CNN
Ukrainian authorities halted evacuations from the besieged city of Mariupol on Saturday, accusing Russian forces of breaching an agreement to pause fire and give civilians safe passage out.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said earlier on Saturday it would stop bombarding Mariupol and another southeastern city, Volnovakha, which have endured days of heavy, indiscriminate shelling.
Residents there have hunkered down in basements without power and with limited supplies of food and water, volunteers gathering information from the ground told CNN.
But just a few hours after the announcement to pause fire, a top regional official accused Russia of breaking its agreement.
“Due to the fact that the Russians are not observing the ceasefire regime and continue shelling Mariupol and its outskirts, the evacuation of the population has been postponed for security reasons,” governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, announced on Twitter.
CNN received a written account from a resident of a village near Volnovakha, whose husband has been trying to evacuate people from the city in recent days.
“The situation in the city is very scary,” Marina Gasanova wrote. “There is almost nothing left in the city, something comes in every minute from all sides, it is not clear what … and it is not clear from where it comes. Scary, crazy!,” she wrote.
“Every minute, every second, everyone is shooting. From all sides. It’s just impossible! There are corpses lying around, torn-off arms, torn-off legs.”
