Civilian deaths mount in Ukraine; 22 killed in Sumy, 10 in Severodonetsk

At least 10 people were killed in a Russian military attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Severodonestk, reported news agency AFP quoting a local official.

Meanwhile, a fresh ceasefire in the north-eastern city of Sumy is expected to allow more civilians to flee to relative safety, after it emerged that 22 people, including three children, were killed in air strikes on the city on Monday night.

Some 5,000 people were evacuated from the city on Tuesday, which has seen fierce Russian bombardment for days.

A fresh ceasefire in the north-eastern city of Sumy is expected to allow more civilians to flee to relative safety.

Ukrainian authorities have announced a 9 a.m.-9 p.m. cease-fire along several evacuation routes for civilians in besieged or occupied cities, though it is unclear whether Russian forces will respect it.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian authorities on Wednesday confirmed the cease-fire along the evacuation corridors to Ukrainian counterparts and the Red Cross.

She said the routes lead out of Sumy in the northeast, Mariupol on the Azov Sea coast, Enerhodar in the south, Volnovakha in the southeast, Izyum in the east, and several towns in the Kyiv region.

All the corridors lead to sites elsewhere in Ukraine that are currently held by the Ukrainian government.

The route out of Sumy, on the Russian border, is the only one that has been used successfully so far, allowing for the evacuation of 5,000 people on Tuesday southwest to the city of Poltava.

Ukrainian officials released videos Wednesday showing trucks and buses with red cross symbols heading to besieged cities.