Convoy of buses on its way to besieged Mariupol, Ukraine says

LVIV/MOSCOW (AFP, REUTERS) - A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for the southern port city of Mariupol on Thursday (March 31) to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and bring out trapped civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

She said 45 buses were on their way to Mariupol after the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed Russia had agreed to open a safe corridor.

The city mayor said this week that up to 170,000 residents were trapped in Mariupol with no power and dwindling supplies.

“There are 45 buses en route to Mariupol,” Vereshchuk said in a statement.

The city, which usually has a population of more than 400,000, has been a strategic focus of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began five weeks ago, and has suffered near-constant bombardment.

Repeated attempts to organise safe corridors have failed, with each side blaming the other. Russia denies targeting civilians in its assault on Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Russia's defence ministry announced a local ceasefire to allow civilians to be evacuated from Mariupol.

A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, would be opened from 10am (3pm Singapore time), the ministry said.

"For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross," the ministry statement said.

The Russian ministry asked Kyiv to guarantee the "unconditional respect" for the ceasefire through written notification to the Russian side, the UNHCR and ICRC before 6am (11am Singapore time) on Thursday.

Moscow also asked the Ukrainian army to commit to ensure the security of the bus convoys along the designated corridor.

The ministry also said it had agreed to a proposal from Kyiv to open in the last 24 hours four new humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia.