A humanitarian corridor out of the besieged Ukrainian city of Sumy will continue to function on Wednesday, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said.
Civilians wait to board a bus out of Sumy in Ukraine. Photo: AFP / Ukrainian presidency
About 5000 people rode buses out of the northeastern city on Tuesday (Ukraine time) after Moscow and Kyiv agreed on the corridor, he said, and about 1000 cars were also able to leave, moving towards the city of Poltava.
Sumy has suffered days of intense shelling.
The Sumy-Poltava corridor was the only one that functioned on Tuesday. Although Russia had said it would also allow civilians to leave the capital, Kyiv, and the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv, the sides accused each other of failing to implement those deals.
Zhyvytskyy said separately that the city's residential area has been bombed overnight, with one bomb killing 22 civilians, including three children. He called the incident "mass murder".
Moscow denies targeting civilians. Reuters could not verify the Sumy incident.
In the seaside Ukrainian town of Mariupol, people were fast running out of electricity, heat, food, and drinking water after more than a week of bombardment, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
"The situation in Mariupol is apocalyptic," Red Cross spokesperson Ewan Watson said.
The United Nations estimates that more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine since Moscow's invasion began.
It's estimated around 5000 people left Sumy on buses. Photo: AFP / Ukrainian presidency
Foreign ministers meeting
Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, will meet in Turkey, Russia's foreign ministry has confirmed.
This will represent the first meeting between the two since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February.
Lavrov will be flying to an international diplomatic forum in Antalya, and his "contact" with Kuleba is planned to take place there, Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova as saying.
The meeting was proposed by Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who planned to hold it in a trilateral format with him, Kuleba and Lavrov at the table.
So far, it has been reported that the meeting will take place on 10 March, while the diplomatic forum is scheduled to take place on 11 March.
Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have so far proven challenging, with no concrete agreement reached as yet.
-Reuters / BBC
