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Russia promised to open a humanitarian corridor Friday for Ukrainian civilians to flee war-torn Mariupol — but the Red Cross said Russian troops barred its evacuation buses from even entering the city.
Russian forces also seized 14 tons of food and medical supplies bound for Mariupol, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
“We are running out of adjectives to describe the horrors that residents in Mariupol have suffered,” said International Red Cross rep Ewan Watson.
“The situation is horrendous and deteriorating. It is now a humanitarian imperative that people be allowed to leave and aid supplies be allowed in.”
Tragic new photos Friday showed the devastation wreaked on the city, including snapshots of once-regal buildings hollowed out by bombs and apartment buildings destroyed in the fighting, as Russian military tanks marked with “Z” roam the streets.
On Thursday, Russia’s news agency, Tass, had quoted a top Russian general as saying Russian President Vladimir Putin would order the opening up of the humanitarian corridor Friday in response to a request by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
But Ukraine and the Red Cross said no such move was made.
The international relief agency said it had to abort its efforts to get a 45-bus evacuation convoy into the city when it was blocked by Russian forces. Ukrainian authorities estimated 600 citizens were able to escape in private cars.
Mariupol, a port city in the Donbas region, has been under nearly constant bombardment for more than a month. Besieged by Russian ground troops, residents have been without power, food or water. Mass graves were reported in the city as morgues overflowed.
Local authorities said Friday that the city was effectively closed by Russian forces.
“We don’t see a real desire from the Russians … to provide an opportunity for Mariupol residents to evacuate to territory controlled by Ukraine,” Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of the city, said on the messaging app Telegram.
“Since yesterday, the occupiers have categorically not allowed any humanitarian cargo, even in small volumes, to enter the city,” he claimed.
Russian forces did allow 42 buses filled with refugees to depart the nearby occupied city of Berdyansk, to which scores of Mariupol residents have managed to escape.
As Russia claims to shift its military ambitions to the east, Mariupol remains strategically important to its effort to take over its western neighbor. Located on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol is the last remaining impediment to Russian movement between the eastern Donbas and the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula.
With Post wires
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