Deputy mayor of Izium, Kharkiv region, Volodymyr Matsokin reports that the city has been blocked by Russian troops for two weeks already.

Intensive Russian shelling caused disruptions in electricity and water supply, ruined communication and heating systems. In addition, Izium lacks food and medicines.

Matsokin claims the situation in Izium is ‘not better than in Mariupol’.

According to him, the residents cannot receive medical help, so the survivors of the shelling die from disease and lack of medicine. Moreover, there is no one to bury the dead. The city itself is ‘torn into two parts’ because the bridges were blown up.

The roads leading to the city are either controlled or shelled by Russian troops.

‘There is an urgent need for humanitarian corridors to bring food and medicines and to evacuate civilians’, the official states.