MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Doctors and patients were taken hostage at a hospital in Mariupol, according to the regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
The governor confirmed the news through a Facebook post.
Kyrylenko, originally writing in Ukrainian, said Russian occupiers “practically destroyed” the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Hospital employees reportedly told Kyrylenko that as many as 400 people were rounded up and are being kept in a basement at the hospital.
“The destruction was not enough for Russian villains – now they made people hostages,” Kyrylenko continued in his post.
The governor said he has asked human rights organizations to respond to the attacks and “blatant crimes against humanity.”
Meanwhile, about 2,000 cars have been able to leave Mariupol as Russian forces work to invade the city.
The council said another 2,000 cars are in the city but waiting to leave along the route, which runs for more than 160 miles to the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media the corridor would be open from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Thursday.
