The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had received an order from President Vladimir Putin to ensure "unhindered access for foreign journalists, including Ukrainian ones" to the areas where Moscow claims that Ukrainian units have been encircled — around Pokrovsk (formerly Krasnoarmeysk) and Mirnograd (formerly Dimitrov) in the Donetsk region, as well as Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.
According to the statement of the Russian military department, the command is ready to temporarily suspend hostilities for a period of 5-6 hours to allow the entry and exit of groups of representatives of foreign media, provided that the safety of journalists and the security of Russian servicemen are guaranteed.
"The Russian General Staff is ready to provide corridors for free access for representatives of international media, including from Ukraine," the ministry's statement said.
Putin expressed the idea on Sunday, during his meeting with the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, proposing that foreign reporters be allowed into the "blockade areas of Ukrainian troops".
Since Sunday, the Russian president has claimed that large forces of the Ukrainian army are surrounded both near Kupyansk and around Pokrovsk and Mirnograd.
The Ukrainian side categorically rejects these claims, admitting only that the situation on both fronts remains extremely tense.
According to sources in the Ukrainian armed forces, fighting in the Pokrovsk and Kupyansk areas continues, but the claims of "complete encirclement" are an information operation by Moscow aimed at highlighting successes before the winter period of fighting.
Analysts have commented that Putin's decision to invite international journalists, including from hostile countries, is an attempt to lend legitimacy to Russian claims through a controlled media presence on the ground.
Such a step would allow the Kremlin to present its own version of events to the world audience, while Kiev tries to draw the attention of Western media to the destruction and humanitarian crisis in Donbas.
So far, there has been no official reaction from the Ukrainian authorities or international media organizations as to whether journalists will actually take advantage of the proposed "corridors".