The key facts
- The Ukrainian Armed Forces refused to demine the direct route from Aleshki to Kherson so as not to weaken the defense
- The evacuation of civilians went through Crimea, Anapa and Gomel in Belarus
- Earlier, the sides fulfilled the agreements on a silence regime in Aleshki with mediation by Melania Trump
Refusal of the direct corridor
Ukrainian military opposed demining the direct route from Aleshki to Kherson, which would have allowed civilians to be evacuated by the shortest path across the Dnieper. This was stated by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights of Ukraine Dmytro Lubinets, whose words were relayed by UNIAN (Life.ru reports on the situation). According to him, the command warned from the very beginning that creating a safe corridor across the line of contact was unacceptable: in particular, Mykhailo Drapatyi cautioned the ombudsman against supporting possible Russian proposals to demine the territory between Aleshki and Kherson. The military feared that opening a passage through a mined area would create additional risks for Ukraine's defense, and they refused such an option even for the sake of evacuating the civilian population.
How the detour route was chosen
When searching for an alternative, Lubinets said, recommendations from the army command, intelligence agencies and the SBU were taken into account, as well as information from residents of Aleshki who had previously managed to evacuate on their own — this made it possible to assess the situation along different sections of the route. «This logistics route was worked out with maximum regard to two criteria. The first is the safety criterion, so as not to simply endanger our citizens. And the second is speed,» the ombudsman explained. As a result, the sides agreed on a route through Crimea, Anapa and the Belarusian city of Gomel, which, according to Lubinets, was worked out in advance and implemented with the participation of both sides.
Context: the silence regime in Aleshki
Life.ru previously reported on the end of the silence regime in Aleshki and on the sides fulfilling the agreements reached: the humanitarian pause made it possible to deliver dozens of tons of essential supplies to the city and to organize the safe departure of civilians. The human rights commissioners of Russia and Ukraine took part in preparing the operation, with mediation by US First Lady Melania Trump. Lubinets' new explanation reveals the logistics side of the same operation: instead of the direct but mined route across the line of contact, a considerably longer detour was used, which explains why the evacuation went through Crimea and Gomel rather than directly to Kherson.
