening each day. People die, fatigue settles in. .. We have not managed to obtain a ceasefire," Macron told LCI television.

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Russia announced new "humanitarian corridors" on Monday to transport Ukrainians trapped under its bombardment,to Russia itself and its ally Belarus, in a move which was immediately denounced by Kyiv as an immoral stunt.

"They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine," said a spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Well into the second week of war, Russia’s plan to quickly overrun the country has been stymied by fierce resistance. Its troops have made significant advances in southern Ukraine and along the coast, but many of its efforts have become stalled, including an immense military convoy that has been almost motionless for days north of Kyiv.

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The fighting has sent energy prices surging worldwide, stocks plummeting, and is threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people around the globe who rely on farmland in the Black Sea region.

The death toll, meanwhile, remains unclear. The UNhas confirmed a few hundred civilian deaths but also warned the number is a vast undercount. Police for the Kharkiv region said Monday that 209 people have died there alone, 133 of them civilians.

The Russian invasion has also sent 1.7 million people fleeing Ukraine, creating what the head of the UN refugee agency called “the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.”

Both Russia and Ukraine are also among the world's main exporters of grain, edible oils and industrial metals. The war threatens to send global food prices skyrocketing and complicate industries' recovery from the pandemic crisis.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians. It calls the campaign it launched on February 24 a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and remove leaders it describes as neo-Nazis. Ukraine and its Western allies call this a transparent pretext for an invasion to conquer a nation of 44 million people.

(With inputs from agencies)