The southeastern port, totally surrounded by Russian troops since the first week of the invasion, which started Feb. 24, has suffered the worst humanitarian impact of the war, with hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in basements without food, water or shelter.
“In the first two hours, 160 cars left. There are probably already many more now. The city continues to be bombed but this road is not being shelled. We don’t know when the first cars can get to Zaporizhzhia as there are still many Russian checkpoints that need to be passed.” Obtaining safe passage for aid to reach Mariupol and civilians to get out has been Kyiv’s main demand at several rounds of talks. All previous attempts at a local ceasefire in the area have failed.Article content
The talks had paused for the day but would resume on Tuesday. Russia “still has a delusion that 19 days of violence against peaceful cities is the right strategy,” he said. Robert Mardini, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has a team on the ground in Mariupol, described “the level of fear, of despair” there.
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