After the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the extension of the armistice or ceasefire in order to complete the evacuation of civilians from major Ukrainian cities, Kyiv explained, today, Wednesday, that the local authorities will try to remove civilians through 6 corridors, in the cities of Kyiv, Cherhihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said that the authorities will try today to evacuate civilians through six "humanitarian corridors", including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, which failed yesterday to get the stranded residents out of it, after Ukrainian accusations of Russian forces and the continued bombing.
"Keep your promises"
It also added in a video recording that the Ukrainian forces agreed to a ceasefire in those cities from nine in the morning until nine in the evening local time.
In addition, it urged the Russian forces to fulfill their ceasefire commitments in those areas.
Also from Energodar
In turn, Dmytro Orlov, mayor of the city of Enerkhodar in southeastern Ukraine, announced that a temporary ceasefire had begun, allowing the evacuations to proceed through a "humanitarian corridor".
He also indicated that humanitarian supplies would be allowed to enter the city that came under fire from Russian forces, adding that "the buses will transport civilians who want to leave on their way back." He added that civilians would be able to go to the nearby city of Zaporizhia.
Also, the governor of the city of Sumy (northeast of the country), confirmed that civilians started driving out of the city when the fighting stopped.
Bringing together the warring parties
While Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, expressed the hope that the situation of humanitarian corridors will improve compared to the faltering start. He told German radio "Deutschlandfunk" today, that his organization has been working for days to bring together the warring parties, and encourage them to hold detailed talks between the two armies to enable civilians to flee.
Previous Failed Operations
It is noteworthy that previous evacuations agreed upon after negotiations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine at the Belarusian border since the beginning of last week, had stopped several times during the last period, even before they sometimes began, amid the exchange of accusations between the two sides.
While international voices, especially from the United Nations, have risen to preserve the lives of civilians, amid expectations from the UNHCR that the number of Ukrainian displaced people leaving the country will reach 4 million next June if the Russian military operations continue.
The Russian military operation launched by the Kremlin on Ukrainian territory on February 24 entered its 14th day, amid an unprecedented security alert in Europe, touching the atmosphere of World War II, according to what more than one European official recently warned.
Those Russian attacks entailed a massive sanctions campaign against Moscow, amounting to more than 500 penalties, and pushed the country to the throne of the countries most facing sanctions after Iran and North Korea.
It also called for the readiness of NATO countries, which sent qualitative military and financial aid to Kyiv to confront Russian operations.
The Source
- agencies