During the first stage of evacuation from Mariupol more than 100 women, children, and elderly people were evacuated. They are transported to Zaporizhzhia.
It's only the first stage, gathering of civilians and military will continue, the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak informed in Telegram.
"Yes, it was a difficult operation and there is still a lot of work ahead, but nothing will stop us. Russians created a humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol, they continue bombing, but they will bear responsibility for everything. The President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took the situation under his personal control, the team of the Office of the President and the government has been working on this task non-stop. We are grateful for help from the UN and the ICRC," he stated.
Yermak added that they were working on saving people in Mariupol round the clock for the last week.
On April 30, an evacuation convoy took the first civilians from "Azovstal'' in Mariupol, but it didn`t take wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
The Mayor of Mariupol emphasized that hundreds of civilians were left in "Azovstal". There is almost no food, water, and medicines. The occupants didn`t allow them to evacuate all this time.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the continuation of the evacuation from "Azovstal" on May 1.