Only the fate of four of them is known.
Nine volunteer drivers from a group of people , who worked in the Mariupol direction , were detained by the Russian military and are considered missing, CNN reports, citing a representative of a group of volunteers.
“In total, 9 minibus drivers left Zaporozhye to evacuate residents of besieged Mariupol. Russian soldiers stopped them and tried to force them to transport buses to Russia. When the drivers refused, they were taken prisoner, “said Oleksiy Voronin, head of the NGO.
He lost contact with all but one of the drivers.
“All of them evacuated people in the direction of Mariupol-Zaporozhye, they were sent on trips on different dates – March 26, 27 and 31. Communication with them was cut off the day after departure. According to the people who managed to evacuate, the Russian military confiscated vehicles with people in Mariupol from the drivers, the evacuees were taken to the village of Nikolskoye, and the drivers themselves were taken away. Some of them are in a pre-trial detention center in Donetsk, “the volunteer added.
One of the drivers was lucky to be released and it became known from his words that three missing people are in Donetsk. They were interrogated by force, poorly fed and kept in appalling conditions. Everyone else was told they had the right to be detained for up to 30 days.
A group of volunteers with Oleksiy Voronin joined forces at the beginning of the war to help evacuate Ukrainians. They managed to evacuate more than 2,000 people and deliver more than 200 tons of food, humanitarian aid and medicine to the besieged Mariupol.
Read also: Bombing of the Children's Hospital in Mariupol: almost 50 people were burned alive
Surrounded and in some places occupied Mariupol people claim that city residents are forcibly taken to Russia, documents, phones and sometimes personal belongings are confiscated . People are being transported to remote, depressed regions of Russia and are said to have been barred from leaving the region for at least two years. People are also forcibly deported to Russia and the occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
See special topic: CNN: Russia is preparing an offensive in Donbass, will it be able to achieve a breakthrough? Experts believe that the Russian army will not have enough forces for a few more months to achieve at least some success in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine can receive 50 Leopard 1 tanks from Germany There is a concern that is ready to deliver. Only the permission of the German government is required. Difficult and unfriendly: Austrian Chancellor Nehammer on meeting with Putin He spoke unequivocally about the Russian army's crimes in Ukraine. Russia has refused to cease hostilities during the talks This will only happen once a “final agreement is reached”. Wounded Russian servicemen are urged to return to the war against Ukraine with the help of fakes – intelligence They are told about the joy of Ukrainians “liberated” by the Russians, and about the “fake” world Media.
