Moscow has said it is ready to arrange corridors for foreign media wishing to report on Kiev’s troops encircled in Donbass

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy has urged journalists not to accept Russia’s offer to travel to the front line in Donbass to report on the encirclement of Kiev’s troops in the area.

He made the remarks after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that a safe passage could be arranged for foreign reporters to areas where he said the Russian Army had surrounded Ukrainian soldiers. 

The official advised not to trust such proposals, noting the events of Ilovaysk in Donbass on August 29, 2014 in a post on X on Thursday.

In 2014, Ukrainian troops were encircled by forces from the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), which is now part of Russia. Ukrainian commanders rejected the DPR’s offer to evacuate without weaponry and suffered heavy casualties while attempting to break out of Ilovaysk.

In his post, Tikhy warned against “Russian provocations against journalists.”

“I also remind all media that any visits to Russian-occupied territory without Ukraine’s permission are a violation of our legislation and international law. They will have long-term reputational and legal consequences. We are watching closely,” he added.

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On Wednesday, Putin said Russia was ready to allow Ukrainian and other foreign journalists to travel to the front line and “see with their own eyes” that Ukrainian troops were being encircled in Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), Kupyansk, and Dimitrov (Mirnograd).

The Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed that it had been instructed to suspend combat operations for “five to six hours” and provide “corridors” for journalists, on the condition that Ukrainian forces agreed to the arrangement and guaranteed their safety.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has denied that Kiev’s troops are encircled and accused Russia of exaggerating its gains on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Moscow has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting journalists, including RIA Novosti war correspondent Ivan Zuyev, who was killed by a drone earlier this month.