MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Russia opened humanitarian corridors in five directions in Ukraine on Wednesday, and Kiev announced another four, Head of Russia’s National Defense Management Center Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev said.
According to him, Russia has been opening humanitarian corridors in the Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol directions every day at 10:00 am since March 4, with a humanitarian corridor in every direction leading to Russia and another one leading to western Ukraine through areas controlled by Kiev.
Mizintsev noted that the Ukrainian authorities had announced four additional routes to Zaporozhye for Wednesday, but Kiev kept opposing efforts to evacuate people to Russia. The Russian Armed Forces, as well as the forces of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, suspend the use of weapons along all routes, including those outlined by Ukraine, the general said.
The Russian Armed Forces will open an additional humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians and foreign nationals from Mariupol to Zaporozhye (with a stop in Berdyansk) at 10:00 am on March 31, Mizintsev said. According to him, the road connecting Berdyansk and Mariupol regularly comes under fire by the Ukrainian military and nationalist battalions. Mizintsev demanded that the Kiev authorities should create conditions for the establishment of the humanitarian corridor.
According to him, over 60 foreign ships remain blocked in Ukrainian ports because the threat of shelling attacks created by Kiev in Ukraine’s territorial waters, as well as a high mine threat, are preventing ships from safely leaving ports. "The Russian Armed Forces open a humanitarian corridor in the southwest direction from Ukraine’s territorial waters every day between 8:00 am and 7:00 pm Moscow time, which is 80 nautical miles long and three nautical miles wide," Mizintsev pointed out. He noted that Ukraine kept failing to show willingness to ensure the safe passage of foreign vessels, shying away from cooperation in resolving the issue.