KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine has established seven humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens, according to the government-run Ukrinform news agency, quoting Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

At a press conference on Thursday, Vereshchuk stated that 45 buses are set to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol in Donetsk, and that the evacuation will continue in towns and villages in the southern Zaporizhzhia and central Kiev districts, according to reports. Ukraine established nine humanitarian corridors on Wednesday to evacuate citizens from the two districts indicated above.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has passed a resolution on Ukraine's humanitarian situation. On Thursday, the resolution sponsored by Ukraine and its allies won 140 votes in favour, 5 votes against, and 38 abstentions.  The document strongly encourages all parties to continue negotiations and calls for an expedient peaceful resolution of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine "by political discourse, negotiations, mediation, and other peaceful means consistent with international law."

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