Russian occupiers forcibly deporting Mariupol civilians to Russia

DENIS KARLOVSKY - SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2022, 20:14

Russian occupiers have forcibly deported several thousand Mariupol residents to Russia, some to remote areas.

Source: Mariupol City Council, with a comment from Mayor Vadym Boychenko

Quote: "What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people. It is hard to imagine people being forcibly deported in the 21st century.

Not only are Russian troops destroying our peaceful Mariupol, but they have also gone even further and started deporting Mariupol residents. All Russian war crimes must be severely punished."

Details: Russian occupying forces took residents of the Left Bank district, as well as citizens who were hiding in a shelter under the building of a sports club. Mostly women and children were in the shelter.

These are areas where active fighting had taken place. Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdrew from the sports club and residential buildings in order not to attract fire from the Russian occupying forces to these areas of concentrated population. According to the Mariupol City Council, Russian troops took advantage of this and captured the residents.

They were forcibly deported to Russia but were first placed in filtration camps. After checking documents and mobile phones, some were sent to remote regions of the Russian Federation. In another part of Mariupol, the fate of residents is unknown.

Background:

• Journalists showed eerie satellite images and drone videos capturing Mariupol's residential neighbourhoods and shopping malls after the devastating air and artillery shelling by Russian forces.
• According to the Azov Battalion, Russians are putting white bandages on Mariupol residents, telling them that they are doing it for their safety. However, Russian troops are also identified by these bandages – Ukrainian fighters become confused and are not able to distinguish between the occupiers and the civilian population.
• The Mariupol City Council has stated that the Russians drop 50 to 100 bombs on the city every day. 80-90% of the city's buildings have been destroyed as a result, and cannot be repaired.
• In a night address on 19 March, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 130 people had been rescued from the rubble of the drama theatre in the centre of Mariupol.
• In the afternoon of 16 March, Russian aircraft dropped a heavy bomb on the drama theatre in the centre of Mariupol. The building housed about a thousand city residents who lost their homes due to Russian shelling. Russia's Defence Ministry, Sergei Shoigu, has denied that its planes were involved in the bombing and has claimed that the explosion was a provocation staged by the Azov Battlalion.