Russian army forcibly deports about 6,000 Mariupol residents to Russian filtration camps – MFA
The Russian army has already forcibly deported about 6,000 residents of Mariupol to Russian filtration camps in order to use them as hostages for political pressure on Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has reported.
"According to the information available, the Russian army has forcibly deported about 6,000 Mariupol residents to Russian filtration camps in order to use them as hostages and put more political pressure on Ukraine," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The ministry explained that the Russian Federation began a new stage of terror against the city of Mariupol.
"Residents who survived Russian bombing and artillery shelling are now being forcibly deported to Russia. Some 15,000 residents of the Left Bank district of Mariupol are in grave danger. The Russian occupiers are forcing them to move to Russia. The invaders confiscate people's passports and other identity documents," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
According to the ministry, in parallel, the Russian armed forces are firing at evacuation columns trying to leave Mariupol for the unoccupied territory of Ukraine. Russian troops continue to hold back a humanitarian convoy of buses, which a few days ago arrived for Mariupol residents from Zaporizhia.
"Such actions by Russia are a gross violation of the laws and customs of war, the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. We call on the world leaders gathered in Brussels today for the NATO, Group of Seven and EU summits to take urgent action to save the lives of the residents of Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities who have found themselves in an inhumane siege by the Russian army," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry stressed that the international community must adopt tough new sanctions against the Russian Federation in order to stop its deadly war machine, as well as stop any business ties with Russian companies to stop financing Russia's war against Ukraine.
