Ukraine approved three humanitarian routes of 10 proposed by Russia — Russian ministry
Mikhail Mizintsev stressed that Russia agreed to the additional routes that had been proposed by Ukraine
MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Ukraine approved only three humanitarian routes of 10 proposed by Russia for March 9, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Center for Defense Management said on Wednesday.
"The Russian Federation, solely for humane purposes, came up with another initiative for Kiev officials to open 10 humanitarian corridors today and evacuate civilians and foreign citizens from Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol," he said. "Only three routes have been agreed upon: one from Kiev to the south, as well as from Sumy to Poltava and from Mariupol to Zaporozhe."
"But three more have been proposed: from the city of Energodar to Zaporozhe, from Volnovakha to Pokrovsk, from the city of Izyum to the city of Lozovaya," Mizintsev said. Russia agreed to the additional routes that were proposed by Ukraine, he said.
The military officer also said Ukraine makes untenable demands for opening a humanitarian corridor.
"In addition, the Ukrainian side put forward absurd and obviously unrealistic demands: to make sure demining is carried out along one route, with the mines having been put in place by nationalists, and to restore a highway bridge, which was destroyed by the armed forces of Ukraine during their retreat, on the other route," Mizintsev said.
According to Mizintsev, the absurdity of these demands also lies in the fact that both routes pass through territories controlled by nationalist battalions. "This suggests that those, who coordinate humanitarian corridors with us in Kiev, don’t have a full control of the situation on the ground," he said.
On February 24 Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure, therefore there are no threats to the civilian population.