Russia dangles prospect of safe corridors but Ukraine skeptical

Safe corridors intended to let Ukrainian civilians escape the Russian onslaught could open Tuesday, Kremlin officials said, though Ukrainian leaders were skeptical since prior efforts to establish evacuation routes crumbled amid renewed attacks.

With the invasion well into its second week, Russian troops were making significant advances in southern Ukraine but stalled in some other regions. Soldiers and volunteers fortified the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of checkpoints and barricades designed to thwart a takeover. A steady rain of shells and rockets fell on other population centres, including the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where the mayor reported heavy artillery fire.

"We can't even gather up the bodies because the shelling from heavy weapons doesn't stop day or night," Mayor Anatol Fedoruk said. "Dogs are pulling apart the bodies on the city streets. It's a nightmare."

In one of the most desperate cities, the encircled southern port of Mariupol, an estimated 200,000 people — nearly half the population of 430,000 — were hoping to flee, and Red Cross officials waited to hear when a corridor would be established.

Russia's coordination centre for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine said Russia will begin a cease-fire at 10 a.m. Moscow time to allow civilians to flee through special corridors agreed upon with Ukrainian authorities, according to Russian media.

Most of those corridors would lead to Russia, either directly or through Belarus, though people in Kharkiv would be allowed to travel to western Ukraine, the centre said.

But doubts abounded, fuelled by the failure of previous attempts to lead civilians to safety amid the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II. The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not comment on the latest Russian proposal, saying only that Moscow's plans can be believed only if a safe evacuation begins.

Demands for effective passageways have surged amid intensifying shelling by Russian forces. The steady bombardments, including in some of Ukraine's most populated regions, have yielded a humanitarian crisis of diminishing food, water and medical supplies.

Through it all, Zelenskky said Ukrainian forces were showing unprecedented courage.

"The problem is that for one soldier of Ukraine, we have 10 Russian soldiers, and for one Ukrainian tank, we have 50 Russian tanks," Zelenskyy told ABC News in an interview that aired Monday night. But he noted that the gap in strength was closing and that even if Russian forces "come into all our cities," they will be met with an insurgency.

A top U.S. official said multiple countries were discussing whether to provide the warplanes that Zelenskyy has been pleading for.

Mariupol was short on water, food and power, and cellphone networks are down. Stores have been looted as residents search for essential goods. Police moved through the city, advising people to remain in shelters until they heard official messages broadcast over loudspeakers to evacuate.

Hospitals in Mariupol are facing severe shortages of antibiotics and painkillers, and doctors performed some emergency procedures without them.

The lack of phone service left anxious citizens approaching strangers to ask if they knew relatives living in other parts of the city and whether they were safe.