Mariupol Mayor: 130,000 people remain in the blockaded city

Iryna Balachuk – Monday, 4 April 2022, 17:16

130,000 people remain in the blockaded city of Mariupol, unable to leave due to the actions of the Russian army.

Source: Vadym Boichenko, Mayor of Mariupol, in a Ukraine Media Centre Kyiv briefing

According to Boichenko: "130,000 civilians remain in Mariupol. The enemy has destroyed all of our municipal buses. First there were 150 of them, then 100, then 50 – and now, zero. Everything is destroyed.

Since 13 March we have managed to open a [humanitarian] corridor even in the absence of a ceasefire, to allow at least people in private cars to leave the city and go to Berdiansk. Today this route still operates, but with interruptions. The corridor from Berdiansk to Zaporizhzhia also works, but with great difficulty."

Details: According to the Mayor, nearly 90,000 of Mariupol residents were able to leave Mariupol for Zaporizhzhia via Berdiansk. Around 70,000 Mariupol residents are now housed in villages around Zaporizhzhia.

Boichenko added that the Russian army stops all of Ukraine’s attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol. Soldiers of the occupying forces sometimes steal humanitarian aid that Ukraine attempts to deliver to Mariupol and then distribute it allegedly on their own behalf.

The Mayor stressed that Russian troops have not let any of the buses headed to Mariupol to evacuate civilians past their checkpoints. 15 buses are currently held back in the village of Vasylivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

"We beg the international community to unite to ensure a complete evacuation of Mariupol residents," Boichenko concluded.
Background: On 28 March, Boichenko announced that all residents of the city of Mariupol, which has been destroyed in the Russian attempt to capture it, must be evacuated. According to the local government, around 160,000 people remained in the city at that time.