Sergei Orlov, the deputy mayor of Mariupol, explained the scene in the besieged port city as Ukrainian officials try to help those still inside and evacuate civilians who have taken refuge in the surrounding areas. “The city has been completely destroyed. The city is like ruins; we are upset, not because of the infrastructure, but because of the people. “So we do not know how to help our suffering citizens in the city,” she told CNN’s Ana Cabrera. “Russia does not allow any humanitarian issue to be resolved, the transfer of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of our citizens for many days.” The official explained where things are in the evacuation efforts and the latest evacuation mission of citizens of Mariupol who are in nearby areas. “Once again, I want to clarify, there is no solution to get to Mariupol, either humanitarian aid or evacuation of civilians,” Orloff said. “We are talking about the evacuation of the citizens of Mariupol who are in Berdyansk, who are near Mariupol, the nearest villages … who arrived in Berdyansk themselves either on foot or by private cars. Many citizens of Mariupol evacuated themselves and “There are about 30-50,000 citizens of Mariupol who are currently in Berdyansk and the nearest villages.” “So this mission helps us and made it possible to evacuate the citizens of Mariupol from Berdyansk to Zaporizhia. It is very good. It is absolutely necessary,” he said, noting that 45 buses with more than 2,000 citizens were evacuated, including 710 children. As for those still in Mariupol, among the most pressing concerns is nutrition, Orloff said, as aid teams, including the Red Cross, find it difficult to reach the city with food and supplies. A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that traveled to Mariupol said on Friday that it could not reach the besieged city to facilitate the safe passage of civilians. The group plans to try to make the trip to the besieged city again on Saturday. “I can not even describe in words what life is like in Mariupol,” he said. Citizens ‘can not eat’ [it’s] common for us to have three dishes, but three dishes a week. So we eat Monday, Tuesday and Friday. That way we can not even eat much. “ Mariupol estimates that more than 100,000 citizens are still in the city, all hiding in the hope of staying safe. The official said that the citizens live “like mice”. “They all live underground in shelters, bomb shelters in some areas downstairs, just to be able to survive, not to be killed by air raids, by rockets, by bombings,” Orloff said. “They share some food with each other, so typical food for a day is a glass of water with… one or two cakes, a glass of soup in the afternoon and also a glass of water and a cake in the evening.” Orloff said reports of Russians forcibly taking residents, including children, were true. “In the territory of Mariupol, I mean mostly suburbs which Russia temporarily occupies. “They are forcing people to evacuate from here and even deport them.” At a local hospital, meanwhile, Orlov says there are up to 2,000 orphans, a reality that would not have existed before the invasion. “Before the war, before February 24, we evacuated all orphans to Ukrainian-controlled territories; in Mariupol, we had no orphans. So if they somehow find 2,000 children without parents, how is that possible? So either their parents were killed by Russians, [or] “They divorced,” he added. Watch the interview:
