Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that around 40,000 people had been evacuated from a number of Ukrainian cities on Thursday but accused Russian forces of targeting a humanitarian corridor in the city of Mariupol.
"One of the main tasks for us today was the organization of humanitarian corridors: Sumy, Trostyanets, Krasnopillya, Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel, Izyum. Within this day, we have already managed to evacuate almost 40,000 our people, to give them security in Poltava, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv," Zelenskyy said in a video address on his Telegram channel.
He said humanitarian aid, food and medicine were delivered.
Mariupol and Volnovakha, however, remain completely blocked, CNN quoting Zelensky reported, adding that despite Ukrainian officials' best efforts to make the corridor work, "Russian troops did not cease fire."
Regardless of this, Zelensky said he still decided to send a convoy of trucks carrying food, water and medicine.
"But the invaders started a tank attack exactly in the area where this corridor was supposed to be. Corridor of life. For the people of Mariupol," the president said, CNN reported.
Earlier on Thursday, local authorities in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol said Russian forces have begun dropping bombs on the "green corridor" designated to evacuate Mariupol residents, CNN reported.
( With inputs from ANI )
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