Thousands of civilians evacuate Mariupol during pause in attacks
A pause in Russian attacks on the besieged city of Mariupol has allowed for around 20,000 people to evacuate after almost two weeks of continuous bombardment, Ukrainian authorities said.
About 4,000 private vehicles were able to get civilians out of the city on Tuesday, according to Kirilo Timoshenko, an official from Ukraine’s presidential office. Of those, around 570 have reached the safer city of Zaporizhzhia to the north.
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This is in addition to the 160 private vehicles that evacuated residents during a lull on Monday.
Some 300,000 people had been estimated to be trapped in the city. Russian attacks impeded previous efforts to get civilians out and to allow for humanitarian supplies to be brought in.
The Mariupol City Council reported Sunday that 2,187 residents had been killed since the start of the invasion. Vereschuk said last week that the city was "beyond a humanitarian disaster," with most roads destroyed, little communication with the outside and no power, gas or heat.
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