Far in excess of 100,000 civilians are still trapped in Mariupol – including children, women, men and the elderly. They have, for weeks, endured a barely imaginable nightmare without electricity, water and heat in a city on which Russian bombs, missiles and grenades have been ceaselessly falling and which is being razed to the ground. Russia appears to be bent on conquering the city or destroying it, regardless of the human costs that this entails. While the terrible news reaching us seems to be the same from one day to the next, we must not and will not lose sight for one second of the situation faced by these people.

The attacks must be stopped immediately and international humanitarian law must be upheld. I therefore call on the Russian Government to facilitate safe corridors for civilians for their voluntary evacuation as well as the supply of humanitarian assistance for those who either cannot leave or wish to remain in the city.