ATHENS, March 22, 2022 (AFP) – Greece’s foreign minister on Tuesday said he planned to head an aid mission to Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol if allowed by the warring sides.

Some 100,000 ethnic Greeks lived in and around Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Black Sea, before Russia invaded Ukraine.

The city has been besieged by Russian troops for days, with water, electricity and gas shut off and humanitarian conditions plummeting.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said he would head an aid mission in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross to the city and that official notes had been sent “to Ukraine to facilitate, and Russia not to obstruct, a mission of humanitarian aid to Mariupol.”

“The priority of the Greek government is to protect our (ethnic community) and civilians,” Dendias said.

The Greek consul general in Mariupol was trapped in the city whilst helping to coordinate evacuation missions, and was hailed as a hero after returning to Athens this weekend.

Athens last week also offered to rebuild the maternity hospital in Mariupol that was shelled earlier this month.

Some 13,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled to Greece, including over 4,000 children since the war began on February 24.

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