Ukraine crisis: 7-hour long ceasefire begins in Mariupol, Volnovakha

A seven-hour ceasefire has begun in Mariupol and Volnovakha cities of Ukraine to set up humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians and delivery of food and medicines, said a media report.
“Temporary ceasefire begins in Mariupol and Volnovakha to set up humanitarian corridors. The corridors will serve to evacuate civilians and deliver food and medicine to the cities that have been cut off from the world by Russian attackers,” tweeted The Kyiv Independent, a Ukraine media outlet. The media outlet informed that the ceasefire will aid the evacuation of 440,000 people of Mariupol and 21,000 people of Volnovakha.
“The ceasefire is declared for 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. today. The evacuation of civilians is set to start at 11 a.m. Mariupol, of 440,000 people, and Volnovakha, of 21,000 people, have been largely cut off water, heat, and electricity,” it tweeted.
Earlier, Mykhailo Podoliyak, the advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, informed that humanitarian evacuation corridors are being prepared for opening in Mariupol and Volnovakha.
“In Mariupol and Volnovakha, humanitarian evacuation corridors are being prepared for opening, columns are being formed from those who are subject to evacuation. The parties temporarily ceased fire in the area of the corridors…,” he tweeted.
This comes as the Russian defence ministry declared a ceasefire for the evacuation of civilians in Mariupol and Volnovakha, adding that the corridors and the evacuation routes had been agreed upon with Ukraine.
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities. Amid the Ukraine-Russia crisis raging for over a week now, Ukraine plans to hold the third round of talks with Russian officials to try to end the fighting triggered by Moscow’s invasion this weekend, said one of Kyiv’s negotiators.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday (local time) said that UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss’s remark about the possible involvement of NATO in the conflict in Ukraine has prompted Moscow to put its deterrence forces on high alert.
At a meeting with female flight crews of Russian airlines, the Russian President explained that Russia decided to bring the deterrence forces into a special combat duty regime after Truss “blurted out that NATO could be involved in the conflict” in Ukraine, reported Sputnik. “The reaction followed — they said that nothing of the kind was meant, but no one rebuked her, no one disavowed these statements. If anyone told us something, as in, this is her personal opinion, do not pay attention. Nobody [said] anything. And what should we think about this? What should we think about this? Of course, we took it as a signal,” Putin said.