Russian and Ukrainian officials reportedly negotiated creating humanitarian corridors to allow civilians safe passage out of cities under attack.
After the first few days of Russian attacks on major Ukrainian cities, Russian government officials reportedly urged civilians to leave cities by designated routes. That informal esape route has now been codified by negotiation between the two countries fighting each other. The agreement was the only success of the joint negotiations announced Thursday.
“I really hope that Russian side will fulfill its’ obligations to create humanitarian corridors,” Ukraine Minister of Defence Okeksii Reznikov said in a Friday statement. “A plenty of complex decisions were taken these days. We were forced to maneuver to save the Armed Forces.”
“Nevertheless we will take all our land back.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak reportedly said temporary cease-fires may also happen in limited areas of the country. “That is, not everywhere, but only in those places where the humanitarian corridors themselves will be located,” he said, adding “it will be possible to cease fire for the duration of the evacuation.” Podolyak added agreements also include delivering medicine and food to cities that have seen the fiercest fighting. Logistics and the communications link to create corridors would be agreed to “in the near future”, according to the Washington Post.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will meet again next week, the Belarusian state news agency Belta reportedly quoted Podolyak as saying. The agency’s website, eng.belta.by, has been blocked by sanctions on Belarus — preventing corroboration from their site.
The official website for the Russian government, government.ru, is also unavailable from Western countries. A phone call to the Consulate General of the Russian Federation, in New York was not answered. Since voice mail never kicked in, it may be the United States government is also blocking telephone calls to the Russian embassies.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
