Russia has broken its ceasefire promise and begun bombing evacuees escaping war-torn cities via humanitarian corridors, according to Ukraine.
Russian forces shelled an evacuation route for civilians trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol in violation of the agreement on Tuesday, Ukraine foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Twitter.
“Eight trucks + 30 buses ready to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol and to evac (evacuate) civilians to Zaporizhzhia.
“Pressure on Russia MUST step up to make it uphold its commitments.”
Reports from Ukraine suggest Russian forces are now shelling the humanitarian corridor from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol, a city which has faced almost constant shelling since the start of the invasion.
Follow all today's latest updates on the conflict with our live blog
Videos shared online from Sumy, north-eastern Ukraine, suggested guns were being fired in the humanitarian corridor although the governor of the region says the ceasefire is mostly holding.
Local journalist Oleksiy Sorokin wrote: "Russia began an attack on Mariupol from the road meant to be used as a humanitarian corridor.
"The road was prior cleared from mines and barbed wire to allow civilians to leave."
It comes as Ukrainians boarded buses to flee the besieged eastern city of Sumy on Tuesday, the first evacuation from a Ukrainian city through a humanitarian corridor agreed with Russia.
A separate convoy of 30 buses was also headed to Mariupol to evacuate residents from that southern port, which has been encircled without food, water, power or heat and subjected to relentless bombardment for a week.
There have so far been three failed attempts to evacuate desperate people from ruined cities in the last few days as Russian generals continued to fire their guns despite agreeing to stop for several hours.
The Red Cross revealed several of the deadly weapons were found on evacuation routes which were to be used by people fleeing to safety.
Over the weekend two ceasefire agreements broke down as Ukrainians were leaving, forcing many to return to homes as Russian shells began to rain down.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously warned to hunt down those who shot at evacuees in his country, saying in a public address: "A man, a woman and two children. Right on the road. … when they were just trying to get out of town. To escape.
"The whole family. How many such families have died in Ukraine, we will not forgive. We will not forget.
"We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war. On our land. We will find every b*stard. Which shot at our cities, our people. Which bombed our land. Which launched rockets. Which gave the order and pressed ''start''.
'There will be no quiet place on this Earth for you. Except for the grave.'
