The Russian occupiers are violating the earlier agreements on a temporary ceasefire in the areas where humanitarian corridors operate, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereschuk has said.

"During the operation of humanitarian corridors over the past few days, Russia started gross violations of the ceasefire agreements. The invaders began to fire at humanitarian columns of buses, fire at settlements and gathering points of people from which it was planned to evacuate the civilian population," Vereschuk said during video statement on Wednesday.

She said that the day before, the occupiers seized the intensive care hospital in Mariupol, taking over 400 people hostage, and at the moment the invaders are shelling the positions of the Ukrainian army from the territory of the hospital.

"We have also not received a response to our proposals sent yesterday to the International Red Cross regarding the opening of humanitarian corridors today. The issue of organizing humanitarian corridors today for Izyum and Mariupol remains relevant. Under such conditions, we cannot safely take people out," Vereschuk said.

The minister said that at the moment, the development of routes for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian settlements captured or surrounded by invaders in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kherson regions is underway.