Photos: Mariupol residents escape besieged, devastated city | Gallery News

Residents of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol continue to try to escape the Russian shelling that has been going on for more than two weeks.

While fighting in the city continued, people evacuated through the district controlled by the forces of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk on Thursday.

A statement from the city council said that about 30,000 residents had managed to escape so far since Monday, but more than 350,000 remained.

Mariupol residents have no electricity, gas, water or communications.

Stores have been destroyed or burned down, and people are trying to get hold of what’s left in the city’s food warehouses.

Rescuers are also searching for survivors in the ruins of a Mariupol theatre blown apart by a Russian air raid.

Hundreds of civilians had been taking shelter in the theatre after their homes were destroyed in three weeks of fighting in the southern port city.

Mariupol council estimates that about 80 percent of the city’s homes have been destroyed, of which almost 30 percent were beyond repair.