LAST UPDATE: 10:56
The civilians will be able to leave Mariupol from 12:00 to 17:00 (Moscow time, 11: 00-16: 00 Ukrainian and Greek time), the city authorities in eastern Ukraine announced, as reported by the RIA agency.
Earlier in the day, Russian troops, who have surrounded Mariupol in the Sea of Azov, announced a ceasefire to evacuate civilians via humanitarian corridors.
Russian forces also declared a temporary ceasefire in Volnovacha, about 60 kilometers further north, in order to evacuate civilians from there as well.
The Mariupol city council said in a statement that civilians would be able to head to Zaporizhia, 220km northwest, using either chartered buses for the occasion or their own cars.
Today’s evacuation of civilians will be the first of many to follow.
“In total, many evacuation stages will be needed over many days, so that all those who wish can leave,” the Mariupol authorities noted in a post on Telegram.
“Given that our city is constantly at the mercy of the occupiers’ fires, there is no other solution,” said city mayor Vadim Boichenko.
Control of Mariupol is of strategic importance to Russia because it will allow it to control a corridor connecting Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to pro-Russian separatist-held areas in the east of the country.
Rebels and the Russian army have already joined forces on the shores of the Sea of Azov on Tuesday, according to Moscow.
Source: Capital
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