LIVE: Russia Evacuates the Masses Without Kiev Involvement

Russia evacuates more than 14,000 people from Ukraine on a day with no Kiev involvement

Russia evacuated in one day more than 14,000 people from various regions of Ukraine, and the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, without participation of the Ukrainian authorities, said the head of the Russian National Defense Management Center Mikhail Myzintsev.

"Despite all the difficulties and obstacles created by Kiev, over the past day, without the participation of the official authorities, UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross, 14,168 people were evacuated to Russia from dangerous regions of Ukraine, the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, including 891 children," Maizintsev told the press, he said.

In total, since the beginning of the military operation, 557,565 people, including 111,870 minors, were evacuated to Russia, he added.

In particular, 121,497 people were evacuated from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, 2,464 of whom left the city in the last 24 hours.

According to Maizintsev, Russia received 2,734,699 requests for evacuation from Ukrainian citizens in 2,123 localities of the country.

U.S. Tries To Divert Attention From Ukrainian Biolabs

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the United States is trying to distract and juggle by diverting the issue of biolabs in Ukraine.

"The Americans are now trying to distract, juggle and so on, bringing the conversation to a non-serious plane. But the facts speak for themselves. And these facts are not only the subject of our concern, but also of the concern of many other countries. I am sure that both Belarus and China and India," he said in an interview to Belarus 1 TV channel.

A network of biolaboratories has been created around Russia and Belarus as part of the U.S. program to develop new biological weapons, he stressed.

Demilitarization of Ukraine.

Russia managed to significantly destroy Ukraine's military potential within the framework of its special military operation in Ukraine, Dmitry Peskov said.

"Demilitarization is in full swing, and the military potential, infrastructure, to a large extent, are destroyed within the framework of our special operation," Peskov said.
The spokesman expressed hope that Russia will succeed in achieving all its goals within the framework of the operation, in particular, "saving" the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

Moscow-Kiev negotiations.

Moscow would like to continue holding negotiations with Kiev on the conflict in Ukraine in Belarus, but the Ukrainian authorities are opposed to this idea, Peskov said.

"We would love to continue negotiations in Belarus, but the Ukrainians do not want it," he said in the interview.
Ukraine is not a friendly country for Russia and neither is it for Belarus, Peskov added.
"Ukraine is a very difficult country. Very difficult for us. In its current state it is a hostile country for us," Peskov said.

According to the spokesman, Kiev took a controversial position on the events following the August 9, 2020 presidential election in Belarus.

"Therefore, I would say that it is a country that is not a friend of either Russia or Belarus," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last February 24 the launching of a "special military operation" in Ukraine claiming that the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, previously recognized by Moscow as sovereign states, need help in the face of "genocide" by Kiev.
One of the fundamental objectives of this operation, according to Putin, is "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine.

The Russian president asked uniformed and civilians in Ukraine not to resist this operation, and warned that Russia will immediately respond to any external force that threatens it or stands in its way.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the military strikes are not directed against civilian facilities, but are aimed at disabling the war infrastructure.

Putin Thanks Turkish Counterpart for Facilitating Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for facilitating the latest round of negotiations between Kiev and Moscow that took place last Tuesday in the Turkish capital city of Istanbul.

Putin and Erdogan exchanged issues concerning the process of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and touched upon the humanitarian situation in the framework of the Russian military operation.

In this regard, Erdogan described as positive the consultations held by the warring parties in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The Turkish leader showed his willingness to host a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the President of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelenski.

Local media reported that the Turkish president thanked the Russian Defense Ministry for its help in the evacuation of civilians and Turkish merchant ships that were in the combat zone.

The Kremlin also said that the two leaders took advantage of the talks to go over some issues on the bilateral agenda between Russia and Turkey.

Prior to the rounds of talks, Ukraine gave a list of eight countries as proposals to act as guarantors in an agreement with Russia, among them was Turkey, a nation which in early March received the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in the city of Antalya, this being the highest level meeting held between the nations in conflict since last February 24.

During the exchanges it was noted that Ukraine showed its willingness to negotiate a neutral status (one of Russia's key demands) while demanding security guarantees.

Moscow undertook to reduce its military activities around Kiev and Chernobyl in order to lay the groundwork for further talks.

It is worth mentioning that after the start of the special military operation, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other nations applied strict financial sanctions against Russia, which have had global repercussions.

UN data revealed that at least 1232 civilians have lost their lives and 1936 have been wounded during the special military operation in defense of Donbas.