Ukraine government says four buses carrying evacuees have left Mariupol

The Ukraine government on Thursday said that four buses carrying evacuees from Mariupol have left the besieged and destroyed port city where Ukrainian forces are battling to retain control.

“Four evacuation buses managed to leave the city yesterday through the humanitarian corridor,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on social media, adding that evacuations of women, children and the elderly would continue Thursday.

Also read: ‘To save our guys’: Ukraine willing to hold Mariupol talks to aid evacuations

“The security situation is difficult. Things may change,” she added.

It is reported that the battle for Mariupol appears to be nearing a tipping point after nearly two months of devastating fighting that has seen untold numbers of civilians trapped and killed.

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Control of Mariupol and the separatist-controlled eastern Donbas region would allow Moscow to complete a southern corridor to the Crimean peninsula that it annexed in 2014, depriving Ukraine of much of its coastline.

On Wednesday, senior Ukraine negotiator and presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak proposed a “special round” of negotiations in the city to “save our guys”.

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Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ally had said they would seize the Mariupol steel plant that is the last main stronghold of resistance in the besieged city on Thursday after Ukraine proposed talks on evacuating troops and civilians there.

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It is reported that Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by the Russian troops since invading Ukraine eight weeks ago in an attack that has taken longer than some military analysts expected.