Ukraine, Russia agree to temporary local cease-fires for aid, evacuees

Ukraine and Russia agreed to a temporary, local cease-fire for humanitarian aid and evacuees on Thursday during their second round of peace talks amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak announced in a tweet that the two sides agreed to “the organization of humanitarian coordinators” in their second round of discussions.

He separately said that the agreement pertains to “places where the humanitarian corridors themselves will be located,” and “not everywhere,” according to Reuters.

“It will be possible to cease fire for the duration of the evacuation,” he added.

Moscow and Kyiv also reached a consensus for delivering medicine and food to locations that are seeing the heaviest fighting, according to Reuters.

Podolyak said the particulars of the arrangement need to be agreed to “in the nearest time,” according to The Washington Post.

Podolyak, however, also wrote on Twitter that “Unfortunately, the results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved.”

In a tweet earlier on Thursday, he said the “key issues” on the agenda for the second round of talks were an immediate cease-fire, an armistice and “humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from destroyed or constantly shelled villages/cities.”

Podolyak said the two sides spoke about “the humanitarian aspect in sufficient detail, because quite a lot of cities are now surrounded,” according to Reuters.

“There is a dramatic situation with medicines, food, and evacuation,” he added.

Thursday’s agreement, which came on the eighth day of the invasion of Ukraine, marked the first time Moscow and Kyiv announced any form of diplomatic progress during the conflict, according to Reuters.

The first round of talks between the two sides, which took place on Monday, did not result in any breakthroughs.

Russia is continuing its invasion of Ukraine, though its efforts have been slowed because of strong opposition from Ukrainian troops and private citizens. Russian forces did, however, take control of Kherson on Wednesday, making it the first Ukrainian city to fall to Moscow’s troops.