Party Ukraine declared Russia agreed to open a safe route for the evacuation of civilians Ukraine this Wednesday (20/4).
A temporary agreement was reached before Kremlin forces launched a massive bombardment of Mariupol.
“We managed to reach a preliminary agreement on a humanitarian pathway for women, children and the elderly,” Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, wrote on Telegram as quoted by Reuters. AFP.
In this way, Ukrainian civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, can safely leave Mariupol.
Earlier, the Russian military issued an ultimatum to Ukrainian troops and militias to surrender immediately before the Kremlin launched a major offensive.
“We once again ask the Kyiv government to give reasons and orders for its fighters to stop the senseless resistance,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday (19/4).
“However, we understand that Ukrainian troops will not be given such instructions and orders from the Kyiv government, so we ask the soldiers to voluntarily take this decision and lay down their arms.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed his country’s troops were gradually implementing operations to “liberate” or seize eastern Ukraine.
“We are taking steps to restore peace,” Shoigu told a meeting with Russian military commanders as quoted by AFP.
Russia, recently, has focused its fighting around the Mariupol port on the Sea of Azov, although it continues to pound large swathes of eastern Ukraine such as Donetsk, Luhansk and Donbas.
Mariupol is a port city that connects eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, an area that Russia annexed in 2014.
(pun / bac)
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