The Russian military initiated a temporary cease-fire in two areas of Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate, Russian state media reported today.This is the first breakthrough in allowing people to escape the war.<br />''<br />''The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces for the strategic port of Mariupol in the southeast and the eastern city of Volnovakha. <br />''<br />''Mariupol had become the scene of growing misery amid days of shelling that knocked out most phone service and raised the prospect of food and water shortages.<br />''<br />''The head of Ukraine's security council, Oleksiy Danilov, had urged Russia to create humanitarian corridors to allow children, women and the older adults to flee the war.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">As Russian forces batter strategic locations elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lashed out at NATO for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over his country, and warned that all the people who get killed from this day onwards die also because of NATO. But NATO said a no-fly zone could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia.</span><br />