Breaking: Russia Declares Temporary Cease-Fire in two Ukrainian Cities to let Civilians Evacuate

Breaking: Russia Declares Temporary Cease-Fire in two Ukrainian Cities to let Civilians Evacuate

Francis Tayor

Russia said Saturday it was observing a temporary cease-fire in the key Ukrainian port city Mariupol, which it has besieged for days, to allow the creation of humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.

The cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. E.T. and will cover both Mariupol and the smaller nearby city Volnovakha, Russia’s ministry of defense said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Twitter that the evacuation corridors were being prepared and that a cease-fire was in effect in those areas. Mariupol's city council said evacuations would begin at 4 a.m. ET and last until the end of the cease-fire at 9 a.m. ET.

The move comes after a second round of talks between the two countries earlier this week produced an agreement on the issue, though no progress on a broader cease-fire or end to Moscow’s attack on its democratic neighbor.

For days Russia has encircled and bombarded Mariupol, a large southeastern city on the Azov Sea, hitting critical infrastructure leaving it without water, heat or electricity.

The strategically important city has remained in Ukrainian hands, but the city council accused Russia of creating a “humanitarian catastrophe” and hindering the supply of food.

Russian forces have made key gains in the south in recent days, seizing control of the city of Kherson, further along the coast, and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after an attack that sparked a fire and brief fears of nuclear meltdown.

Though Ukraine has maintained control of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy in the northeast and Chernihiv in the north, it is "highly likely" that those four cities have been encircled by Russian forces, according to Britain’s defense ministry.

But its progress has come with an aerial assault on civilian areas across Ukraine, leading to a growing humanitarian crisis that has seen more than a million people flee the country while others have been left to shelter in their basements or local metro stations.