Kyiv says humanitarian corridors opened by Russia are unacceptable, offers its own routes

KYIV. March 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Ukrainian side believes the way of opening humanitarian corridors for evacuating Ukrainians to Belarus and Russia proposed by Russia is unacceptable, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said.

"It's an unacceptable way of opening humanitarian corridors [...] We [...] have sent [to Russia] our own vision of what humanitarian corridors should look like, and we are ready to open such corridors from 10:00 a.m. today," Vereshchuk said.

Ukraine is asking Russia to confirm its readiness for that and to ensure ceasefire observance for safe and unimpeded passage by citizens through humanitarian corridors, she said.

"We demand that Russia accept our routes and establish a ceasefire, on which we have agreed," she said.

Earlier on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry declared a ceasefire for the work of six humanitarian corridors in Ukraine. "A ceasefire was declared from 10:00 a.m. Moscow time, and six humanitarian corridors are opening: one from Kyiv to Gomel; two from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhya and to Rostov-on-Don; one from Kharkiv to Belgorod; two from Sumy to Belgorod and Poltava," Russian Defense Ministry official Igor Konashenkov said.