In a statement on his Telegram account, Vereshchuk reported that Russia announced that they opened a corridor for the exit of civilians from the Azovstal Factory in Mariupol:
Emphasizing that they did not find the explanation of the Russian side credible, Vereshchuk said, "We could have believed it if the Russians had not disrupted the humanitarian corridors several times before. I know what I am saying because I personally conduct these negotiations on behalf of the President (Zelenskiy) and organize humanitarian corridors. The humanitarian corridor is agreed upon by both countries. "The corridor, which was declared unilaterally, is not actually a humanitarian corridor, as it does not provide security. Therefore, I declare it officially and publicly. Unfortunately, no agreement has been reached from Azovstal about humanitarian corridors till today".
Vereşçuk noted that they asked (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres for a guarantee for the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal, and that they requested the representatives of the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross to be present during the evacuation process.
According the news there are about 1000 civilians as well as Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal Metallurgical Plant facilities in the city of Mariupol.
On the other hand The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that there are no obstacles for civilians to leave the Azovstal Metallurgical Plant in Mariupol ,and Mihail Mizintsev, Head of the National Control Center of the Russian Ministry of Defense, said in a statement that the corridor, which was previously opened for the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal, has been open since March 21.
Mizintsev also pointed out that the Russian army decided to stop temporary attacks in this region as of 14:00 local time today, and that the troops were withdrawn to a safer distance so that the conditions were met for the civilians to go where they wanted.
“The Russian Federation publicly declares that there are no obstacles to the exit of civilians from Azovstal” Mizintsev affirmed .