Ukraine Claims Russian General was Killed in Fighting

Ukrainian intelligence claimed the general was killed in fighting near Kharkiv

Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation."

Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, don't appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.

Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said six humanitarian corridors have been agreed with Russian officials and confirmed with the International Committee of the Red Cross to operate during a temporary cease-fire Wednesday.

According to Vereshchuk, the evacuation routes for civilians are open from towns north of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, where there has been heavy fighting, as well as from the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol, where an evacuation failed yesterday. Another route goes from the town of Izium near hard-hit Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, and another from the eastern city of Volnovakha, where civilians have been trying to evacuate for several days. Another route leads from northeastern city of Energodar, where shelling caused a fire at Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant last week.

Vereshchuk said Russian officials had sent a letter to the Red Cross confirming the routes and a cease-fire for Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time. She called on Russia to keep to its commitment and not to violate the cease-fire, as she said it did in Mariupol and Volnovakha on Tuesday.

"We ask Russian forces to commit to their obligations and keep the ceasefire till 9 p.m. as agreed," Vereshchuk said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Vereshchuk noted that an orphanage with 55 children and 26 staff also needs to be evacuated from Vorzel, a town just north of Kyiv.

"The evacuation of them will be done as a separate special operation," she said.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Wednesday that it has discussed the interaction on the Ukraine track with the Red Cross

Source: ABC News' Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell