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Ukraine criticizes Russia's proposal for humanitarian corridors, battles continue

Diplomatic talks to resume Monday
Russia Ukraine War refugees
Posted at 7:22 AM, Mar 07, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-07 07:22:21-05

LVIV, Ukraine — Russia announced yet another cease-fire and a handful of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to flee Ukraine starting Monday.

The evacuation routes were mostly leading to Russia and its ally Belarus, drawing withering criticism from Ukraine and others.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk criticized Russia's proposals on Monday.

"This is an unacceptable option for opening humanitarian corridors," Vereshchuk said.

The Ukrainian government is proposing eight humanitarian corridors, including from the southern port of Mariupol, that would allow civilians to travel to the western regions of Ukraine, where there is no Russian shelling.

"We demand that the Russian Federation stop manipulating and abusing the trust of the leaders of France, China, Turkey and India," Vereshchuk said.

It was not immediately clear if any evacuations were taking place.

Russian forces continued to pummel some Ukrainian cities with rockets even after the new announcement of corridors. That indicated there would be no wider cessation of hostilities.

The two sides planned to meet for talks again Monday, even though hopes were dim that they would yield any breakthroughs. Those peace talks, which are being held in Turkey, are slated to begin at 4 p.m. local time, 9 a.m. ET.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday he would also take part in the meeting between Russia's Sergey Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine, which would be in a "trilateral format."

Turkey, which has close ties to both Russia and Ukraine, has sought to place itself as a mediator between the warring sides.