Russia announces temporary ceasefire to open humanitarian corridors

Europe, News March 5, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Russian Defense Ministry announced on March 5 that Moscow had agreed on a ceasefire in Mariupol and Volnovakha to allow humanitarian corridors and exit routes for civilians.

“Today, on March 5, a ceasefire is announced from 10:00 a.m. Moscow time and humanitarian corridors are opened for the exit of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement read.

The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that Russian forces are not targeting Ukrainian civilians and cities, and only conducting surgically strikes to incapacitate Ukrainian military infrastructure. “There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population,” the ministry said.

According to the defense ministry statement, the Russian and Ukrainian sides agreed on the humanitarian corridors and the exit routes to allow citizens to leave the cities. The agreement was reached between Russian and Ukrainian officials during the second round of talks that took place in Belarus on March 3.

The head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky said that both sides managed to achieve significant progress during the second round of talks and reached an agreement on humanitarian corridors for civilians.

After the second round of talks, the Ukrainian Presidential Office Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak said on Twitter that “In Mariupol and Volnovakha, evacuation humanitarian corridors are being prepared for opening, and columns of those to be evacuated are being formed. The parties temporarily ceased fire in the area of corridors.”

*^{A Russian military vehicle near Oktyabrsky, Belgorod Region, southwest Russia. (Image Credit: Anton Vergun/TASS)}*

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia delivered its concerns and has clearly set its conditions to the Ukrainian side during the talks in Belarus. Lavrov explained that the conditions of the “demilitarization of Ukraine, its denazification and a neutral status” are necessary to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.

“We outlined the conditions we consider absolutely indispensable to resolve this [Ukrainian] crisis, both in the president’s speeches and in the statements of our delegation at the negotiations. We believe it indispensable to eliminate the threat that has been created for years by the NATO members on Ukrainian soil against Russia,” Lavrov said.

“Well, and, of course, the fact that Crimea has long been part of Russia. This is a fact that must be recognized. And the independence proclaimed by the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics within the borders of the respective regions must be recognized as well,” the Russian foreign minister added.

Separately, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Sky News Arabia that Russia did not want to divide Ukraine into parts and only seeks to ensure its own national security.

According to the Kremlin spokesperson, the government of Ukraine had fallen under the influence of Nazi ideas and stressed that “We [Russia] want to see Ukraine demilitarized, we want to see Ukraine free of Nazi ideology.”

Peskov added that Russia wants to see that “the neutral status of Ukraine is fixed in its Constitution and we want to have guarantees that weapons being able to change the security balance in Europe cannot be deployed to Ukraine.”

The Russian presidential spokesman also pointed out that the Russian government is waiting for the third round of the Russia-Ukraine dialogues in Belarus and remain hopeful that Ukraine will listen to its position and concerns. Peskov also said that Moscow seeks to resolve all issues with NATO members diplomatically and Russia would never take any action that would threaten global security.