Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that people can still only flee the besieged city of Mariupol on foot or by private car as efforts to organize mass evacuations by bus to safe areas are still possible. Ukraine’s more secure failed.
Efforts to evacuate civilians – some with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – have been repeatedly blamed, with both sides blaming the other.
In an online post, Vereshchuk said seven buses trying to get to Mariupol were unable to get through Russia’s blockade. The Tass news agency quoted a senior official as saying that the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had “unfortunately disrupted” evacuation efforts.
Speaking earlier on national television, Vereshchuk said the bus was unable to reach the first section of the evacuation route from Mariupol, “nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) – people have to walk or find a way to proceed.” This program by private car. . “
(Reported by Max Hunder and David Ljunggren. Written by Alessandra Prentice. Edited by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell)
