'It's important to understand that the lives that are still there, they are in the hands of just one person - Vladimir Putin. And all the deaths that will happen after now will be on his hands too.'
People walk past cars damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
"It's important to understand that the lives that are still there, they are in the hands of just one person - Vladimir Putin. And all the deaths that will happen after now will be on his hands too," Boichenko said in an interview. "Today at all levels, we only talk about one thing - that we need a ceasefire, we need a full evacuation of the 100,000 Mariupol residents who are prisoners of Russian forces and we need to free all the people who are at Azovstal."
Ceasefire deals have repeatedly fallen through, with both sides trading blame. Many of those who have left have fled in private cars or on foot. The city administration believes tens of thousands of Mariupol residents have been killed since the start of the war, while admitting the challenges of estimating an accurate death toll as fighting rages.