Russia accused of deporting Mariupol residents to Russian territory
Ukrainian officials claimed Thursday that Russian troops are deporting health care workers and other residents in the beiseged port city of Mariupol to Russia-held territory.
Mariupol City Council said in a statement that "the occupiers have forcibly removed" staff and patients from a hospital and taken them to Russia-controlled separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
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Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said in another statement that, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, at least 40,000 Mariupol residents have been deported to other cities, mostly in Russia. He noted that his administration is creating a database of deported residents as part of efforts to bring them home.
Mariupol, a strategic southeastern port city in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, has been largely reduced to rubble after more than a month of heavy Russian bombardment. According to the Ukrainian military, fierce fighting against Russian forces continued Thursday in Mariupol as well as the cities of Popasna, Rubizhne and Severodonetsk in the neighboring Luhansk Oblast of eastern Ukraine.