Russia says fighters at Azot plant can surrender, announces humanitarian corridor

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had offered Ukrainian fighters sheltering in the Azot chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian town of Sievierodonetsk the chance to surrender on Wednesday, the Interfax news agency reported.

Both the town and the Azot plant have become flashpoints of the conflict in recent weeks, with hundreds of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers holed up in the factory under intense shelling from Russian forces trying to capture the town, local authorities say.All the bridges over the Siverskyi Donets river linking Sievierodonetsk to Ukrainian-held territory have been destroyed.

In the statement announcing the call to surrender, Russia's Defence Ministry accused Ukrainian fighters of using the civilians in the Azot plant as human shields. Moscow has made similar accusations, rejected by Kyiv, several times since it sent its troops into Ukraine in February.

The Defence Ministry said it had informed Kyiv of its offer and urged the authorities to give the order to surrender.

The situation at the Azot ("Nitrogen") plant echoes the battles that raged earlier in the conflict over the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol, where hundreds of fighters and civilians took shelter from Russian shelling. Those inside eventually surrendered and were taken into Russian custody in mid-May.

HUMANITARIAN CORRIDOR

Russia said on Tuesday it would open a humanitarian corridor from 0500 GMT on Wednesday to allow civilians to leave, and urged Ukrainian fighters to "stop their senseless resistance and lay down their arms" at the same time.

"Guided by the principles of humanity, the Russian armed forces and the formations of the Lugansk People's Republic are ready to organise a humanitarian operation to evacuate civilians," the Russian defence ministry said Tuesday, adding that civilians would be transported to the separatist region of Lugansk.

.The humanitarian corridor will be in place between 8 am (0500 GMT) and 8 pm Moscow time Wednesday, the defence ministry said, adding the evacuees would be transported to the city of Svatovo in the separatist-held region of Lugansk.

Moscow also urged "militants of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries" at the plant to "stop senseless resistance" and lay down their arms.

Moscow has laid siege for weeks to the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the last areas in the eastern Ukrainian region of Lugansk still under Kyiv control.

The Russian army said that Ukrainian authorities requested that civilians from the Azot plant be transported to Kyiv-controlled Lysychansk but said that the evacuation there was not possible because the last bridge linking the cities had been destroyed.