Hopes grow for civilian routes

Pause in fighting agreed by Russia, Ukraine points to more durable exits

An agreement by Russia and Ukraine for another temporary cease-fire in their two-week-old conflict is building hopes that a fresh effort to secure humanitarian corridors will hold up.

Russia said on Wednesday that it is ready to provide the evacuation channels for people fleeing the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and four other cities.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed later on Wednesday that the two countries had agreed to the daylong cease-fire to apply around the evacuation corridors.

The momentum for safe passage for civilians comes as the number of refugees created by the conflict surpassed 2 million. Similar cease-fires accompanying the designation of humanitarian corridors had been announced in recent days, with varying degrees of success.

Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia's National Defense Control Centre, was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency that Russian forces would "observe a regime of silence "from 10 am Moscow time to ensure civilians can safely leave Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Vereshchuk said that Moscow vowed to respect the truce－scheduled to end at 9 pm－around six areas that have been the scenes of heavy fighting, including regions near Kyiv, in Zaporizhzhia in the south, and some parts of Ukraine's northeast.

Civilians in private cars started leaving Sumy in the northeast on Wednesday after a corridor out of the city was established for a second successive day, Sumy Mayor Oleksandr Lysenko said in televised comments.

The number of people fleeing Ukraine had probably reached as many as 2.2 million, the head of the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR said on Wednesday.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a news conference on a visit to Stockholm that "the time is now to try to help at the border", rather than discussions on the division of refugees between countries.

Also causing alarm was a statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency that it had lost contact with Chernobyl's nuclear data systems. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer transmitting data to the UN's atomic watchdog, the agency said on Tuesday.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi "indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chernobyl had been lost".

"The agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon," he said.

"I'm deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety."

High-level talks in sight

On the diplomatic front, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia was making preparations for talks between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba.

It would be the first high-level direct talks between the neighboring countries since Russia started its "special military operation" on Feb 24.

Kuleba confirmed on Wednesday that he will talk with Lavrov at the upcoming meeting in Turkey's southern province of Antalya on Thursday, on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.

The conflict and ensuing sanctions against Russia have played havoc with global supply chains, sending prices soaring not only for food and energy but also key raw materials like alumina and nickel.

The London Metal Exchange was forced to halt trading in nickel, crucial for making stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries, on Tuesday as prices doubled to more than $100,000 a metric ton due to worries about Russian supply.

New measures from Russia are being introduced in addition to those outlined in an earlier decree from Putin. Russia has imposed the measures in response to unfriendly actions of the United States and other nations and international organizations, as well as temporary economic measures aimed at ensuring Russia's financial stability.

Agencies contributed to this story.