Thousands of Ukrainian Civilians from Mariupol Deported by Russian Forces in Overnight Siege
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Russian forces escalated their siege of the port city of Mariupol Ukraine last night, targeted civilians and civilian residences in the fourth week of Russia’s invasion.
Residents of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol are being taken to Russia against their will by Russian forces, the Mariupol City Council said Saturday.
“Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents have been taken to Russian territory,” the city said in a statement. “The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhny 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.”Captured Mariupol residents were taken to camps where Russian forces checked their phones and documents, then redirected some of the residents to remote cities in Russia, the statement said, adding that the “fate of the others is unknown.”“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,” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said in the statement. “It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people can be forcibly taken to another country.”
Mariupol’s city council says Russia bombed an art school where 400 civilians were sheltering. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the siege of the port city as a “war crime.”
Russian forces have stepped up their shelling of urban areas in Ukraine according to British military intelligence officials
- Zelenskyy says “war crimes” in Mariupol will be remembered for centuries
- Belarusian railway workers reportedly cut connections to Ukraine
- Australia announces increased support for Ukraine
- China says it’s on the “right side of history”
This article was last updated at 10:50 UTC/GMT
Germany and Netherlands deploy air defense systems in Slovakia
The first units deploying Patriot air defense systems from NATO partner countries have arrived in Slovakia.
Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook the US-made system would initially be deployed at the Sliac airport.
German and Dutch soldiers would operate them as part of NATO moves to strengthen air defenses in Eastern Europe.
Nad stressed they wouldn’t replace Slovakia’s Russian-made S-300s.
Earlier in the week, he said Slovakia’s was prepared to send long-range surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine provided that Western allies give them a “proper replacement.”
Turkey says Ukraine and Russia closer to an agreement
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Russia and Ukraine were getting closer to an agreement on “critical” issues.
He also told Hurriyet daily there had been “rapprochement in the positions of both sides on important subjects, critical subjects.”
Cavusoglu hosted foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine for talks in the Turkish resort town of Antalya earlier this month.
He also spoke to both ministers after traveling to Russia and Ukraine last week.
“We can say we are hopeful for a ceasefire if the sides do not take a step back from the current positions,” he said, without elaborating.
Shelling hits Mariupol art school, sheltering 400 civilians
Authorities in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol said Russian forces bombed an art school in which 400 residents had taken shelter.
City officials say the building was destroyed on Saturday night, but the number of casualties was not yet known.
This follows the bombing of a theatre in Mariupol where civilians took shelter last week.
Hundreds of people were trapped beneath rubble in a basement shelter.
Mariupol has been encircled by the Russian troops, cut from energy, food and medical supplies.
Local authorities have said the siege has killed at least 2,300 people and some of them had to be buried in mass graves.
Russia says it has fired more hypersonic missiles
The Russian military said it has used more hypersonic missiles to attack Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
“Kinzhal aviation missile systems with hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large storage site for fuels and lubricants of the Ukrainian armed forces near the settlement of Kostyantynivka in the Mykolaiv region,” the Russian defense ministry said.
On Saturday, Russia claimed to have used a hypersonic ballistic missile for the first time since it began its invasion of Ukraine. The launch took place on Friday close to the border with Romania, who is a NATO member.
Hypersonic weapons can travel much faster than five times the speed of sound, making them difficult to detect and posing a challenge to missile defense systems.
Zelenskyy suspends pro-Russian parties
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suspended 11 political parties allegedly tied to Russia.
“Given a large-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation and links between it and some political structures, the activities of a number of political parties is suspended for the period of the martial law,” Zelenskyy said.
Included on the list is the Opposition Platform for Life, one of the largest pro-Russian parties represented in Ukraine’s parliament. Russian President Vladimir Putin is godfather to the party’s chairman Viktor Medvedchuk’s daughter.
Also on the list is the Nashi (Ours) party led by Yevheniy Murayev. Before the Russian invasion, the UK accused Russia of seeking to install Murayev as the leader of a puppet government in Kyiv. Putin has denied the charge.
