Over 4,000 civilians evacuated in a day: Ukraine Deputy PM

Kiev, March 15 (IANS) Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said that more than 4,000 people were successfully evacuated in the last 24 hours via humanitarian corridors.

In a video address late Monday, Vereshchuk said that seven out of the 10 corridors were operational on Monday, reports Ukrayinska Pravda.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, 2,028 people were evacuated from the Kiev region's Hostomel, Nemishayevo, Vorzel, Dmytrivka, Peremohy, while 1,780 others moved out from the separatist Luhansk region's Severodonetsk, Popasna, Hirs'ke, Rubizhne, Kreminna and Lysychansk.

However, the Russian forces violated the ceasefire agreement in Kiev's Brovary district, due to which evacuation buses could not pass to the villages of Bohdanivka, Nova Bohdanivka and Bobryk, Ukrayinska Pravda quoted the Minister as saying.

Despite the ceasefire, the forces also "provoked skirmishes during evacuations along corridors in the towns of Popasna and Rubizhne" in Luhansk, she added.

The situation in Mariupol also remained dire on Monday as Russian forces continued to attack the strategic port city, Vereshchuk noted.

She said that a convoy of humanitarian aid with food, medicine, and water for Mariupol remained blocked in Berdyansk, about 60 km from the besieged city.

The Deputy Prime Minister further said that there was no information on three Ukrainian nationals who were allegedly kidnapped by Russia.

The Mayors of Melitopol (Ivan Fedorov) and Dniprorudne (Yevhen Matveyev) were abducted on March 11 and 13, while Oleksiy Danchenko, an employee of Ukraine's State Emergency Service, has been under captivity for two days.