Red Cross calls for 'immediate and unimpeded' passage for civilians to leave Mariupol

The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday called for an "immediate and unimpeded" humanitarian access for the evacuation of civilians and the wounded from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

"The ICRC is deeply alarmed by the situation in Mariupol, where the population is in dire need of assistance. Immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access is urgently required to allow for the voluntary safe passage of thousands of civilians and hundreds of wounded out of the city, including from the Azovstal plant area," the ICRC said in a statement on the website.

The ICRC added that it stands ready "to help the parties to the conflict agree practical and workable arrangements to ensure the voluntary evacuation" and to send its teams to facilitate operations soon after such an agreement is negotiated and security guarantees are provided.

On Saturday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that the Ukrainian authorities were planning to evacuate women, children, and the elderly from Mariupol. However, DPR People's Militia spokesman Eduard Basurin later said that the evacuation attempt was interrupted by Ukrainian nationalists shelling the gathering place for evacuation with mortars from the territory of the Azovstal steel plant.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations.

Moscow and Kyiv made several attempts to organize humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians and the wounded; however, these intentions are often being interrupted by Ukrainian nationalists using civilians as a human shield, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )