Russia declares ceasefire in Ukraine to open humanitarian corridors for civilians

Moscow, Mar 05: Russia declared a humanitarian corridor and a ceasefire from 10 am local time for the exit of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha.

The Russian military has said it is halting its offensive at 10 am local time on Saturday so residents can leave the encircled Azov Sea city of Mariupol in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The city has been controlled by Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Humanitarian corridors and exit routes agreed with the Ukrainian side, Russian Defense Ministry said.

During the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the delegations from the two countries reached an understanding to create humanitarian corridors.

In over a week since Russia invaded Ukraine, over one million people have fled the country as Russian forces continued assaulting Ukrainian cities.

What are humanitarian corridors

Humanitarian corridors are created to provide safe passage to people and humanitarian services in a conflict zone. Humanitarian corridors were defined in resolution 45/100 of the United Nations' general assembly in 1990.

It said that "relief corridors" are seen by the international community as an important instrument to back up the right of civilians to receive assistance during armed conflicts, which is recognized in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977.

In 1992, the International Institute of Humanitarian Law from Sanremo in Italy defined the concept more specifically.

Even before international organisations recognised humanitarian corridors, such zones were defined in armed conflicts including in World War II when Jewish children were evacuated from areas under Nazi control to the United Kingdom.

Humanitarian corridors have been frequently used in the Syrian civil war, Libyan civil war, and Gaza war among other such conflict zones.