Russia, Ukraine agree to safe corridor to allow evacuation of civilians from Sumy

Kyiv, March 8 (PTI/AP): Safe corridors intended to let civilians escape the Russian onslaught in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy could open on Tuesday, officials from both sides said, though previous efforts to establish evacuation routes crumbled amid renewed attacks and it was not clear how large the operation would be if it happened.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Tuesday that both sides agreed to a cease-fire from 9 am-9 pm Ukraine time (0700-1900 GMT) for the evacuation of civilians from the eastern city of Sumy.

Those being evacuated from Sumy include foreign students from India and China, she said.

The first convoy with evacuated civilians in buses or private cars is to leave at 10 am (0800 GMT), on a single route toward the Ukrainian city of Poltava.

She said Russia’s Defence Ministry agreed to this in a letter to the International Red Cross.

The corridor will also be used to bring humanitarian aid into Sumy, she said.

She reiterated that Russian proposals to evacuate civilians to Russia and Belarus were unacceptable. She didn’t elaborate on the possibility of evacuating Ukrainians toward western Ukraine.