Russian Defense Ministry asks ICRC to help evacuate civilians from Ukrainian cities

MOSCOW. March 9 (Interfax) - The Russian military has requested international humanitarian organizations' assistance to organize civilians' evacuation from Ukrainian cities.

"We ask authoritative humanitarian organizations, the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC], to take immediate steps to prompt the Kyiv authorities to implement the whole set of measures to prepare to conduct evacuation and to form humanitarian convoys," head of Russia's National Defense Control Center Mikhail Mizintsev said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

"We very much count on your effective mechanism of control, including on the ground, over what the mayors of Ukrainian cities do in practice to prepare for humanitarian operations, as the lies and dishonesty of the Kyiv authorities are already becoming intolerable," Mizintsev said.