Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Tuesday that he intends to accompany a humanitarian mission to Mariupol, Ukraine that is being flattened by constant Russian shelling.

The Greek Reporter reported this.

“I am requesting today in an official note sent to the Ukrainian side that it facilitate and another note to the Russian side not to hinder the sending of humanitarian aid to Mariupol. I intend to accompany this mission in person, in coordination with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Mauer, with whom we are already in contact,” Dendias noted.

The Consul General of Greece in Mariupol Manolis Andrulakis informed Dendias about the terrible situation of the civilian population, including tens of thousands of ethnic Greeks in Mariupol.

Dendias also stressed the need to protect civilians in a speech in Brussels on Monday and during a personal meeting with EU High Representative Josep Borrell, whom he asked to make public statements about Mariupol.

Dendias stressed that "the first step, when everything is normal, will be the reconstruction of the Mariupol maternity hospital."