Russia blocks all humanitarian cargo in Mariupol, no single evacuation bus reaches city
Not a single bus for the organized evacuation of Mariupol residents can reach the city, only a conditional corridor for evacuation by private cars operates, humanitarian cargo also does not reach the residents of Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boichenko has said.
"Unfortunately, the situation in Mariupol was, is and remains difficult. Today we are on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe: the city has been without electricity, without water, without food, without medicines for more than a month. Therefore, we insist that Mariupol should be given a complete evacuation and access to the city," Boichenko said during an online briefing on Monday in Kyiv.
At the same time, as the mayor emphasized, "the Russian Federation is blocking all humanitarian cargoes that are moving in the direction of Mariupol." According to him, not a single humanitarian cargo has reached the city.
Also, as Boichenko noted, there is no organized evacuation by buses from Mariupol. "To date, not a single bus that should have reached Mariupol to evacuate the city's residents has also reached the city," he said.
Boichenko recalled that since March 13, without a "ceasefire regime," it was possible to open a corridor for the departure of local residents in private cars to Berdiansk with further travel to Zaporizhia.
"Today this route works, but it works very difficult, intermittently. There are still 15 buses in Vasylivka, Zaporizhia region, they do not let our mission reach Berdiansk and evacuate the residents of Mariupol," the mayor said.
According to Boichenko, almost 90,000 Mariupol residents have been evacuated along the Berdiansk-Zaporizhia corridor.
In Mariupol itself, as the mayor specified, now there are more than 100,000 inhabitants. "We beg the international community to unite for the complete evacuation of the inhabitants of Mariupol," Boichenko said.
The Mayor of Mariupol also said that on Sunday, April 3, representatives of the International Red Cross went to Mariupol, but they were detained in Manhush. "Today, Mrs. Vereschuk is working to ensure that they are released so that they can get to the territory controlled by Ukraine," the mayor of Mariupol added.
