Russia announces armistice to evacuate foreigners from Ukraine

The Russian Defense Ministry says it continues to evacuate foreign nationals and local residents from the areas of the military operation in Ukraine. For the purpose of evacuation, the Russian military announced armistice and organized humanitarian corridors.

"Owing to the creation of humanitarian corridors and armistice, as many as 588 foreign nationals have been evacuated from dangerous areas,” the report from the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Citizens of France, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Georgia, Holland and the United States have thus been evacuated from various settlements and cities, including the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

In total, the Ministry of Defense said, more than 142,500 people have been evacuated from the zones of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, including 39,661 children; 5,486 people have been evacuated over the past 24 hours, including 917 children.

The Russian Defense Ministry claims that the Ukrainian side is preventing the evacuation of the local population and foreign nationals:

• from the city of Kharkov, where, according to the Russian military, 3,189 Indian, up to 2,700 Vietnamese and 202 Chinese citizens are staying;
• from the city of Sumy (576 Indian citizens, 101 citizens Ghana and 121 — China);
• from the city of Chernigov, where, according to the military, nine citizens of Indonesia are staying.

"In addition, representatives of the United Kingdom turned to the Russian Ministry of Defense with a request to evacuate their ten citizens: seven from Kyiv and three from Mariupol, who cannot leave the blockaded settlements,” the statement said.