Fleeing Russians are ‘mining corpses’ and leaving tripwires, Zelenskyy claims

Russian forces are carrying out a withdrawal from northern Ukraine, mining homes, equipment and even corpses near Kyiv, according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Evacuating from Ukraine in a way that Zelenskyy describes as "slow but noticeable", he said the Russians are causing a "complete disaster" for all affected areas with their actions, adding "There are a lot of trip wires, a lot of other dangers."

Mr Zelenskyy also said that Ukrainians should wait until they've assured that all mines have been cleared and that the danger of shelling has passed, before getting on with their normal lives.

The damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure has been massive, with the US estimating that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has already caused damage worth more than $100bn (£76 billion) to properties in Ukraine.

The latest update from the capital's council has noted that 154 residential buildings, 20 private estates, 27 pre-schools and 44 schools in Kyiv had been damaged by Russian shelling.

Besides this, more than 50 Ukrainian heritage sites have reportedly been partially or fully damaged in the war, according to Unesco, who are particularly concerned about the damage to the northern city of Chernihiv.

The UN cultural agency has said that 29 religious sites and 16 historical buildings have been affected alongside four museums and four monuments.

On Saturday morning, Russian missiles have also impacted two central Ukrainian cities, hitting buildings in Poltava and industrial facilities in Kremenchuk.

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Atleast three Russian missiles were previously fired at the Odesa region on the Black Sea from the Crimean peninsula, with regional leader Maksim Marchenko revealing there were casualties from the strike.

He also said the missiles had missed hitting critical infrastructure – which were the targets of the strike – due to Ukraine's air-defence forces.

In the meantime, seven humanitarian corridors for evacuations are expected to open from Saturday, April 2, to help civilians in the badly affected city of Mariupol and from the city of Berdyansk.

A previous attempt by charity workers on Friday, to evacuate several thousands civilians trapped in Mariupol with extremely limit water and food, failed due to dangerous conditions.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said: "We will try again tomorrow. It’s critical the parties respect agreements and provide the necessary security guarantees," as a fleet of Red Cross buses will try to facilitate a safe passage for civilians on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the US and its allies might offer help to Kyiv with tank transfers for the first time during the war.

Reports from The New York Times suggest that the transfers would begin soon – according to an unnamed official – however there is no information on the number of vehicles or from which countries they would come.

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