Russian invaders violate evacuation agreement, capture whole city – Mariupol mayor

The task of the Russian troops is not to liberate Mariupol but to "break the corridor" from Russia to occupied Crimea at any cost, capturing the city of about 400,000 residents.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said this in an interview with Dmytro Gordon, Ukrinform reports.

“The shelling - for the sixth day in a row – they destroy the most valuable thing we have. They destroy us, the residents of Mariupol, destroy us as a nation. There is no task to liberate Mariupol, as they shouted: they say we are going to liberate eastern Ukraine from something, but nobody know from what… Although no one captured us. There is a task to destroy us as a nation, there is a task to liberate Ukraine from Ukrainians,” Boychenko said.

He cited the shelling of a blood bank a few days ago as an example.

Boychenko reminded that the aggressor was constantly firing upon the city from all sides using the heaviest weapons. It was planned to save the civilian population due to the agreements on the so-called "green corridor," but they were insidiously violated by the enemy.

“I was instructed to organize transport and locations for the evacuation of people. But at that moment, as we were moving, the enemy troops violated ceasefire and began firing. Miraculously, no one was injured, but the equipment was damaged. We need security guarantees. We hope that the negotiations will lead to the creation of a corridor. For our part, we are doing everything necessary,” the Mariupol mayor assured.

According to Boychenko, as a result of targeted shelling, the invaders destroyed 30 of the 50 buses prepared for the evacuation of women and children from Mariupol.

As reported, due to the fact that the Russian side did not observe the ceasefire and continued to shell Mariupol and its outskirts, the evacuation of Mariupol residents, which had to begin at 11:00 on March 5, was postponed indefinitely.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to create a humanitarian corridor from 11:00 on March 5 in two directions - Volnovakha and Mariupol, the routes were agreed under the terms of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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