Ukraine speaks of almost 2,200 fatalities in Mariupol

So far, more than 140,000 civilians have been brought to safety during the evacuations of the contested areas of Ukraine, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in an interview on Ukrainian television.

Selenskyj had previously spoken to almost 125,000 civilians in a video message. The situation in the port city of Mariupol is particularly dramatic. Again and again evacuation attempts had failed. According to Ukrainian sources, more than 2,000 civilians have been killed in attacks on the city. The city council said that 2,187 people have died since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on February 24. In the past 24 hours alone there have been 22 air raids on the embattled city on the Azov Sea, during which around 100 bombs have been dropped. The attackers would deliberately attack residential buildings, destroying children’s hospitals and infrastructure, it said.

Russia: Only military targets attacked

Russia, on the other hand, insists on only attacking military targets. Mariupol, with a population of around 400,000, has been surrounded by Russian units for days and cut off from the rest of the country. According to Ukrainian information, pro-Russian separatist troops have invaded the eastern outskirts of the port city. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, at least 596 civilians have been killed and 1,067 injured since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 43 fatalities are children. However, the actual number of victims could be much higher.