The Russian defense ministry said on Thursday it would open a humanitarian corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday, TASS news agency reported.
It quoted Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, as saying Moscow was acting on a request that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had made to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The corridor is expected to open at 3 am Moscow time.
“For the successful implementation of this humanitarian operation, it is proposed to conduct it with the direct participation of representatives of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),” Mizintsev said.
