INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia said Monday it would open humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee pummelled Ukrainian cities, but Kyiv accused Moscow of making
it impossible for innocent people to escape.The latest offer brought a glimmer of hope for terrified civilians cowering under a hail of
Russian shelling and mortar fire, with numerous women and children among the hundreds already killed.Russia's defense ministry said it
would open the corridors from 0700 GMT Tuesday, subject to Ukraine's approval, listing routes from Kyiv as well as the cities of Mariupol,
safety.Kyiv had rejected a previous proposal for evacuation corridors from the same four cities, as many of the routes led straight into
Russia or its ally Belarus.Addressing the Security Council, the UN's top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths said civilians must be
allowed to leave in the direction they wish, and safe passage be granted for vitally needed humanitarian and medical supplies.The carnage
continued on day 12 of the war, with 13 people killed in shelling on an industrial bakery in the town of Makariv and the mayor of the town
of Gostomel killed while delivering bread to civilians.According to the latest tally from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, which believes the real figures to be "considerably higher," 406 civilians have died since the start of Russia's assault on its
ex-Soviet neighbour.The invasion ordered by President Vladimir Putin has pushed more than 1.7 million people across Ukraine's borders in
what the UN calls Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.International sanctions intended to punish Moscow have done
little to slow the invasion, and energy-hungry Western nations are still weighing whether to ban Russian oil imports.The conflict pushed oil
prices to a near 14-year high, while gas prices also rocketed and stock markets around the world plunged.Abandoned pushchairsOutgunned
Ukrainian forces have been trying to hold back Russian troops pushing up from the east and south in an attempt to encircle the capital
Kyiv.AFP journalists witnessed thousands of civilians on Monday fleeing fighting via an unofficial escape route from Irpin, a suburb west of
Kyiv, toward the capital.A day earlier eight people died there in shelling, Ukrainian officials said
Images of the killing of one family of four shocked the world."There was firing on all sides when we were on the road, but we got across,"
Tetyana, 51, told AFP after crossing icy water on a rickety plank, over which thousands have fled Russian bombardment."I told myself that if
I was killed on the spot, so be it, but if I'm wounded, I'll have to crawl," she said.Children and the elderly were carried on carpets used
as stretchers on the route, which leads over the makeshift bridge and along a single path secured by the army and volunteers.Desperate
people abandoned pushchairs and heavy suitcases to cram on buses out of the war zone."We had no light at home, no water, we just sat in the
basement," Inna Scherbanyova, 54, an economist from Irpin, told AFP."Explosions were constantly going off..
Near our house there are cars, there were dead people in one of them..
very scary."One Ukrainian paratrooper told of "hand-to-hand" combat in Irpin, saying "we are trying to push [Russian soldiers] out, but I
don't know if we'll be fully able to do it".Two recent attempts to allow some 200,000 civilians to leave the besieged Azov Sea port of
Mariupol have also ended in disaster.Refugees trying to escape the city using agreed escape routes were left stranded as the road they were
conflict could drive 5 million Ukrainian refugees into the roads "if the indiscriminate bombardments of cities continues."Oil exports
dilemmaUkraine's Zelensky renewed calls for the West to boycott Russian exports, particularly oil, and to impose a no-fly zone to stop the
carnage."How many more deaths and losses must it take to secure the skies over Ukraine?" the president said in a video message.While NATO
countries have pumped weapons into Ukraine, they have so far rebuffed Ukraine's calls for a no-fly zone, fearing a widening war against
nuclear-armed Russia.Western allies have instead imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires in a bid to
choke the Russian economy and pressure Moscow to halt its assault.But the leaders of Germany, Britain and the Netherlands warned Monday
against a ban on Russian oil, saying it could put Europe's energy security at risk.United States President Joe Biden's spokeswoman said
no decision had been taken, while Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned any oil ban would have "catastrophic consequences" on
prices.Meanwhile, Moscow has been forced to restrict sales of essential goods to limit black market speculation, while a stream of foreign
companies halted business in Russia.While Japanese casualwear giant Uniqlo defended its decision to stay, calling clothing "a necessity of
life," United States jeans brand Levi's became the latest to join the exodus."I came to buy my favorite brands one last time,"
19-year-old student Filippova told AFP at a mall in Moscow.Putin has equated sanctions with a declaration of war and put nuclear forces on
alert, pledging the "neutralization" of Ukraine "either through negotiation or through war."Despite harsh punishments for those voicing
dissent, protests in Russia against the Ukraine invasion have continued, with more than 10,000 people arrested since it began.The
International Court of Justice meanwhile heard Ukraine's appeal for it to order Russia to halt the fighting, but Moscow declined to attend
the sitting of the UN's top court, in The Hague.
