The office of Mariupol’s mayor urged Turkey Friday to tell Russia to stop its advance in the city as 86 Turks, including 34 children, are trapped in the city’s mosque.
Mariupol has been under siege and bombardment for more than a week and is encircled by Russian troops.
The southern port city has no water, electricity or gas supplies and there is almost no phone network connection or internet.
Petro Andryushchenko, advisor to the city’s mayor, said fighting has today moved towards the area of the mosque, which is in the west of the city close to the Sea of Azov.
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It is the first time this area of Mariupol has been under direct attack.
Since 6:00 am on Friday, he said, Russia has been “thundering” the city with non-stop attacks so no one can go outside and therefore the people in the mosque are unreachable.
“Our government cannot speak to the Russian government so we hope Turkey’s government can speak to them to save these Turkish people, as well as Ukrainians,” Andryushchenko said.
“We are ready for any operation to evacuate the Turkish people but for that to happen, Turkey has to help us stop the attacks – without the help of the Turkish government, I think it’s impossible.”
Fears are mounting for civilian infrastructure and homes inside the city after a children’s and maternity hospital was hit on Wednesday, killing three, including a child.
The city council said on Friday that 1,582 people have been killed in 12 days of the blockade.
Mariupol’s local Turkish community took shelter in the mosque in the days after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. It is not clear if Muslims of other nationalities are also seeking safety there.
Imam Mehmet Uce, a Turkish citizen, told AFP before the siege that the building is strong and has a basement where they had prepared stocks of food and other supplies.
Two buses have been trying since last week to evacuate Turkish citizens, alongside efforts to evacuate Ukrainians.
But several attempts to establish a humanitarian corridor have failed as Russia was accused of breaking agreed ceasefires by shelling along the route.
Ismail Hacioglu – whose son, wife, and four other family members are in the mosque – has been helping to coordinate the evacuation attempts. He was away in Odessa when the siege began.
“The bombing is drawing close and who knows what target will be next, maybe the mosque,” said Hacioglu.
On Friday, the Turkish embassy announced it is moving from Kyiv to Chernivtsi, in the west of Ukraine, where there has so far been less fighting.
“We think it’s a very dangerous situation for foreign people in Mariupol. Russia blocks humanitarian corridors and if Russia hits the mosque we can’t help the people there,” said Andryushchenko.
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