A fresh effort was launched to evacuate civilians from Ukraine’s southeastern city of Mariupol Sunday after an earlier attempt collapsed amid ongoing Russian bombardment across the country.
The Mariupol City Council said on its Telegram channel that a temporary ceasefire would be established between 3 a.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET on Sunday and evacuations would start at 5 a.m. ET.
People would be moved out municipal buses or civilians could leave using their own vehicles, provided they strictly follow the route of the humanitarian corridor, the council said.
The plan for the humanitarian corridor was confirmed by an official from the Russian-backed separatist group, the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” Russia’s state news agency Tass reported Sunday.
Mariupol city officials have sounded the alarm about a “humanitarian catastrophe” unfolding in the besieged city of 400,000 people, saying Russian shelling has hit critical infrastructure and left it without water, heat or electricity.
The renewed evacuation effort came after attempts to move civilians out the key port city and the smaller nearby city of Volnovakha were aborted shortly after they began on Saturday.
Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces had continued shelling the city and surrounding areas, preventing people from leaving.
Russia has consistently denied targeting civilians. Without offering evidence, the country’s defense ministry said Saturday no one had made use of the corridors and accused Ukrainian “nationalists” of preventing civilians from leaving, the RIA state news agency reported.
An agreement on the creation of humanitarian corridors for civilians came during a second round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials s last week, though no progress was made on a broader halt to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Since Russia launched its military offensive on Feb. 24, President Vladimir Putin has seen his military’s progress slowed down by Ukrainian resistance on the ground and logistical issues, moving increasingly to bombarding cities and towns from the air.
Britain’s defense ministry said in an intelligence update Sunday that the “scale and strength of the Ukrainian resistance continues to surprise Russia,” adding that Moscow had “responded by targeting populated areas in multiple locations,” including in Mariupol.
Russian supply lines continue to be targeted by Ukraine, the ministry said and there was “a realistic possibility” that Russia was attempting to conceal fuel trucks as regular convoy trucks to minimize its losses, it added.
Meanwhile, the civilian casualties continue to mount.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Sunday that 351 civilians has been killed in the conflict, although it acknowledges that figure would likely be much higher.
The World Health Organization also said Sunday that it had verified six attacks on Ukraine’s healthcare facilities, transport and personnel since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
“Even in times of conflict, we must protect the sanctity and safety of health care, a fundamental human right,” the WHO said in a tweet.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, also said Sunday more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days. In a tweet, he called it “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
