MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/. The Russian side has informed specialized agencies of the United Nations Organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that it is opening humanitarian corridors in Ukraine, the Inter-Agency Humanitarian Response Coordination Center reported on Monday.
"This information has been brought to the notice of specialized agencies of the UN, the OSCE, the ICRC and other international organizations through all available information resources, including mass media," the center said.
Control of the evacuation will be exercised, in particular, with the help of Russian drones, it specified.
"That is why, we are warning that all the attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the entire civilized world that the humanitarian operation is disrupted allegedly through the fault of the Russian Federation are useless and senseless this time," it said.
Concrete actions are expected from official Kiev and the administrations of the Ukrainian cities, from which humanitarian corridors will be opened, the Center said.
"We demand that the Ukrainian side strictly comply with all the terms for creating humanitarian corridors in the above-mentioned areas and ensure the organized exit of civilians and foreign citizens," the statement reads.
Russia’s Inter-Agency Humanitarian Response Coordination Center reported earlier on Monday that the Russian Armed Forces were announcing a ceasefire from 10 o’clock in the morning and opening humanitarian corridors from Kiev, Kharkov, Sumy and Mariupol.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced 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 Ukraine 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 and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, 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.