Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that it is currently impossible to militarily unblock the city of Mariupol in Donetsk region, while noting that everything possible is being done to free the military and civilians located at the Azovstal plant.

"We're doing everything we can," Zelensky said in an interview with the French TV channel BFM TV, a video posted on the Telegram channel of the President’s Office of Ukraine on Thursday.

"As for our army, to pass these occupied 120 km today we are prevented by Russian equipment to reach the military unblocking of the city of Mariupol. We are not able to do that today. Humanitarian corridors - we negotiate and open, and some people get out of there, but the number of thousands I told you about, they are still blocked and so far Russia does not give these people an opportunity to get out of this captivity," added the head of the Ukrainian state.

According to him, not only the military, but also peaceful locals, including children and elderly people, are blocked at Azovstal. "The people who are at the plant today and do not allow this small part of the ruined city to be seized are our border guards, National Guard and police, there are about a thousand local residents, women who are hiding with their children, who are just afraid to come out, because locals who came out, they were killed by shells... There [in Mariupol] everything is destroyed, 95-98% of all buildings... Bombing from aircraft, artillery and missile strikes are taking place. And they [Russian army] are shooting everywhere, all over the city, and therefore a large number of people - they are afraid even to go out [from shelters]," Zelensky said.

He also stressed that a number of residents of Mariupol were not evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled territories, but were taken by the Russian military to Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk region and subsequently these people disappeared. "They are in different cities, in special camps on Russian territory, and some have simply disappeared. From 2,500 to 5,000 children who went that way disappeared. Children have disappeared without a trace. This is a terrible tragedy," stressed the head of state.

Commenting on the plea by the locked-out military at the plant that they could only hold out a matter of hours there, the president said: "That the is a matter of hours it is true, because we don't know how many hours or days they can hold out there."

"It's more like not a war, but such a terrorist operation by the Russian Federation against Mariupol and the residents of that city," Zelensky summarized.