Live updates: Russia, Ukraine help civilians flee Mariupol
Russia and Ukraine both say they are making efforts to help civilians evacuate westwards out of the besieged port city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian military said it committed to a local cease-fire along the route from Mariupol to the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia from Thursday morning.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Thursday that Ukraine was sending 45 buses to collect people. She said the International Committee of the Red Cross was acting as an intermediary between the two sides.
Similar evacuation efforts have been planned before and collapsed amid recriminations over fighting along the route. Ukraine accused Russian forces last week of seizing bus drivers and rescue workers headed to Mariupol.
Civilians who have managed to leave the city for Ukraine-held territory have typically done so using private cars, but the number of drivable vehicles left in Mariupol has dwindled and fuel stocks are low.
Russia has operated its own evacuations from territory it has captured in Mariupol. Ukraine alleges Russia is sending its citizens to “filtration camps” in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine and then forcibly taking people to Russia.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Russia shells areas in Ukraine where it vowed to scale back
— US intel determines Putin has been misled by advisers on Ukraine
— Poland to end Russian oil imports; Germany warns on gas
— UN agency says 4 million refugees have now fled Ukraine
— UN food chief says Ukraine war’s food crisis is worst since WWII
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
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