For the last five weeks, Mariupol has been under Russian siege, yet many citizens have managed to leave to neighboring Ukrainian cities. They speak to the BBC about the situation in the besieged city – and about the loved ones they have left behind.
People arriving in Zaporizhzhia, which is serving as a refugee center, describe a ruthless attack on Mariupol, in which airstrikes and artillery have leveled entire areas.
They've taken risks crossing Russian and Ukrainian borders, which the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) characterizes as a "hellish" exodus.
Yuliia, her two kids, and her mother Tatiana were waiting inside one of the relief facilities. On April 4th, they were able to flee.
"There are folks who are hungry... There are a lot of folks who are suffering mental breakdowns. "People are being buried in the streets," Yuliia stated to the BBC on the condition that her surname not be published, which is a common request from people concerned about their safety.
"[There are] shallow graves, half a metre deep at best, with some soil on top," Tatiana continued. "There are dead bodies strewn throughout the streets."
For many people, their possibilities of escaping have rapidly dwindled.
"The Chechens were plundering in Mariupol when we were there." They were stealing gold from folks. We heard they were rapping ladies, so it was getting pretty hazardous," Yuliia recalled.
"I was terrified for my children, and I realized we needed to get them out in whatever way we could."
The statements cannot be independently verified by the BBC. Since the beginning of the invasion, Chechen militants loyal to Moscow have been fighting in Ukraine, and they are said to have played a significant role in the siege of Mariupol.
Aid workers in Zaporizhzhia have been locating homes and distributing money to evacuee families.
Liubov, 61, was waiting with her son Valerii at one of the refugee staging centers.
She had a photograph of their apartment building, which had been obliterated by shelling or an attack.
On some days, there were 50 planes, while on others, there were 70. Each is armed with two explosives. They targeted theaters, museums, hotels, and residential buildings.