A spokesman told CNN on Tuesday that aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were detained in Russian-held territory while trying to evacuate desperate residents of the country. Mariupol.
According to Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, an evacuation convoy of seven buses accompanying the ICRC was held on Monday in Manhush, a Russian-administered town west of Mariupol.
An ICRC spokesman told CNN on Tuesday (ICRC) a police hold in Manhush was brought in last night.
Vereshchuk announced the ICRC team’s release in a statement posted on Telegram earlier on Tuesday, commenting that “despite the promises of their leadership, [Russian] The occupation forces do not allow anyone to come to Mariupol”.
“The occupiers intercepted representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Manhush. They were released last night after negotiations and taken to Zaporizhzhia,” Vereshchuk added.
The ICRC said it remained “focused” on efforts to evacuate people in the besieged city of Mariupol.
The team is currently focusing on continuing the humanitarian evacuation. Yesterday’s incident demonstrates the facilitation of safe travel around Mariupol for our team, who have been trying to reach the city since Friday,” a spokesperson for Mariupol said. ICRC continued.
An ICRC press official told CNN.
Vereshchuk said a total of seven humanitarian corridors were planned for Tuesday around Ukraine, and a convoy of seven buses was en route from Manhush to nearby Berdiansk, traveling with the ICRC.
Some context: Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko on Monday said his city was “on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe”, with more than 100,000 people still require evacuation.
Boichenko said no evacuation buses had reached Mariupol, despite agreements between Russia and Ukraine to open humanitarian corridors. Some residents had tried to reach the nearby Russian-administered city of Berdiansk by private car, he said, but added that the route was “very difficult and intermittent.
