MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Peaceful life is returning to the liberated from nationalists territories of the DPR, LPR and Ukraine, Alexey Zaitsev, deputy director of the information and press department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said at a briefing on Friday.
"Meanwhile, peaceful life is settling down in the territories liberated from the nationalists. The Russian military is clearing cities and farmland of thousands of mines and explosive devices planted by the Ukrainian armed forces. Monuments to heroes of the Great Patriotic War are being restored. Stores and public institutions are opening in Mariupol, and public transport begins operating. More than 17,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid have been delivered to residents of the LPR, DPR and a number of Ukrainian regions," he said.
The diplomat noted that humanitarian corridors are being opened daily to allow civilians to get out of dangerous areas. Zaitsev recalled that from May 5 to 7 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. such a corridor works to evacuate civilians who are in the underground bunkers on the territory of the Azovstal steel plant. "Russian military units have ceased combat operations for this period of time and ensure the safe exit of citizens and their passage to any direction they choose," he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics, made a decision to conduct a special military operation. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories; the goal is demilitarization and denazification of the country. On April 19, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with the India Today TV channel, announced the start of the next phase of the special military operation in Ukraine aimed at the complete liberation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. On April 21, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the special operation "proceeds as planned.".