Moscow, March 8 : Russian authorities announced on Tuesday that they are declaring a cease-fire in their ongoing operations in Ukraine in order to provide a humanitarian corridor to allow people in particular civilians to escape to safer places. Prompting Ukraine to response in the positive in this regard, Russia said that taking into account the persistent appeals of foreign embassies, as well as direct requests from Ukrainian citizens for evacuation from almost all settlements, the Russian Federation is ready to prepare and conduct a humanitarian operation. It further said that the effectiveness of this ceasefire will depend upon the attitude of the Ukrainian side. It accused Ukraine of preventing its own people and foreign citizens from evacuating from the various cities. Russia said that it had provided full security along the planned routes of evacuation during the previously announced humanitarian operations to evacuate civilians and foreign citizens. It further claimed that it had managed to evacuate 173,773 people including 44,187 children to safety from the areas of special military operations, even without Ukrainian help or participation. ACL1037