Civilians in a Ukraine hospital are being “held hostage” by Russian troops, according to a local regional commander.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Ukrainian military in the contested Donetsk region, says around 350,000 civilians are pinned down in the city of Mariupol, with around 400 local residents and 100 staff trapped in a hospital and being used as “human shields” by the Russians.

"It's impossible to get out of the hospital," Mr Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram. "They're shooting hard, we sit in the basement."

"Cars can't drive to the hospital for two days already,” he added. “High-rise buildings are burning all around. Russians drove 400 people from neighbouring houses into our hospital. We can't get out."

In some cases, parents of newborns have been separated from their babies because they haven’t been able to stay at the hospital.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said hundreds of civilians have managed to escape from Mariupol, but an aid convoy trying to reach the strategically-important port city was stuck at nearby Berdyansk as Russian shelling continued.

"Our side ensures a complete ceasefire," she said. " Russia, as usual, is cynically lying, thinking that people and the world do not see it and do not understand."

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  Dead Russian soldiers become 'dog food' as corpses left in street to be eaten by strays

She says that many residents of the city will be unable to leave until the aid convoy arrives because they don’t have cars of their own.

A tweet from the International Committee of the Red Cross said that "tens of thousands of families are living under the constant threat of danger" in Mariupol.

"They're huddled in whatever shelter they can find. They have limited food and water. They're terrified," it said.

The UK-based rescue aid charity Tikva has evacuated more than 1,200 Ukrainians from Odessa to Romania in the past two weeks. Over 350 children including 270 orphans have successfully made the perilous 58-hour journey

Jeremy Posen, Tikva's Chief Financial Officer, is working on the ground to organise the evacuation effort, said: “While obviously elated about all the members of our community, and the children of our orphanages we have managed to rescue, we continue to worry and care for all those left behind here.

"People have been joining us from all parts of Ukraine, on an almost hourly basis. Vacant beds are being filled and we will not rest or leave until every remaining person reaches safety.

"We also need to ensure that the needs of the thousand plus now in our care are met. A lot of the children have come from abusive homes or neglectful settings- it is essential that we look after not only their physical needs, but their mental wellbeing too, given the trauma they are going through."

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