We hope to evacuate women and children from Mariupol along with Turkish citizens - Iryna Vereshchuk

Kateryna Tyschenko - Tuesday, 5 April 2022, 21:25

Ukraine hopes that it will become possible to efficiently evacuate women and children from Mariupol along with Turkish citizens given Turkey's assistance and mediation.

Source: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, on the air during the telethon

Verbatim: "Today, there is a remote chance of a special operation with Turkey. President Erdogan made a request, and a plan for the evacuation of Turkish citizens is currently being developed. [We hope that] women and children (Ukrainian - ed.) [will also be evacuated], they also have a right to be saved. This is our Ukrainian position, the position of the President of Ukraine. We insist on such an algorithm."

Details: Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed that today it is only possible to leave Mariupol for Berdyansk by personal vehicle or on foot over a distance of almost 80 km. One may take a bus to Zaporizhzhia from Berdyansk. 

"This significantly decreases the number of people who are able to evacuate to Zaporizhzhia," she said.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that about 120,000 people are blocked in Mariupol, women and children are dying.

Background: On 4 April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed a hope that Turkey will mediate to save Mariupol.