Donetsk Military Administration: Several buses with civilians evacuated from Mariupol are moving towards Zaporizhzhia
Kateryna Tyshchenko – Wednesday, 20 April 2022, 20:14
Some of the buses with residents evacuated from Mariupol are moving towards Zaporizhzhia along the route agreed by Russia.
Source: Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, during the national joint news broadcast; Mariupol City Council on Telegram
According to Kyrylenko: "Today the occupiers themselves, the Russian side, announced a so-called evacuation corridor. They said that a certain number of buses, with certain assembly points [in Mariupol], will be able to move along an agreed route towards the city of Zaporizhzhia, where they would cross over into the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.
There were many fewer buses than announced. Of course, people did gather at the assembly points they were told about, but few of them managed to get on a bus. Currently some of these buses are moving along the route that the Russian Federation specified."
Details: Kyrylenko promised to say who among Mariupol residents managed to reach the Ukrainian controlled territory as soon as it becomes possible to establish a connection with them.
He also promised to report, later on, "whether there will be an opportunity to continue working in accordance with this agreement in the coming days."
Meanwhile, the Mariupol CIty Council reported that a convoy of buses and ambulances in Orikhiv (in the Zaporizhzhia region) was ready to join in the effort to evacuate Mariupol residents.
"Ukraine has fulfilled all its obligations. We expect that the other side will fulfil their obligations," the statement by the City Council said.
Background: On the morning of 20 April, Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration, announced that a humanitarian corridor for women with children and the elderly would operate between Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia, via Mahush and Berdyansk, from the afternoon of that day.
