Ukraine makes new attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol

Ukraine hoped to start evacuating civilians through a “humanitarian corridor” from Mariupol on Thursday, a day after it said a children’s hospital was hit in a Russian air strike on the southern port city.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Mariupol was one of seven cities from which the government hoped to evacuate residents trapped by fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24.

Several previous attempts to establish a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol have failed, and people in the city of more than 400,000 people have been sheltering there without water or power for over a week.

Each side has blamed the other for the collapse of local ceasefires, including around Mariupol, and Russia said reports that it had bombarded a children’s hospital were “fake news”. It said the premises were no longer used as a hospital and had long ago taken over by Ukrainian troops.

Ukraine has managed to start evacuating people from some areas this week, including the northeastern city of Sumy, where a humanitarian corridor opened for the third successive day on Thursday under a local ceasefire.

“The (evacuation) columns are leaving. The ceasefire has been agreed!” said Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, the governor of the Sumy region.

People were also leaving the nearby settlements of Krasnopillya and Trostyanets, he said.