Zelensky estimates that there are 120,000 civilians “trapped” in Mariupol and says that the situation is “difficult”

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MADRID, 21 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, has indicated this Thursday that 120,000 civilians remain “trapped” in the city of Mariúpol, where the situation is “difficult”.

At a press conference with the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, Zelenski added that there are some 2,000 soldiers in the city and 400 of them are wounded.

Thus, he pointed out that the situation in the city “is practically unchanged” and stressed that the Ukrainian authorities “are constantly working” to try to open humanitarian corridors “but the Russians have been blocking” this opening.

“There has been an exchange proposal, at least exchanging wounded for wounded,” he continued, before specifying that he “knows” that Russia has received this information. “They know them because they are in daily contact with our men,” she asserted.

In this sense, he clarified that the Ukrainian authorities have explored diplomatic channels to resolve the situation with the help of Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and that they await a response.

Asked whether it is true that Russia controls Mariupol completely, Zelensky has indicated that the Russian forces took over “most of Mariupol a long time ago”, but has remarked that there is a part of the city still under Ukrainian control, which is where they remain. civilians and soldiers trapped.

The city of Mariúpol is one of the hardest hit in the context of the Russian invasion, which has caused a humanitarian catastrophe there. According to local authorities, more than 20,000 civilians have been killed in Mariupol since February 24. For their part, 150,000 have left the city, besieged by Russian forces since the beginning of the invasion.