A large number of civilians have managed to get out of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol using a humanitarian corridor, the first time in more than a week that such a corridor has been employed successfully and not been disrupted by attacks.

More than 160 private vehicles left the city, heading west to the city of Berdiansk, more than 70km (44 miles) away, according to Mariupol city officials on Telegram. Additionally, an aid convoy with supplies for those still in the city was on its way in.

The city is still awaiting the arrival of buses, which would be able to take greater numbers of people out at a time.

Shelling was still preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

She said a convoy had been trying to reach the encircled city on Monday to deliver aid and help evacuate women and children, but, as with similar attempts over the past week, it had not been able to reach the city. She confirmed some civilians had managed to leave Mariupol in the convoy of cars.

Meanwhile, a shell slammed early Monday into the ninth floor of a residential building less than 11km (seven miles) from the centre of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city.

Authorities said two people were killed and nine others wounded. Dozens were evacuated. The deaths brought the United Nations’ count of civilian deaths to 596 since Putin’s invasion began on February 24, although officials believe the actual number is far higher.

By late morning in Kyiv, rescue crews had extinguished the fires and residents sifted through the wreckage of their flats, chucking mangled belongings out of broken windows onto a growing pile of debris below.

Dressed in fatigues, Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko spoke at the site, saying the air attack on a residential building was proof of the Russian army’s inability to penetrate the capital.

“That’s why they’ve started this terror against civilians. They can’t do anything against our army, so they’re killing our women, children and elderly people,” he told reporters.

He echoed other Ukrainian politicians in calling for additional help from Western powers.

“We will definitely win. Our morale is high. But we ask the West to protect our skies and to give us weapons,” Goncharenko said. “We’ll do it ourselves. We don’t need your boots on the ground or your pilots in the sky. Just give us arms.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday condemned the “barbaric” invasion of Ukraine and confirmed a fourth sanctions package against the Kremlin.

He said this would target Russia’s market access, membership in international financial institutions, and steel and energy sectors.

“We are listing more companies and individuals playing an active role in supporting the people who undermine Ukrainian sovereignty,” Borrell said after talks in Skopje with North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski.

Borrell said Moscow was targeting not only the Ukrainian military but also civilians, noting that at the besieged southern port of Mariupol “more than 2,400 civilians have died” since the invasion started.

“Putin’s war is not only about Ukraine, it’s about security and stability of our European continent. It affects all of us,” Borrell told a press conference.