The Russian army alongside the DPR militia will suspend fire and retract their troops from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to provide a civilian escape corridor today at 14 p.m. Moscow time, promises the Russian Ministry of Defence.
The Ukrainian side will be required to confirm their peaceful intentions towards the humanitarian operation by “raising white flags around the entire perimeter of the industrial area and in certain locations.”
The Defence Ministry plans to broadcast its proposal via radio channels twice each hour. It also claims that a round-the-clock humanitarian corridor from Azovstal has been open since 21 March.
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defence Minister, reported on 21 April that the Azovstal plant had been "securely blocked." He also added that around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were besieged in the area, including “what’s left of the nationalists and foreign hirelings.”
Ukraine offered Russia to hold a special round of talks at the walls of Azovstal on 24 April. Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the Ukrainian President Zelensky, noted that the Russian army keeps focusing its efforts on capturing the steelworks.
