Speaking on Ukrainian television, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said half of the capital’s total population have left the city as Russian forces advance on the city.
From our information, one in two Kyiv residents has left the city.
A little less than two million people have currently left. However, Kyiv has been transformed into a fortress. Every street, every building, every checkpoint has been fortified.
Russia is deliberately preventing the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol because it has failed to seize the strategic Black Sea port city, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Thursday.
Ukraine said earlier on Thursday that an aid convoy to the city had to turn back because of fighting. Russia has denied targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” in
Russian troops have destroyed 2,911 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities in Ukraine so far, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on Thursday.
He also said that the Russian army had taken control of a number of neighbourhoods in besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify his statement.
Photo issued by Ukrainian Emergency Services
