World News | Live Updates | Ukraine Says 765 Evacuate Besieged Mariupol

Lviv, Apr 3 (AP) Ukraine's deputy prime minister says 765 residents managed to make it out of Mariupol in private vehicles on Sunday while a team of humanitarian workers is yet to reach the hard-hit city.

Iryna Vereshchuk said the residents reached Zaporizhzhia, a city 140 miles (226 kilometers) to the northwest.

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Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross said a team with three vehicles and nine staff members had planned to get into Mariupol, scene of some of the war's worst attacks, on Saturday to evacuate residents. The Red Cross said it could not carry out the operation Friday because it did not receive assurances the route was safe. City authorities said the Russians blocked access to the city.

A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday evening the team, which departed Zaporizhzhia in the morning, was "spending the night en route to Mariupol and are yet to reach the city.” Around 100,000 people are believed to remain in the city on the Sea of Azov, down from a prewar population of 430,000, and facing dire shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine.

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The Mariupol city council said earlier Saturday that 10 empty buses were headed to Berdyansk, a city 52 miles (84 kilometers) west of Mariupol, to pick up people who managed to get there on their own. About 2,000 made it out of Mariupol on Friday, city officials said.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

— Ukrainian forces retake areas near Kyiv amid fear of traps

— Russian space chief says sanctions could imperil International Space Station

— What's next for Europe's natural gas amid the war?

— Russia aims Ukraine disinformation at Spanish speakers

— Ukraine volunteer fighters from near and far: a photo gallery

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

At least 17 colleges and universities in several U.S. states will jointly offer honorary degrees to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their commencement ceremonies this spring.

Alfred University President Mark Zupan said the idea grew from his request to have Zelenskyy speak virtually to a combination of graduating classes.

When an official at the Ukrainian embassy declined the western New York university's request, the institutions agreed to award honorary degrees in absentia to honor Zelenskyy's leadership during Russia's war in Ukraine.

“The gesture was motivated by the inspiring example provided by President Zelenskyy to his people and the broader world in defense of freedom and democracy,” Zupan said in a news release Friday.

Several additional campuses in upstate New York, which has a significant population with ties to Ukraine, have committed to the idea. They are being joined by institutions in Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Others are expected to join in, Alfred University said.

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BUCHA, Ukraine — Ukrainian troops moved further north from the capital Kyiv on Saturday, taking up positions in the town of Bucha and Antonov Airport in Hostomel after retaking territory from Russian forces. AP reporters counted at least 6 bodies of civilians scattered along a street and in the front yard of a house.

The Ukrainian soldiers, backed by a column of tanks and armored vehicles, attached cables to the bodies and pulled them off the street, fearing they may be booby-trapped with explosive devices.

As they moved on the streets of Bucha, the Ukrainian soldiers cleared barricades and inspected suspicious objects. They placed red rags on remnants of unexploded ordnance to draw attention to the possibility of explosions.

Residents of the town said the civilians were killed by Russian soldiers without apparent provocation.

“Those people were just walking and they shot them without any reason. Bang,” said a Bucha resident who declined to give his name, citing safety reasons. “In the next neighbourhood, Stekolka, it was even worse. They would shoot without asking any question.”

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A Russian group that monitors political arrests says 208 people were detained in demonstrations held Saturday across the country protesting Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

The OVD-Info group said demonstrations took place in 17 Russian cities, from Siberia to the more densely populated west. More than 70 people were were detained in Moscow and a similar number in St. Petersburg, the organization said.

Video released by another group that monitors protests, Avtozak, showed some detainees being led to police prisoner transports as they smiled and carried flowers. Others were shown to be more harshly forced into the transports, bent over with their arms pinioned behind them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's government has cracked down heavily on dissent, even before Russia invaded Ukraine in February. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)