45,000 people managed to leave Mariupol

So far, 45,000 people were able to leave the besieged Mariupol.

This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk on a telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"We negotiate corridors 24 hours a day, and sometimes we succeed. The Sumy direction works, the Kyiv region works, and today Luhansk region is leaving again. God willing, we will break through the corridor to Mariupol, which will be really tangible. 45,000 have already been able to get out of the besieged Mariupol," Vereshchuk said.

She noted that people who are currently deciding to fire on aid columns or evacuation corridors know for sure that they will be punished later.

"We record, register every violation, every evening we send to the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross all recorded cases of violations when there were attacks on humanitarian convoys, humanitarian aid," added Vereshchuk.