Russia will carry out a ceasefire on Tuesday (8/3) at 10 am Moscow time and open humanitarian corridors to evacuate residents in four Ukrainian cities.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said his country would carry out a ceasefire on Tuesday (8/3) at 10 am Moscow time and open a humanitarian corridor to evacuate citizens from Kyiv, Chernigov, Sumy and Mariupol.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected previous Russian proposals to evacuate Ukrainians into what he described as "occupied territories" in Russia and Belarus.
"This proposal has no demands about citizens being sent to Russia, to Russian territory," Nebenzia said at the end of the UN Security Council meeting on Monday (7/3) as reported by Al Jazeera.
"There are also evacuations being offered to Ukrainian cities west of Kyiv, and in the end it will be up to the people themselves where they want to be evacuated," he added.
Meanwhile, according to a senior US defense official, Russian President Vladimir Putin has now deployed to Ukraine almost 100% of the more than 150,000 troops he had prepared before the invasion.
"That's our best estimate at this point," the official told reporters, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Thirteen days after starting the invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have largely stalled in Northern Kyiv and still do not control the skies over Ukraine, relying increasingly on missile and artillery strikes.
The official said Russia had fired more than 625 missiles at Ukrainian targets.