Evacuation buses carrying children out of Mariupol were shelled by Russian forces, leaving some ‘severely injured,’ Ukrainian officials say

• Evacuation buses carrying children out of Mariupol were targeted by Russian shelling, per local reports.
• Four children are “seriously injured,” according to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.
• Russia demanded Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender Monday. Ukraine declined.

Evacuation buses carrying children from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol were targeted by Russian shelling, leaving at least four injured, according to local reports. 

“Evacuation buses with children from Mariupol were cynically shelled by the Russian occupants. Four children are seriously injured,” the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, said on Telegram, citing the Zaporizhzhya Regional State Administration. 

Local reporters repeated the claim on the ground. Reporter Olga Tokariuk said on Twitter that many civilians haven’t been able to flee the besieged city.

“Those who own a car can try to use ‘a green corridor’, but even there civilians are under constant Russian shelling. At 15 Russian checkpoints before they reach Ukraine, people get stripped, deprived of mobile phones, humiliated,” Tokariuk tweeted Monday.

—Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) March 21, 2022

Mariupol, a port city located in southeastern Ukraine, has been the subject of the most brutal assaults in the war, laying waste to the city’s homes, schools, and maternity hospitals. Some residents have been sheltering for weeks, and many are without food, water, or electricity.

Multiple attempts at ceasefires have failed in Mariupol. Russia’s Ministry of Defense called on Ukrainian forces and officials in the city to surrender by 5 a.m. Monday, offering to open humanitarian corridors. Ukrainian officials, who have repeatedly accused Russia of shelling supposed safe passageways, quickly denied the request. 

Last week, Russian forces bombed a movie theater – that had the word “CHILDREN” written on the outside of it in Russian – as it was being used to shelter over 1,000 civilians. On Friday, authorities reported that 130 people had been rescued from the theater while 1,300 were still trapped. The number of casualties is unknown. 

As morgues in the city have been inundated with the deceased, city officials have resorted to burying civilians and soldiers in mass graves. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the assault on Mariupol will be “remembered for centuries to come,” noting that over 4,000 Mariupol residents have managed to leave for Zaporizhzhia. Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the city.

“The besieged Mariupol will go down in history of responsibility for war crimes. The terror the occupiers did to the peaceful city will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskyy said in a video address on Telegram.