“There is no humanitarian corridor in Mariupol” denounced today the adviser to the mayor of this city of southern Ukraine. The besieged Mariupol remains closed to anyone who wants to enter and is “very dangerous” for anyone attempting to leave by private means, Petro Andriuschenko said.
Andrewshenko complained that Russian forces had been blocking even the smallest amount of humanitarian supplies from reaching the trapped people since Thursday, making it clear that the “humanitarian corridor” had not been opened, despite the Russian commander’s assurances. Mikhail Mizinstev that the inhabitants will be able to leave.
Nevertheless, the Red Cross and members of the United Nations services will try again today to help the people of Mariupol.
In Mariupol, tens of thousands of citizens have been trapped for weeks with minimal supplies of food, water and other necessities in this city that before the Russian invasion numbered about 400,000 inhabitants, but has now been destroyed by Russian bombing.
The mayor’s office estimates that 5,000 city residents have been killed so far. Earlier this week, the mayor estimated the number of residents left in the city at 170,000.
Repeated attempts to organize safe humanitarian corridors have failed both sides are blaming each other.
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, however, that its teams were heading to Mariupol and was “optimistic” that it would be given access. He clarified that the operation includes 54 buses, that it has not yet been decided where those who will leave Mariupol will be transported, but will be somewhere inside Ukraine, but clarified that the Commission teams did not receive permission to transport humanitarian aid in the city, and so they left without the relevant supplies.
According to the same source, high-ranking officials from Ukraine and Russia approved the plan to evacuate Mariupol.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that the current truce was achieved following an appeal by French President Emanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Soltz.
There were reports that civilians were being evacuated from the neighboring Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk, mostly Mariupol residents who had managed to get there.
Buses were available to evacuate residents from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhia. In fact, those citizens who have private vehicles in good condition were invited to participate in the convoy.
A convoy of buses, which started yesterday for Mariupol, did not reach the city, Ukrainian officials said yesterday afternoon.
Irina Verestsuk, the vice-president of the Ukrainian government, wrote late last night in a post that new efforts will be made “to open a humanitarian corridor to Mariupol so that we do not leave our citizens alone.”
In a Facebook post, the general staff said yesterday that Ukrainian forces are still in control of Mariupol.
Thirty Turks trapped in the city
About 30 Turkish citizens are still in the besieged Mariupol, the focus of the Russian attack on Ukraine, as announced today by the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Tsavousoglu.
In a press conference, Tsavousoglu said that 87 Turkish citizens remain in Ukraine with a total of about 190 people, including those accompanying them.
The United Nations estimates that thousands of people have lost their lives in Mariupol after more than a month of relentless Russian bombing.
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