‘Regime of silence’: Russia ready to open human corridors from five Ukrainian cities – National Post

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Russia will cease firing from 10am Moscow time (2am EST) to allow civilians to leave from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol, according to a Tass report

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OTTAWA Russian forces will stop firing from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT, 2 AM EST) on Wednesday and are ready to provide humanitarian corridors so people can leave Kyiv and four other cities, Tass news agency cited a senior Russian official as saying on Tuesday.

Information about corridors from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol will be sent to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, said Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre.

Vereshchuk said earlier on Tuesday that authorities had once again not been able to evacuate civilians from Mariupol.

Given the deteriorating humanitarian situation and in order to ensure the safety of civilians and foreign citizens, Russia will observe a regime of silence from 10 am Moscow time on March 9 and is ready to provide humanitarian corridors, Tass cited Mizintsev as saying.

It was unclear if the proposed routes would pass through Russia or Belarus.

Mizintsev earlier said Ukrainian authorities had endorsed only one civilian evacuation route from areas affected by fighting out of 10 that were proposed, including five towards territory controlled by Kyiv.

The United Nations human rights office said it had verified 1,335 civilian casualties in Ukraine, including 474 killed and 861 injured, since the invasion began on Feb. 24. The real toll is likely higher, it said.

Moscow denies targeting civilians.

In Mariupol, hundreds of thousands of people have been sheltering under bombardment for more than a week. Many tried to leave on Tuesday along a safe corridor but Ukraines foreign ministry said Russian forces violated a ceasefire and shelled it.

International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Ewan Watson said people in Mariupol were fast running out of electricity, heat, food, and drinking water.

The situation in Mariupol is apocalyptic, he said.

The number of refugees created by the biggest assault on a European country since the Second World War has now surpassed 2 million.

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'Regime of silence': Russia ready to open human corridors from five Ukrainian cities - National Post