Ukraine foreign minister says Russian shelling holds 400,000 'hostage' in Mariupol

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia on Wednesday of holding 400,000 residents of Mariupol hostage by shelling the southern Ukrainian port city despite efforts to establish a safe evacuation corridor for civilians.

"Almost 3,000 newborn babies lack medicine and food," he wrote on Twitter.

"Russia continues holding hostage over 400,000 people in Mariupol, blocks humanitarian aid and evacuation. Indiscriminate shelling continues."

Russia has denied targeting civilians in what it calls a "special operation" in Ukraine. 

Moscow announced a new ceasefire in Ukraine on Wednesday to let civilians flee besieged cities, but there were only limited signs of progress providing escape routes for hundreds of thousands of people trapped without medicine or fresh water, according to Reuters. 

New attempts will be made today to get civilians out of the besieged city of Mariupol in southeastern #Ukraine. https://t.co/iNuHXA2mwY

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) March 9, 2022

The governor of Sumy, an eastern city, said civilian cars were leaving for a second day through a safe corridor. 

But - by midday - there was no confirmation that any of the other evacuation corridors had been successfully opened, including a route out of Mariupol where the Red Cross has described conditions as "apocalyptic".