The negotiators also discussed maintaining a temporary ceasefire in the areas where the humanitarian corridors will be located.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed on the need for humanitarian corridors to deliver aid and help civilians leave besieged Ukrainian cities, as the first obvious sign of progress in talks between warring parties.
Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky announced “significant progress” in Thursday’s talks – the second round of talks since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine – saying “the main issue we have resolved today is rescuing civilians who have found themselves in a zone of military conflict. “
However, he did not specify when safe corridors could be set up.
The preliminary agreement reached in Belarus came as Russian forces continued to encircle and attack Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv’s second-largest city.
Thousands are estimated to have died or been injured in the eight-day conflict, while more than a million have fled the fighting in what the United Nations has called the fastest refugee displacement of the century.
Ukraine’s negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak said the two sides had agreed to set up “lines of communication and co-operation” as soon as possible to facilitate the evacuation of civilians.
It is also possible to temporarily stop fighting in selected locations, he said.
“That is, not everywhere, but only in those places where the humanitarian corridors themselves will be located, it will be possible to cease fire during the evacuation,” he said.
The two sides also met face to face for the delivery of medicine and food to the places where the fiercest fighting is taking place, Podoliak said, adding that the two sides would continue work on the “third round as soon as possible”.
Delegations also discussed the “military aspect” and the “future political settlement of the conflict”, according to Russian negotiators. The third round will take place “in the coming days”, also in Belarus, they said.
John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, called the agreement on humanitarian corridors a “positive sign”.
“If there is the political will to make it happen, it could be a matter of a day or two,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Interestingly, even when Moscow dictates conditions for the unconditional capitulation of the conflict, they are ready to consider it. I think this may be due to the blows they are receiving worldwide for their barbaric campaign, “he added.