Ukraine has reached a preliminary agreement with Russia on establishing a humanitarian corridor to evacuate women, children and the elderly from the besieged city of Mariupol on Wednesday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

“Given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Mariupol, this is where we will focus our efforts today”, - she wrote on Facebook.

According to Mariupol’s Mayor Vadym Boichenko, who has left the port city, 90 buses were waiting to head to Mariupol. He cautioned that the agreement was still only a preliminary arrangement and that about 100,000 civilians remained there.