Russian forces on Thursday confiscated 14 tons of humanitarian aid from buses bound for Melitopol in southern Ukraine, according to Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian minister of reintegration of temporarily occupied territories.
Vereshchuk said the food and medication was loaded on 12 buses.
"This is the price for the agreed corridors and for the Red Cross' guarantees that the corridors will be provided and working," Vereshchuk said. "We are negotiating for the buses to be returned and for the Melitopol residents tomorrow to evacuate using these buses."
Vereshchuk said 1,458 people reached Zaporizhzhia in their own cars on Thursday, with 631 of them escaping the besieged city of Mariupol and 827 coming from Berdiansk, Enerhodar, Melitopol, Polohy, Huliapole and Vasylivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian forces also blocked 45 buses going to Berdiansk on Thursday en route to Mariupol, she added.
Russia will reopen the evacuation corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday at the request of French and German leaders, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday, CNN reports.
