Kuleba Urges International Community To Pressure Russia To Allow Civilians To Leave Mariupol

Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on the international community to exert pressure on Russia to allow civilians to leave the encircled city of Mariupol.

Kuleba made the call in a statement on his Telegram channel, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Russia is holding 300,000 civilians hostage in Mariupol and obstructing humanitarian evacuation despite agreements with the International Committee of the Red Cross. One child died of dehydration in Mariupol yesterday! War crimes are part of Russia's deliberate strategy. I call on all countries to publicly demand: RUSSIA LET THE PEOPLE GO!" Kuleba wrote.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the evacuation of people from Mariupol was supposed to take place on March 5, but it was postponed because of continued Russian shelling.

The evacuation of civilians from Mariupol failed to take place again on March 6 due to shelling by the Russian military.

Russian troops are again disrupting the evacuation from Mariupol on March 8 by shelling the city.

According to reports, some civilians had been evacuated from Sumy as of 3:00 p.m. on March 8.