Ukrainians fleeing Mariupol urge int'l community, UN to reach their loved ones

KYIV, Ukraine - Ukrainians from Mariupol and the Donbas region who have sought refuge in the capital staged a demonstration on Saturday at Kyiv’s Independence Square, urging the UN and international community to put an end to the war and help save their male family members who have been trapped and besieged by Russia in the city of Mariupol.

The protesters carried banners that read: 'Save The Defenders Of Mariupol', 'UN Save Our Lives', and 'Our Heroes Must Be Alive'.

"It was hell," Nicol, a Ukrainian woman from Mariupol told Rudaw’s Dlnia Rahman on Saturday, as she described the situation in Mariupol before she fled a month ago. "When I and my nephew and sister used to go out, I could not keep quiet about how the Russians forces treated us."

She spoke of the horrific scenes that have haunted the once-thriving southern city.

"Mariupol used to be prosperous and a city of happiness. Today, Mariupol is struggling to survive. There is no life there," she lamented. "We lost everything we had... People are trapped underneath the rubble."

Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly warned of dire humanitarian conditions in Mariupol amid Russia's control of Ukraine’s southern and embattled city.

The only defensive stronghold that remains under the control of the Ukrainian government and its soldiers is a steel plant that has so far put up a stiff resistance against Russian forces. Ukrainian troops inside the facility are estimated to be around 2,000.

Around 100,000 Ukrainians are believed to still remain in war-ravaged Mariupol. On Sunday, two groups of civilians left a residential area around the Azovstal steel plant, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the evacuation of further civilians sheltering in the Azovstal plant, saying that the first group of 100 people were "already heading to the controlled area."