Red Cross assists safe transport of over 500 civilians from Ukraine's Mariupol

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - An international Red Cross team has helped over 500 people safely travel to Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia city, as the UN’s fatality count in the Russia-Ukraine war hit 1,563.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it has been unable to reach the besieged Mariupol city, while civilians transported in the humanitarian convoy had fled the city, making their way some 200 kilometers (120 miles) to Zaporizhzhia.

“This convoy’s arrival to Zaporizhzhia is a huge relief for hundreds of people who have suffered immensely and are now in a safer location,” said Pascal Hundt, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Ukraine.

“It’s clear, though, that thousands more civilians trapped inside Mariupol need safe passage out and aid to come in. As a neutral intermediary, we’re ready to respond to this humanitarian imperative once concrete agreements and security conditions allow it.”

The convoy had left Berdyansk on Tuesday and reached Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, said the Red Cross.

The ICRC said its team had tried over five days and four nights to reach Mariupol and came within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the city, “but security conditions on the ground made it impossible to enter.”

“The ICRC remains ready to facilitate the safe passage of civilians from Mariupol and other cities, provided that the parties to the conflict ensure the necessary security guarantees and conditions,” said the statement.

- Bombardment of Mariupol

Russian forces have encircled and bombarded Mariupol since they launched a war on Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Russian authorities had stopped the team of three vehicles and nine people and held them overnight on Sunday as they tried to get to the besieged southern port city to facilitate safe passage for the thousands of trapped civilians.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it had recorded 1,563 civilian fatalities in Ukraine, including 63 children, along with 2,213 injured.

Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by explosive weapons used with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and missile, and airstrikes.

“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed,” said the UN.

The human rights office also noted a report by Ukraine's Prosecutor General’s Office, according to which, 167 children had been killed and at least 279 injured by Wednesday.