“Our team took a convoy of buses and private vehicles to Zaporozhye with about 500 people,” the ICRC said on Twitter.
“Those who were part of the convoy managed to escape from Mariupol”, explains the Red Cross, whose team was in charge of helping to evacuate civilians “detained” by police on Monday in a city under Russian control and Was asked to come back later.
Mariupol, a port city that was one of the largest in eastern Ukraine to escape control from pro-Russian separatists in the region until the start of the Russian offensive on February 24, is under a bloody attack.
The city is 90% destroyed and “40% of its infrastructure” is “irreparable”, Mayor Vadim Boichenko declared on Monday.
“A week ago, prudent estimates reported a balance of 5,000 dead,” wrote the city of Mariupol in Telegram on Wednesday.
“But given the size of the city, the catastrophic destruction, the duration of the blockade and the fierce resistance, there could be thousands of casualties among Mariupol’s civilian population,” the message said.
