Convoy Evacuates Mariupol Residents

Humanitarian convoy bringing food and medicine is stopped before reaching the city
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 14, 2022 6:00 PM CDT
Convoy Evacuates Mariupol Residents
An aerial view on Monday of high-rise buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine, bombarded by Russian forces.   (Azov Battalion via AP)

A convoy of more than 160 cars carrying civilians left Mariupol on Monday, a city under siege by Russian forces. Local officials called it the first successful evacuation through a "humanitarian corridor," the Guardian reports. An online post by officials said the convoy had made it to Berdyansk, a city nearby, by 1pm local time. It was the biggest evacuation of Mariupol so far, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, though many more people are trying to get out. The cars' destination was the city of Zaporizhzhia.

A convoy of trucks bringing humanitarian supplies to Mariupol did not fare as well on Monday, per the Washington Post. The trucks were stopped about 50 miles southeast of Mariupol, the city council said, which accused the Russians of violating a cease-fire. "The occupation forces, without reason, are blocking in Berdyansk needed food and medicine for our people, in the city that they are mercilessly destroying," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video address. The council said the 400,000 people in Mariupol need the supplies; plans called for the trucks to then help with the evacuation. "Tomorrow morning will be a new attempt," its statement said. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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