War in Ukraine: a mosque housing 80 civilians bombed in Mariupol, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry

A pediatric hospital and a maternity ward were hit on Wednesday, leaving three dead and many injured.

 

A mosque housing 80 civilians, including Turks, was bombed in Mariupol, a port in southeastern Ukraine where thousands of people have been under siege for days, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

 

The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana in Mariupol was bombed by Russian invaders, the ministry said in a tweet. More than 80 adults and children are sheltering there, including Turkish citizens, it added, without specifying when the shelling had taken place. This strategic city, bombed for days, is undergoing a devastating siege.

 

The inhabitants, holed up in the cellars, are without water, gas, electricity, communications, and people were seen in recent days fighting for food, a situation almost desperate, warned Friday Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Mariupol under siege is now the worst humanitarian disaster on the planet, with 1,582 civilians killed in 12 days, accused Friday the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba.

 

A paediatric hospital and a maternity hospital were hit on Wednesday, killing three people and injuring many others, prompting an international outcry. In this context, a new attempt at an evacuation corridor was planned to allow civilians to leave the city, in the direction of Zaporozhie, some 200 km to the north-west, according to the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Verechtchuk.

 

For days, Ukrainians have been claiming that the Russian army is shelling the evacuation route, preventing evacuations. As in previous days, humanitarian corridors were also to be opened again around Kiev, to evacuate to the capital residents of localities northwest of Kiev, including Gostomel or Kozarovytchi. I hope very much that the day will go well, that the planned routes will be opened and that Russia will respect its obligations regarding the respect of the ceasefire, said Ms. Verechtchouk, in a video posted on the website of the Ukrainian Presidency.

 

As the Russian army continues to advance and position itself around Kiev, strikes hit the town of Vasylkiv, some 40 kilometers south of the capital, on Saturday morning. Eight Russian rockets hit the local airport at around 7 a.m. local time, which was completely destroyed, said the mayor, Natalia Balassinovich, on her Facebook account. An oil depot was also hit, which caught fire, she added.