Russia will open humanitarian corridor in five Ukrainian cities | News

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday a temporary ceasefire from 07:00 GMT and the opening of humanitarian corridors in the Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Jerkov and Mariupol.

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“In order to safely evacuate civilians from populated areas, today from 10:00 Moscow time [07:00 GMT]the regime of silence (ceasefire) is introduced and humanitarian corridors are opened from Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol”, said the entity's spokesman, Igor Konashénkov.

Russia has destroyed 158 military facilities in Ukraine in the last day, 2,482 military infrastructure facilities since the start of the operation, according to the Defense spokesman.

On the Ukrainian side, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk announced that Kiev is ready to ensure the movement of civilians along the humanitarian corridor from Sumy to Poltava.

In his opinion, the corridor will start operating this Tuesday after the approval of the Russian Ministry of Defense, officially, in a letter delivered to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“That is to say, the documented confirmation is held by both the Red Cross and us, as a party with which the opening of the humanitarian corridor has been agreed upon,” said the official, in relation to the fact that civilians could only be evacuated through a single route established between Sumy, Golubovka, Lojvitsa, Lubny and Poltava, adding that no other routes were agreed upon.

Vereshuk emphasized that the Ukrainian side is prepared to ensure movement along the route and has made this known to the International Committee of the Red Cross and its Russian counterpart.

He also added that foreign students, some from India and China, will be able to evacuate from Sumy city using the corridor. The deputy ruler stated that to guarantee the functioning of this process, Kiev would declare a ceasefire from 09:00 in the morning until 21:00 at night, Ukrainian local time.

Since last February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Donbas, to denazify and demilitarize the region where the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk are located, recognized by Moscow and with which they signed a treaty mutual aid and military cooperation. Following the agreement, the leaders of the breakaway republics requested Russian military assistance against the Ukrainian army.

In recent days, despite the fact that Russia has opened humanitarian corridors in Mariupol, Volnovakha, Kiev, Kharkov and Sumy, Moscow denounces that the Ukrainian side does not comply with the conditions established for the corridors, since the nationalist units do not let out the civilian population or aliens under duress.