During their second round of peace talks on Thursday, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed on the establishment of humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians and a temporary cessation of hostilities along the evacuation routes.
New Delhi: A day after India persisted pressure among other countries, Russia has announced a ceasefire in Ukraine to facilitate the easier and faster evacuation of stranded civilians.
The Russian forces will observe a ceasefire in Ukraine starting from Saturday to facilitate the evacuation of civilians via humanitarian corridors amid the ongoing war, the Ministry of Defence in Moscow said.
As was agreed by the Ukrainian side, the humanitarian corridors will allow the exit of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha in south Ukraine. However, there is no disclosure on how long the ceasefire will last.
During their second round of peace talks on Thursday, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed on the establishment of humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians and a temporary cessation of hostilities along the evacuation routes.
India on Friday pressed hard for a ceasefire from both the Russian and Ukrainian sides. "The evacuation would look difficult without a ceasefire," said India's Ministry of External Affairs and called for a ceasefire between fighting troops of Russia and Ukraine to help evacuate stranded Indians.
"We urge the parties concerned- Ukraine and Russia, to have a local ceasefire at least so that we can evacuate our people and students," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters on Friday (March 4) evening during a special briefing.
"Ideally, we would need to have (a) local ceasefire or something of that kind," Bagchi said. He said it would be difficult to move people out without a truce because of the shelling and fighting. "We don't want the students to cross through a place where they are at risk. Anything can happen in a war zone, so we always want a safe route for our students," he said.
He said India has thus told both sides publicly that there should be a local ceasefire to get students out. Officials say they managed to get dozens of students out of Pisochyn in five buses on Thursday and Friday, and they were taken to Lviv and the Moldovan border.
India wants to pull out nearly 3,000 of its citizens and students, especially from the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, where movement is impossible because of shelling and intense fighting.
The MEA spokesperson said over 20,000 Indians had left the Ukraine border since advisories were issued. "There are more people, but it's reassuring to see that this many people have left Ukraine," he added.
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