Kyiv reports evacuation of 37,606 civilians over past week

KYIV. March 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The evacuation of over 37,600 civilians via humanitarian corridors has taken place over the past week, deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.

"As many as 37,606 people have been evacuated via humanitarian corridors from the blocked off cities over the past week, [such as] 699 people from the Zaporizhzhya region, 9,488 people from the Kyiv region, 26, 477 people from Mariupol, and 972 people from the Luhansk region," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said at a briefing that two humanitarian corridors operated on Friday, and 7,331 people have been evacuated via them.

As many as 2,800 people from Mariupol reached Zaporizhzhya using their own vehicles, she said. Another 4,000 Mariupol residents were evacuated from Berdiansk in an organized way on buses, and the convoy was on its way to Zaporizhzhya, Vereshchuk said.

Gasoline has been brought to Berdiansk, and Mariupol residents now can fill up their cars free of charge to drive to Zaporizhzhya, she said.

Eighty tonnes of food, medications and basic necessities were also delivered to Berdiansk, Vereshchuk said.

Another 531 people were evacuated from Melitopol to Zaporizhzhya, she said.

"We're arranging humanitarian corridors from Mariupol and settlements in the Kyiv and Luhansk regions for Saturday," she said.