MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic has offered a humanitarian corridor for all people willing to leave the area of fighting near the town of Debaltseve, DPR ombudsperson Darya Morozova told Interfax on Friday.
"The humanitarian corridor was opened at 9:00 a.m. Twenty buses will be provided to transport all people who want to leave," she said.
For his part, Denis Pushilin, DPR chief negotiator at the Contact Group's meetings in Minsk, told Interfax that the measure was intended to evacuate civilians willing to leave the area of fighting.
"I am speaking about civilians. A convoy of buses is already heading there," Pushilin said.
DPR senior official Eduard Basurin told reporters on Thursday that it was the first time the Ukrainian side had agreed to the militia's proposal to allow civilians to leave Debaltseve.
Pushilin told the Rossiya 24 television station that civilians being evacuated from the Ukrainian town of Debaltseve would be free to choose where they want to go - to the town of Artemivsk, which is controlled by the Ukrainian army, or Donetsk, which is under the control of militia forces.