Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a late Tuesday evening, March 22, national address said vehicle convoys managed to evacuate 7,000 civilians from the beleaguered city Mariupol, but that more than 100,000 people still remain behind in inhuman conditions.
Zelensky’s statement, if accurate, marked the first time Ukrainian authorities managed to move more than a few hundred refugees from the Azov Sea port city in a single day.
Russian Federation (RF) forces cut Mariupol off from the rest of Ukraine on Feb. 28 and, with rare exceptions, have blocked all civilian movement in or out of the city.
Zelensky said people still in Mariupol are without food, water, medicine, and under constant shelling. He accused RF forces of violating a local ceasefire and agreements on a “green corridor” on Tuesday and taking one Ukraine government-run vehicle convoy of refugees hostage.
Earlier official Kyiv estimates of the number of persons still in Mariupol had ranged from 250,000 to 300,000 persons. The city’s peacetime population is more than 400,000.
RF forces likewise have moved to evacuate refugees from Mariupol. According to Monday RF statements, more than 40,000 civilians have been moved to collection sites in Novoazovsk, an RF-controlled Ukrainian city, or to detention sites inside Russia. Ukrainian officials have accused the RF of conducting forced migration, while RF officials have said their intent is to move civilians out of the way of ongoing fighting.
According to Mariupol city official estimates last week, more than 80 percent of the city has been destroyed, mostly by RF aerial bombardment and artillery shelling targeting. House-to-house fighting has been practically continuous since the beginning of March.
A Wednesday morning statement by the vice commander of one of the key UAF units defending Mariupol, the Azov National Guard Regiment, said they and UAF Marine units in the city will fight to the last. The Azov statement confirmed Zelensky’s claim RF forces fired on humanitarian convoys, and, claimed RF forces lost two UAVs and two tanks in Tuesday combat.
The Azov statement, produced inside the city, said it also had a message for European citizens and officials ignoring the fact that a brutal siege of a European city was in progress, and that mass death and starvation are likely to follow their inaction.
“Did you eat a delicious steak today? Let me ask, what was the year of your wine production? At the time when the (Mariupol) city residents have nothing to eat or drink. You are probably very worried and concerned about the situation in Mariupol. But these are not your citizens, so (you see) no reason to be in hurry. I emphasize if we – Ukrainians – do not survive, you will be faced with the same situation tomorrow,” the Azov statement warned, in part.
