Russia invites Ukraine to coordinate functioning of humanitarian corridors on March 9 by 3:00 a.m. Wednesday - staff

MOSCOW. March 8 (Interfax) - Russia has proposed to Ukraine coordinating the opening of humanitarian corridors from certain Ukrainian cities on March 9 by 3:00 a.m. Wednesday, the Russian interagency humanitarian response coordination staff in Ukraine said in a statement.

"Said statement shall be immediately communicated to the Ukrainian side (Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Andriyivna Vereshchuk), proposing that the indicated routes and the start of the functioning of humanitarian corridors be coordinated by 3:00 a.m. Moscow Time on March 9, 2022," it said.

"Before this time, a written agreement of these approaches, including guarantees of security along the declared routes of a humanitarian operation on the part of the Ukrainian authorities, shall be submitted to the Russian Federation's interagency humanitarian response coordination staff in Ukraine," it said.

Russia proposed communicating this statement on the planned humanitarian operation to the embassies of foreign states, specialized United Nations institutions, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and other international organizations through all information resources available, including media outlets.

"To practically facilitate the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens along agreed-upon routes during the humanitarian operation starting from 9:30 a.m. Moscow Time on March 9, 2022, continuous communication shall be established between the Russian and Ukrainian sides to mutually exchange information on preparing and carrying out the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens," it said.