Ukraine’s government has beseeched Vladimir Putin to let civilians leave the devastated city of Mariupol as a convoy of 15 buses carrying 1,114 evacuees set off on a tense escape through territory occupied by Russian forces.
The convoy of mainly women and children, escorted by Ukraine’s emergency services, faces a 125-mile journey north-west from Berdyansk, a village on the outskirts of Mariupol, to the city of Zaporizhzhia.
The city council in Mariupol said in a statement that Russian forces had “destroyed almost 80% of the city’s infrastructure in 22 days, of which 30% can no longer be rebuilt”.
The fate of those inside an art school flattened on Sunday and a theatre targeted four days earlier remains unclear.
“Mariupol residents are in terrible conditions and are overcoming new challenges every day,” the city council said.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 people remain trapped in Mariupol where people have been living in dire conditions without water, electricity and heating for weeks. Ukraine’s government has defied an ultimatum by the Russian military for its forces to “lay down arms” by 5am Moscow time (2am GMT) on Monday in return for humanitarian relief.
Lyudmila Denisova, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said that on Monday Russian forces had fired on evacuation buses from Mariupol, a strategically important target for President Putin, and that four children had been taken to hospital. She said that as of 8am BST on Tuesday, 117 children had died in the war and more than 155 children had been injured.
“It is impossible to establish the actual number of dead and wounded children due to the fact that the occupying forces are actively fighting in Ukrainian cities,” Denisova added.
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