Evacuation buses en route to besieged Mariupol not allowed to pass Russian checkpoints.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said as of 12:30 p.m. local time, Russian forces are blocking 45 buses that left Zaporizhzhia for occupied Berdiansk to evacuate civilians from Mariupol at Vasylivka checkpoint.

"Again and again, we demand that the entire world community focus its attention and help people get out of occupied Mariupol," she said.