Dozens of Buses to Mariupol for Civilian Evacuation

Ukrainian authorities have sent 45 buses to the besieged port city of Mariupol to evacuate civilians. Russia announced a ceasefire for “exclusively humanitarian purposes” on Thursday.

Citizens travel via a humanitarian corridor to safer Zaporizhzhya, a town west of hard-hit Mariupol.

Previously, agreements were also made about escape routes, but these were not always complied with. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for this.

Mariupol’s mayor said early this week that some 160,000 people are still trapped in the southern port city, which had a population of more than 430,000 before the war.

He said that Mariupol must be completely evacuated because of a humanitarian disaster.