MADRID, June 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –

British intelligence services have assured this Saturday that Russia will use the humanitarian corridor to advance “deeper” in the Donbas region.

“Since June 14, Russian officials and separatists have claimed that they are trying to establish a humanitarian corridor that will allow civilians to evacuate Severodonetsk,” the UK Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Twitter.

British intelligence argues that Russian forces have precedent, in both the Ukraine and Syria campaigns, of using the unilaterally declared humanitarian corridor as a “mechanism to manipulate the battle space and enforce forced population displacement.”

“Ukrainian civilians trapped in Severodonetsk are likely to be cautious using the proposed corridor. The option to get out of the city was limited by the destruction of the bridge, but the route proposed by the Russians would have taken them towards the city of Svatove, further inland. “occupied by Russia,” the British Ministry of Defence said.

If the trapped civilians do not accept the offer to exit through the corridor, “Russia will probably justify making fewer distinctions between themselves and Ukrainian military targets in the area,” the British Defense added, hinting at the lives of Ukrainian civilians.

The Russian government announced last Wednesday that it would open a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from the Azot chemical plant, in the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, and the site of intensified attacks by Russian forces in recent days.

This Friday, however, they have indicated that there is still no agreement with Ukrainian forces. “There is still no agreement on opening the humanitarian corridor from Azot for civilians and the military to lay down their weapons,” said the ambassador of the Lugansk People’s Republic to Russia, a Moscow ally, Rodion Miroshnik. .