Russia-Ukraine Agree On Day-Long Evacuation Corridors

More than two million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion less than two weeks ago,

People queue to cross a destroyed bridge during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on March 8, 2022. (Image: AFP)

New Delhi: After agreeing to a ceasefire for two consecutive days, now Russia and Ukraine have agreed on day-long evacuation corridors. 

According to news agency AFP, both countries have agreed on providing humanitarian corridors for an entire day. This comes after at least 10 people were killed in a Russian military attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Severodonestk.

More than two million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion less than two weeks ago, the United Nations said on March 8, 2022.

Ukraine said on Wednesday that it will try to evacuate civilians through six "humanitarian corridors", including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video statement that Ukrainian armed forces had agreed to stop firing in those areas from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. (0700-1900 GMT)and urged Russian forces to fulfil their commitment to local ceasefires.

According to a report by Reuters, Russia said it would provide humanitarian corridors on Wednesday for people fleeing Kyiv and four other Ukrainian cities. The only operating corridor is that from the city of Sumy, which opened on Tuesday.

About 5,000 people rode buses out of the northeastern city on Tuesday after Moscow and Kyiv agreed on the corridor, said Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy.

He also said separately that Sumy's residential area had been bombed overnight, with one bomb killing 22 civilians. He called the incident "mass murder".

However, Moscow denied targeting civilians.