On Friday, Ukrainian authorities reported limited progress in securing the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from the hardest-hit areas.
Near Kiev, volunteers and local authorities were able to help thousands more people leave the hardest-hit areas north and west of the city.
Despite strong outgoing and incoming fire, over 22,000 people were evacuated in three days from the Vorzelsky, Gostomelsky, Buch and Irpensky districts, which suffered significant damage and were left without electricity and water, Health Minister Alexei Kuleba said. Kyiv regional administration.
On Saturday, the administration “will be creating new routes to reach cities we haven’t been able to reach yet to evacuate people,” Kuleba added.
Chief among them is the town of Borodianka, about 25 kilometers northeast of Kyiv. On Friday, it came under fire again as Russian troops continue their attempts to approach the capital from the north.
Meanwhile, an attempt to evacuate more people from the city of Izyum was “thwarted by the Russian occupiers,” Kharkiv Governor Oleg Sinegubov said in a Telegram message.
“We have prepared 20 buses and humanitarian aid,” he said, adding that a “green corridor” was agreed upon and organized, but because of the shelling by the occupiers, it was never launched.
The buses were shot at and barely had time to turn around and return safely. You can see traces of shelling on the buses, he continued.
In central Ukraine, authorities reported the successful evacuation of more women and children from Energodar, which was captured by Russian forces a week ago, and nearby villages.
Most displaced people in the region are brought to Zaporozhye before boarding trains to western Ukraine.
Mariupol efforts: The head of the Zaporozhye Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Starukh said that local priests had joined forces to deliver a convoy of aid to the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called the situation in Mariupol very difficult. He accused the Russians of bombarding the city during official negotiations.
Local authorities in Mariupol report that about 1,600 people in Mariupol have died as a result of shelling and air strikes on the city.