The status of civilian evacuations from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol remains unclear.

The city’s mayor has stated that the process is “extremely tough” and reliant on Russian cooperation.

“We were able to extract over 100 people from bomb shelters, who are now their route to Ukraine-controlled area. We’re hoping that Russian troops will agree to let us do so,” according to Vadym Boichenko.

Boichenko was referring to the people who were evacuated from the Azovstal steel facility on Sunday.

He said, “The evacuation process is happening at a very high level, directly with the participation of the President of Ukraine and Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Boichenko said, “The issue of military evacuation is a separate procedure and a separate negotiation process. It is a closed process, negotiations are underway.”

He also mentioned Russian forces’ “filtration” centers, which were set up to filter people departing Mariupol.

“On average, people wait a whole month for humiliating filtering,” he claimed.

“Now we see a decrease in the flow of people arriving in Ukraine. The reason is that the Russians are creating obstacles so that people cannot leave.”

Men are deported to prisons and tortured.

People are held there without food for two days or more, they sleep standing up, he continued.