Ukraine said continued shelling by Russian forces targeting Mariupol made conditions inside the strategic city of 430,000 more desperate.
Corpses littered the streets of Mariupol, where besieged residents have increasingly turned to breaking into stores to try to feed themselves. People got water from streams or by melting snow.
The Russian military said 723 people were evacuated from Sumy to the Ukrainian city of Poltava. It identified them as mostly citizens of India, with the rest from China, Jordan and Tunisia. It made no mention of any Ukrainians among those evacuated. But soon after officials announced that buses were on their way, Ukrainian authorities said they had learned of shelling on the escape route.
The city is without water, heat, working sewage systems or phone service. Authorities planned to start digging mass graves for all the dead. “We don’t have electricity, we don’t have anything to eat, we don’t have medicine. We’ve got nothing,” she said. The fighting has caused global economic turmoil, with energy prices surging worldwide and stocks plummeting. It also threatens the food supply of millions around the globe who rely on crops farmed in the fertile Black Sea region.