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Only 2 out of 10 humanitarian corridors agreed by Ukrainian side — defense ministry

Kiev authorities also suggested four additional routes, Mikhail Mizintsev noted

MOSCOW, March 11. /TASSS/. The Ukrainian side has agreed only two out of ten humanitarian corridors suggested by Russia from Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkov, and Mariupol. Russia has agreed four mode additional routes suggested by Ukraine, Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on Friday.

"In conformity with its commitments and for humanitarian considerations, from ten in the morning Moscow time Russia opened ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and foreign citizens from the cities of Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkov, and Mariupol. <…> The Ukrainian side agreed only two routes from Kiev and Mariupol," he said.

According to Mizintsev, Kiev authorities suggested four additional routes from the cities of Izyum, Energodar, Volnovakha, and Zhitomir. "We agreed to open them due to humanitarian considerations," he added.

He also said that the Russia side is monitoring the situation along the humanitarian routes, including with the use of drones. Monitoring results, in his words, indicate that Ukrainian troops and nationalist battalions are using the ceasefire to regroup and deploy military weapons in more advantageous locations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, its goals were denazification and demilitarization of that country.

When clarifying the unfolding developments, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.