Russia says it will hold fire to allow civilians to escape

Russia will open new humanitarian corridors across multiple Ukrainian

Russia will open new humanitarian corridors across multiple Ukrainian cities on Monday to allow civilians to evacuate, Qazet.az reports according to state media.

The ceasefire will take place from 10:00 local time according to Russia's defence ministry, with evacuation routes set up in the capital Kyiv, as well as Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy. All of these cities are currently under a significant Russian assault operation.

Ukrainian officials have yet to confirm this.

Over the weekend, two efforts to open a route to allow civilians to evacuate from Mariupol in the country's south-east collapsed.

Ukraine officials said this was because Russia continued to shell the city during the agreed ceasefire hours.