(Brussels) French President Emmanuel announced on Friday that France, Turkey and Greece will carry out a “humanitarian operation” to evacuate “in the next few days” from the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
Posted at 3:43 PM
Updated at 4:09 pm.
“We are going jointly with Turkey and Greece to launch a humanitarian operation to evacuate everyone who wants to leave Mariupol,” he announced after a European summit in Brussels.
“I will have a new discussion in 48 to 72 hours with (Russian) President Vladimir Putin to properly iron out the details and secure the terms,” Macron said.
“I hope to be able to involve as many stakeholders as possible in this process,” the French president continued, stressing that he is “capable” of carrying out this evacuation “in the very next few days.”
Macron confirmed that the “Elysée teams” (French presidency, editor’s note) exchanged Friday with the mayor of Mariupol, “a city of more than 400,000 inhabitants and whose population today does not exceed 150,000 lives in ‘tragic conditions'”.
More than 2,000 civilians were killed in Mariupol, according to the latest report carried by the Town Hall. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, about 100,000 people are still stuck in this strategic port on the Sea of Azov which is besieged by Russian forces.