About 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, many elderly and disabled are on the brink of their very existence in appalling conditions in and around the besieged city of Bahamut, it announced today the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Several thousand are estimated to have remained in the city itself, said Umar Khan of the ICRC, which has been providing aid to them in recent days.

“For the civilians who have stayed there, they live in very difficult conditions, spending almost whole days under heavy shelling in shelters.” he said in a press briefing in Geneva via video link from Dnipro, Ukraine. “All you see are people who have reached the limits of their existence, their survival and their endurance.”

Khan said he was shocked by the extent of the destruction he saw. “Houses have been flattened by army fire, roofs blown off, apartment buildings filled with holes … the constant threat of exploding shells, bombs—and some people continue to live in shelters, trying to survive these fierce hostilities.”