LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukraine hopes some civilians who have been trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol will be able to leave in private cars on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

       Repeated attempts to arrange safe passage out of the southern port city, which is surrounded by Russian forces, have failed.

       Mariupol, which is normally home to about 400,000 people, has been under heavy bombardment for weeks. Civilians trapped there have been sheltering in basements with little food, power or running water.

       Those who manage to leave Mariupol will find buses awaiting in the nearby city of Berdiansk which will take them to the city of Zaporizhzhia, Vereshchuk said.

       "We will do everything in our power so that buses filled with Mariupol residents reach Zaporizhzhia today," she said.

       (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)