Mariupol, encircled since the early days of Russia's five-week-old invasion, has been Moscow's main target in Ukraine's southeastern region of Donbas. Tens of thousands there are trapped with scant access to food and water.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent a team on Friday to lead a convoy of about 54 Ukrainian buses and other private vehicles out of the city, but they turned back, saying conditions made it impossible to proceed, reports Reuters.
"They will try again on Saturday to facilitate the safe passage of civilians," the ICRC said in a statement. A previous Red Cross evacuation attempt in early March failed because the route was found to be unsafe.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to humanitarian corridors during the war that have facilitated the evacuation of thousands of civilians.
The ICRC says its Mariupol operation has been approved by both sides, but major details were still being worked, out such as the exact timing and destination of the convoy, which would be an undetermined location in Ukraine.
In an early morning video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian troops had moved toward the Donbas region and northeast in the direction of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, where previous Russian strikes badly damaged urban areas.
"I hope there may still be solutions for the situation in Mariupol," Zelensky said. "The whole world has to react to this humanitarian catastrophe."
In Chuhuiv, a city in Kharkiv province, casualties suffering shrapnel and gunshot flooded a hospital. Two women sat on neighbouring beds, limbs bandaged and pinned in metal braces.
"An entire bus was shot out. We were on a bus for civilians. There were about 20 people on board, 14 people survived. Eight dead bodies," a woman who identified herself only as Yulia told Reuters Television.
Sitting next to her, Alina Shegurets remembered her own screams when the bus came under attack, and pointed to her wounded legs and hip.
"Windows started to shake. Then I saw something that looked like holes. Then bullets started to fly above. Powder, smoke... I was screaming and my mouth was full of it," Shegurets said.
SHIFT FROM KYIV
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops on Feb 24 for what he calls a "special operation" to demilitarise Ukraine and "denazify" its leadership.
The West calls it an unprovoked war of aggression that has killed thousands, uprooted a quarter of Ukraine's population and brought tensions between Russia and the United States to their worst point since the Cold War.
But the United States and its European allies have sent Ukraine military assistance, including an additional $300 million dollars in aid announced by the Pentagon late on Friday. The new aid includes laser-guided rocket and anti-drone systems.
A view shows a road and buildings damaged in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 1, 2022. Reuters
A view shows a road and buildings damaged in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 1, 2022. Reuters
Washington will also work with allies to transfer Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine to bolster its defences in Donbas, the New York Times said, citing a US official. The Pentagon declined to comment to Reuters, while the White House did not immediately respond.
At peace talks this week, Russia said Donbas, where it has backed separatists fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014, would now be the focus of its war efforts. Russian troops left behind shattered villages and their own abandoned tanks as they moved away from the capital Kyiv.
After failing to capture a single major city, Russia has painted its drawdown of forces near Kyiv as a goodwill gesture in the peace negotiations. Ukraine and its allies say Russian forces have been forced to regroup after suffering heavy losses due to determined Ukrainian resistance.
