Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol have claimed thousands of residents have been forcibly deported to Russia.
Mariupol city council released a statement on its Telegram channel on Saturday, March 19, in which it alleged 'several thousand Mariupol residents were deported on to the Russian territory' over the past week.
The city has been under a series of attacks by Russian forces among the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and was the site of an alleged war crime earlier this month when Russian attacks struck a children's hospital and maternity ward.
Residents who have allegedly been taken to Russia are said to have been held first in 'filtration camps' to have their documents and mobile phones checked. They were then sent to remote regions of the neighbouring country.
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'The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing,' the city council said.
'Fighting took place in these areas. To save the lives of Mariupol residents, the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdrew from crowded places, which was used by the aggressor. It is known that the captured Mariupol residents were taken to filtration camps, where the occupiers checked people's phones and documents. After the inspection, some Mariupol residents were redirected to remote cities in Russia, the fate of others remains unknown.'
The claims have not yet been verified, but the council's statement is one of a number of reports that have emerged about the alleged forced deportation this weekend.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko claimed the Russians' actions is 'familiar to the older generation who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people'.
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'It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people will be forcibly deported to another country. Not only are Russian troops destroying our peaceful Mariupol, they have gone even further and started deporting Mariupol residents. All war crimes on the part of Russia should be punished the most severely,' he said.
On the same day the city council made the allegations against Russia, the Russian TASS news agency reported that 13 buses were bringing more than 300 people to Russia. Approximately 50 of them would be sent by train to the Yaroslavl region, according to the news agency.
Last week, Russia's RIA Novasti agency said nearly 300,000 people, including about 60,000 children, had arrived from the Luhansk and Donbas regions, as well as Mariupol, since the war began last month.
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Topics: Ukraine, Russia, Politics, World News
