Russia considers a UN role in the evacuation of civilians in eastern Ukraine a possibility, a spokesman for UN Secretary General António Guterres says, writes MIA .
Following an hour-long meeting between Guterres and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the spokesman said that the Kremlin “agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.”
The UN will remain in contact with the Russian Ministry of Defence, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. The Azovstal steel works represents the last stand of Ukrainian defenders in the devastated south-eastern city of Mariupol.
Civilians are holed up at the sprawling complex along with fighters. The conversation with Putin had also been about improving overall humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Dujarric said.
