Out of 10 proposed evacuation routes, Kyiv confirmed only 1 - Russian Defense Ministry

MOSCOW. March 8 (Interfax) - Out of ten proposed evacuation routes, the Ukrainian side confirmed only one, from the city of Sumy via Poltava and then to the border with Poland, Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, said at a briefing on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, out of ten routes proposed to the Ukrainian side, namely, two from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol each, including one from each of the cities to the Russian Federation, as well as one from each of the cities to Poland, Moldova, and Romania via the territories controlled by the authorities in Kyiv, the authorities in Kyiv confirmed only one route, from the city of Sumy via Poltava and then to the border with Poland," Mizintsev said.

"At present, owing to the unprecedented security measures taken by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, 723 people, including 576 citizens of India, 115 citizens of China, 20 citizens of Jordan, and 12 citizens of Tunisia, have been evacuated via the aforementioned route," he said.

"In addition, Russia evacuated 5,334 people, including 781 children, from dangerous zones in various regions of Ukraine, as well as the Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics, over the past day without Ukraine's involvement," Mizintsev said.

Over 174,000 people, including 44,250 children, have already been evacuated since the beginning of the special military operation, he said. A total of 20,033 personal vehicles have crossed the state border of the Russian Federation, including 777 over the past day, Mizintsev said.

"A humanitarian operation to evacuate 223 foreign citizens, including 188 citizens of Turkey, 15 citizens of Egypt, eight citizens of Italy, six citizens of Pakistan, five citizens of India, and one citizen of Brazil, from dangerous areas of the Kherson region is currently being completed, also without participation of the Ukrainian side. But these numbers will increase because the operation is still ongoing," Mizintsev said.