Serious work to evacuate between 25 and 30 Turkish citizens from a mosque in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol is ongoing, diplomatic sources said.
“We got closer to the mosque step by step from 185 kilometers (114 miles) to 70 kilometers (43.4 miles). Our convoy is being stopped in places by Russian forces. On the other hand, the imam of the mosque did not confirm that the Mosque was bombed,” the sources told Daily Sabah.
They also noted that there is also a lot of disinformation on the ground.
“The information that has come to us is that the bomb has fallen nearby. The fact that there are different actors on the field at the moment makes it difficult to get clear information. We will evacuate our citizens, our efforts are continuing intensively. We currently have around 250 citizens remaining in various regions of Ukraine.”
In total, 14,480 Turkish nationals have been evacuated since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Russian army has reportedly surrounded the city and has been shooting at the city center. Civilians who are stranded in the city are said to be in need of essential goods, including water and food.
Since Russia launched its war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, more than 2.5 million people have fled to other countries, with some 2 million more displaced within the country.
At least 564 civilians have been killed and 982 others injured in Ukraine, according to United Nations estimates.
