About 20,000 civilians were able to leave the besieged port city of Mariupol in private cars, spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Vadym Denysenko said today, Reuters reports.
For the past two weeks, Mariupol residents have been without heating, electricity and water supply for a long time, Ukrainian authorities said. At least 200,000 people are in urgent need of evacuation, Ukrainian officials said in figures released earlier this week.
The Kharkiv Oblast Civil Defense Service in eastern Ukraine said today that at least 500 Kharkiv residents had died since the Russian invasion began on February 24, Reuters reported.