Ukraine says evacuations halted as Russian forces keeps firing

KYIV, Ukraine

Ukraine said on Saturday evacuations in the embattled Mariupol and Volnovakha cities were halted as Russia continued attacks, a claim denied by Moscow.

Kiril Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, said in a statement that Russia broke the cease-fire agreement reached earlier to evacuate civilians.

“The Russian side is not holding to the cease-fire, and has continued firing in Mariupol itself and on its surrounding area,” he said.

Earlier, Russia declared a temporary cease-fire to open humanitarian corridors for the southeastern Mariupol and eastern Volnovakha cities after talks with Ukrainian authorities.

The Ukrainian government said the plan was to evacuate 215,000 people from Mariupol and Volnovakha, with the International Committee of the Red Cross guaranteeing the cease-fire.

For the Russian side, Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the National Defense Management Center, said "nationalist groups" in Ukraine blocked the exit of civilians via humanitarian corridors in Volnovakha and Mariupol.

He said that 200,000 civilians from Mariupol and 15,000 from Volnovakha still could not reach the humanitarian corridors open for evacuation.

Mizintsev also claimed that the hostage-taking by nationalist militias in Ukraine is continuing and that about 5,000 foreigners were taken hostages as a human shield.

Russia's war on Ukraine has been met by outrage from the international community with the EU, UK, and US, among others, implementing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

According to UN figures, at least 351 civilians have been killed and 707 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24.

More than 1.3 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the latest data by the UN refugee agency showed.

*Writing by Merve Berker