Russia announces humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine for Wednesday

Russia has announced a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine for Wednesday morning for the evacuation of the civilian population, media reports said.

Russia has declared a "silence mode" and is ready to provide humanitarian corridors from a number of cities, including Kyiv, Sputnik news agency reported.

The announcement comes as both sides have blamed each other for disrupting humanitarian corridors. The Russian said that they are ready to provide corridors from Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Zaporizhzhia.

Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the humanitarian coordination centre said Russia again offered Ukraine to agree on the routes for the withdrawal of civilians.

"The said statement should be immediately brought to the attention of the Ukrainian side and proposed by 03:00 [Moscow time, midnight GMT] on March 9, 2022 to agree on the indicated routes and the start time of the humanitarian corridors, as well as submit a written approval of these approaches, including guarantees to ensure security," Mizintsev said.

Earlier on Tuesday, civilian evacuations took place, in particular from the town of Sumy. Moreover, evacuations also took place outside the capital Kyiv.