People take cover from shelling in the entrance of a residential building in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 13. (Eugene Maloletka/AP)
About 350,000 people are still trapped in Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine that has been besieged by Russian forces since March 1, a local official said.
“Given that in the first three days, when it was still safe, 540,000 residents and about 150,000 people were evacuated, according to our estimates, about 350,000 people were stuck in Mariupol,” Piotr Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said on Ukrainian television. Monday.
In recent days, numerous official attempts to establish safe corridors and evacuate civilians from Mariupol have been unsuccessful. A large relief convoy that was supposed to arrive on Sunday had still not arrived in the city as of Monday, officials said.
“Most people are in basements and shelters in inhuman conditions. No food, no water, no electricity, no heating,” he said, adding that people melted the snow and dismantled the heating system to get water to drink.
Speaking of civilian casualties, Andryushchenko said the figures obtained from the police and compiled by medical institutions are likely to be inaccurate. He said that as of Sunday, 1,800 people were confirmed to have been killed.
Speaking on Monday, Alexei Arestovich, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s staff, said more than 2,500 people had died in the Russian bombing of Mariupol.